Field Experience Fall 2009

Overall I had a very good experience in the field. The 4th graders were really cute, smart, and full of energy. I got very attached to them in just a few weeks and hated to come back to class. They were all unique with their own strengths. There were about twice as many boys as girls and they were very active. Some were very smart and others had such great needs. My cooperating teacher was a fun and effective teacher. She didn't use the arts as much as I would hope but the children really enjoyed the activities they did. On Fridays the students would go to a recorder class, a singing class, or a music appreciation class. I only attended the singing class but the students obviously loved it. It was a fun way to end the week. The students would even request songs. The teacher had recordings of songs about Utah and Christmas songs. She had the words on an overhead. All of the students were singing and some even danced.

We also had the opportunity to go on a field trip to the Utah Valley Symphony. The cooperating teacher taught the children about different types of music and had the students list examples in each category. Then she talked about musical instruments and the categories that they fit in. Then she gave each student a picture of an instrument and had them sort them into the right category. The last part of the lesson was having the students watch a video about Peter and the Wolf. Then the class attended the Symphony. The children all dressed up and the teacher instructed (and threatened) the students about how to behave. The Symphony played a group of marches starting with Indiana Jones. The director taught the children about marches from different composers. He even had the children listen for certain things and had them do motions to some of the songs. I was amazed at how good the children were once the concert started. This was definitely a successful unit on music.

We had two arts lessons. The first was integrated into a lesson plan. The lesson was on the Ute Indians. At the end of the lesson I read a legend called The Horse Raid. After I read it we discussed what they learned from it and what they could visualize. We were going to have the students draw what they visualized but we unfortunately ran out of time. I was disappointed because I would have been interested to see their pictures. I wondered if the boys would have illustrated the more different parts of the legend than the girls.

Our second arts lesson was a pow wow dance at the end of the unit on the Ute tribe. At the beginning of the lesson we reviewed what we had learned about the Utes. Then we taught the children a dance to the chorus to give them an idea of what to do. Brittney and I had made them Indian headbands which they enjoyed. We danced together as a class and then had the students go into the center one at a time to create movements to the dance. It was fun to see the children relax and have fun and show their personalities. They got a little wild but I would still do it again. The next time I would give strict instructions and guidance so the children wouldn't get out of hand. I would also allow more time and scaffolding for the dance. (Dr. Escalante) sometimes just started doing an activity of dance and had us follow while giving us instruction. Sometimes that works better than trying to explain first. I think this type of activity would be fun to do every 2-3 weeks. It could even be a reward for good behavior. I think the children would learn how to behave appropriately and would have fun building upon,exploring, and expanding dance movements.