“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
–Albert Einstein
Everything in life is created. The books we read, the furniture we sit on, and the car we drive. These things needed to be created by creative people. We need creative people to take us into the future and show us things that our generation has yet to achieve. The greatest inventors from around the world studied a various amount of subjects and the one thing that they all have in common is that they were creative enough to work through their problems and solve them. Art connects and teaches us about every curriculum in a school. It integrates these subjects and various cultures into the world of the student, separating the distance between them. Learning skills in multiple ways also affirms their permanence. As students learn to observe their world, they are learning to see better, think differently, and solve problems. Guiding students through different processes of art will help them to advance in everyday life.
Although not all students will go on to become inventors or artists, they will be able to understand their world better, connect with themselves, and make a mark in this life. I will introduce my students to a safe environment to express themselves in. Being comfortable in a space and with the people around us can determine how much we will grow. Students will be able to express their thoughts and diversity without judgment.
Visual art communicates our diversity. Assessing the student’s work in class will open the their minds to not only the cultures around the world, but in their neighborhood as well; breaking down walls between people. Everyone is different, and it is our differences are what make us interesting. Famous art works are not necessarily better than others; however, they stand out from the others because they were different. I will inspire my students to express their individuality and put it to good use, motivating them to show the world something that we have never seen before.
To insure these things will happen in my class I will set guidelines:
-Student's must respect each other.
-Student's must express their own ideas, not others.
I will try to:
-Inspire my student's.
-Talk them through problems.
-Share my experiences.
-Incorporate knowledge.
-Seek for fun, new things.
-Show examples to get them started.
Throughout the semester I have been working with Sam, Rachel, and Logan in my team. We have had to meet at odd times, collaborate together, and help each other through this hard semester. We worked on unit plans together but each did two lessons by ourselves. After each lesson we all would stay and help clean as well.
It was nice to get to know other people in the class. We had to meet a lot in order to get things done. Sometimes we would clash with ideas. Each of us is creative and had many different ideas. Ultimately we worked well together and got things done.
If I hadn’t worked in this group, I would’ve had a hard time this semester. It was nice to know that there was someone who had the same problems as me, or who could explain something to me if needed. Now that we know each other well, I think we will be able to continue to be friends through our time at Wayne State University.
Every person is different. We all learn in different ways, too. Visual, Audio, and Kinesthetic ways of learning should be incorporated in every lesson taught so that every learner can understand what you are trying to communicate.
Howard Gardner discovered that people have multiple intelligences.
The possibilities are:
Visual and spacial skills are an intelligence.
Art teaches kids:
Complex ways to solve problems
Things that words cannot describe
Small differences have large effects
To say what cannot be said
Art is not just a pretty picture on the wall.
The most important thing that I have learned through my experience at Saturday Art School was how to break down lessons and make them interesting and concrete for children. I had no idea what to expect when I first signed up to teach elementary students. I’ve always have wanted to work with high school students and so this was a new challenge for me.
My first lesson was collage masks. I did not realize that some of the students would not know how to cut with scissors or know how to poke through the paper to create an eye. I expected them to know more than they did and didn’t give enough direction or demonstration. Students constantly were asking me how to do things and it became chaotic.
The next time that I taught was much better. I had learned to break down the lesson step by step and how to apply the information to the life of a child. We made clay relief sculpture tiles. The students learned about ancient Egyptians relief sculpture and how to make their own in clay.
Breaking down a lesson into every step can become time consuming but in the end it is very beneficial. It will remind me what needs to be discussed next and it informs the students of every aspect of the lesson as well. Thank goodness I had this experience before going into student teaching.Clutter in a classroom really bothers me. If the room is well organized it helps me to focus and be inspired, better. Otherwise I’ll just be thinking about what I need to do to clean up the room. I’m sure that some students feel the same way. Having students help clean up is essential because I can’t do it all by myself.
The first time I taught, the lesson took longer than anticipated and we ran short for time. The students left as their parents picked them up and I was left with a huge mess to clean. In a real classroom setting this would not work very well. I will only have about five minutes in between classes and that will not be enough time to do it all on my own.
Students need to be assigned different areas to clean at the end of each class, everyday. I found a cleaning chart online that assigns people to different tasks. It was a magnetic board and labeled the different tables in the room with numbers. Magnets with tasks such as “sweep floor” or “clean sink” could be moved to different sections when needed.
Look at this beautiful classroom I found at: http://www.1canoe2.com/2011/03/during-the-day-i/In my classroom I could assign tasks to different tables and change the tasks weekly or monthly. Everyone will know his or her job without having to ask me what to do. I will evaluate each job before they can be dismissed from my room. This will help to keep my room clean and organized, making it a better learning environment for everyone.
