Reflection Week #10 - Field Work 1

This week was my partner and I started our field work experience. It was so fun getting to meet the students and to be able to practice what we have been learning in our courses these past months. We are in a fourth grade classroom at Winsor Elementary school. Our teacher when we first met her stated that she isn't very creative and doesn't incorporate art very often. So far in our experience she has not used any type of art even though there are places where I think it could have been useful. One experience in particular was when the students were learning about the order of operations in math. Her students were really struggling remembering it, and I believe that if she would have used a song it would have really helped them. The class we are in is in a lower socioeconomic area so a lot of the students struggle, and I think that our cooperating teacher would really benefit from integrating arts into her curriculum. Hopefully we will be able to share some of the techniques we have learned with her.

When my partner and I introduced ourselves we decided to sing a song with the kids. It was interesting to watch their reactions. One of the students kept looking at us like we were crazy, but the majoring of the students really enjoyed the activity. We didn't have the time to teach them how to sing it well, but we did use the whole to part model and sang it for them a few times before they started joining in. I thought I would be really nervous doing it for the first time, but it really went well.

I never really realize how important it is to use the arts in the classroom. I hope that when I have my own classroom I will be able to remember the techniques I learned, and use my art journal to fully integrate the arts. I believe the benefits are incredible, and as teachers we should capitalize on those benefits. The arts put kids on a more level playing field and give them a chance to be kids. Being in the classroom this week has made me want to search continually for unique and fun ways to integrate the arts so that when I have my own classroom I will be able to use them to my student's benefit.