Monday, May 2, 2011
How can I integrate Art into my classroom?
Children need aspects of all learning domains in order for the greatest amount of learning to take place. The three domains can easily be integrated into Art lessons for any subject. No child left behind puts a lot of pressure on teachers to only concentrate on the cognitive domain in their classroom because that is the facts and things they will need to be able to show on the end of year tests. This seems like a backwards way to look at it to me though because using art in the classroom allows opportunities for students to demonstrate higher-level skills and thinking. The psychomotor domain is in my mind the best one to try and incorporate into the classroom and is easily done in an art lesson. This domain stimulates learning and allows students to nonverbally respond to artwork. Many times students don’t know how to express themselves verbally and so giving them the option of expressing nonverbally can be helpful to them and you when trying to assess their learning. Children need to be able to move during the day or they will go crazy. Why not make that movement part of the assignments or class work so that it isn’t distracting to your lessons. For example when teaching Art and discussing different pictures or artists we can let the students show us either in their facial expressions or in body movements how the artwork makes them feel. If when they look at it they feel angry then they would make an angry face or stomp around in an angry manner and things like that. I think that when they are doing more than just reading or listening they remember better and are likely to make further connections. The affective domain is incredibly important to student’s growth and development. Kids need the opportunity to express themselves, feel validated and know that they are individuals. Children will learn to either think positively or negatively about themselves and if we can get them doing art projects that they are proud of then they will learn to be positive about themselves. Self-worth is an incredibly important characteristic that young children need to learn.
The visual cultural approach I think was summed up by the quote on page 82 of our text, “the unity of thought, personal feeling, and expressive action that results from an aesthetic experience.” When we’re trying to teach anything, a visual aid of some sort will always be beneficial. If the students can see it and then discuss it’s characteristics while the teacher is explaining then the information will stick deeper and better. This visual cultural approach helps students figure out who they are, what makes them who they are and then how that is different from the kids in their class. Students are able to compare and contrast their culture with other cultures around the world. This does need to be done carefully though because it is very easy to stereotype a culture when in actuality the majority doesn’t follow that trend at all. Teachers need to find truly authentic art, music, literature etc, to bring in and share with the class so that they don’t grow up following those stereotypes.
I liked a lot of the examples of art-integrated lessons in the text. I thought that the use of clay was great advice because it can be used in so many different classrooms and situations. You can have the kids make anything out of clay and either let it dry out or put it away for use later. Clay is something that a teacher could easily use in any setting to help students grasp the concept visually and kinesthetically because they get to mold it and manipulate it in their hands. Culture specific art is something that can be used in social studies classes because you can copy their cultures specific technique and let the children create something of their own. Another thing with social studies and history even is when using time-lines allow the students to illustrate them so that they get to connect something with the date beside just a name or place. Really liked the idea of creating murals for any subject but especially for social studies or history because it gives you a chance to see what the kids think is important and what they are going to really remember. They can do it in groups, which strengthen their social skills and abilities to negotiate and work collaboratively. Math was harder for me to find integrations for probably just because I have never been that good at math. The book mentioned that when studying tessellations or geometry there is a lot of opportunity for art integration. The students can draw their own tessellations or they can create shapes and put them together, take apart, create different shapes etc. An idea that I had which wasn’t from the book is something I think would work well in a social studies class. Have the students get into pairs and one student poses in an act or position that would be used by the people or time period being studied. The other student draws or sketches that pose and then they switch. The students can then hang them on the wall and have other students try to guess what they were doing and how it relates. The teacher would provide artifacts or costumes that fit the topic also so that they were as authentic as possible.
I think that integrating art into the core classes is absolutely essential because using a variety of activities and assessments is really the only way that students learn and perform to their optimal level. Not all students learn the same or develop at the same rates and so why should we force them to do the same assignments and projects all year round, year after year. You can learn so much form a student through their artwork if you give them limited structure. They will surprise you with what they create. Art projects let them express themselves, what they’ve truly learned, experiences they’ve had, their true feelings and opinions and it gives them the chance to do all those things without the fear of being made fun of by peers or singled out for being different. Inviting art into our classrooms open the door for so many more enriching activities and discussions. Personally I always had more fun when we did an art project in class ay to me it makes sense to try and incorporate them as often as possible. I feel like it is my responsibility as a teacher to make sure that my students are enjoying school and if the only way to do that is by incorporating art then that’s what I will do.
3 self portraits with the original
The original at the end here with my grid portrait at the beginning, what I think i look like and then what i drew from looking at a picture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)