Start of Semester Survey
1. How do you envision using art in your classroom?
I envision art as being a way for my students to express themselves in more ways than we could get in the normal core curriculum. Students are all unique and have so many different strengths and weaknesses that I believe art can help many of them find something that is theirs and something they can excel in. I would really like to include drawing and painting with other units and help students both learn and express what they know in a visual format that integrates the text and information they encounter every day.
2. What do you know about integrated learning / integration?
I think of integrated learning as students learning multiple disciplines together in a way that makes them all more meaningful and easier to learn. Integration is tough to do correctly but can really enhance students' learning if done right. Integration can also help subjects they may not be given much time in the school day to be the focus with other curriculum being learned.
3. Rate your comfort level in making art, and discuss.
Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
I gave making art a 4 in comfort level because I really love doing art especially painting and ceramics, but I am not 100% comfortable with it because I tend to overanalyze mistakes as a perfectionist and can't really free flow in my work.
4. Rate your comfort level in analyzing and talking
about art, and discuss.
Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
I gave analyzing and talking about art a 3 because I have had some experience in learning about art history and forms of art and also love museums and art galleries but I don't tend to have strong opinions on specific art pieces or artists and don't know how discussion on them would go.
End of Semester Survey
1. How do you envision using art in your classroom?
I see art as an integral part of any classroom and any subject now. I have learned so many new ways to integrate and use artistic techniques that it would be silly not to use them. I love the idea of VTS for getting students to think outside the box and excited for what they can learn from others. I felt like art is now the area that students can enjoy because they are truly making their own. Before, in art classes I had been in, we were graded on how good it looked. In my classroom, students will be given the materials but completely on their own to decide what works for them and what expresses what they want it to. Art gives students a very different way to express themselves and I like the idea of connecting it whatever else they do.
2. What do you know about integrated learning / integration?
Integration is hard at first, but it truly is worth the effort. I've learned so many different ways that my subjects work together and how overarching and overlapping themes can make units of study meaningful and enriching to students on a whole new level. It isn't just the arts that can be integrated together, there is so much history, math, and science in each visual art project we've completed.
3. Rate your comfort level in making art, and discuss.
Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
Now that I feel art is whatever I want to make of it, there is so much less pressure on the perfection of it. I know there are certain techniques that I don't work as well with but you can always make it about you and your expression. Making art is the fun part, explaining or knowing quite what you did is a whole different story.
4. Rate your comfort level in analyzing and talking about art, and discuss. Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
The VTS strategies we have learned and partially instructed really making talking about and discussing art so much easier. It is all about your perception and what evidence you see to support what you feel. In the environment we have learned to create in classrooms, sharing your opinion isn't intimidating or difficult anymore. It's what you think and can't possibly be wrong.
I see art as an integral part of any classroom and any subject now. I have learned so many new ways to integrate and use artistic techniques that it would be silly not to use them. I love the idea of VTS for getting students to think outside the box and excited for what they can learn from others. I felt like art is now the area that students can enjoy because they are truly making their own. Before, in art classes I had been in, we were graded on how good it looked. In my classroom, students will be given the materials but completely on their own to decide what works for them and what expresses what they want it to. Art gives students a very different way to express themselves and I like the idea of connecting it whatever else they do.
2. What do you know about integrated learning / integration?
Integration is hard at first, but it truly is worth the effort. I've learned so many different ways that my subjects work together and how overarching and overlapping themes can make units of study meaningful and enriching to students on a whole new level. It isn't just the arts that can be integrated together, there is so much history, math, and science in each visual art project we've completed.
3. Rate your comfort level in making art, and discuss.
Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
Now that I feel art is whatever I want to make of it, there is so much less pressure on the perfection of it. I know there are certain techniques that I don't work as well with but you can always make it about you and your expression. Making art is the fun part, explaining or knowing quite what you did is a whole different story.
4. Rate your comfort level in analyzing and talking about art, and discuss. Uneasy 1 2 3 4 5 Comfortable
The VTS strategies we have learned and partially instructed really making talking about and discussing art so much easier. It is all about your perception and what evidence you see to support what you feel. In the environment we have learned to create in classrooms, sharing your opinion isn't intimidating or difficult anymore. It's what you think and can't possibly be wrong.