Art: Week of February 15, 2011

          The presentation on VTS was very useful.  There are many different learning techniques that can come from discussions about art work.  Students are able to be creative and imaginative in what the art means to them.  One of the coolest things about art is that it can have multiple meanings and there doesn't have to be any right or wrong answers.  In school, students sometimes do not share their ideas or answers because they feel that they are wrong and they don't want to be embarrassed.  What is so neat about the this exercise is that every student feels that they are correct and that they can openly share their ideas in a positive environment!  This is important because the students are learning from each other and building ideas off of each other.  

          I chose this piece of art because I liked how it was very complex and how there was a lot going on.  I also do no know the reasoning behind the piece of art, so while my 2 friends were telling me what they thought about the art, both of their ideas sounded correct and I wasn't bias towards either way!  Both girls had a lot to say about the art and they really liked how colorful and detailed it was.  It was very intriguing to them.  At first they were both just pointing out different objects in the painting, but then one of them started to connect some of the objects and started to tell a story.  The other girl did not necessarily build off of the other's story, but she started making up one of her own stories about what she thought was going on in the painting.  After both of them had told their stories, they started to agree with one another on different things and they started to then began to build ideas off of one another and formed a new story.  By the end of the discussion, there were many different stories that they thought the piece of art was exemplifying.  While the girls were describing what they thought, I would repeat what they were saying, but at the same time I was making up my own story about it.  We all had different ideas, but they all worked for this one piece of art.  I really liked doing this assignment and my friends liked doing it as well.  They liked sharing their ideas and using their imagination. 

Art: Week of February 8, 2011

          Art, like Music and P.E. is a very important part of the classroom curriculum.  Art is important for many reasons and the main role of art in the classroom is to get the students to think creatively.  Being creative is a gift that all children have and it is up to the teacher to utilize this gift and to make sure that the student never loses their creative thinking.  There are two hemispheres in your brain, the right and left hemispheres, the right hemisphere tends to be the creative side, while the left hemisphere is more of the academic/math hemisphere.  When both parts of the brain are working together, that is when excellent thinking occurs.  Bringing art in the classroom is not only for the students to have fun, but it is a great and fun way to get them thinking in a different way.  Any subject; math, history, science, or english, can have art involved with it.  Having art incorporated into the lessons will not only make the lessons fun, but they will also learn so much from it.

          Kindergarten through fourth grade I was fortunate enough to attend a private elementary school.  At this school, we had art as a separate class.  In this class, we learned different concepts, such as the color wheel, painting, and drawing.  The class was structured, but at the same time, we had a lot of choice on what we wanted to do.  This was convenient because it allowed us to be creative and create a piece of art that we would be proud of.  I am very comfortable with art.  I am not the best artist, but I love to draw in my free time.  I have only had a few drawings/paintings that I would consider a masterpiece, but I learn from all of my drawings and paintings even if they are not the best.

          Art and learning go hand in hand.  Above I talked about the left and right hemispheres and how they play a role in ones thinking, now I am going to talk about the presentation that Morgan Appel presented and the relationship between art and learning.  It was pointed out that one does not need to be an artist to integrate art in the curriculum.  Along with this, art can be something as simple as coloring a flag, or as advanced as transforming the room into a jungle.  Integrating art into the curriculum has many benefits including new opportunities and challenges for the students.  Students learn and create schemes when they are interested in a topic and art is the perfect way to get students engaged and thinking in a way that will make them remember.  Students can learn just as much, if not more from doing art projects with lessons then they can from listening to a lecture.  There are many benefits to incorporating art in a daily lesson and it is important to have the child begin doing art in their earliest years of education because it plays a significant part in brain development.  Plus, art gets the students excited about learning and it is important to have students who want to learn, it will make their educational experience so much more meaningful.