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?
I have observed arts integration in some of the math lessons I have seen. Students are told to draw pictures if they can't figure out the problem. In my host classroom in 3rd grade, students were learning how to estimate a measurement. They were told to draw a picture of a town or a city and make trees and buildings taller to show that they should be higher than street signs or people. These drawings are very important to show the different sizes and perspectives to students as they are learning how to estimate how tall an object is.
As a class, my host teacher also reads aloud a chapter book to students. After they finish a book, a student is selected to draw a copy of the cover of the book on a poster board to hang in the classroom. So far, 2 posters are hanging in the classroom of two different book covers. Each cover is drawn from scratch with markers or colored pencil and takes up the whole poster board.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
There was no Big Idea or theme used in my host classroom, however, for the math lesson, students were working with imagination, observation, and visual thinking. Students had to imagine a picture of a city or town in their mind and draw a picture representing different perspectives. They had to observe the picture and recognize the different sizes between a building compared to a person and visual thinking to estimate the size difference between these objects.
For the book cover, students used observation by looking at the book cover and copied the image onto a poster.
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.
For this unit, I'd suggest to have students draw a city or town before they know it is going to be used in a math lesson. That way, students have the freedom to draw however they want, without knowing that they need to use the drawing for measuring or to find different perspectives.
I have observed arts integration in some of the math lessons I have seen. Students are told to draw pictures if they can't figure out the problem. In my host classroom in 3rd grade, students were learning how to estimate a measurement. They were told to draw a picture of a town or a city and make trees and buildings taller to show that they should be higher than street signs or people. These drawings are very important to show the different sizes and perspectives to students as they are learning how to estimate how tall an object is.
As a class, my host teacher also reads aloud a chapter book to students. After they finish a book, a student is selected to draw a copy of the cover of the book on a poster board to hang in the classroom. So far, 2 posters are hanging in the classroom of two different book covers. Each cover is drawn from scratch with markers or colored pencil and takes up the whole poster board.
2. Was there a Big Idea or theme used? If so describe. Were students working with narrative, observation, imagination, and / or visual thinking?
There was no Big Idea or theme used in my host classroom, however, for the math lesson, students were working with imagination, observation, and visual thinking. Students had to imagine a picture of a city or town in their mind and draw a picture representing different perspectives. They had to observe the picture and recognize the different sizes between a building compared to a person and visual thinking to estimate the size difference between these objects.
For the book cover, students used observation by looking at the book cover and copied the image onto a poster.
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.
For this unit, I'd suggest to have students draw a city or town before they know it is going to be used in a math lesson. That way, students have the freedom to draw however they want, without knowing that they need to use the drawing for measuring or to find different perspectives.
Art Classroom
1. The content of the lesson, written and spoken objectives, and resources used.
The content of this lesson was understanding the foreground, middle ground and background of a picture. The teacher told students to just work on the background for this particular class period. Students received a large piece of construction paper and were able to use oil pastels to create a time of day for the background. Many students chose dark pieces of paper and added blues and purples to show nighttime. Many students also chose orange paper and created sunsets with red and yellow colors.
2. The teacher, her / his teaching strategies and format / process of the lesson as presented
The teacher’s teaching strategies was very laid back. The students came in and sat down in their assigned seats and he began by asking the students what the parts of a picture were. He explained to the students that they needed to think of a time of day that they can make for their background of their picture. The rest of the class was spent for work time and the students were able to complete the background of their pieces.
3. Student engagement of the lesson, classroom atmosphere, and environment
The teacher asked questions and students were able to shout out answers if they knew the answer. The classroom atmosphere was very calm and open and students were able to work freely and chat among each other while they work.
4. Classroom behavior management
If students weren’t behaving properly, the teacher would talk one-on-one with the student about what they should be doing. After the talk the student could get back to their work and if they had another misstep, the student would be moved to a different table to complete their work. The teacher was a very open teacher and calm in the classroom but took students behavior very seriously. He wanted students to be doing their work and made sure they were.
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 teacher in my regular classroom is much more strict about her teaching strategies and classroom behavior management. I noticed that my host teacher in my regular classroom has more teaching strategies than the art teacher. The art teacher seemed to be free will and my host teacher always had a plan. In my regular classroom, my teacher usually gives students a list of assignments to do and they have time to work in class, similar to the art teacher. Both teachers had a different way of teaching but were both effective for the students.
The content of this lesson was understanding the foreground, middle ground and background of a picture. The teacher told students to just work on the background for this particular class period. Students received a large piece of construction paper and were able to use oil pastels to create a time of day for the background. Many students chose dark pieces of paper and added blues and purples to show nighttime. Many students also chose orange paper and created sunsets with red and yellow colors.
2. The teacher, her / his teaching strategies and format / process of the lesson as presented
The teacher’s teaching strategies was very laid back. The students came in and sat down in their assigned seats and he began by asking the students what the parts of a picture were. He explained to the students that they needed to think of a time of day that they can make for their background of their picture. The rest of the class was spent for work time and the students were able to complete the background of their pieces.
3. Student engagement of the lesson, classroom atmosphere, and environment
The teacher asked questions and students were able to shout out answers if they knew the answer. The classroom atmosphere was very calm and open and students were able to work freely and chat among each other while they work.
4. Classroom behavior management
If students weren’t behaving properly, the teacher would talk one-on-one with the student about what they should be doing. After the talk the student could get back to their work and if they had another misstep, the student would be moved to a different table to complete their work. The teacher was a very open teacher and calm in the classroom but took students behavior very seriously. He wanted students to be doing their work and made sure they were.
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 teacher in my regular classroom is much more strict about her teaching strategies and classroom behavior management. I noticed that my host teacher in my regular classroom has more teaching strategies than the art teacher. The art teacher seemed to be free will and my host teacher always had a plan. In my regular classroom, my teacher usually gives students a list of assignments to do and they have time to work in class, similar to the art teacher. Both teachers had a different way of teaching but were both effective for the students.