This is my last week student teaching under my current CT and although I was excited to finish up the first half of my student teaching experience, I am a little bummed to leave some of the relationships that were beginning to form in the middle school.
On Tuesday I went up to Stout and had the opportunity to present to the upcoming fall and spring student teachers on student teaching and the edTPA. I remember the confusion and stress of what was to come, and wanted to calm the students down, to know that they are as prepared as they will ever be to student teach, and the bulk of learning how to teach will come in the first placement. I learned a lot about when and where to step out of my comfort zone and how to deal with many classroom management situations. I gave the students a couple of things that I wished I would have learned prior to student teaching, but am very happy to have learned it, such as exit slips and using collaboration along with questioning for formative assessment. I found that the students were mainly worried about getting a CT who they worked well with. This was on my first slide: to be open, honest, and ask questions to your CT. I definitely understand this concern, but have to say that I am incredibly lucky with my placement and that this honesty was always there.
This last week of school consisted of wrapping up the high school Studio Art quarter. All of the students who were unable to take the class another quarter were very sad to take down their studios and so was I. I experienced some of the best critiques of my life while in this classroom and really enjoyed watching unexpected relationships form around the artwork that they were making. Some of the students really found their niche in Art, while others had the opportunity to experiment with Art like they never had been able to do before.
The middle school students continued on with their first projects and became more situated into the classroom. It was a good experience to be able to watch different groups come and go through Art as well to see that there really is no norm in what the classes produce and that every single class is going to be different.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Week Eight
Wednesday was the very end of the first pent of my cooperating school. This means that we were finishing up all of the projects and my cooperating teacher and I went around the room and did Final Portfolio Reviews. Each student from fifth through eighth grade filled out a rubric about how they thought that they did in the last year relating to the standards and essentials of the class.
Fifth grade was still finishing up their Romare Bearden collage project and I really had to crack down on some of the students to complete the project and get going. 45 minutes is not very long to get all of the work laid out for a collage and then continue to be creative and get work done. Sixth grade finished up their masks, while seventh and eighth grade finished their still life drawings. My CT and I went around the classroom doing Portfolio Reviews. This was a crazy time especially for the students who were not caught up on work. I had to complete the grading of all of the projects in the class and grade half of the students in each class in three days. I really enjoyed doing Portfolio Review for all of these students, because I never had a chance to do anything like this until halfway through college. I hope to do this someday in my classroom, but if at all possible I would try to begin the review a little bit earlier since I would be doing the entire room of students. All in all, it went well and Pent 2 began halfway through the week.
My CT was gone at an Art Education Conference, so I was in charge introducing the rules and the new projects for the brand new group of students at the Middle School. I also had the opportunity of running Studio Visits at the high school on my own. I was very excited to have this experience so that someday teaching the first day of rules and projects will not have to be as overwhelming when I am completely on my own. All went well, but things got crazier on Friday afternoon as the students began getting riled up for the weekend. The younger grades are very talented this round, while the older grades are a little more rambunctious.
My CT is slowly taking over the classes once again as we turn more into team teaching the lessons of the beginning of the pent once again.
Fifth grade was still finishing up their Romare Bearden collage project and I really had to crack down on some of the students to complete the project and get going. 45 minutes is not very long to get all of the work laid out for a collage and then continue to be creative and get work done. Sixth grade finished up their masks, while seventh and eighth grade finished their still life drawings. My CT and I went around the classroom doing Portfolio Reviews. This was a crazy time especially for the students who were not caught up on work. I had to complete the grading of all of the projects in the class and grade half of the students in each class in three days. I really enjoyed doing Portfolio Review for all of these students, because I never had a chance to do anything like this until halfway through college. I hope to do this someday in my classroom, but if at all possible I would try to begin the review a little bit earlier since I would be doing the entire room of students. All in all, it went well and Pent 2 began halfway through the week.
