What Will I Take Away From This Course?
This course has definitely been one of my most demanding courses throughout my MAED experience. I have enjoyed the opportunity to look at many different art forms and what it takes to master them. I have gotten a better sense of what people go through to create things that I have taken for granted. When I think about this idea with my students, and what I have learned that will benefit them, I don’t know where to begin. I can look back on the first module we did, where we talked about what art was, and it makes me think about what my art of teaching to my students is. How can I make it important to them? What will make them appreciate it and not take it for granted? In order to achieve this, I need to take bits and pieces that I learned from all of the modules that we discussed.
There is the idea of interior design and architecture that we got to study. I mentioned in my blog posts that designing a classroom that benefits my students, means taking the time to step back and think about what makes sense. How can I take advantage of all of the space that I am given to create an environment that caters to student learning and can help them be excited about it? I am now thinking about my classroom, not only as a place to get work done, but a place that is going to influence the way that my students learn.
I think that the film & television module was another one that made a huge impact on me. Not only because movies and television are a daily occurrence in our house, but because it made me think about how the artists need to use angle, lighting, and storyline to keep the audience engaged. I need to do the same with my students, in a similar way. I may not have to change the lighting, but I think the angle, and the way that I present information to them is going to make or break a lesson that I teach. I need to dig deeper to find ways to make the lessons meaningful to them. I need to attach them from a different angle if my first attempt doesn’t yield the outcome I had hoped for. I also need to think about the “dialogue and storyline” I use. What am I going to talk about, or have my students talk about. Will it be relevant to them or will it be something that they are uninterested in and learn little from? The later is unacceptable. I have the tools to no longer create lessons like that. I need to take the time to present my information from different angles and give my students engaging material to discuss or talk about with me.
Fashion was another area that I think made me think closely about my classroom and the concept of differentiation. We see kids that wear what they want and it may seem crazy to us, but it is their way of expressing who they are. Just because it is different from the way that everyone else is dressing doesn’t make it wrong. It is a different verse to the same song. I need to take this approach when I am teaching. Every child in my classroom is different and their brains “dress differently” than each others. This mentality reminds me to think about the idea of a different angle on teaching. I need to produce multiple activities and lesson ideas to be sure to address and reach all of the students in my classroom. My switching up the types of activities that I do, I can be sure that there is something that allowed every student to be successful in my classroom.
Overall the idea of using concepts from different art forms into my classroom is a great one. This course caused me to look at ways that I could improve the quality of learning that is taking place in my classroom. There is no reason for my students to be bored when I am sitting here with the tools needed to create compelling and exciting ideas to help them be more successful learners. I hope that I don’t forget the wonderful things that I have learned in this course, and am able to incorporate them into my future classrooms. I know that my students will benefit from them!
