As educators, how do we foster the artistic abilities of our students and channel these abilities into a talent that someday might enrich their lives and identify a part of who they are as learners? For other students, exploring artistic concepts will provide them with another means of learning. In the article entitled Ways of Knowing:Exploring Artistic Representation of Concepts ( Duggan, 2007) the role of artistic expression in educational settings is explored. It is believed that providing your students with opportunities for artistic expression will increase student learning and their creative understanding of knowledge. Robinson et al. ( 2007) stated the importance of introducing arts into classrooms early in the educational process.
In The Unschooled Mind ( 1991) Gardner introduces the readers to "entry points." According to Gardner, " entry points" enables the learners to have an understanding of the subject by providing several approaches to it. The approaches include the narrational, the logical-quantitative, the foundational, the esthetic, and the experiential. The narrational (storytelling, chronology) includes videos, skits, or time lines. In logical-quantitative (numbers, deductive reasoning) equations, statistics, or problems are introduced. Experiential (hands-on, work tasks) approaches include products, inventions, or models. The esthetic (artistic elements and expressions) include poems, paintings, dance, or music. Foundational applications
(conceptual framework and big questions) consist of conceptual models, theories, or position papers. Students can also collaborate and work with their peers when applying artistic expression to a learning situation. Teachers can approach artistic modes of learning in response to everyday assignments through specific content and broad concepts. An example of this is taking a section of a textbook on weather and explain the concept through role play, poetry, creative writing, and drawing. Broad concepts such as truth, honesty, and freedom can be explored using Howard Gardner's eight intelligences. How might the students use their intelligence preference to express truth? freedom? or honesty?
Today's visit to the Asian art galleries was an insightful view into Gardner's "entry points." Kevin presented us with a wealth of information regarding these cultures and posed many reflective questions. It was an inspiring class today that has provided me with not only knowledge but the motivation and ambition to begin my tabletop exhibit as well as integrate art into my classroom curriculum. How can you use art to enable the learner to express the concept in creative and original ways? Our tabletop exhibit will be an example of utilizing art expression to teach a concept (or the understanding of a concept). What will our entry points be? Which mean of introducing the concept will we choose? Will we choose for the students to do a dance? Will we demonstrate an experiment? Will the students do some type of art expression activity?
Susan and I will be creating an exhibit with a theme of Native American children. We have not decided on our concept yet but we're hoping to figure it out tomorrow after we have had a chance to look through the supply list and plan for a few minutes. I'm excited and nervous because I'm not sure what the expectations are for the final product. I was happy to hear that Kevin will be sharing pictures of past projects that have been completed by other teachers. I want to create something meaningful that I will be able to use with my students in the fall. I already do a unit on Thanksgiving but my hope was creating a supplemental unit that can be shared with my colleagues. I already stated to research book titles and I purchased one already. Susan and I are trying to find time to meet so that we can create our design.
We have been provided with the foundational learning of so many skills. These skills will enable us to be not only more knowledgeable, but prepared with the tools in order for them to be successful learners.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Embarking on the Road to Authentic Engagement: Investigating Racism through Interactive Learning Centers
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article Embarking on the Road to Authentic Engagement: Investigating Racism through Interactive Learning Centers ( Taylor & Otinsky, 2006) because I found it not only engaging, but also inspiring. My district has initiated a differentiated instruction program for reading using a guided reading approach. While guided reading groups are in progress I have been implementing learning centers. Usually the centers literacy based. I love the value in the centers because the way that I have set them up they are a meaningful way for the students to review skills that have been taught in whole group situations. The students visit the computer center and can visit a program called "Puzzle Maker" to create a word search using their spelling words that they can print out and solve. They can also visit a program called "Star Fall" to practice phonics skills. There is a listening center where the students listen to a story, draw a picture to show something that happened in the story, and they write about that part. In the language center they might edit a paragraph for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation mistakes. They might play a matching game to look for synonym pairs. At the spelling center they might use magnetic letters to try to have their partner unscramble the letters to spell one of the words from the week's list. They also play the riddle game in conjunction with tic-tac-toe.