My CT was gone at an Art Education Conference, so I was in charge introducing the rules and the new projects for the brand new group of students at the Middle School. I also had the opportunity of running Studio Visits at the high school on my own. I was very excited to have this experience so that someday teaching the first day of rules and projects will not have to be as overwhelming when I am completely on my own. All went well, but things got crazier on Friday afternoon as the students began getting riled up for the weekend. The younger grades are very talented this round, while the older grades are a little more rambunctious.
My CT is slowly taking over the classes once again as we turn more into team teaching the lessons of the beginning of the pent once again.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Week Seven
After talking to my high school student who aides at the middle school, I wanted to try not being constantly on the students to be quiet. I introduced what we were doing in class, asked if any of the students wanted the radio on once it was quiet (about three fourths of the students did) and then I let them go off to work and then only gave minimal reminders to be respectful to others and be quiet during the class period. The students were working on glazing their clay projects, so they were working in larger groups of four. The students were not able to listen to the radio, the noise level was way too loud, and the students did not work as quickly and their work was in general more sloppy than it could have been. The following day I explained to the students that I tried to give them more freedom and to not constantly be quieting them down, but the work and pace was not up to par. The students need to be respectful to those who need a more quiet classroom environment.
Fifth grade is working on their Romare Bearden musical instrument collages. This is a difficult project for them, because it is not a cookie cutter, step by step process. The students need to be innovative and think individually to create their collage that shows unity by using repetition and patterns. First we drew quick instrument sketches, then enlarged, cut out the enlarged instrument, and then continued on to trace that onto more special or colorful paper. Next the students began designing their background with all sorts of paper scraps, puzzle pieces, sheet music, etc. Some students struggle working quick enough to lay out, work on their background, and then get the okay to move on and glue. I did not let the students glue until they showed understanding of pattern, unity, repetition, and that they had a plan for their composition. At a certain point it they are struggling though I have them glue, and then glue the instrument on top, and then add more to the composition and background. The students also had their fish dishes completed, I graded them, and then when things are quiet in fifth grade I get to hand back the student's fish and their assessment sheet. I call up the students who are working hard and individually go over their fish, how they felt about it, how successful it was, and why they received the grade that they did. The students are very excited about seeing their dishes, so this is an incentive towards working and being on task. When students are constantly asking questions, not working independently, or not following directions, I do not have the opportunity to hand back the fish dishes.
I assigned artist statements to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade a week in advance and told them that I can grade them and turn them back with suggestions for edits if they did not get a full grade. The student can rework their artist statement and turn it back in to be graded again. I also learned how to load, unload and run the kiln for the sixth though eighth grade clay projects.
Sixth grade glazed their clay rattles and once finished continued taping their aluminum masks to the leather and embellishing with raffia, beads, and leather. During this lesson I realized that I really need to make sure to set criteria, be clear on instructions, and go over every single step in the lesson. Many of the students really struggled, because I just showed some options of what they could do, and did not show each step of tying things on, etc. The following day i needed to reroute and review what the criteria is for the embellishments and that everything needs to still be symmetrical and add, not detract to the success of the piece.
Seventh and eighth grade are working on glazing their clay buildings and clay shoes. If they did not finish they needed to come in during resource time and/or recess to finish glazing. The pent ends next Wednesday, so there are only three days left of class and all of the work needs to be glazed and assessed by then. All of the students also need to finish up their still lifes with either the marker designs for eighth and the multi media value for seventh. In eighth grade I had to send home my first behavior sheet for the parents to sign. I brought the student out into the hallway to talk about why the student's behavior was disrespectful and not allowing her to work up to her potential and also making it difficult for others to focus in the classroom as well. After the talk, there was less disrespectful disruptive behavior.
To work on:
- Managing noise level
- Establishing criteria
- Going over every single step of the process/assume each needs to be explained in depth
Monday, October 13, 2014
Week Six
This was my first week at 100%.
