Visual Arts-elements, principles, and illustrators

It has been fun learning about art elements and principles. I think it is important to teach children about proportion, balance, rhythm, variety, emphasis, and unity. Teaching these elements gives them words so they can name and identify what they see in art. These elements also expand their knowledge and vocabulary in other areas besides art. I think analyzing art opens up a new world of expression to them. It expands their view of the world and allows them to better understand other points of view.

I would love to use the SWAPP pictures. If the school that I teach at doesn't have the pictures I will definitely buy the postcards. Using these pictures would introduce the students to different styles of art. These pictures would be a great way to introduce the elements of art in an interactive way like we did in class. The postcards have a great variety of art on them and I like that some information about the artist and the picture are included.

It was so much fun learning about the children's books illustrators. This would be a great way to introduce children to illustrators, authors, and fun books. It would also be a good way to introduce them to different principles of art such as collage, line drawing, painting, etc. It would be fun to have the students pick an illustrator and do reports and have the students do projects like we did. My children have done author reports at school about their favorite author. This project was a great way for them to read, write,and report orally. They also learn about other books that interest them from other children.

I definitely want to teach about art in the classroom to help the students become better artists, to give them an appreciation for art, and inorder for them to just enjoy art.

Visual Arts

This week in class we got to experiment with the elements of art including line, shape, color, value, texture, and space. I am probably biased because I love art. It was enjoyable to paint and draw. I think these exercises would be a great way to help students understand these words. They are simply words until you get to experiment with line, texture, value, etc. Doing things like creating a spectrum of value really helps you understand and internalize what it is. These would be a great way to expand student's knowledge of the depth of what can be done by using the different elements. I think art allows students who may have difficulty expressing themselves otherwise to express themselves. Learning how to do art also gives the student more appreciation for professional artists. I am also excited to do the children's art illustrator's presentations.

Music and Dance

Last week our music/dance class was my favorite out of all my classes all semester. It was so much fun! I enjoyed seeing what the different groups put together for their lessons. These activities would add a lot of fun and creativity to lessons. I think these type of activities engage students and draw them into whatever is being taught. Movement forces them to "walk in their shoes" like we did when dramatizing the slaves with the Henry's Freedom Box book. I loved the book and would like to do that activity. The Utah Counties song was useful also. I liked that the teachers constantly changed the activity so it didn't become monotonous. They used beach balls, clapping, and striking a pose.

The schoolhouse rock dance about the revolutionary war was fun and reinforced the main events of that war. I also enjoyed the "rock" song and think it would capture student's attention for the lesson. The lesson on dancing to different types of music was a lot of fun. As a student it's a little intimidating at first to create a dance but very enjoyable. Creating the Indian dance was fun also. Lastly, the water cycle song was so cute. It was easy to learn but taught the main points of the water cycle and taught some very important vocabulary.

I would love to use dance and music in the classroom. I am amazed that it is pretty simple to introduce the song or dance and the students just take off with the idea and further dramatize and embellish on the idea. I hope that wherever I teach the arts are fully used and appreciated. I think students can retain information that was taught to music for years. Impressive!