My PLN

This past week I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to the Arts Matters conference. Each session offered new insight into ways to both incorporate and promote the Arts within a classroom and school setting and I learned so many new strategies and methods to help me do so. There was a session on Visual Arts, Drama, Music and Dance and I can absolutely say that I enjoyed each of them and the instruction that they offered. This being said, I cannot pick just one that I would have to say that I enjoyed the most as they were all so different. In the photo above, dance was the area highlighted. As I have danced for the past 11 years and went to an Arts Elementary school, the arts has always been something that I have been passionate about. Going to this conference, I learned how to channel this passion into instruction. I also left with the motivation to work on integrating the Arts into all of the subjects that I will be teaching one day in my own school and classroom. The Arts is something that is slowly being more and more forgotten, however this needs to be changed as the positive outcomes for the Arts being integrated are to great. This being said, I think that more people should become more aware of strategies and tools to use to integrate the Arts into the classroom. We know that students benefit from interactive learning, and the Arts absolutely satisfies this type of learning. While there was not a lot of technology used in these sessions, the Arts absolutely include technology and can be integrated (i.e. art programs, watching dance of youtube etc.). Leaving this conference I have no complaints or areas that I think it could improve, other than that there should be more conferences offered to us that focus on the Arts. I cannot wait to use what I have learned in my practicum and share my experiences with other teacher candidates.