I feel that other people are the best resources for developing ideas and using plans that have already been taught by other teachers. In both my practicum and student teaching placements, my cooperating teachers have emphasized talking with other art teachers in the area and to find out what they are doing. When you speak with someone who has already taught a lesson, they can tell you what worked and what didn't work and how things can be different. In my Harry Wong book, he stresses that stealing lessons is one of the best things you can do. Using your colleagues will make you a better teacher!
The internet is also a great place to find lesson plan ideas. There are specific websites out there, but there are also personal blogs on the web that teachers post discussing their students work and sharing lesson plans. I really enjoy this option because student artwork is often shown as examples.
I've found that I often ask my students what they are learning in some of their other classes, and think of ways to incorporate what they are learning or are interested in in the art room. The third grade is learning how to do cursive right now, and there is a cute, quick lesson on writing your name in cursive, mirroring it, and then creating some sort of alien or bug out of it that I would love to do when they are further along in their learning.
Utilizing lessons from other teachers is a great way to build up a curriculum, especially if you have opportunity to talk with the teacher and dicuss the objectives and procedures. Also, it can be fun tinkering with the lessons and changing them up a bit to fit your needs. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of talking to other teachers about lesson plans. I feel a little guilty about getting ideas from someone else even if I change them up, but I think it's a necessity. It will also make starting out easier if we're not having to invent the wheel.
ReplyDelete