My biggest challenge began with 5th grade. Since
this class is so huge, 27 students, and there are so many students on IEP’s and
that need modifications, I cam constantly running and classroom management is
very difficult. At the beginning of the week we worked on glazing their fish
plates, and then putting the clear glaze on top. The students needed to leave
some white space on their fish and also need to apply the three colors of glaze
that they chose in a pattern. Many of the students did not listen to directions
on criteria so even when I went over them again and they all could repeat them;
the directions were often not followed. I could have asked the students to look
at their work and ask, “Is there any white space open?” “What should you do
next?” “How can your fish be improved?” After this project I gave the students
a rubric to fill out on behavior and time management to assess how they have
been doing in class. They were to write a personal goal on the bottom of the
paper. Many of the students did not take this seriously or apply it to
themselves. I went over the answers and handed them back to students giving
them the opportunity to go over their answers one more time and reflect on
where they really are in class. After this I gave a presentation on Romare
Bearden that went very well and pushed students to look at art relating to
their own lives. After this presentation the students worked very hard and were
actually quiet enough to be able to put the radio on for the rest of class
while they sketched instruments for their Romare Bearden collage. I went
through all of the behavior rubrics and assessed where each student is on the
rubric behavior wise and gave them a goal or two to work on for class time.
Sixth grade was very focused last week and began working on
their Multi Media Metal Tooled Masks. The students began by brainstorming
twelve symmetrical mask ideas. They reviewed it with me to make sure all were
symmetrical, then the students continued to enlarge it onto tracing paper
folded in half to make the large areas perfectly symmetrical, then added at
least five patterns to the area. The students then received a piece of
aluminum, taped the tracing paper design onto the aluminum and then etched it
on. After making sure the patterns and textures stood out enough, the students
covered the mask with India ink, picked out a piece of leather to mount it on
for next week, and will continue by scratching off the extra ink with steel
wool and cutting out the mask.
Seventh grade finished up their clay slab houses, which
ended up being a very successful project. They will be glazing them next week.
I was observed by my supervisor on Wednesday when I gave a demonstration on adding
value to their still life compositions using either warm or cool colors using a
mixture of oil pastels, colored pencils, and/or water colors. I had to redirect
a couple of times and explain some blending tips using black and white oil
pastels. Overall this lesson went very well and the students continued to work
on the piece the rest of the week and will continue into next week. My
observation went even better than next time, and I was told that my next thing
to focus on is in my lesson plan; making sure to put down all of the criteria
for the project in it. Although I told all of the students everything they
needed with the project, I need to have it written down in my lesson plan. My
lessons are very in depth, but I do not show all of the depth in my lesson
plans.
Eighth grade finished up their clay slab shoes this week.
The students who added a lot of extra details or made their own template really
took a lot of time to make the project theirs. I found that these last couple
of projects was really successful because the students took so much time to
make them their own; they are not just standard stock art projects. Eighth
grade continued on this week with their still life adding at least six designs
from their expressive/constructive line worksheets that they were completing in
their free time. The students added these designs with pencil and then outlined
them with sharpie. Next week the students will color in these designs using six
colors of their choice.
Thursday night was parent teacher conferences at the middle
school. Conferences lasted for four hours, and sadly we did not get to talk to
as many parents as we would have liked, because since art is on the pent
schedule and not the quarter schedule like the rest of the school, it was not
listed with the rest of the grades that the students were receiving. Students
had the opportunity to show their parents some of their artwork hung all around
the school. It was kind of a shame that the conferences took place in the gym
and not the classroom, because then the parents would have the opportunity to
see the environment that the students are working in and what they are working
on currently. However, it was a good opportunity for me to socialize with some
of the other teachers seated around me. All in all it went well and I had the
opportunity of learning how conferences work from a teacher’s perspective.
Goals:
- Work on project criteria being stated in lesson plans
- Find a happy medium of noise in the room
Friday, October 3, 2014
Week Five
This week I am teaching at 75%. I am now teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade lessons. All three classes are working with clay, and it was quite the process.