I love the premise of centers but it's the classroom management that can be a problem at times and the transition time between centers that I need to fine tune. I took a graduate course on differentiated learning last spring. It made me think about the possibility of differentiated math centers maybe every Friday or every other Friday afternoon. The students really did enjoy and looked forward to the centers each day. Many students have an ability in math that I feel I need to tap into and I thought that differentiated math centers would be the perfect venue.
I have been thinking about creating a Native American tabletop exhibit. I would love to see if I could somehow create interactive learning centers that would be appropriate for first graders where they could learn about Native American life. I would need to explore the amount of time that would be required to research the information, gather the materials/resources, and plan the course of action. Would volunteers be needed? If so, how many and in what capacity? I do implement centers for other themed units but after reading Understanding by Design ( Wiggins & McTigue, 2005) it has enabled me to examine what type of learning I have selected at each center. Is apple printing a valid learning activity in the study of apples? It is if the student is using the apple to create a pattern with the print design that they create. My goal is to make the activities more meaningful and more tied into the knowledge that the students can walk away from at the completion of the activity. I want to ask my students more of the critical questions such as "Why are we learning this?" " What does this learning have to do with what we have been learning?" "Why will you need to know this?"
I am hoping to build not only academic skills through the use of interactive learning centers but also cooperative learning skills as well through the use of social skill development. Observing my students in these situations will be of great value to me since my action research project is based on social skill interaction. I will be looking to see the roles my students will assume within their groups, their relationship with each other, and the general group dynamics. It will be an interesting observation to make while the students are engaged in the learning process.
So many ideas are racing in my mind regarding the use of learning centers in my classroom after reading this article. My mission is to find meaningful activities to match to the unit themes that will be shared in my first grade classroom. I want the activities to engage all learners using a variety of activities and in a variety of mediums. I was truly inspired to engage my students as learners utilizing this exiting and motivating method.
I love the premise of centers but it's the classroom management that can be a problem at times and the transition time between centers that I need to fine tune. I took a graduate course on differentiated learning last spring. It made me think about the possibility of differentiated math centers maybe every Friday or every other Friday afternoon. The students really did enjoy and looked forward to the centers each day. Many students have an ability in math that I feel I need to tap into and I thought that differentiated math centers would be the perfect venue.
I have been thinking about creating a Native American tabletop exhibit. I would love to see if I could somehow create interactive learning centers that would be appropriate for first graders where they could learn about Native American life. I would need to explore the amount of time that would be required to research the information, gather the materials/resources, and plan the course of action. Would volunteers be needed? If so, how many and in what capacity? I do implement centers for other themed units but after reading Understanding by Design ( Wiggins & McTigue, 2005) it has enabled me to examine what type of learning I have selected at each center. Is apple printing a valid learning activity in the study of apples? It is if the student is using the apple to create a pattern with the print design that they create. My goal is to make the activities more meaningful and more tied into the knowledge that the students can walk away from at the completion of the activity. I want to ask my students more of the critical questions such as "Why are we learning this?" " What does this learning have to do with what we have been learning?" "Why will you need to know this?"
I am hoping to build not only academic skills through the use of interactive learning centers but also cooperative learning skills as well through the use of social skill development. Observing my students in these situations will be of great value to me since my action research project is based on social skill interaction. I will be looking to see the roles my students will assume within their groups, their relationship with each other, and the general group dynamics. It will be an interesting observation to make while the students are engaged in the learning process.
So many ideas are racing in my mind regarding the use of learning centers in my classroom after reading this article. My mission is to find meaningful activities to match to the unit themes that will be shared in my first grade classroom. I want the activities to engage all learners using a variety of activities and in a variety of mediums. I was truly inspired to engage my students as learners utilizing this exiting and motivating method.
