Art Projects

This week in art we picked four different art projects to complete in four weeks. I am going to be doing multimedia, landscape perspective, salt dough, and collage. I am very excited about these
projects, but also very scared and nervous. I don't feel very creative, but I would like to be. I am going to work very hard on these projects, and really try my best. I have been researching these topics and trying to come up with different ideas for each one.  Also we finished our mask. I did decided to put eyes in the mask, and I also put a red ribbon through it. We had to write a caption for it. I just wrote that my favorite color is red, that is why the whole mask is red. I am drawn to all things red, that is why I did the mask this way. By far this is one of the hardest classes that I have taken.

"Paper Clips"

In social studies we watched the movie "Paper Clips." It's a really good documentary about a middle school that wants to teach tolerance and acceptance to it's students. They decided to study the holocaust, and one of the students asked what 6 million looked and no one knew. So they decided to collect 6 million paper clips in honor of the victims of the holocaust. The story went national and in the end they collected over 29 million paper clips. Actual holocaust survivors got involved and shared their very touching and heartbreaking stories. In the end they put 11 million paper clips in a train cart that actually shipped people to the concentration camps. They made a really nice memorial at the school. They decided on 11 million for the 6 million Jews, and 5 million other people that they killed for other reasons.  It was a really touching movie that really makes you think about different things. I would really like to show this movie and teach about this if I ever teach in an upper elementary school. This movie teaches you that hate is not the way, and you shouldn't hate a single group of people. Hate can lead to extreme pain and suffering for millions of people for no reason. This movie teaches students that history is really about people of history and how certain events affect our lives.

Cultural Masks

In art we made mask that represent us culturally. I had no idea what to make, still don't. I am not artistic at all, which I really am trying to work on. So I just cut folder in a  "face" shape. It was a red color, but red is my favorite color, so I just painted it red. Then I added red glitter glue, and red sequins. It doesn't represent me culturally, at all. I still don't know how I would have done that. It shows something that I like, the color red, and I don't think that it looks so bad. I didn't cut out any eye holes in it, yet. I may do that or I may not. I'm not sure about that. Art is something that I really need to work on, so that I can be the best teacher possible. I do believe that the best teachers, bring a lot of different ideas and projects into their classrooms. Students really enjoy doing different things, and still learn from them.

Culture Backpack

In Social Studies we also wrote 5 or more things on the board that described our life up to 4th or 5th grade. I wrote that my mom was a stay at home mom, dad was a factory worker, who worked a lot. Even though he worked a lot, I don't remember him missing anything. He was very involved in all of our lives. I have really great parents. They are still married, this year will be 28 years. I have 3 brothers, 1 older and 2 younger. My two younger brothers are twins. My older brother is a "foster" brother. My parents didn't have the money to adopt him. We have had to deal with his birth family through the years. I moved in Kindergarten, bigger house, same school. Then again in 6th grade. I went from an elementary school to a Jr. High in the middle of the school year. That was the most traumatic experience of my childhood. I would say if that was the worse thing to happen to me, I had a really good childhood. I had a really great childhood, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Nothing bad happened, and my parents always put us first.

5 Artifacts in Class

This week in Social Studies we had to bring five artifacts that we felt best describes or symbolized us culturally. At first I had no idea what to bring in. This activity was really hard for me. I don't know if what I brought in really described me culturally, but they described what is most important to me. I brought in a current picture of my wonderful family. A five generation picture that we got taken a few months before my great grandma passed away. This picture really means a lot to me, because I wasn't the only great grandchild who had a baby, but I was the only one who took the time to get a five generation picture. It was my dad's grandma, so in the picture was my great grandma, my grandma, my dad, my baby girl when she was only 3 or 4 months old, and myself. I really treasure this picture. I also brought in a quilt that my great grandma made. I didn't get it until after her death. My grandma keeps handing them out, whenever a great grandchild has a baby, so now I have two of them. I brought in a wedding picture of my husband and myself, which is in a very nice picture frame from my aunt. The last artifact that I had was my wedding ring. Being happily married is very important to me. I believe that it is the foundation to my family. Plus my husband is my best friend, and the most important person in my life. We have been together for almost 9 years, and married for over 7. I wouldn't be who I am today without my family. All of my artifacts all have the common theme of family and marriage. That's what best describes me.

