Jeri Rogers
B.Y.U. Arts Academy
Final reflection
April 17, 2009

Upon reflecting about my experiences this past year as an Art Academy participant I am humbled by how rich my life and influenced as a teacher I have become.  I have always believed in the value of the arts as a powerful tool for teaching but my scope of the arts was very limited.  I always felt I did more in my classroom with the visual arts than my peers, but now I can see how much more I can integrate in the classroom utilizing dance, theatre, and music. Because of my involvement with the Arts Academy I have also been taking monthly classes at the U.of U. (Art Work For Kids).  The combination of both workshops has truly immersed me in the arts.
From a personal standpoint I am once again awakened to the beauty and diversity surrounding me.  I have attended more arts related events such as plays, museums, and live productions.  I am focusing a summer vacation around visiting the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, which I’ve put on the backburner.  I feel I’ve gained back that spark to try a new approach to teaching subjects that have become routine.
My class this year has experienced different ways to practice reading and fluency through play-acting and improvising.  Lots of “Brain Dancing” and getting more in touch with one’s feelings have occurred.  I now look forward to my gym time.  I’m still working on the dance elements of how to comfortably teach my students.  I have seen students who struggle with academic areas of school becoming the stars in a short play.  I hang on to the nuggets of joy when a student who has very poor fine motor co-ordination (handwriting, cutting) tells me he loves art and that he didn’t know he was so good at it!  I’ve discovered the arts are so forgiving with all children (and adults!).  There is not a right or wrong way when it comes to this subject.  The presenters throughout this Arts Academy are the best in their own fields and have been so generous in providing concrete ways for me to utilize their ideas.  Our school has a dance festival in May-I’m really excited to try a new dance for the first graders.
I feel my school has been impacted by my participation in the Arts Academy by the enthusiasm I show every time I return from one of our ‘retreats’.  I try to display lots of my students work in the classroom and so many teachers have inquired about where the ideas and process come from.  By sharing the information I’ve gained I feel the teachers are more aware of what is available in the community.  I feel I’ve become more of a resource to the staff.  But most important of all is that I have changed my attitude towards the arts and all my future students are going to be the beneficiaries of this experience.
Thank you so much for this opportunity!

Time has really flown since our last meeting.  Upon reflection I have implemented some of the ideas given in our February meetings.  It was really fun and productive to use the guided imagery technique when I had my students write about Shawn the Leprechaun in March.  I feel some of the students best writing occurred!  Once I got into givng discriptions using the 5 senses it was fun.   I also did some positive/negative drawings that the students really liked.  Our school has an Arts Night for families in March.  All the grades offer some type of arts activity that parents and children can make or do.  It’s held in the evening from 5-7 p.m.  Our grade did picture collages using colored noodles, beans, etc.  Other activities offered were folk dancing, tin foil sculpture, marble artwork, cookie decorating, and more.  It was busy, chaotic and loads of fun.  See you in a couple of weeks!   Jeri Rogers

An activity I am presently doing with my class pertains to a unit on healthy foods. By spending time exposing my class to the food groups and their importance, I am now having the students make a ‘plate’ of their favorite food using a paper plate, construction paper, and markers. Each student has written interractively their favorite food on a word strip which is then stapled to the top of their paper plate. Students are in charge of making a pattern around the edge of the plate (to review the patterning math concept). We share our artwork by singing the song “Today is Sunday” inserting the favorite foods. Next week I will use these same plates which are now displayed on the wall to be used as an alphabetizing assignment. The students choose any 10 foods, write them on strips of paper and then alphabatize them. Finally, they glue them on a piece of paper which I use to assess their alphabatizing skills. I found it interesting that the first three chapters in the “Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts” run parallel to my philosophy of teaching. I didn’t have a specific name for what I have been doing; I was just trying to make what I was teaching more fun. It’s comforting to me that I have been on the right track! Jeri Rogers

Hi Everyone,

This has been a very busy month for me–I feel immersed in art training!  I came away from the 2 day Park City get away anxious to “do it all”.  I have done the “Mirror Imaging” with my students three different times-trying to gradually build up to more complicated mirroring.  My first grade students love this activity.  Of course there are still some silly students, but they become my partner which straightens them out quickly.  I’ve discovered some students that really have a difficult time when their partner does any motion that crosses over the middle of their body.   When I had them add their legs it got kind of crazy–I had to reinforce again the idea of going s-l-o-w!  I am excited to try your suggestion of the circle group-sending one person out of the room.  I am also going to try the activity where the students roam around the room and I give different directions (swimming in jello, being in mud, etc.)  I will do the song “Going on a Bear Hunt” to tie this together.

I also went to an “Art Reps” meeting for our district and met Joseph Germaine.  He taught us Art Haiku using print making techniques.  How fun was that!  I then signed up for the U. of U. Art Work For Kids workshop that is held the first of each month for 3 hours.  It was nice to see Scott (Flox) there and again learn another technique on using India Ink with Large Scale Drawings.  I have sent notes home to parents for old t-shirts for the students and am in hopes of doing still life pastels using pumpkins.  I am also attempting to do a large scale group picture of a haunted house with the class.

All in all, this feels to me like my first year of teaching–exciting, exhausting and at times overwhelming.  I’m excited to see everyone in a few weeks.