Reflection #13

This week we had two lessons and then we were finished. The rest of the time we just observed our mentor teacher and helped out whne needed. On our last day of teaching we did a review of everything that we had taught in our 5 previous lessons. It was lots of fun to see what they remembered, and I was quite surprised at some of the things they did remember. At the end of the lesson we had them sing our Utah song that I talked about in Reflection #12. It was realy fun to see that they remembered the two verses we taught them and it was a perfect ending to our review lesson. Watching our mentor teacher and also reflecting on the things we taught, it was really a great thing the see the effect that art can have. It was also nice tosee that kids really do enjoy doing the different things we had them do. I can now see that it is very important to do this in my future classroom becuse it makes learning fun and the kids are more likely to remember the things that were tuaght. I'm excited to have my own classroom and be able to try out even more ways to integrate art.

Reflection #12

This week in field we taught every day except Monday. We also did our song this week. Our song is:

Utah has a history
and some of it may be new
learning can be lots of fun
It's time to review!

Utah has specific things
that help set it apart,
Bees, elk and copper too
plus Kolff designed a heart!

The Wasatch Mountains
cross the state
oldest rocks in the west
They bring water for us to drink
Our mountains are the best!

We have the great salt lake
full of brine and salt
when the pioneers arrived
their journey they did halt

Utah you are beautiful
sucha great sight to see
Utah how we love you so
and your geography!

We made the song go to the tune of Yankee Doodle. We made copies for each student and also put it on the smart board so they could look up at the board if they wanted to do that. We sang it for them first without the music. Then they sang it with us. Then we tried it with the music. It was quite fast in the beginning, but we did it a few more times and then picked our two favorite verses for them to learn. The kids really enjoyed singing the song and now I know why we were taught about music and the kind of effect it can have onchildren. It was really fun and they wanted to keep singing it.

Reflection #11

Field has been pretty interesting. We had a sub for the first 3 days and it was interesting and almost comical to see how they do things. They didn't really have control of the class at all and they also didn't get much done. Now that the teacher is back, it is really fun to see him and how he teaches. He is a very great teacher. The whole school is lucky enough to have smartboards in every classroom. We have used the smartboard the 3 times we have taught so far. In our first lesson we talked about maps. We read a story about a girl that ended with her special place on the map and a picture of it. The students then drew their own picture of their special place on the map and colored them. We used it as visual arts. We then had some of the kids share their special place. It was really fun to see what they came up with. Some picked their bedroom and house. Some picked a soccer field, the beach, a swimming pool. It was neat to see how creative they are. One girl was not doing the activity and looked pretty sad. I went and talked to her and she said she was not a good drawer. I talked to her about her special place and then told her how we could draw it very simply. It ended up working out good!

Reflection #10

This week was our first week of field. Yay! It is really fun to be around all of the kids and just see what the future holds. I have been really impressed so far with using the arts. Up and down the hallways there is art on display from each of the classes. It really makes the school not so broing. It is fun to look at all of the art projects and see what kinds of things they are doing. Some are just pictures that they colored, but others are really neat and actually teach art skills. The teacher has also used quite a bit of music. In the afternoon, half of the class goes home and the other half stays. At this point they have a schedule that they follow pretty closely. When they are done with something on the schedule there is a ding and then follows about 15 seconds of music that lets them know they are done and supposed to move on to the next thing. It makes it really fun and the kids absolutely love it. It is really fun to be with a teacher that it seems so far uses the arts in his classroom.