5th grade is currently working on Autumn Radial Design Cutouts. The students were told to fold each square piece of paper three times. Many of the students had to learn the hard way when they did not follow directions and only folded the paper once and cut a design. The student then made a symmetrical design, but did have radial symmetry. The students then had to rip it off and redo the process. The students got to learn which colors went together well and how to create a successful design. As an adaptation two students worked with scissors, cutting out just symmetrical shapes and gluing them on construction paper similar to a Matisse. Next the students continued to use stencils to draw shapes on the construction paper. Many of the students who finished their projects early came over to help these two or three students who had very adapted projects which created much more motivation. All of the students were interacting and it was really inclusion at its best. All of the students were learning.
Sixth grade created clay rattles. I demonstrated the project and the students brainstormed afterwards. The students were very excited for the project. Students were also asking questions and enjoying the demo, which I found very exciting. The sixth graders are much easier to entertain and motivate than the older ages, however I knew that I would not really actually know what they got out of it and what they remembered until the following day when they began constructing the rattles. I began the next day by having the students come up row by row and show me their brainstorm sketch to go over how they are going to create their piece. We talked about what will work and what needs to change. Next the students began. I realized many of them did not remember exactly so I went over step by step how to begin the process while asking students to help explain with me as a collaborative review. This helped a lot. The following day the students wrapped up their project, added details, and when they completed they helped their partners, worked on free drawing, or I gave them some options to help clean up the sinks and the paint from their last Picasso project.
Seventh grade is making clay slab buildings. I demonstrated the construction of the building and then the students began brainstorming. The next day I begin with handing clay out to the students. I was frustrated with myself because I did not think out or plan a way to hand out these clay slabs well. I should have had the students wrap the armature in newspaper the day before, but instead I had the students wrap the armature, and once that was complete they came up and got clay. It could have gone better, but I learned some good strategies without making a huge mistake or screw up. Next the students began creating their pieces. I realized that I needed to go step by step through the process so I walked them through similarly to how I did with the sixth grade and went through step by step what needed to get done as review. The following day I demonstrated adding details to the building. I reviewed where we were at and what had to be done. I gave mini demonstrations around the classroom for small things that students wanted to do with their piece. Overall it went very well and the students are getting a lot done.
Eighth grade is working on slab shoes. I demonstrated the process and the students brainstormed the first day. The second day the students began working. This was a big day. Many of the students decided to create their own template as enrichment. These templates were very good, but it is a lot more work. There were some problems where it worked better for students to just redo the step, but it went much faster the second time. On the third day I demonstrated adding detail. I also had to give a talk on clean up and making sure to get things done. If the classroom is not clean yet, they cannot leave. The next day the room was much better.
To work on:
5th grade is currently working on Autumn Radial Design Cutouts. The students were told to fold each square piece of paper three times. Many of the students had to learn the hard way when they did not follow directions and only folded the paper once and cut a design. The student then made a symmetrical design, but did have radial symmetry. The students then had to rip it off and redo the process. The students got to learn which colors went together well and how to create a successful design. As an adaptation two students worked with scissors, cutting out just symmetrical shapes and gluing them on construction paper similar to a Matisse. Next the students continued to use stencils to draw shapes on the construction paper. Many of the students who finished their projects early came over to help these two or three students who had very adapted projects which created much more motivation. All of the students were interacting and it was really inclusion at its best. All of the students were learning.
Sixth grade created clay rattles. I demonstrated the project and the students brainstormed afterwards. The students were very excited for the project. Students were also asking questions and enjoying the demo, which I found very exciting. The sixth graders are much easier to entertain and motivate than the older ages, however I knew that I would not really actually know what they got out of it and what they remembered until the following day when they began constructing the rattles. I began the next day by having the students come up row by row and show me their brainstorm sketch to go over how they are going to create their piece. We talked about what will work and what needs to change. Next the students began. I realized many of them did not remember exactly so I went over step by step how to begin the process while asking students to help explain with me as a collaborative review. This helped a lot. The following day the students wrapped up their project, added details, and when they completed they helped their partners, worked on free drawing, or I gave them some options to help clean up the sinks and the paint from their last Picasso project.
