Understanding
Methods for Integrating Literacy, Numeracy, Technology, and other Components -
The role of technology in the art classroom is one that we, as teachers, are always working to understand, in order to wield it in a meaningful way. We try to use technology in the art classroom to maximize time and learning. A Powerpoint, if composed thoughtfully, can be much more than a slideshow. It can be used as an anticipatory set, activate prior knowledge, show reference pictures, slides can show steps and processes. The key to a powerful presentation is knowing your audience and knowing how your audience learns best. At Polaris we used Powerpoints that had a ton of animations, easy to read text, and colorful images. With this age group, the time we have to lecture is limited to around five minutes and a slideshow can present information visually and slides can be revisited easily.
Literacy is a life skill so whenever we have the chance to cultivate that we seize the opportunity. Every lesson we would introduce some new vocabulary words that are related to the materials and the learning target. First graders are aspiring readers and it is our goal to help develop their literacy skills. We brought a book that is about crafting a story. Literacy is not limited to just reading and writing; speaking and listening are also critical life skills. Learners had a chance to share their reflections with the class and this helped cultivate listening and speaking. We would ask probing questions to get students to dig deeper with their response. Reading, writing, listening and speaking was just as important as working with numbers.
It has been said that a day without math is like a day without sunshine we wanted to be sure that the sun was constantly shining on our class. Each lesson had inherent features of numeracy. For example, our Painting Patterns on Clay Creatures made students consider scale and proportion; as well as sequencing, ordering, creating, and recognizing patterns. Before students could paint their pattern they had to create three different patterns before painting.
A thoughtful art experience needs to have art learning as well as learning about technology, literacy and numeracy.
Classroom Management Strategies related to Instruction -
Throughout most of our lessons we incorporated different strategies both in the classroom and in our planning. As our students are younger and still learning how to be in school, we really needed to think about transitions. Incorporating activities or work breaks into the flow of the lesson allowed students to move from one task to another minimizing disconnect. One such example is our discovery board. During the lesson we would write discoveries down as we heard them and at the end we would allow students to state their discovery and put it in their board pocket. This activity was a closure to our class time and allowed them to transition to recess. Another technique that we incorporated into our lessons was greet and review with targeted questions. This technique could be used either at the start of class or at the close of class. Reviewing information or techniques that we used in a previous class helped the students to get into the art mindset before starting class. This approach also served as a formative pre-class and post class assessment.
Putting the learning into the hands of the student is very important, in this regard we incorporated activities for reflection such as turn and talk, group huddle, and voting for the next project. During one of the lessons a student made a discovery that we felt would benefit the whole class so we had them demonstrate their technique for the class. Clean up can sometimes be a bit chaotic if you do not have a plan. At first, we were not sure how to handle clean up so we mostly did it. It became clear after the second lesson that the students were willing and able (and some needed to) help clean up. We assigned jobs for students to complete during clean up so that everyone was doing something that would move us to reflection time. For one of our students it was very important that he was engaged in a job or activity that allowed him to get up and move. Management infused in instruction takes practice, and there are many ways to incorporate specific management tools into your instruction. We have learned a lot about this practice during our experience with the Polaris lab students.
The role of technology in the art classroom is one that we, as teachers, are always working to understand, in order to wield it in a meaningful way. We try to use technology in the art classroom to maximize time and learning. A Powerpoint, if composed thoughtfully, can be much more than a slideshow. It can be used as an anticipatory set, activate prior knowledge, show reference pictures, slides can show steps and processes. The key to a powerful presentation is knowing your audience and knowing how your audience learns best. At Polaris we used Powerpoints that had a ton of animations, easy to read text, and colorful images. With this age group, the time we have to lecture is limited to around five minutes and a slideshow can present information visually and slides can be revisited easily.
Literacy is a life skill so whenever we have the chance to cultivate that we seize the opportunity. Every lesson we would introduce some new vocabulary words that are related to the materials and the learning target. First graders are aspiring readers and it is our goal to help develop their literacy skills. We brought a book that is about crafting a story. Literacy is not limited to just reading and writing; speaking and listening are also critical life skills. Learners had a chance to share their reflections with the class and this helped cultivate listening and speaking. We would ask probing questions to get students to dig deeper with their response. Reading, writing, listening and speaking was just as important as working with numbers.
It has been said that a day without math is like a day without sunshine we wanted to be sure that the sun was constantly shining on our class. Each lesson had inherent features of numeracy. For example, our Painting Patterns on Clay Creatures made students consider scale and proportion; as well as sequencing, ordering, creating, and recognizing patterns. Before students could paint their pattern they had to create three different patterns before painting.
A thoughtful art experience needs to have art learning as well as learning about technology, literacy and numeracy.
Classroom Management Strategies related to Instruction -
Throughout most of our lessons we incorporated different strategies both in the classroom and in our planning. As our students are younger and still learning how to be in school, we really needed to think about transitions. Incorporating activities or work breaks into the flow of the lesson allowed students to move from one task to another minimizing disconnect. One such example is our discovery board. During the lesson we would write discoveries down as we heard them and at the end we would allow students to state their discovery and put it in their board pocket. This activity was a closure to our class time and allowed them to transition to recess. Another technique that we incorporated into our lessons was greet and review with targeted questions. This technique could be used either at the start of class or at the close of class. Reviewing information or techniques that we used in a previous class helped the students to get into the art mindset before starting class. This approach also served as a formative pre-class and post class assessment.
Putting the learning into the hands of the student is very important, in this regard we incorporated activities for reflection such as turn and talk, group huddle, and voting for the next project. During one of the lessons a student made a discovery that we felt would benefit the whole class so we had them demonstrate their technique for the class. Clean up can sometimes be a bit chaotic if you do not have a plan. At first, we were not sure how to handle clean up so we mostly did it. It became clear after the second lesson that the students were willing and able (and some needed to) help clean up. We assigned jobs for students to complete during clean up so that everyone was doing something that would move us to reflection time. For one of our students it was very important that he was engaged in a job or activity that allowed him to get up and move. Management infused in instruction takes practice, and there are many ways to incorporate specific management tools into your instruction. We have learned a lot about this practice during our experience with the Polaris lab students.