Field Summary 4-15-11

Me, Patti, and Jessica at the Good Behavior Pancake Party!

I had an amazing time during my 3 week field experience in the 4th grade at Ridgeline Elementary. My field partner was Jessica Rose. We worked very well together. Prior to beginning our 3 weeks we had the opportunity to play get to know you games with the 4th grade students and meet our cooperating teacher, Mrs. Patti Ratliff. We did this activity the first day in art class. We sat in a circle and stated our name, an emotion, and a gesture with our hands. It took a lot longer with 4th graders than college students, but did help us learn their names!

From the first time I entered Ridgeline I was astounded by the cleanliness, friendliness and the feel of learning taking place in the atmosphere. When we entered the classroom Mrs. Ratliff put us to work right away. Her interest was for us to interact with the students as much as possible. We observed her teaching math, language arts, and science. Jessica and I would take turns reading The Candy Shoppe Wars after lunch each day. Mrs. Ratliff supplied the special reading hat, such a cute idea I’ll be implementing in my classroom.

I enjoyed my time spent in the 4th grade with Patti Ratliff. It is no secret that she loves to teach. She was a great example to me in how to teach with enthusiasm, making it fun with songs (she had many on math, Utah, rock cycle, classical, upbeat), and building students up constantly. We loved it so much we often stayed more than our required time.

The lessons we taught were on supply and demand, producers and consumers, and about Utah’s economy. We made them fun, engaging, the students listened, participated, and stayed in control most of the time! The lesson we had our career interviews in was cut short so they only had about 5 minutes. It would have been better if I'd printed interview questions to ask instead of writing them on the board. Our lesson with visual art was successful although it was quite noisy. It was the Friday before Spring Break and the kids were quite distracted. We should've explained our expectations on the noise level. Most of the students did their best on their brochures, with a few that didn't try stating they weren't good at art.

I can understand how teachers get attached to their students. You want them to do great, you want them to succeed, and you want the best for every aspect of their lives. In the short 3 weeks we were there, I experienced these feelings toward the students. After being in the school atmosphere and experiencing teaching, I know I was meant to be a teacher. There is nothing I desire more in life than to make a positive difference in children. I am excited to gain more knowledge and master techniques to become the best teacher I can be.

March 15- DANCE

My nephew Vincent on left and my son Ethan on right. This was in December 2010 at his Hip Hop performance. I thought it fit perfectly for my dance reflection!

Dance was so much fun. I have a hard time being serious when dancing in class though. I feel a little silly. After more practice and performing hopefully I will feel more comfortable. It makes sense to integrate dance into curriculum. Why not? Students can get their excessive energy out, be creative, and learn about a specific genre.

I love flocking, shadowing, and creating dance moves on the spot. I've never realized how many movement words are found in books. I will definitely change my perception when reading books from now on. It is amazing how many adaptations you can make with books incorporating drama, music, visual arts, and dance.

As with the other art forms, there are specific elements and principles for dance.

Elements are simple to remember, just remember BEST!

B-Body: parts, shapes, actions

E-Energy: attack, flow, strength, weight

S-Space: size, level, focus, place, direction, pathway

T-Time: speed, duration, accent, rhythm, phrases

Principles include balance, repetition, patterns, unity, transitions, variety, and contrast.

It has been a lot of fun working with different people and groups. I haven't run into any major problems with group members. I think communication is key and talking frequently about our parts and having time to review and practice with each other I like having all the mini lessons, it is fun seeing what everyone else comes up with. It sure is nice to look up the full lesson plan on Dr. Escalante's course website afterwards. What great resources for us to use in our future classrooms.

March 2, 2011- MUSIC

"The hills are alive.... with the sound of music."

I have some great music ideas I've learned in class to incorporate into my future classroom. I am so excited to share one of them. But first, let me tell you about the basic elements found in music.

• Pitch: The highness or lowness of a sound.
• Duration: How long of a sound or how long of the silence.
• Dynamics: The volume or attack
• Timbre: The quality of sound.
• Form: Patterns and structure in the music.

For Elementary School we will focus on:

Sing Play Listen Create

Read and Write Learn from Times and Culture

Okay, here is a fun Syllable Game!

