The Inspired Classroom » movement

The Classroom S–t–r–e–t–c–h

Elizabeth Peterson — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:03:45 +0000

I’m completing a online wellness challenge through my school’s health insurance. Overall, I’m logging in my time exercising each day and weight each week, but each week there is also some other challenge. One week it was to eat up to 9 servings of fruits and veggies, the next it was to keep a food journal and this week it is to stretch for at least 15 minutes each day.

Now, you may already know that I am a big fan of teachers taking care of themselves so that they can do the best job they can. Usually my message is to feed your own creative side – get inspired, so you can be inspiring! But I also believe this to be true with health.

While there are many things you can do on your own: join a gym, do an exercise video, go for a run, join a support/weight loss group; there’s one venue that’s right in front of you every day – your classroom!

One of my favorite things to do with my class is to move our bodies. We do things like jumping jacks, slow motion “high knees”, shoulder rolls and stretching. You may be able to imagine their surprise near the beginning of the year, when I first ask them to, “Stand up and put your chairs in.” Our little, crowded room becomes a make-shift gym. We do things that are as quiet as possible, (we work in a modified open concept school), and don’t take up a lot of space. The kids usually love it!

This past week, during my own challenge to stretch for 15 minutes, I made the same challenge to my students. In class, we are able to get 5-10 minutes done, usually in increments of 3-5 minutes throughout the day, and then the students write in their planner what time is remaining for them to do at home.

So far, about 90% of the class claims to be keeping up with the challenge. I think it’s great! My hope is to continue with these challenges that show the importance of exercise and health and start to build a feeling of independent responsibility to stay healthy and take care of our bodies.

In essence, our class has become a mini workout group. It’s good for the kids and it’s good for me too!

Do you use movement and exercise in your classroom? Would you want to? Please share!

~EMP

image from www.valdosta.edu/~kfrucker/

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Arts Integration for the Art Teacher

Elizabeth Peterson — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:35:33 +0000

RED by Arash and Kelly This painting is one that is used in an example in the post.

This week, I wrote a guest post for Jessica Balsley’s website Art of Education. She is an art teacher who provides many resources and ideas for other teachers interested and invested in arts education. I decided to stay with my focus on arts integration and cater to her major audience – art teachers. Here is the beginning paragraph. I hope it will entice you to visit Jess’s website and read the rest which includes ideas to integrate visual art with other arts such as music, movement and poetry.

When a teacher hears about arts integration, they probably think of the general classroom teacher first. Then, they may think of other teachers: special education, ELL, reading specialist, etc. But arts integration can be implemented into the art teacher’s classroom too, creating rich, meaningful experiences….

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

Providing for Creativity in Students

Elizabeth Peterson — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 09:47:26 +0000

Every year at this time, our fourth grade team starts to prepare our students for their “Fourth Grade Celebration.” It is not a graduation, but rather a time when the students and teachers create a performance that celebrates their time at the Cashman Elementary School as they prepare for middle school.

Our theme this year is to perform a tribute to all the people at the school who have helped and guided the students through their elementary careers including teachers, staff and their families. We are singing all Beatles music to help punctuate the points such as needing Help! along the way and working a Hard Day’s Night. Two songs in particular, not only are fun to sing, but we are also adding in some dancing.

For Twist and Shout, we are choreographing a flashmob style dance to perform on video and play while we sing it live. (There won’t be enough room in the cafe to do it.) All this week students have been trying out dance moves to use and yesterday we, after being inspired by the parade scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, we tried out some “authentic” moves from the movie to incorporate into the dance. Needless to say, it was fun!

The ending song is In My Life. This particular piece is one where all the lyrics make complete sense and fit our purpose seamlessly. The kids love singing it and are understanding the significance of the lyrics and what they mean at this time in their lives. Yesterday, I asked for dancing volunteers that would be interested in choreographing a dance piece to accompany the instrumental in the song. I told them this dance, unlike our flashmob scene, would have to be serious and sweet. A handful of girls and boys stayed with me and another fourth grade teacher during recess to work on this short segment.

I had no plan, and that was perfect. When you mix brainstorming with the arts, creativity starts to flow.

We asked them to try out some moves and if they were the right “feel” we were going after…great! And so they did. The kids started twirling and leaping, stepping and posing. Chris (the other teacher) and I sat in the sun praising their wonderful movements as the students naturally started to create their own dances. It was beautiful. There were no arguments, just kind collaboration. Each of the ten committed students knew they were all there to create something meaningful for the ones they love.

As we sat there watching, Chris and I couldn’t help but comment on how wonderful it was to just watch them take ownership of this and relish in the freedom (within a structure) they they were given. And as I continued to reflect on this later, it just further solidified my own thoughts on how important it is to provide students this type of time – time when they can be freely creative. (Freedom in Structure!)

~EMP

Want to get creative too? Join educators in the MA/NH/ME area for three days of a Teacher Art Retreat where you can get inspired so you can be inspiring to your students! …and earn professional development too! Click the link to get more information and to register for this great summer opportunity.

Artful Community

Elizabeth Peterson — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:43:54 +0000

At the beginning of the school year, teachers want to send a message to their students: “We are a community of learners, together we will challenge each other and share with one another.”

