11/21/2013

Today was a very relaxing day because we were all done with our teaching and we were basically just wrapping up time in each of the classes. In the high school we gave our final input to the students and I photographed their workspace and some of their pieces. I was able to help one of the students learn centering and the basics of throwing.

At the middle school we helped the students out a little bit, but continued to grade the students reflection sheets and then hung up our work in the display case. It was very satisfactory to put all of the students work together and to be able to show off what we taught our students and to see that they learned and were able to reflect on the work that they did with us.

All in all I am very happy with my experience throughout this practicum. I was nervous and didn’t know what to think about having the bulk of my experience be in a middle school. Since my experience in middle school wasn’t incredibly positive, I didn’t quite know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised at how I was able to connect with a lot of the students and I was able to understand where they were in life.

I was amazed by the students in the high school class as well. This class showed that if the teachers and faculty in the school district put effort into their classes they can create something truly amazing and incredibly beneficial for their students.

I feel like I learned a lot in general just learning how to deal with students and how to be more successful as a teacher, however I do have some things to work on. I need to work on a stronger teaching voice as one example. Reflecting back on it all I was also very happy I was working with Teri. Mrs. L. gave us a huge compliment on how our teaching styles were completely different, but complimented each other very well. I was incredibly happy to hear that.

One thing I struggled figuring out as well was if I was giving them too much information or not enough to help the students get through the projects, although as I got more experience within my practicum and as I do more in my education career I believe I will continue to become a better teacher. Mrs. L. and her art education colleagues offered to have us back to the school for our student teaching, and I would absolutely love to continue my experience in this school district.

11/14/2013

We began our morning in the high school working with students once again on their studio art pieces, giving them suggestions and talking them through their projects. Some of the students were beginning to throw on the wheel, which I was pretty excited about considering I am in ceramics class right now. I felt like I didn’t get very good instruction on throwing when I was in high school, so it felt good to show some of these students some ways to throw on the wheel.

After the high school class we went over to the Public Library where Mrs. L. and her coworkers had set up a show exemplifying work from the elementary, middle, and high school. She was able to involve the community with the art program and show a wide variety of projects and students’ works.

Next we went to the middle school where we helped fifth graders finish work on and finish up their symmetrical fall cut out pieces, using six layers of folded, cut, snowflake inspired, pieces of different size paper together.  Sixth graders were working on drawing their shoes; seventh graders were working beginning to learn about Frank Stella. The students chose an instrument to draw that day to use as a stencil to cut out later.

Finally we taught our eighth grade class the final day of our lesson. This day was very chaotic since we were trying to fit a ton into it making our three-day lesson a success. It began with Teri doing a demo of how to print their fish or turtles. The students learned how to roll out the ink and put the correct amount of ink on their first test sheet.  Next we got the students together again and Teri gave a demo the next step: cutting their stamps in two and then rolling out five prints on a piece of cloth, collaborating with their table mates. The students worked really hard on these, and although they were in a hurry they really worked well together. At the end of class we gave them reflection sheets to answer a couple questions about how they thought the project went.

11/7/2013

This Thursday was our first experience at the high school with their new quarter.  There were no new students, but some were missing from the previous class.  The students had begun their first piece of the five required for the quarter and were pretty far along.  A few of the students were beginning to learn how to throw on the wheel, which was exciting for me since that is what I am working on in ceramics right now.  I was able to watch Mrs. L’s demo for that and add my two cents on those skills as well as other projects students were working on.  I really enjoy helping students who are trying to draw realistically, because I feel like I can really be helpful to them in seeing what is going on in the still life or the gridded out picture and can explain successfully what they need to be looking at when they are working on these pieces.

At the middle school fifth grade was working on glazing their clay fish.  I was able to do my own as well and worked on following cleanliness rules throughout the classroom with the glazes to avoid spills. 

Sixth grade was working on their Pablo Picasso portraits.  Mrs. L. did a demo and each of the students did a project sample of four thumbnails of possible Picasso style drawings.  It was fun watching the students think abstractly of where to put noses, ears, eyes, and mouths in places that they are not normally supposed to be.  I was able to make my own project sample in this class.

Seventh grade was continuing on their pinwheels and doing the Georgia O’keefe section of it.  The pinwheels are continuing to look amazing and I was able to connect with some of the students and talk to them about their interest in art and education.

My partner and I taught our second day of the eighth grade lesson and I was impressed at how far the students had come since we saw them last.  Most of them realized that this was a real project and they need to take it seriously.  They wanted their pieces to turn out well, so they put in time outside of class.  We graded the finished thumbnails and told them to either go back and fix a couple things or go ahead and trace it onto the foam and outline it.  I did a demo for the tracing prior to this.  Most of the students got through this although it was hard to keep some of the disabled students on task.

We asked Mrs. L. what she did within her lesson plans and curriculum involving criticism and aesthetics. She has one specific work sheet that she has the students fill out that make them think about aesthetics and their own practice of art. After each project she has students fill out a reflection or assessment sheet that make students talk about and consider the aesthetics of the piece. In her high school classes she has “studio visits” which is basically a critique of each students work in progress or completed once a week. For the middle school classes, students fill out a critique form and Mrs. L. has each student come up individually and talk to her about how the project went as they finish their assessment sheets. She has an emphasis on thought process, however if she had more time she would do more.