I'm really excited about this arts integration class. I have always loved art, music, and drama so I'm excited to be able to do these things with students. I enjoyed the reading and was happily surprised to learn that the arts help students to have less discipline problems and that it helped students, even the low-income students. It's amazing that it also helps them have increased concentration, more cooperation, and greater self-discipline. I think it's true that the arts bring energy to the classroom and the students have a natural interest in them.
I have enjoyed the activities that we have done like "who started the motion," mirroring, and process drama. I know that I'm a little intimidated by drama but these were a fun way to break into drama. I liked the fact that some of these activities only involve two people which isn't quite as scary.
I would love to use the arts in the classroom. I could imagine playing soft music while the students work or even having them share music occasionally. I think it would be neat to have them act out novels or history they are reading. There would be lots of fun ways to use art also. One class I saw drew life size portraits of various explorers and hung them in the hallway. My daughter had an assignment where she illustrated the bill of rights. I think she'll remember it forever. I would also like to have the children read plays and dramatize the parts. Even if they just do fun voices it adds a lot of enjoyment to reading. I hope to get many more ideas in this class about integrating the arts into the classroom.