Elementary Classroom
1. What form of arts integration or interdisciplinary learning units have you observed? In what ways were the visual forms investigated, learned, discussed, or produced in the classroom?
In my host classroom, I have seen the arts integrated through a couple of projects. The first project was a nonfiction research project where they created a book or a poster about their topic. They then added pictures from the internet and drawings if they chose. Another project was to make Abraham Lincoln's head out of construction paper and inside the flap on his hat they put a picture of something that is important to them. This project was inspired by a book that talked about how Lincoln kept his important letters in his hat so he wouldn't lose them. The Lincoln hats opened up which reminded me of our pop ups. The teacher modeled this project for her students, discussing where the parts of the face go on a human, and showed them how to cut the hat with a flap. She specified where they needed to cut so the hat had a brim and a flap, and her and I went around to help as the students worked. I posted these finished Lincoln's on a bulletin board outside the classroom.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
I would see the closest thing to a Big Idea or theme they used was talking about what is important to them. I feel like this is an aspect of identity and individualism. They all made generally the same Lincoln head and hat, but they got to share what was important to them individually by drawing what goes inside the hat. I think the students were working with all these types of thinking. They were using observation and narrative thinking when they read a book about Lincoln and used those pictures and the information to help them to decide how to make him look. They were also using their imaginations to fill in some of the blanks and decide how to create the details, and visual thinking to plan out how they wanted him to look and then make that happen.
3. What suggestions would you have for integration and interdisciplinary learning for this unit or lesson you observed? Try to think how you could make the learning more meaningful, connected, and deeper. Be specific.
I think first graders would be a little too young for this, but with older kids you could look a little more in depth at the facets of Abraham Lincoln's personality. We have learned in Social Studies about how the history we learned isn't always the whole story. For example, Lincoln may have been funny and well spoken, but he also dealt with stress and depression during his presidency. He got us out of the Civil War and ended slavery, but sources say he said if he could have ended the war without ending slavery he would have. Students could look at the light and dark parts of his personality and life, and make art showing the parts of themselves they see reflected in him. They could also choose other presidents or controversial figures. This could be similar to the Disney character project we did in class where we looked for positive and negative qualities in characters and related them to ourselves. This would show that nobody is perfect and we all have good and bad in ourselves.
In my host classroom, I have seen the arts integrated through a couple of projects. The first project was a nonfiction research project where they created a book or a poster about their topic. They then added pictures from the internet and drawings if they chose. Another project was to make Abraham Lincoln's head out of construction paper and inside the flap on his hat they put a picture of something that is important to them. This project was inspired by a book that talked about how Lincoln kept his important letters in his hat so he wouldn't lose them. The Lincoln hats opened up which reminded me of our pop ups. The teacher modeled this project for her students, discussing where the parts of the face go on a human, and showed them how to cut the hat with a flap. She specified where they needed to cut so the hat had a brim and a flap, and her and I went around to help as the students worked. I posted these finished Lincoln's on a bulletin board outside the classroom.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
I would see the closest thing to a Big Idea or theme they used was talking about what is important to them. I feel like this is an aspect of identity and individualism. They all made generally the same Lincoln head and hat, but they got to share what was important to them individually by drawing what goes inside the hat. I think the students were working with all these types of thinking. They were using observation and narrative thinking when they read a book about Lincoln and used those pictures and the information to help them to decide how to make him look. They were also using their imaginations to fill in some of the blanks and decide how to create the details, and visual thinking to plan out how they wanted him to look and then make that happen.
3. What suggestions would you have for integration and interdisciplinary learning for this unit or lesson you observed? Try to think how you could make the learning more meaningful, connected, and deeper. Be specific.
I think first graders would be a little too young for this, but with older kids you could look a little more in depth at the facets of Abraham Lincoln's personality. We have learned in Social Studies about how the history we learned isn't always the whole story. For example, Lincoln may have been funny and well spoken, but he also dealt with stress and depression during his presidency. He got us out of the Civil War and ended slavery, but sources say he said if he could have ended the war without ending slavery he would have. Students could look at the light and dark parts of his personality and life, and make art showing the parts of themselves they see reflected in him. They could also choose other presidents or controversial figures. This could be similar to the Disney character project we did in class where we looked for positive and negative qualities in characters and related them to ourselves. This would show that nobody is perfect and we all have good and bad in ourselves.
Art Classroom
1. The content of this lesson was to create "Recycle City". The art teacher showed the kids a video of someone reading The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. They then had a discussion about recycling and how it is important to take care of our environment. She then had a bunch of recycled bottles and had them use colored masking tape and permanent markers to add windows, doors, and decorations to turn the bottles into buildings. At the end of class, they put all their buildings together on the table and created a city. She then had them each add a detail to their class story about this city. I feel like this story was sort of a verbal assessment.
2. The teacher's strategy was to format this lesson in a way that they get some background information on the environment, they they do the art project with recycled materials, then they talk about the buildings they made and how in this city recycling is very important. She wanted the kids to have an idea of what can happen to the environment if we don't take care of it (by watching The Lorax) before they got to work. If they did not have this background knowledge, they wouldn't know why it was important to use recycled materials in their art.
3. The students were very engaged in this lesson, especially when they were making their buildings. They were given a lot of freedom by the teacher to decorate the buildings however they wanted, but at the same time she was pushing them. If kids would come up to her and say they were done, she would say "Do you have any windows? How are the people inside your building going to see outside?" This way they were pushed to work harder than they wanted to.
4. The art teacher told the kids to stay back from the table when they were telling the story. She said they shouldn't be touching the bottles during the story, and that they wouldn't start until everyone was away from the table.
5. The art classroom is similar to my general classroom in that the lesson plans are very clearly formatted and activities are purposeful. The lesson presentation is a little more fun and interesting in art class though, and students have more freedom to individualize their work. Somehow, even though there is more talking and freedom in the art classroom, the behavior management is just as effective as in the general classroom.
2. The teacher's strategy was to format this lesson in a way that they get some background information on the environment, they they do the art project with recycled materials, then they talk about the buildings they made and how in this city recycling is very important. She wanted the kids to have an idea of what can happen to the environment if we don't take care of it (by watching The Lorax) before they got to work. If they did not have this background knowledge, they wouldn't know why it was important to use recycled materials in their art.
3. The students were very engaged in this lesson, especially when they were making their buildings. They were given a lot of freedom by the teacher to decorate the buildings however they wanted, but at the same time she was pushing them. If kids would come up to her and say they were done, she would say "Do you have any windows? How are the people inside your building going to see outside?" This way they were pushed to work harder than they wanted to.
4. The art teacher told the kids to stay back from the table when they were telling the story. She said they shouldn't be touching the bottles during the story, and that they wouldn't start until everyone was away from the table.
5. The art classroom is similar to my general classroom in that the lesson plans are very clearly formatted and activities are purposeful. The lesson presentation is a little more fun and interesting in art class though, and students have more freedom to individualize their work. Somehow, even though there is more talking and freedom in the art classroom, the behavior management is just as effective as in the general classroom.