N.C. Museum of Art

My personal opinion: Art adds color and dimension to life, without it the world would be pretty dull.

Most of the times, when I visit art museums I do not participate in docent led tours. However, after yesterday at the art museum, I can now appreciate their importance and the wealth of knowledge and information one can gain from them. Until yesterday, I never knew that in almost all paintings, the colors red, orange, and yellow are key colors that focus one’s attention to a painting. After the docent mentioned this snippet of information, I started to look for those colors in every painting we viewed. I found each and every one of the paintings, regardless of time periods or format, had in them the attention grabbing colors red, orange, and yellow. Wow! Another piece of art information learned.

After the field trip, I now have a better idea of how to integrate art into interdisciplinary instructional approach. I especially liked the display showcasing students’ work. From one of the art projects, I saw an example of integrating mathematics into art. Instead of numbering each drawing, the student employed mathematic operations and their answers to guide the sequence of the pictorials. It was a wonderful example of applying knowledge learned from another subject and incorporated it into art.

Although the walk from Meredith to the museum was not a long distance, it was a hot day. I believe perhaps an earlier time in the day when the temperature is slightly cooler may be a better time to do the walk. Unfortunately, the museum closes at 5 pm Tuesday to Thursday, if not for the time conflict, the regular class time would be an ideal time to saunter from Meredith to the Museum of Art.

Museum of History Field Trip

Although I had been to the Museum of History many times, as a parent chaperon, interested individual seeking historical knowledge, or to introduce out of town visitors to sites in Raleigh, seeking instructional resources had never been a purpose for me to be at the museum. The museum field trip experience provided me with a totally new motivation for visiting museums. For the first time, I actually paid careful attention to the exhibits and information plaques, relating them to different curriculum content and how I might be able to utilize the vast array of resources offered by the museum for an interdisciplinary teaching approach in all subjects. From connecting flight and motion to science, to the weight of a backpack soldiers during the Civil War carried to mathematics, to size of corn before practices of contemporary farming, and to laws and rules governing even the most unruly of groups, the pirates, the museum has available more than enough resources to help me plan engaging units of instructions.

My personal view of students today is that most consider events, places, and people from the past to have little or no impact on the lives in their contemporary world. People today are very focused on the NOW rather than the past or future. Students of today are future citizens of tomorrow, without places like the Museum of History to provide engaging programs and exhibits to offer them information about the past; students miss out on opportunities to learn and understand that history from the past shapes the present of today and impacts the future of tomorrow.

As I left the Museum of History after our field trip, I cannot help but let out a sigh of relief knowing that there is a place here in Raleigh for me to turn to for resources and help when I am trying to provide relevant instructional lessons to our citizens of the future.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of an annual plan? Why start with resources in designing units?

To be successful in any endeavor, first and foremost, there must be a plan in place. An annual plan provides structure for instructional goals that are aligned to content areas an effective teacher aims to accomplish during the school year. An annual plan, in essence, is the framework that will guide instruction through out the school year. Through a broad but comprehensive plan for the year, the teacher establishes a basic blue print for subject contents that are to be covered in all disciplines for the entire school year. In addition to being a guideline for content, it also serves as a timeline for teaching different subject matters. Without an annual plan, teacher would be operating in the dark and in constant chaos. It is hard enough to provide engaging and meaningful lessons for students, without a well thought through plan to follow, effective teaching will be severely compromised.

The greatest drawback to an annual plan is the time it will take to put together a well organized and comprehensive plan that will encompass a full and broad curriculum. Even though the time necessary to develop an annual plan may be considerable, in the long run, it will be time well spent.

How can any one start a task or project without knowing what resources are needed or available? It would be akin to start baking a cake without first checking if all the necessary ingredients are available and on hand. When planning a unit, unless resources are readily available and accessible, the efforts that go into the planning process would be wasted. Resources are key components to any lesson. They are the means to provide interest, meaning, and backup for appealing lessons that students will want to be engaged in.

In all six areas of social studies, the attributes of meaningful, well-planned lessons consist of thematic focus that are interdisciplinary, engaging and interesting, have relevance for the students, allow students the opportunities to apply their knowledge, and can be extended beyond the classroom.
Lessons that are interdisciplinary connect social studies with other subjects. They are thematic based and are organized around the whole curriculum which can include components from science, mathematics, language arts, music and art. Boredom does not exist when students engage in lessons that can peak their interest and curiosity. Students are more likely to remember hands-on-learning activities when they are actively and personally involved. Making musical instruments out of straws is much more interesting than listening to teacher lecture about the mechanics of sound and vibration.
A history lesson about World War II becomes more real when they hear actual experiences from veterans. Students may even have relatives who lived during that time period and can share experiences and stories about victory gardens, war bonds, gasoline scarcity, and food rationing. After lessons in economics, students can apply what they learn to the relationship between earnings, spending, and the value of a sound workable budget to take care of necessities such as housing, food, clothing, and transportation. Lessons should provide knowledge that students can apply and extend beyond the classroom and connect them to the global world in which they live. Having understanding of diverse cultures that are representative of the world fosters better understanding and brings the world closer to home.

first blog

This is my first blog ever. I am not sure how I feel about this, but willing to try anything new, so here we go...