EPISODE 2-How do we Realistically Incorporate?

The podcast discusses the concepts of art integration and technology integration in education. It explains how these approaches can make learning fun and engage students by using various tools and resources. It also emphasizes the importance of allowing students to express themselves through art and technology, thus promoting independence and critical thinking skills. The podcast highlights the benefits of incorporating art and technology in the classroom, such as increasing student engagement and enhancing the connection of concepts in students' minds. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of adapting to the use of technology in education and the collaboration between Sydney and Nagour in creating the podcast. Hi, my name is Sydney. I am an education major, and I'm partnered with Nagor, who is also an education major. So I am currently a student in EDN 414, which is the art integration course. And Nagor is a student in EDN 303, which is a technology integration course. So last episode, we talked about what is art integration, what is technology integration, and what is it? How do we apply these concepts within the classroom? So if we look at art integration, just a refresher, art integration is the process of intertwining art and core subjects together. So students can actually display their understanding through forms of art. When we look at technology integration, this is when technological tools and resources aid within the organization of the classroom, aid within learning in the classroom, and also aid within student demonstrations of learning. So right now, I want to talk about what are the benefits. Why in the world would I take an extra hour in my lesson planning and incorporate art and technology within the classroom? We're not required to do that, but why? Why should we do that? So the first thing I want to point out to you is it makes learning fun. No student wants to come to school every day and sit and hear a lecture, read five chapters of a book, and take a test on it. No one wants to do that for 180 days, the same thing every day. So this keeps the students eager to come to school. So if we look at this through a technological aspect, we see there are several different testing tools, such as Quizlet and Kahoot. There's newsletters available. There's presentations available. There's also educational games online that keep students engaged. If we look at this through an art aspect, there is music. There's storytelling. There's drama. There's dancing. There's creative movement. There's painting. There's drawing. And all of these things, technology and art, allow students to explore their thought process. Rather than fit it into a cookie cutter mold. As a student, you don't want to be told, this is the right way and this is the wrong way. You want to expose students to all these resources that help them understand their thinking. So as we're doing this, as we're exposing students to all these resources, it's going to increase your student engagement. And when students are engaged, they engage different senses and create and strengthen the connection of concepts in their minds. And this will actually build critical thinking skills. So the first standard I specifically want to look at for art is 4.V.1.2. And this standard states, apply personal choice while creating art. So this is where we see that students get to actually exercise independence and gain confidence in their own understanding. So this means students get to actually bring a meaning to their art. As they're incorporating these core concepts within their art. So for example, I was partnered to do fifth grade for my field experience. And I did a lesson on the water cycle. And we're actually able to create a 3D model of the water cycle. So students applied what texture means, what shading means, why shapes are so important to a scientific lesson. And it was so beautiful to see the students. Each one looked so different. But it was so beautiful to see the students exercise their independence and free choice within their art. The next area I want to look at is 4.V.1.3. And it's where we infer meaning from art. So before I get into the standard, I want to remind ourselves. I want to remind myself and the listeners that it's so important that we don't set limitations on the students' demonstration of their learning. But we set guidelines. So we don't want to tell the students, this is how I want you to demonstrate it. When you're working with technology integration, art integration, you want to say, this is what I'm looking for. But I am giving you this wide horizon to demonstrate your learning however you would like. But when students are inferring meaning from art, the students are able to express their own individual learning their own way. This opens up the door to self-expression. And the students are actually able to give their art meaning. As we're looking at increasing student engagement, technology alone is so engaging within this generation. Nine out of ten kids, this is my own statistic, it's not like actually proven. Nine out of ten kids have an iPad. They have a phone. They have a TV. Within the classroom alone, technology is provided. Most classrooms have smart boards. They have computers. They have the resource available to incorporate technology. In this day and age, technology is used everywhere. So as teachers, I think it's super important to adapt within the classroom and expose students to ways that technology can be used to benefit their own learning. The credits of this podcast go to Sydney and Nagour as ideas were bounced off of their heads and the content within the podcast was discussed between both members. The recording of this audio credits go to Sydney and the editing goes to Nagour.