Fine Arts in Review

I wanted to write my last blog post for EDUC 406 about my final thoughts and reflections on the course and everything I learned during it. I took many risks and tried things I had never tried this semester. For instance, I wrote this blog! I have never written a blog and been so open about my thoughts and feelings before. I shared my Youtube video of my PG's Got Talent performance, and my Google presentation I used during my practicum. Sharing with the public on this blog meant that I was vulnerable and open to feedback from others.

I went to the Art Battle this semester because Willow encouraged my class to go to art events in the community if we had never been to them before. I also went to a murder mystery night on Halloween weekend, and Willow had influence on my decision to agree to participate in that, as well.

The arts are so much more exciting to me now that I have experienced them on a deeper level. I am excited to incorporate more music, drama, visual arts, and dance into my classroom.

Singing Our Hearts Out

Here is Byron, Denon, and I singing our hearts out at Celebration of Creation!

I had to write a blog post about the singing (and playing) that Byron, Denon, and I did at Celebration of Creation on Monday, November 24, 2014. At the same time that children, their families, and other guests browsed through the art gallery, the three of us sang popular songs, such as 'Wonderwall' by Oasis, 'Let Her Go' by Passenger, and 'Umbrella' by Rihanna. The music helped create a wonderful mood as people viewed the exhibits, and we received many smiles and warm words of encouragement.

I enjoyed myself as I sang because it was a way for me to forget about all of the assignments I have coming up, and the stress I have to get them all completed. I feel that art can do this for elementary students, as well. Even though their workload is not the same as the workload is for university students, young students still stress out about the assignments they need to do and the tests they have. I think an important reason why the Fine Arts are important to teach in the school setting is because they help cultivate wellbeing in students. As a teacher, I believe it is important to do this.

Harry Potter Murder Mystery Night

This post is a little late, but this Halloween I went to the best event I have been to in a very long time. A prior UNBC Elementary Education student hosted a Harry Potter themed murder mystery night at her house on Halloween weekend. One of my best friends and I dressed up as Fred and George Weasley (Ron Weasley's prankster twin brothers) and acted like the twins all evening, with accents and all. I had a lot of fun acting and staying in character all night as we tried to figure out 'who done it.'

My friend and I as Fred and George Weasley. We bought orange wigs and cut them so that our hair looked like the twins' hair in the movies. We also coloured made our faces a little pale, put on lots of blush, added freckles, and painted our eyebrows orange.

It would be fun to adapt a murder mystery to a classroom setting or to write my own murder mystery for my students. I could see older students (grades 4+) enjoying this drama activity. I think it would work great in place of a school play perhaps because students would be able to prepare for their role and then could demonstrate skills that I would need to assess them on to meet drama PLOs. A classroom murder mystery would also benefit students who are nervous performing in front of others and feel more comfortable performing in front of their peers. The only thing is that the content would need to be age-appropriate for the maturity level of the class. Maybe instead of a 'murder' mystery, it could be a different type of mystery, as well, such as 'who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?'

Reader's Theatre

Today in class we did Reader's Theatre of the story Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin. Our professor Dr. Willow Brown adapted the story for Reader's Theatre and gave us a script to read. Six of us participated reading the narrator lines and two of us read Pete's lines and Santa's lines. It was a lot of fun doing Reader's Theatre together as a class.

I realized that I could do Reader's Theatre in my own classroom one day. I think it would be an excellent drama activity for young students to experience! Students could each have their own roles and dress up in costumes. There could even be non-diegetic sound in the background to contribute to the mood of the story, and diegetic sound for what is happening in the story. My students could perform this for themselves in class or they could even prepare to perform in front of the entire school or their parents. I think students would feel a lot of pride doing this, and it would be fun for them to do. It would also be another way for them to demonstrate their learning or knowledge and to practice oral speaking and reading skills.

Celebration of Creation

This evening was Celebration of Creation - the Children's Arts Gala we have been waiting for all semester! The paintings that my students created during my three week practicum were on display all evening and two of my students even showed up with their families. I had a fabulous time! I sang songs with my two classmates Byron and Denon (Byron was playing guitar and Denon and I sang), and enjoyed watching a children's choir from a local school sing some popular songs. I talked with many people - some of those people were the media! The event was covered by several media outlets in our city, actually. (You can click here for the 250 news article.) A photographer from the Facebook page 'HYPG' was even there with his wife. He took so many amazing photographs of the entire event. Here is one he took of my display:

I realized throughout this event that celebrating what children create in the Fine Arts is very important. By expressing themselves, children can learn to see themselves without limitations, and that is very liberating for them. When children create art, adults should celebrate it! It is a celebration of creation (I really liked the name that my classmate Caroline suggested for our event...'Celebration of Creation'). I hope to do something like this event in the future for my students. I think I would incorporate visual arts, music, dance, and drama though. There would be performances and skits students would create themselves, as well as dancing to music. I think a Children's Arts Gala is the perfect idea to support children in the Fine Arts.

  

Self-Assessment in Art

The same day that I had students write Artist’s Statements I had them self-assess their paintings. I gave them the following rubric:

Objective:	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
I can paint a value scale.	I have not painted a colour value scale that goes from low value to high value.	I sometimes put colours of a value scale in the wrong order.	I have painted an obvious colour value scale.
I tried to put my best effort into my painting.	I did not put in any effort in my painting.	I put some effort into my painting.	I put as much effort into my painting as I could.

This self-assessment is the first one I have ever given to students. I thought that it seemed easy enough to understand and from what I observed in the classroom as students assessed themselves, it was.

I included effort on the self-assessment rubric because I was thinking of the students who try their best in art but are not the most skilled. I wanted to know how they felt about their work to be able to assess them fairly.

Language Arts with Art Integration

One of the last lessons I taught during my last practicum was Language Arts with Art integration. My students had all finished their ‘Spooky Silhouette’ paintings and some of their work was going to be in the Children’s Art Gala. Because the artwork was going to be on display, I thought that it would be a great idea for my students to write Artist’s Statements to describe their paintings, how they were created, and what they thought of them.

For this lesson, I borrowed Willow Brown’s technique when she showed us pictures that depicted chiaroscuro and had us guess what it was based on our judgments of the characteristics. I showed students images of three Artist’s Statements, and told them they had to observe the pictures and tell me what they noticed or what they saw in common between the three. All three of them even had the title ‘Artist’s Statement’ so I was surprised that students did not say that right away, but at any rate, it was a great activity for students to practice their observation skills. They finally realized that the pictures were all Artist’s Statements and then students began writing their statements right away.

The statements all turned out so well. I am proud of my grade 5 students for creating Artist’s Statements of the paintings they completed. I think for those who have their art in the Children’s Art Gala, they will be very proud to see their work paired with a statement of it.