Arts Academy Final Reflection

Janet Hopkins

As I come to the end of Arts Academy I realize that my outlook on teaching and on life has been changed by this experience. At each of our sessions I have been intrigued by ideas and have taken them back to use in my classroom. I now look for ways to incorporate the arts into whatever I am teaching. Here are just a few examples.

After our first session I realized that I can be more effective as a teacher by analyzing my students’ learning styles early in the year. I discovered that one particularly irritating student was just an orange personality trying to cope in my gold classroom. As I changed my teaching style he changed his behavior.

I have re-discovered my love of visual arts, especially drawing. And because of my increased involvement in art activities like Evening for Educators, I was able to use great art integration projects in my class this year. I particularly enjoyed Walter Wick’s art and used it in a unit on “The Three Little Pigs.”

In Arts Academy I was introduced to my digital camera and discovered an interest in media art that I never knew I had. I loved working on my PSA and I am excited to present it at Back-to-School Night next year!

My Arts Academy experience has given me the confidence to try new approaches and share them with my colleagues. My students can feel my excitement and they are willing to try new things too. I know that I am more energized about teaching and learning because of this opportunity. I hope every teacher gets to participate in Arts Academy!

In Chapter 2 I read: “Offer options other than traditional reports to synthesize content (e.g., write stories, poems, songs; construct games; make charts, drawings, sculptures, tableau; or create dances). Since I was preparing for my class to begin reading partner books together I found this idea intriguing. I had groups of 3 children read the same book. I explained before they ever picked their books that each group would present the beginning, middle, and end of their stories in some kind of presentation. We then brainstormed ideas for what kind of presentation that could be. We came up with lots of ideas including visual art (posters), creating a song or dance, and acting it out. After the students had completed their books they had to decide which kind of presentation they would do. Out of 9 groups, 2 chose to draw posters and 7 chose to act it out. My students worked with enthusiasm and concentration as they prepared their projects. The classroom was full of noise and energy as they worked together. I called each group back to discuss their projects but there was very little instruction that I needed to give. Last week I had the groups perform and everyone in the class was a “judge” with a rubric to fill out. I was amazed at the creativity of my students and even more impressed by their understanding of story elements!

I decided to use an art project that Tia Bradley and I discussed at Arts Academy. I played “Flight of the Bumble Bee” and had my students draw what they heard in the music. The only rule I gave was that each line they drew must begin on one side of the paper and end on another side. Then I told the class to color each section of the design a different color. My students loved it! They started coming up to me to show me pictures they had discovered in their designs. When the designs were finished I had the students write a letter to me telling me about their pictures. Their responses were fun. Here is a sample: “In my picture I can see a snake in the water. Like the snake is in diving and the snake gets out of the water and slides away to its home.” “If I could put my stain glass window anywhere that I could I would put it in my room in my window. So that every morning when I woke up the sun would shine through the window in different colors. And all the different colors would shine on the wall and you could see all the shapes on the wall. I would just stare and stare at them.”