 |
| Clay Rattle |
Seventh grade is making clay slab buildings. I demonstrated the construction of the building and then the students began brainstorming. The next day I begin with handing clay out to the students. I was frustrated with myself because I did not think out or plan a way to hand out these clay slabs well. I should have had the students wrap the armature in newspaper the day before, but instead I had the students wrap the armature, and once that was complete they came up and got clay. It could have gone better, but I learned some good strategies without making a huge mistake or screw up. Next the students began creating their pieces. I realized that I needed to go step by step through the process so I walked them through similarly to how I did with the sixth grade and went through step by step what needed to get done as review. The following day I demonstrated adding details to the building. I reviewed where we were at and what had to be done. I gave mini demonstrations around the classroom for small things that students wanted to do with their piece. Overall it went very well and the students are getting a lot done.
 |
| Slab Building |
Eighth grade is working on slab shoes. I demonstrated the process and the students brainstormed the first day. The second day the students began working. This was a big day. Many of the students decided to create their own template as enrichment. These templates were very good, but it is a lot more work. There were some problems where it worked better for students to just redo the step, but it went much faster the second time. On the third day I demonstrated adding detail. I also had to give a talk on clean up and making sure to get things done. If the classroom is not clean yet, they cannot leave. The next day the room was much better.
 |
| Slab Shoe |
To work on:
- Being okay with a little bit of noise as students are talking to desk partners (finding a good noise level for work time)
- I need to work on being more concise with my directions when I ask for students to stop doing something
- Work on putting instructions and steps on the board
Friday, September 26, 2014
Week Four
This week I took over the seventh grade class and continued with the eighth grade, so I am now at 50%!
I ALSO FINISHED MY EDTPA PORTFOLIO!!!
During my free time I am watching demo videos for the upcoming projects since I will be teaching clay to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Sixth will be making clay rattles, seventh slab buildings, and eighth slab shoes. I am working on my lesson plans to really be successful and helpful for me. I have step by step procedures and what I want to talk about and cover, questions I will ask during the demos, and step by step instructions for the demonstrations. These are longer demos, so I will demo one day and then the students will do the project I demonstrate the following day.
This week I also put up my display case of the Alexander Calder Wire Sculptures. It looks very nice on the black background. The students get to display an artist statement, a title/name card, and their wire sculpture either hanging or standing on the shelves.
The high school studio art is coming along. This week was very distracting both at the high and middle schools due to homecoming week. The high school students are learning that they really need to get going with their projects and finish up their work quicker, especially the AP students. I ran studio visits this week on Friday and the students shared one of their books about an artist or style that they are using for inspiration from their pieces.
Fifth grade finished their animal designs and then continued on to make patterned fish using found objects as stamps and tempura paint. The students got to choose four colors on black paper, then the fish was cut out. Next they are making clay fish dishes. My CT rolled out slabs, the students traced a fish pattern, and then used the found objects to make imprinted patterns in the clay. Then the students got a banding wheel, a paper bowl, draped the clay fish over the paper bowl, attached a coil or slab foot on the bottom, wrote their name on the bottom and then left it in the kiln room to dry.
Sixth grade is continuing to learn primary colors and mixing secondary and intermediate colors from the primaries in shapes on their Picasso inspired portraits. It was pretty impressive to hear some of the very low students recite the intermediate colors, when only a week or two ago on a pretest they did not know the primaries!
Seventh grade finished up their pinwheels and then I began setting up and teaching the students still lifes. Seventh grade has never done a still life before like this, so I had them travel to each still life, rotating clockwise to all four every 6-7 minutes. At the end of the day the students set out all four of their large marker drawings and talked to their partners and decided which was their favorite. The following day I did a demo on using a pencil as a tool for measurement and angles.
