The arts have played the biggest role in my education over any other method or subject area. I love the arts! It is truly where my passion is. In my personal life, music with voice and instruments, as well as dancing, drawing, painting, crafts, even some theater, have all been my prominent interests since I could first walk. When I was in school, it was always easier for me to remember things when we put concepts to music. It also helped to do art projects. I remember when my fifth grade teacher had each student design a cartouche with our name on it for our study of ancient Egypt. I took a class on ancient Egypt just this last summer, in college, and that art project from fifth grade helped me remember information I needed on that college test. Art helps the process of remembering and applying, over a long period of time. I love doing art, music, or theater projects. It never felt like busy work for me and I really learned from it. As the text book states, incorporating art into the curriculum is a way of applying what is being learned.
As a future teacher I want to make the arts a big part of my class. I realize that not all of my students are going to love the arts as much as I do, but I believe it will help them make connections. We discussed in class some visual cues that can help bridge the connection between the left and right brain of a child. We also discussed how art application, in general, can be an aid to a student's greater comprehension of a topic. I will use art in subjects like math and science. I will try to do both analytical and artistic activities, to appeal to different learning styles. I hope by doing this that my students will learn to open their minds to different ways of viewing things.
Now I will use artistic study methods to practice for what I hope to teach my future students. You can't teach what you're not practicing, so I'm going to implement my classroom and text findings into my own personal study. I will also practice implementation of the arts while teaching in my field experience. Since I'm already partial to using the arts in my study approach, I hope to find it successful in my teaching approach. I'm excited to try it out!
Elise, Your background in the arts will be a great asset in your teaching - I'm excited for the experience and passion you bring to this class and know it will benefit your students in field and eventually in your own classroom. It's great that you already have the vision of integrating the arts in all subject areas!
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