First, you choose a volunteer to go out of the room. The rest of the class sit in a circle and choose a word with 3-4 syllables. For example: elephant, avocado, sympathy, etc. Then divide the circle in 3-4 groups (depending on number of syllables of the particular word). For example: A-VO-CA-DO. Now, invite the volunteer to come back in. To the tune of Row, Row, Row your boat song, everyone sings their particular sound. For example: "A" group would sing "Awe, Awe, Awe, ..." and th "VO" group would sing "Voe, Voe, Voe....." It is important that the students sing their sound correctly. While the singing is happening, the volunteer will walk around the circle and try to put the word together. This game is great for teaching language arts when learning how to split up syllables!

There are 7 Habits of Highly Effective Singing.

1. Body-Braindance
2. Breath- Low and expansive
3. Vocal Play- Games and stories (Mr. Wiggle and Mr. Waggle)
4. One Pitch- Match "la, la, la, la, la, la laaa" to either high or low pitch
5. Two Pitches- Match 2 "la ...laas" to high and low pitches
6. Phrase- La, la, la.
7. Words- Add to phrase

There are 4 Basic Compatible Rules.

1. Whole to Part
2. Sing not Say
3. Listen in many ways
4. Be actively involved
   

Drama- 2/8/11

Drama= So much fun. There are endless ideas to incorporate drama into teaching. I love that drama will get you out of your shell. Some of my favorites that we've done in class:

• Story as One- One person selected to start the story, they talk slow so everyone else can follow along with them. Then they point to someone else to take over and everyone tells the story at the same time following the selected person. It incorporates focus, creativity, and on the spot thinking.
• Mirror Game- You can either do this in pairs or as a group. If in pairs, person A will do slow motions with hands and person B follows them as if they were a mirror. If doing in a big group, one person goes out in the hall, the rest of the group follows the "leader" mysteriously and the person tries to guess who the leader is. As the teacher you can side coach, or give instructions.
• Machines- In groups of 5-6, make a machine given criteria of lines, etc. You each make sounds to go with your machine. Super fun.
• Interview a Character- This would be great for history. You pick a character (president, war hero) to be and bring him/her to life. Someone else interviews you.
• Character as One- This is when 3-4 people are all the same character. The teacher guides or interviews them as if they are that person. The risk level is lower as far as shy or embarrassed students.
  

Our class did presentations on the Social Studies curriculum. Everyone did a great job. The book we chose was Henry's Freedom Box. Click here to see our lesson plan incorporating drama. It was hard to do a 1-1.5 hour lesson in just 15 minutes but I think overall we did well. The activities were fun to do. I will definitely remember the books everyone presented on much more than a book that was only read.

It was so ironic because a few days after I checked out the book from the library my 2nd grader made a comment about slaves. It was an easy way to explain to him by reading him that book. We talked about how hard it would be to be torn from your family.

Drama shows the greatest impact among students. We must incorporate drama into teaching. We discussed 4 of the elements of Drama

1. Character
2. Setting
3. Story/Plot
4. Audience- very critical that kids learn how to be an audience

You must incorporate the following 6 principles of drama with the elements:

1. Symbol
2. Focus
3. Tension
4. Contrast
5. Balance
6. Form

There are UNLIMITED possibilities!!

Vincent Van Gogh- Field Trip #1

February 1, 2011. My awesome sister who works, has 2 kids, and is recovering from a shoulder injury offered to watch our kids so we could have some "alone" time. My eccentric, fun art teacher had mentioned this play in class that very day so we purchased tickets and enjoyed every minute of it.



I've never been to a play where there is only one character. At first it was a little strange to me. As it went on, I thought how hard it would be to remember all the lines, not to have a break for a drink of water, and how intense the vocabulary was.



Most adults have heard of Vincent Van Gogh, but to hear it from his brothers perspective who supported him throughout his life was a different story.



The actor, Dr. John Newman, did an incredible job portrying Theo (pronounced TAY-oh), Vincent's brother. Throughout the hour I learned several things about Vincent Van Gogh from letters he wrote. It was fun to witness it first hand and be entertained. Here are a few fun facts that you may or may not know about Vincent Van Gogh.

