Art = Therapy!

I have been taking an expressive arts course at Pacific University for my masters program and it is amazing! It is a student-centered course designed by professor Mark Bailey to explore artistic expression in early childhood and elementary classrooms. Mark designed it to help aspiring early childhood teachers (like me!) to become knowledgeable about methods for exploring art, music, and physical movement, and help us to become skillful in integrating art, music, and physical exploration activities into our curriculum. He believes that he cannot simply teach us what we need to know about helping children to express themselves artistically. So, in order for us as a cohort to effectively learn about children's expression in school, we have been active participants in the learning process. Not only has it served as a source of stress relief from all of my responsibilities this term through a range of hands-on artistic experiences, but it has helped me see what it can do for children. I have become aware that since artistic expression is not on the standards tests it has been thrown on the back burner of education. Ironically, it is probably one of the most important subjects. Children should be allowed to be children and art allows that. Through art and artistic expression, children get to explore their multiple intelligences, serves as an outlet for stress and anxiety, and is just plain fun! Some of the exciting art activities we have indulged ourselves in to this year is Aboriginal dot art from indigenous Australia, creating and decorating our own masks as a form of taking on the life of another person or culture, experimenting with cohesive bonding (a fancy word for tie dye) and Batik from Bali, rythm and music, movement and dance, and the power of play (as in hopscotch and Twister). Here are some pictures from my adventures in expressive arts class:

Professional's Conference at Portland's World Forestry Center

I recently attended the professional’s conference at Portland’s World Forestry Center on Project Learning Tree (PLT) and project WILD. A reminder of what these projects are: Project Learning Tree and WILD are both award winning, multi-disciplinary environmental education programs for educators and students in Pre-K through grade 12. PLT and WILD, which are programs of the American Forest Foundation, are two of the most widely used environmental education programs in the United States. They use the forest and water’s trees, plants and animals as "windows" into natural and built environments, helping students gain an awareness and knowledge of the world around them and their place within it. We began the conference by checking-in and visiting with the other attendees from Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, all while eating breakfast and pilfering through the materials provided for us. There were only twenty people in attendance so it was a great chance to get to know the other professionals on a personal level. Another benefit to the small conference was being able to ask a lot of questions and explore the projects and their application in ways we were most interested in. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning about PLT and WILD, practicing activities in the books and discussing variations to them for other grades, and learning ways to use other subjects to support the projects and use the lessons across the curriculum. I particularly like the mantra of PLT and WILD, which is to help students learn how to think, not what to think, about the environment. I am also fond of how the curriculum materials provide the tools educators need to bring the environment into the classroom and their students into the environment. A major benefit of PLT and WILD is that the lessons are adaptable to many contexts: classroom, playground, nature center, and even in their own home. This conference has made me a strong believer that PLT and WILD can improve student learning in all facets of education. Through these programs, students learn environmental content that correlates to national and state standards in science, social studies, language arts, math, and even ESOL. Students will be able to strengthen their critical thinking, team building, and problem solving skills as well through the PLT and WILD activities. I left the conference with a wealth of applicable knowledge that I can use immediately in my student teaching placements. I have gained insight to how Project Learning Tree and WILD can work to make my teaching practices not only more rewarding but also less time consuming! I read through the PLT book as soon as I got home that same night and its format makes it easy to find an activity that will engage my students, will get them excited about natural resources, and will meet my teaching requirements. Children have a natural curiosity about their environment, and programs such as Project Learning Tree nurture that curiosity. I am so excited to use PLT and WILD in my upcoming work samples!