Complete Engagement: Embodied Response in Art Museum Education
I began last night's readings with the Dewey articles, which I found to be difficult to absorb and comprehend, due in part to to the complex language as well as the context of subject matter. I was happily surprised with my interest in the article regarding embodied response in art. As I was reading it I was relating it to my experience at the museum earlier that day and the connection that I as an educator had made to many of the pieces of art. I shared my enthusiasm with my husband later that evening when he had come home and told him of what I had learned. Imagine what a child can bring away from the same experience!
The premise of embodied learning as written in Complete Engagement: Embodied Response in Art Museum Education ( Hubard, 2007) is that there is a connection of the body and mind and that learners can make sense of the world through feelings and sensations ( Anttila, 2004; Bresler, 2004; Brodky & Fine, 1998; Johnson, 1983; Kerka, 2002; McLaren, 1991; Stinson, 1995). In this sense art can spark the viewer's emotions or bodily reaction but can also allow them to form interpretations of what they view. These interpretations can be based on prior knowledge or based on the logical reasoning made by the viewer. Teachers who want their students to appreciate and work outside the environment of their world, will recognize that " art pedagogy has its greatest power and meaning in its inherent possibility to combine different modes of knowing" ( Anttila, 2004, p. 7).
There are two approaches to embodied response. The first one is known as discursive approach. It is the physical and emotional responses to art. Discursive language can also be used to describe the types of feelings that are existing in the artwork. The teacher might ask how something might feel, smell, taste, sound. The second approach is known as non-discursive. In this approach viewers are provided with opportunities to link art with movement, sound, drawing and poetry ( Durant, 1996; Rice, 1995; Zeller, 1987). Within a non-discursive approach there are 5 five strategies that can be implemented in the classroom. 1. Responding with poetry. Allow the students to look at a piece of art and write a poem in response to what they see and feel. 2. Becoming a work. When studying a particular style of art, allow the students to use their bodies to duplicate or create a model of that art. 3. Creating a soundtrack. The students envision the sounds that could be heard if they could become one with the art. They are given the choice of objects to choose and create various musical sounds. Musical sounds can even be created using their own voices. 4. Drawing details. The students are provided with sketch pads in which they can reproduce what they see as pertinent representations of the artist's work. 5. Transforming paper. Students are provided with the opportunities to experiment and artistically create with paper.
My first grade classes have been frequent visitors of the Newark Museum. It has always been an educational experience but these past two days have enabled me to see the museum through different eyes. I would like to incorporate art into journal writing and as social studies extension activities. I was thinking about doing my tabletop exhibit on the Native Americans. The artwork that depicted the Native Americans could be a wonderful starting point for that unit. The students could be asked to write what the feelings of the Native Americans were in the paintings. What were their clothes made out of? What season was it? What sounds did they hear? After the students have completed their journal writing they will pair with another student and share what they have written.
Around Halloween I do this creative art activity called "Bogus Boo." I read the students a poem called " Bogus Boo" about a monster named Bogus Boo. The poem describes what the monster looks like but the students are not afforded the opportunity to see a picture of the creature. They must rely on their listening skills and their imagination. Using the information provided they must draw and color what they think the Bogus Boo looks like. I hang all of the pictures on the blackboard so that it looks like an art gallery. Then I read the clues a second time while the students try to determine which drawing(s) might closely resemble the actual monster. Then I show them the real Bogus Boo and we picked out the drawings the most closely matched its likeness. As a culminating activity the students create their own Bogus Boo and must define its describing characteristics. We play a " Which Bogus Boo Am I?" game to match the clues to the drawing. It is a wonderful learning experience because they are utilizing their skills in language and art as well as communication skills. I look forward to incorporating art into the teaching and learning of my students this year.