Eight grade finished their wire sculptures, Frank Stella pieces, and then I began teaching still life lessons. The eighth graders did still lifes last year, however they will be finishing them in a different way this year. The students chose which still life they would like to do after the demonstration and then continued to do a sketch of the composition of the still life they chose. Next I demonstrated the final pencil drawing and cleared up any confusion that came up during the sketch. The students continued on silently drawing their final piece. Friday I did a demonstration similarly to the seventh grade to teach how to use a pencil as a tool for measurements and angles.
This week was pretty chaotic, because so many things are being finished up and the students are all at different places in the projects. A lot of students are coming in during their resource time to finish up work that wasn't finished. Students are not punished for having things done on the ending date, because many of these students put extra time into certain areas to do an excellent job with their artwork. Teaching still lifes was successful. All of the students worked quietly during work time, which is completely necessary for still lifes because they students need to be so focused. During seventh grade I turned on the radio while they were working at each station. At the end of class my CT asked the students whether they liked working on still lifes with the radio on or if they liked it better silent. I did not realize that normally when she teaches this lesson she keeps the room silent. The results showed that most of the students liked working with the radio, but I was surprised that many students liked the silence as well. I asked eighth grade the same question, and most of them liked working with music as well. I am thinking about doing a little bit of both for the following drawing days.
Things to work on:
I ALSO FINISHED MY EDTPA PORTFOLIO!!!
During my free time I am watching demo videos for the upcoming projects since I will be teaching clay to 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. Sixth will be making clay rattles, seventh slab buildings, and eighth slab shoes. I am working on my lesson plans to really be successful and helpful for me. I have step by step procedures and what I want to talk about and cover, questions I will ask during the demos, and step by step instructions for the demonstrations. These are longer demos, so I will demo one day and then the students will do the project I demonstrate the following day.
This week I also put up my display case of the Alexander Calder Wire Sculptures. It looks very nice on the black background. The students get to display an artist statement, a title/name card, and their wire sculpture either hanging or standing on the shelves.
The high school studio art is coming along. This week was very distracting both at the high and middle schools due to homecoming week. The high school students are learning that they really need to get going with their projects and finish up their work quicker, especially the AP students. I ran studio visits this week on Friday and the students shared one of their books about an artist or style that they are using for inspiration from their pieces.
Fifth grade finished their animal designs and then continued on to make patterned fish using found objects as stamps and tempura paint. The students got to choose four colors on black paper, then the fish was cut out. Next they are making clay fish dishes. My CT rolled out slabs, the students traced a fish pattern, and then used the found objects to make imprinted patterns in the clay. Then the students got a banding wheel, a paper bowl, draped the clay fish over the paper bowl, attached a coil or slab foot on the bottom, wrote their name on the bottom and then left it in the kiln room to dry.
Sixth grade is continuing to learn primary colors and mixing secondary and intermediate colors from the primaries in shapes on their Picasso inspired portraits. It was pretty impressive to hear some of the very low students recite the intermediate colors, when only a week or two ago on a pretest they did not know the primaries!
Seventh grade finished up their pinwheels and then I began setting up and teaching the students still lifes. Seventh grade has never done a still life before like this, so I had them travel to each still life, rotating clockwise to all four every 6-7 minutes. At the end of the day the students set out all four of their large marker drawings and talked to their partners and decided which was their favorite. The following day I did a demo on using a pencil as a tool for measurement and angles.
Eight grade finished their wire sculptures, Frank Stella pieces, and then I began teaching still life lessons. The eighth graders did still lifes last year, however they will be finishing them in a different way this year. The students chose which still life they would like to do after the demonstration and then continued to do a sketch of the composition of the still life they chose. Next I demonstrated the final pencil drawing and cleared up any confusion that came up during the sketch. The students continued on silently drawing their final piece. Friday I did a demonstration similarly to the seventh grade to teach how to use a pencil as a tool for measurements and angles.
