Regular Classroom Art Observation
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?
I'm in a kindergarten classroom and I'm finding that art is being integrated into the classroom in as many lessons as possible. The last lesson that I observed my instructor read a book about a snow day for her kids and then had them create their own snow man through a tear paper project. After the students created their snow men they had to write a sentence using descriptive language to distinguish their snow man from their classmates.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
The theme that the teacher was focusing on was descriptive language and the students had to use observation, imagination and visual thinking to make their snow man different from all of their other classmates.
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.
After the students finished their tear paper snow man project I would then have a lesson on weather ready for them. This would be a great transition into the students learning the different seasons and at least brush on the ideas of the water cycle and how snow is formed.
I'm in a kindergarten classroom and I'm finding that art is being integrated into the classroom in as many lessons as possible. The last lesson that I observed my instructor read a book about a snow day for her kids and then had them create their own snow man through a tear paper project. After the students created their snow men they had to write a sentence using descriptive language to distinguish their snow man from their classmates.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
The theme that the teacher was focusing on was descriptive language and the students had to use observation, imagination and visual thinking to make their snow man different from all of their other classmates.
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.
After the students finished their tear paper snow man project I would then have a lesson on weather ready for them. This would be a great transition into the students learning the different seasons and at least brush on the ideas of the water cycle and how snow is formed.
Art Class Observation
1. The content of the lesson, written and spoken objectives, and resources used
In this lesson that teacher had the students make food face collages. Their objectives were to create a face out of pictures of food from magazines; they had to make sure to incorporate two eyes, a nose and a mouth and then after they had those features they could then add in more details and include hair, ears, eye lashes, etc.
2. The teacher, her / his teaching strategies and format / process of the lesson as presented
The art teacher had the students sit in a circle on the floor and talked about what a collage is and how to make one. She talked about a particular artist who makes collages and passed around a book with pictures of his work. The teacher showed the students how to create their projects by doing an example of her own food face. Once she showed the students how to create their food faces they all went to their assigned tables, where all of their materials were laid out and began to work on their food face collages.
3. Student engagement of the lesson, classroom atmosphere, and environment
The students were engaged in this project because they were able to be as creative as they wanted to be with their food faces. The kindergarteners loved being able to choose which "nose" they wanted to use and which ever food was going to be their "lips". The classroom atmosphere and environment was positive, creative, open and overall fun. Students were excited to be in their art class.
4. Classroom behavior management
The only time that there was behavior management was in the circle at the beginning of the lesson. A few students had a hard time staying engaged in the lesson and were either not sitting in criss cross apple sauce or were chatting with their neighbor. The teacher directly addressed each student in the circle and they responded positively to the direction.
5. Compare the art classroom to the regular classroom in regards to the teaching strategies, lesson presentation, student engagement, classroom atmosphere, environment, and behavior management.
The art classroom lesson was a lot more laid back, creative and open while the regular classroom had quite a bit more structure to it. In both classrooms the students cleary enjoyed what they were doing and had fun however it was clear that the students felt more comfortable doing their art in art room rather than in their regular classroom.
In this lesson that teacher had the students make food face collages. Their objectives were to create a face out of pictures of food from magazines; they had to make sure to incorporate two eyes, a nose and a mouth and then after they had those features they could then add in more details and include hair, ears, eye lashes, etc.
2. The teacher, her / his teaching strategies and format / process of the lesson as presented
The art teacher had the students sit in a circle on the floor and talked about what a collage is and how to make one. She talked about a particular artist who makes collages and passed around a book with pictures of his work. The teacher showed the students how to create their projects by doing an example of her own food face. Once she showed the students how to create their food faces they all went to their assigned tables, where all of their materials were laid out and began to work on their food face collages.
3. Student engagement of the lesson, classroom atmosphere, and environment
The students were engaged in this project because they were able to be as creative as they wanted to be with their food faces. The kindergarteners loved being able to choose which "nose" they wanted to use and which ever food was going to be their "lips". The classroom atmosphere and environment was positive, creative, open and overall fun. Students were excited to be in their art class.
4. Classroom behavior management
The only time that there was behavior management was in the circle at the beginning of the lesson. A few students had a hard time staying engaged in the lesson and were either not sitting in criss cross apple sauce or were chatting with their neighbor. The teacher directly addressed each student in the circle and they responded positively to the direction.
5. Compare the art classroom to the regular classroom in regards to the teaching strategies, lesson presentation, student engagement, classroom atmosphere, environment, and behavior management.
The art classroom lesson was a lot more laid back, creative and open while the regular classroom had quite a bit more structure to it. In both classrooms the students cleary enjoyed what they were doing and had fun however it was clear that the students felt more comfortable doing their art in art room rather than in their regular classroom.