The premise of embodied learning as written in Complete Engagement: Embodied Response in Art Museum Education ( Hubard, 2007) is that there is a connection of the body and mind and that learners can make sense of the world through feelings and sensations ( Anttila, 2004; Bresler, 2004; Brodky & Fine, 1998; Johnson, 1983; Kerka, 2002; McLaren, 1991; Stinson, 1995). In this sense art can spark the viewer's emotions or bodily reaction but can also allow them to form interpretations of what they view. These interpretations can be based on prior knowledge or based on the logical reasoning made by the viewer. Teachers who want their students to appreciate and work outside the environment of their world, will recognize that " art pedagogy has its greatest power and meaning in its inherent possibility to combine different modes of knowing" ( Anttila, 2004, p. 7).
There are two approaches to embodied response. The first one is known as discursive approach. It is the physical and emotional responses to art. Discursive language can also be used to describe the types of feelings that are existing in the artwork. The teacher might ask how something might feel, smell, taste, sound. The second approach is known as non-discursive. In this approach viewers are provided with opportunities to link art with movement, sound, drawing and poetry ( Durant, 1996; Rice, 1995; Zeller, 1987). Within a non-discursive approach there are 5 five strategies that can be implemented in the classroom. 1. Responding with poetry. Allow the students to look at a piece of art and write a poem in response to what they see and feel. 2. Becoming a work. When studying a particular style of art, allow the students to use their bodies to duplicate or create a model of that art. 3. Creating a soundtrack. The students envision the sounds that could be heard if they could become one with the art. They are given the choice of objects to choose and create various musical sounds. Musical sounds can even be created using their own voices. 4. Drawing details. The students are provided with sketch pads in which they can reproduce what they see as pertinent representations of the artist's work. 5. Transforming paper. Students are provided with the opportunities to experiment and artistically create with paper.
My first grade classes have been frequent visitors of the Newark Museum. It has always been an educational experience but these past two days have enabled me to see the museum through different eyes. I would like to incorporate art into journal writing and as social studies extension activities. I was thinking about doing my tabletop exhibit on the Native Americans. The artwork that depicted the Native Americans could be a wonderful starting point for that unit. The students could be asked to write what the feelings of the Native Americans were in the paintings. What were their clothes made out of? What season was it? What sounds did they hear? After the students have completed their journal writing they will pair with another student and share what they have written.
Around Halloween I do this creative art activity called "Bogus Boo." I read the students a poem called " Bogus Boo" about a monster named Bogus Boo. The poem describes what the monster looks like but the students are not afforded the opportunity to see a picture of the creature. They must rely on their listening skills and their imagination. Using the information provided they must draw and color what they think the Bogus Boo looks like. I hang all of the pictures on the blackboard so that it looks like an art gallery. Then I read the clues a second time while the students try to determine which drawing(s) might closely resemble the actual monster. Then I show them the real Bogus Boo and we picked out the drawings the most closely matched its likeness. As a culminating activity the students create their own Bogus Boo and must define its describing characteristics. We play a " Which Bogus Boo Am I?" game to match the clues to the drawing. It is a wonderful learning experience because they are utilizing their skills in language and art as well as communication skills. I look forward to incorporating art into the teaching and learning of my students this year.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
My Mission Statement
My goal as an educator is to provide my students with a warm, caring, and stimulating educational environment. Using a variety of learning approaches, I wish to instill a love of learning in all of my students and motivate them with the will to acquire knowledge and be successful in their search of knowledge and understanding. The educational experiences that I provide as well as the skills that the students develop will be the foundation for their future learning.
The Will to Learn
In Toward a Theory of Instruction ( Bruner, 1966) the topic of motivation and its relation to school success is explored. Jerome Bruner exposed the roles of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators in our schools today. He stated that in order for students to be successful and for learning to be truly meaningful, the motivators must be intrinsic. Intrinsic rewards are the rewards that you gain from the success of the activity itself. Curiosity is often an intrinsic motive for humans to engage in an activity. Young children are found to be stimulated by and curious with the things in their environment. An amazing thought is that what can be a distracting force for children can also inspire them as learners. Their mind as well as their bodies become the tools that will empower them to secure the resources necessary for their learning success. They are always searching for new learning connections to make in their environment. Maybe that is part of the attraction of science, learning by discovery and the sense of accomplishment when an experiment or lab goes as planned. Students are also motivated by what they know. Sometimes if it is a content area that they have a strong knowledge base of, that knowledge can be an intrinsic motivator for wanting to move ahead academically in order to advance their knowledge.
