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Final Reflection: Unit Two

Maria Schneider
Studio Lessons
I believe that both of the studio lessons allowed me to represent my relationships in a
creative way. I would have never thought of using a comic strip or a mind map to represent my
personal relationships. I found myself reflecting on the relationships in my life and why they
were important to me. Each of the lessons allowed me to represent different relationships that I
currently have and that I will have in the future. The mind mapping lesson allowed me to deeply
think about what I would expect my future relationships to be like. I found myself writing down
characteristics to help the brainstorming process before I created my final map.
A common theme that I noticed in both of the studio lessons is that both of them allowed
me to express myself in a way that made sense to me. There were not strict guidelines that would
limit my creativity. I was able to truly represent the relationships in my life in the way I wanted
to. This is important, because children create their own art work based off of their experiences.
Art is identified as a childrens process of making beautiful, in which they engage in an
artistic reshaping of experience in order to elicit or create beauty according to their conceptions
of the world, (Bentley, 2013). This quote is meaningful to me, because it represents the idea that
all students have their own way of creating art and each way should be accepted and valued.
Meaningful Moments
One meaningful moment that I had during this unit was that I noticed how easily I could
integrate the studio lessons into other content areas. For example, I could have a literacy station
where students can create comic strips to retell a story in a creative way that makes sense to
them. I believe that art integration is important because, when the arts are
integrated, learning is experienced in a variety of ways, allowing every

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student to be successful in various content areas, (Donovan & Pascale,
2012). I was also able to see that I could integrate mind maps into other
content areas like science or social studies. I believe that using both of these
studio activities to help teach other content areas would help support my
students, because it would allow them to be creative and engaged.
Another meaningful moment I had during the comic strip studio lesson
was during my rough draft process. I have never believed that I am an artist,
so I found it difficult to draw people. I began to get frustrated and thought
about how a student could feel the same way I was if they were not in a
classroom environment that fostered personal creativity. I was able to remind
myself that I am not perfect, but I should always be proud of my work. Some
students struggle to self-motivate. I strive to create an environment where
there is no cookie cutter way of doing things. My students will be able to
express themselves without the fear of being wrong. I plan on using both of
these studio lessons in my future classroom and I will use them in a way that
does not limit creativity, just like they were taught to me.

Reference
Bentley, D. F. (2013). Everyday artists: Inquiry and creativity in the early childhood classroom.
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Donovan, L., & Pascale, L. (2012). Integrating the arts across the content areas. Huntington
Beach, CA: Shell Education.