This week was pretty chaotic, because so many things are being finished up and the students are all at different places in the projects. A lot of students are coming in during their resource time to finish up work that wasn't finished. Students are not punished for having things done on the ending date, because many of these students put extra time into certain areas to do an excellent job with their artwork. Teaching still lifes was successful. All of the students worked quietly during work time, which is completely necessary for still lifes because they students need to be so focused. During seventh grade I turned on the radio while they were working at each station. At the end of class my CT asked the students whether they liked working on still lifes with the radio on or if they liked it better silent. I did not realize that normally when she teaches this lesson she keeps the room silent. The results showed that most of the students liked working with the radio, but I was surprised that many students liked the silence as well. I asked eighth grade the same question, and most of them liked working with music as well. I am thinking about doing a little bit of both for the following drawing days.
Things to work on:
- Quit saying "So..." so much
- Relax while teaching
- Take time for students to raise hands, and really look if anyone has his or her hand up
Friday, September 19, 2014
Week Three
While teaching my students, the relationships are really coming along. The students are treating me like I am the teacher, but also I can tell that the students are comfortable with me to talk and also listen to me. My CT taught these middle school students while she was working at the elementary school. This way she really knows the students difficulties and strengths. She is so helpful when I am working to know how to deal with situations with specific students.
This week I taught I lesson in the high school Studio Art Class on Photoshop. The students will be using it to edit photos if they decide to use photography as one of their credits. Many of the students are also interested in doing typography projects, so we use Photoshop to posterize the chosen image they want to use. I will then print these images out for the students when I have time to use the print facilities at Stout during my first Student Teaching Seminar. Talking to my CT after the lesson she told me that I use "So..." way too much. I also need to be concise with the words that I use and make sure I don't babble when things get quiet. I also should have asked the students at the end how much they learned during this lesson and what else they would have liked out of it. Before teaching I asked the students how many had used Photoshop and only one or two of them had. I also asked after if this lesson was helpful. They all agreed yes, but I should have asked for more specific feedback. The students got a lot done this week and their first project was due on Wednesday. All of the students had to turn something in even if they weren't finished, because my CT needed to get something in on the grade book. This way my CT will have enough grades in the book, but the students can also edit their work later and get it regraded and replaced in the grade book.
Fifth grade finished up their patterned animal. The students completed drawing their animal, outlined it in sharpie, brainstormed six different patterns, and then glued it on a black piece of paper to matte it. This flowed very well off of the first lesson and basically just grew and added more of the principals and elements of art and design. This class is moving very slowly due to the large class and many of them are lower level. However, many of the students are finding success. There was one new student that got added into this class as well. He is very well behaved, but another body in the classroom does make it more crowded and is another pull on this class. Many of the students didn't quite understand how to matte their project correctly and my CT covered this in the Assessment Rubric. She introduced it to the class since this is the first of many that they will be filling out at the middle school. The students learned that if they made a mistake or could have done something better they can talk about this on on their assessment sheet and also fill in questions talking about what they really learned and what they thought was successful there. I also really enjoyed that my cooperating teaching really set her curriculum and works with her Professional Learning Community to focus on the principles and elements of art and design. She asked the students and pointed to the posters on the wall referring to which they covered during the first project and asked how they grew and what they learned during this project.
Sixth grade worked on Picasso paintings this week. My CT presented and described what cubism is and then had the students begin a color wheel using colored pencils. She was observed on Tuesday when the students did practice sketches and a demo of Picasso pieces. The students learned how to see the face from different planes and abstract the shapes of the human face. The students did four sketches, and then chose one with help form their partner, and then continued to draw out the final one larger. They continued to outline the piece with black sharpie. They finished their color wheels and then wrote where each color will go from the color wheel on their painting.
Seventh grade is continuing to work on their pinwheels. The students finished the Op Art, and then worked on the final, Georgia O'Keeffe water color lesson.