As a primary school educator, extrinsic rewards have always played a major role in motivating and reinforcing student behavior. Stickers, verbal praise, and a simple thumbs up are a way of affirming student learning. But nothing put a smile on the face of my students more than when they receive their spelling tests back! A sticker, thumbs up, or hearing "great job" couldn't match the feeling of earning a terrific grade on the test. True learning was when the struggling student began earning 100% on his tests each week and I saw his face beaming! What a wonderful sight!
As a primary school educator, extrinsic rewards have always played a major role in motivating and reinforcing student behavior. Stickers, verbal praise, and a simple thumbs up are a way of affirming student learning. But nothing put a smile on the face of my students more than when they receive their spelling tests back! A sticker, thumbs up, or hearing "great job" couldn't match the feeling of earning a terrific grade on the test. True learning was when the struggling student began earning 100% on his tests each week and I saw his face beaming! What a wonderful sight!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
What is a Teacher Leader?
Roland S. Barth's Teacher Leader (1990) describes the powerful role that teacher leaders play in our educational system. All teachers are called upon to fulfill the leadership role that each individual has the ability to achieve. Barth believes that all teachers have leadership qualities that can be extracted for the purpose of improving one's school or increasing pupil performance.
An interesting fact presented by Barth was that in a study of one thousand schools "in high-performing schools (those with few discipline problems and high pupil achievement), decision making and leadership are significantly more democratic. Teachers are more involved and influential in establishing discipline, selecting textbooks, designing curriculum, and even choosing their colleagues than are teachers in low-performing schools."
Everyone would benefit from teacher leadership implementation within a school system. Students would have addition role models who could support the current administration. Teacher leaders could also assume some of the roles that might ordinarily be handled by the building principal. A teacher leader has the ability to wear a variety of hats. Just as teacher leadership affords opportunity, there are also obstacles. For some teachers the commitment of time and their lives already bustling is the reason for their hesitation to take on the role. For others it is dealing with their colleagues and the repercussions that would come from the resistance they would receive from their fellow peers. What we as educators need to examine is would the benefits of our role as teacher leader make a difference in our school community? If the answer is yes then to what degree would this role cause me any personal conflict? Can this conflict be worked out?
I look forward to being a teacher leader in my school community and in many ways I already am. I need to learn to be more vocal about my thoughts and feelings. That is my personal goal for teacher leadership. I am an active member of my school community and I have always been an "I'll do that" person. I need to bring the vocal piece into my role of leadership.
An interesting fact presented by Barth was that in a study of one thousand schools "in high-performing schools (those with few discipline problems and high pupil achievement), decision making and leadership are significantly more democratic. Teachers are more involved and influential in establishing discipline, selecting textbooks, designing curriculum, and even choosing their colleagues than are teachers in low-performing schools."
Everyone would benefit from teacher leadership implementation within a school system. Students would have addition role models who could support the current administration. Teacher leaders could also assume some of the roles that might ordinarily be handled by the building principal. A teacher leader has the ability to wear a variety of hats. Just as teacher leadership affords opportunity, there are also obstacles. For some teachers the commitment of time and their lives already bustling is the reason for their hesitation to take on the role. For others it is dealing with their colleagues and the repercussions that would come from the resistance they would receive from their fellow peers. What we as educators need to examine is would the benefits of our role as teacher leader make a difference in our school community? If the answer is yes then to what degree would this role cause me any personal conflict? Can this conflict be worked out?