Classroom Environments

The last class that I was able to attend we had class with both blocks in one class, which is really crowed, but we get to hear a lot of different ideas. We were talking about what makes an ideal classroom environment. We started out by making a list of an awful environment. Some of the things that we listed were: physical/verbal abuse, unsafe equipment, lack of resources, no consistent teacher, no goals, unorganized and so on. Then we made a list about what a ideal environment looks like. Some of the things that we listed were: enforced rules, safe environment, collaboration, praise, organization, acceptance for diversity and so on.

Some of the items that we listed for both categories were things that the teacher can't help, but a lot of the items are things that the teacher can control. To be an amazing teacher you need to be able to know what is in your power to make a highly effective classroom. Your school may have a low budget, but you as the teacher can make any situation into a highly effective learning environment. It just may take more time, but it is possible.

When I have my own classroom, I know that I won't have the "ideal" classroom when it comes to the things that I can't control. For the things that I can control, I want to be that amazing teacher who makes the best out of any situation. I want my classroom to be highly effective, and I want my students to feel safe and open to learn.

Photos for Social Studies

One of the first assignments for my social studies class was to bring in two different pictures with no people in them.

One was a photo that I believe embodies our most important right as a citizen of the world. For this one I took a picture of my husbands gun, because I feel that the right to be able to own firearms if very important. I believe that there needs to be restrictions and regulations, but if you haven't done anything criminal in your past, then you should be able to own a gun. You may want to own firearms for many different reasons, and if you aren't a threat to anyone else, then I believe that it is your right, 100%, to own a gun.

The other photo that I had to bring to class was about civic responsibility. I took a picture of my voters registration, because I believe that as a citizen you need to vote. If you don't vote, then you have no right to complain about what is happening in our county. I believe that you vote for the person that you think is going to run our country the best. You need to do research, and vote intelligently. It is also very important to vote at the local level as well as the national level. Voting is the one way to have your voice heard, whether or not your candidate wins.

Dream Poems

One of the first projects that we did in Art class was make a Dream Poem. I loved this project, because I love to write. I have a hard time coming up with what to write at first, but that's just because I want to be a really good at writer no matter what it is. This poem was about a dream that we have for the world. Here is my poem.

                                            Everyone needs to see the beauty in their lives.

                                            Life is short, be thankful for all the joys you get to experience.

                                            Stop focusing on the dis-satisfactory, start rejoicing for all of your blessings.

This poem is important to me, because I know so many people who are so sad and depressed. I know that they have a lot of hardships, but at the same time they have a family and wonderful children. they have blessings that they can't even see, because they spend all of their time thinking about the bad things that happen to them. I think that they need to see the good in their life, and know that it can get better if they don't just concentrate on the bad. When the bad is all you concentrate on, then that's all you are going to see.

When I am a teacher I want to teach my students to be happy with their blessings, no matter what their hardships are. Everyone has hardships, but you also have blessings. If they don't think that they have any blessings at home, then I want to be their blessing. I will be an adult in their lives who loves them, and really cares about what happens to them. Our classroom and the school will be the blessing in their lives, if they have nothing good at home.

First couple of weeks of school.

This semester has been crazy so far. With the snow and cold temperatures all of the school systems in the area have been closed or had 2-hour delays multiple times throughout the first two months of the year so far. IUSB has also been closed a few times, or if they haven't been closed the roads have been pretty bad so more then half of the class had to stay home. I am hoping that in the coming weeks we can start have a regular schedule again. I would really like to get this semester really started and to get everything done that needs to be done before student teaching.  I am really enjoying my classes and field experience this semester, so I would love to be able to go to all of my classes every week.