• Vincent's mother had a still born little boy a year prior to Vincent's birth that she also named Vincent. That is why people say he was born 2 times.
• Vincent's father was a pastor and didn't approve of his lifestyle.
• Vincent didn't think he was worth anything, always thought he could do better and be better.
• Only one painting sold in Vincent's lifetime, within the year of his death.
• He was in love with a beautiful woman and borrowed money from Theo to go see her. She didn't love him and wasn't there when he came. He was heartbroken. Vincent had several other unhappy love relationships.
• Vincent became involved with a prostitute named Christine. She had a baby and was pregnant when they met on the streets. He felt the need to take care of them. Their relationship didn't last.
• Theo was a huge financial support throughout Vincents life.
• Vincent lived in an assylum in St. Remy voluntarily. He did many of his paintings there.
• In the last year of Vincent's life, he moved to Auvers, France and completed 200+ pieces of art.
• Vincent's suicide was likely because he didn't want to be a burden on Theo and the rest of his family.
• Theo passed away just 6 months after Vincent of a nervous breakdown.
• We can thank Johanna, Theo's wife, who preserved and helped popularize Vincent's artwork.

1-26-11~Visual Art

I thought this was a cool painting. The artist is Eduardo Paolozzi. I liked all the colors, texture, and both the geometric and the organic shapes. It is very unique and it caught my attention.

The 6 elements of Art are: Color, texture, space, line, shape, and value.

The 6 principles of Art are: Proportion, balance, rhythm, variety, emphasis, and unity.

A few fun activities/ideas for Elementary art classes:

1. Have them construct a book about their family, rules at school, anything really.
2. Eric Carle type pictures using construction paper, you can construct an animal that resembles you.
3. Leo Lionni type pictures using paint or stamp pads. You could also write a short story on the page to incorporate writing.
4. Read Hello Red Fox by Eric Carle when talking about contrasting colors.
5. Have students draw their left hand, not looking at their pencil/paper, just the hand they're drawing. It will challenge them to take in a different perspective.
6. Do you see what I say. A game where a pair sits back to back, one person is the scribe and the other person draws what the scribe says. The tricky part is you can't tell them to draw a circle, square, etc. You have to describe the lines and which way they go. A fun, engaging, listening, describing, communicating game.
7. Draw a detailed picture of an animal, focusing on the detail of the fur/skin, using pencils, colored pencils, or paint. Inspired by David Weisners artwork.
8. Using construction paper and pins (safer than X-acto knifes), construct a picture using many layers to make a collage. Inspired by David Wisnieski artwork.

I really enjoyed making the projects that our peers designed for us to do. Although, I wish we had a little more time to complete them. I am excited to add to my art ideas for my classroom.

It was fun to collaborate on our presentation on Leo Lionni. It worked out great. We met and decided on an author/artist, then we decided who would do what. We then collaborated on a Google Doc and each put our '2 cents' in. I thought the presentation went okay, we maybe should have practiced before hand so we knew who was saying what. Everyone seemed to like the art project. Fun times in EDEL 4540!

1-11-11 Art Reflection

Okay, this is going to be great fun. I am doing a reflection post about art and how it's been a part of my life.

I am the second oldest of a blended family of 14 kids. We always had projects going on; coloring, painting, etc. My step dad is a local artist. His name is David Dean. He does most of his work out of his home so I've seen his pottery, paintings, and architecture all in the making.

My mother is a strong art advocate. She is involved in many art events. She is a great painter, she took the hobby up a few years ago. She helps out with the PTA, judging the Art Reflections for Provo School District.

In 5th grade I took dance from Jean Dixon Elliot in Provo. I also took a few ballroom classes in Junior High. I took the required art and music classes in Highschool. I took an Introduction to Art class 9 years ago. I have always enjoyed being entertained by the Arts. My absolute favorite (and only) Broadways I've enjoyed are Legally Blonde and Wicked.

One of my favorite music bands is Green Day. I am secretly hoping my husband will surprise me with a spontaneous trip (for our 10 year anniversary) to see the American Idiot Broadway in New York!! I just love Billy Joe Armstrongs voice. If it doesn't happen, a CD will do!!

I have been an avid scrapbooker since highschool and have been a Stampin' Up demonstrator for the past 5 years. It is a fun hobby.

It is fun to share my love of all art forms with my kids and am excited to share them with my future students!