I look forward to being a teacher leader in my school community and in many ways I already am. I need to learn to be more vocal about my thoughts and feelings. That is my personal goal for teacher leadership. I am an active member of my school community and I have always been an "I'll do that" person. I need to bring the vocal piece into my role of leadership.
Schooling by Design- Chapters 1 and 2
These two readings provided me with an introduction to the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue. In their book Understanding by Design (2005) they introduced the concept of "backward curriculum design." The foundation of backward design is beginning with what you want your students to accomplish; the goals you wish to achieve. This innovative and compelling design has directly impacted the structure of curriculum, the development of state standards, and even the manner in which many teachers approach the delivery of their units of study.
Wiggins and McTigue used real-life situations in order to explain backward design in a manner that was clear and easy to understand. They explained how the blueprint or model is what the final product will look like on a construction job. In education the final product could be the goals that are established in the school's mission statement. The building codes on the other hand represent the standards in education. They are rules that need to be met but they are not the purpose of the construction. The construction workers, as do teachers, do their best to honor the codes in their professions, but their goal is to achieve the final product.
Because the backward curriculum design requires you to have foresight and see what the end result should look like, I decided to examine and revisit my own school's mission statement. Here is the mission statement for my K-4 elementary school:
The T. Baldwin Demarest School provides a high quality education to over 470 students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. The teaching staff subscribes to the philosophy that children learn best in a supportive, nurturing learning environment that immerses students in a style of curriculum delivery which reflects the key principles of active participation, cooperative learning, hands-on instruction, and interdisciplinary teaching. The school is continually developing educational programs with the intent of promoting children's academic, social, and emotional development. Educational initiatives in the areas of heterogeneous grouping, cooperative learning, enrichment, technology, multicultural education, literature-based reading, and science have afforded students opportunities for a more in depth exploration of the world in which they live. With the guidance of supportive parents and dedicated educators, the students are destined to become responsible citizens prepared to participate in a constantly changing society.
This mission statement is the building block for much of the learning that exists within my school. It involves all members of the community in the learning process and establishes a goal that all members can work cooperatively to achieve. My goal is to ask more insightful questions of my students this year to see if they can make the connection to their learning. Why are we learning this? What did we do in the past few weeks that relates to this? These articles have presented me with a new way of thinking about curriculum delivery and instruction. I look forward to implementing this design model with my first graders this year!
Wiggins and McTigue used real-life situations in order to explain backward design in a manner that was clear and easy to understand. They explained how the blueprint or model is what the final product will look like on a construction job. In education the final product could be the goals that are established in the school's mission statement. The building codes on the other hand represent the standards in education. They are rules that need to be met but they are not the purpose of the construction. The construction workers, as do teachers, do their best to honor the codes in their professions, but their goal is to achieve the final product.
Because the backward curriculum design requires you to have foresight and see what the end result should look like, I decided to examine and revisit my own school's mission statement. Here is the mission statement for my K-4 elementary school:
The T. Baldwin Demarest School provides a high quality education to over 470 students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. The teaching staff subscribes to the philosophy that children learn best in a supportive, nurturing learning environment that immerses students in a style of curriculum delivery which reflects the key principles of active participation, cooperative learning, hands-on instruction, and interdisciplinary teaching. The school is continually developing educational programs with the intent of promoting children's academic, social, and emotional development. Educational initiatives in the areas of heterogeneous grouping, cooperative learning, enrichment, technology, multicultural education, literature-based reading, and science have afforded students opportunities for a more in depth exploration of the world in which they live. With the guidance of supportive parents and dedicated educators, the students are destined to become responsible citizens prepared to participate in a constantly changing society.
This mission statement is the building block for much of the learning that exists within my school. It involves all members of the community in the learning process and establishes a goal that all members can work cooperatively to achieve. My goal is to ask more insightful questions of my students this year to see if they can make the connection to their learning. Why are we learning this? What did we do in the past few weeks that relates to this? These articles have presented me with a new way of thinking about curriculum delivery and instruction. I look forward to implementing this design model with my first graders this year!
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