We have a variety of ways to go about doing this and for some, they try to do it through the arts. In infusing my beginning of the year activities with the arts, I am hoping to also say to my students, “I value your creativity and individuality. I want you to grow as an individual and as a part of our community.”

In previous posts, I have blogged about ways to build community throughout the year with music making and listening and through a communal piece of art. But at the beginning of the year, I do some quick activities that are based in the arts that help to establish our class as a community that values the arts. Here are a couple of activities I do:

Names and Movement: This activity is great for learning names and giving insights to your students. Have the class stand in a circle and one by one students say their name while doing a movement. The movement can be a simple arm wave or an elaborate, dramatic gesture. The key is not to think too hard about it when coming up with it. The rest of the class then repeats the name and accompanying movement three times back before moving on to the next person.

This simple activity is a must for my first day of school but also is fun to do throughout the year. You can really get a handle on personalities, interpersonal relationships and how students are feeling at that particular time.

First Time Doodles: In my fourth grade classroom, I have students make “My First Fourth Grade Doodle”. It is a blank piece of paper with that simple title at the top. On it, the students free draw for a period of time such as at the beginning of the day or during any free time they may have. You can also carve out some time in your schedule if you so desire. I will assign the doodling on one day and tell students it is due two or three days from now giving them ample time to return to their work and fill up the paper.

Understandably, this can be seen as an elementary activity, but it is really good for the middle and high school years too. It builds oral skills as students are encouraged to share what they have done with you, a small group, or the class. You may discover a hidden talent. It can also become the inspiration for a story or poem. You can search inside the doodles for patterns and symbols, lines and colors. They can become the topic of a descriptive essay or the springboard for vocab work with your ESL students.

This year I intend on having students keep their doodle for some time, going back to it for various other integration opportunities. We’ll see what comes about from that. It may become it’s own post!

Enter to Music: This is so simple to do and can be so effective. Set the mood for your classroom by playing a piece of music. Classical works, big band is great and even contemporary music can invite the kids into your room and get them focused. It’s amazing what a room filled with music can do to draw people in. My choice for the first day with kids: Glenn Miller’s String of Pearls played on a loop. It is chill yet invigorating; not too slow, not too energetic; just right for getting kids in and getting them ready for the day.

Creating a classroom culture that accepts a variety of art forms is important to do from the start of the school year. Do you have an activity to share?

EMP

PLaiC – Experience, Reflect, Apply

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:08:57 +0000

This past week, a group of teachers that work in my district got together for our monthly (3 months strong!) PLaiC meeting. This is a PLC (Professional Learning Community) session that centers around Arts Integration. The format for this session was different than that in the past and I believe it was very effective. We did some creative things together (EXPERIENCE), talked about them (REFLECT) and then discussed ways we could use these ideas in our teaching (APPLY).

This new format is an important change to the group. When attending my last course in the Arts, Leadership and Learning CAGS program at Plymouth State University, I rediscovered the importance of doing something to understand it. By living the creative process, I realized that this is what needs to be emphasized and shared with my colleagues.

Experience

Our session began with one of our members, a PreK teacher sharing a movement activity with us which she calls “Rockin’ Roll Yoga”. We got up to move and dance to some rockin’ music she brought by Spearhead. When the music was paused, she held up a large yoga card (Body Poetry Yoga Cards by Roylco) and we all got into that pose.

After doing a few yoga moves we stopped and took three “balloon breaths”. To do one, you take three continuous breaths as you stretch your arms out and above your head and then you let it out slowly. It was a great way to focus us into our meeting time. In fact one of our members, an PT teacher mentioned that this type of breathing changes your physiology, making you more focused and relaxed.

The final piece

Our next activity was to create a piece of community art around the table at which we sat. We started by passing a black marker around and drawing a boarder on the paper in front of us. Then we claimed our section of the paper and started to fill in the space with our own creations. As time went on, we found ourselves connecting our sections, making one fabulous piece of art!

Reflection

We followed up with reflections and a discussion of how to use these activities and modify them for our teaching. The reflection time was nice. The teachers had a very positive experience both with the movement and the visual activties. One commented that she liked the freedom of the activity. Another enjoyed how she was able to just be in the moment. One teacher appreciated the framework of the visual activity and the ability to “do anything”. The ELL teacher present noted that kids without profiecient oral language would feel like an important part of the activity.

Application

The brainstorm was great. Here are some of the ideas we came up with

Use this to illustrate the practice and understanding of community.
Use this as a team building activity.
Tear it up to represent the importance of the process, not the product.
Have students make their own section separately and then put it together to make one piece of artwork, maybe have them work to connect the sections with some more coloring.
Have students make their own section with specified colored markers. Put the sections together and then brush over the whole piece with a wet paintbrush to illustrate how all the individual pieces connect to make one.

For additional information about this visual activity and its applications, see this post: Community Built Through the Arts.

PLaiC – May 2010

admin — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:05:48 +0000

The final piece

PLaiC: EXPERIENCE, REFLECT, APPLY

A group of Amesbury teachers PreK-12 meet as a PLC (Professional Learning Community) to discuss arts integration and its impact on students.