Eighth Grade this week was my edTPA lesson. Overall it went very well, and also went much better than my lesson from last Friday. Monday I reviewed the lesson I taught and also continued each day to make sure the students knew what they were doing step by step on the board. I gave the students time to talk to their partner and review vocabulary and then bring it back together afterwards. I found that the students really did learn the vocabulary words, but I also struggled because some of the students took more time with the project while others worked quickly and more minimally. There was success in both routes that the students went though and that's what I wanted, I wanted students to find their own solution to the project. I should have just offered for them to continue their Frank Stella project while they were on their free time instead of trying to push them to keep working and talking about what else they could to with the sculpture when they decided to be done. I also could have written out my reflection sheets better and have had them more clear. This was a great experience though and I feel much more confident and comfortable in front of the classroom now.
Things to work on and learnings:
This week I taught I lesson in the high school Studio Art Class on Photoshop. The students will be using it to edit photos if they decide to use photography as one of their credits. Many of the students are also interested in doing typography projects, so we use Photoshop to posterize the chosen image they want to use. I will then print these images out for the students when I have time to use the print facilities at Stout during my first Student Teaching Seminar. Talking to my CT after the lesson she told me that I use "So..." way too much. I also need to be concise with the words that I use and make sure I don't babble when things get quiet. I also should have asked the students at the end how much they learned during this lesson and what else they would have liked out of it. Before teaching I asked the students how many had used Photoshop and only one or two of them had. I also asked after if this lesson was helpful. They all agreed yes, but I should have asked for more specific feedback. The students got a lot done this week and their first project was due on Wednesday. All of the students had to turn something in even if they weren't finished, because my CT needed to get something in on the grade book. This way my CT will have enough grades in the book, but the students can also edit their work later and get it regraded and replaced in the grade book.
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| Photoshop Handout |
Fifth grade finished up their patterned animal. The students completed drawing their animal, outlined it in sharpie, brainstormed six different patterns, and then glued it on a black piece of paper to matte it. This flowed very well off of the first lesson and basically just grew and added more of the principals and elements of art and design. This class is moving very slowly due to the large class and many of them are lower level. However, many of the students are finding success. There was one new student that got added into this class as well. He is very well behaved, but another body in the classroom does make it more crowded and is another pull on this class. Many of the students didn't quite understand how to matte their project correctly and my CT covered this in the Assessment Rubric. She introduced it to the class since this is the first of many that they will be filling out at the middle school. The students learned that if they made a mistake or could have done something better they can talk about this on on their assessment sheet and also fill in questions talking about what they really learned and what they thought was successful there. I also really enjoyed that my cooperating teaching really set her curriculum and works with her Professional Learning Community to focus on the principles and elements of art and design. She asked the students and pointed to the posters on the wall referring to which they covered during the first project and asked how they grew and what they learned during this project.
Sixth grade worked on Picasso paintings this week. My CT presented and described what cubism is and then had the students begin a color wheel using colored pencils. She was observed on Tuesday when the students did practice sketches and a demo of Picasso pieces. The students learned how to see the face from different planes and abstract the shapes of the human face. The students did four sketches, and then chose one with help form their partner, and then continued to draw out the final one larger. They continued to outline the piece with black sharpie. They finished their color wheels and then wrote where each color will go from the color wheel on their painting.
Seventh grade is continuing to work on their pinwheels. The students finished the Op Art, and then worked on the final, Georgia O'Keeffe water color lesson.
Eighth Grade this week was my edTPA lesson. Overall it went very well, and also went much better than my lesson from last Friday. Monday I reviewed the lesson I taught and also continued each day to make sure the students knew what they were doing step by step on the board. I gave the students time to talk to their partner and review vocabulary and then bring it back together afterwards. I found that the students really did learn the vocabulary words, but I also struggled because some of the students took more time with the project while others worked quickly and more minimally. There was success in both routes that the students went though and that's what I wanted, I wanted students to find their own solution to the project. I should have just offered for them to continue their Frank Stella project while they were on their free time instead of trying to push them to keep working and talking about what else they could to with the sculpture when they decided to be done. I also could have written out my reflection sheets better and have had them more clear. This was a great experience though and I feel much more confident and comfortable in front of the classroom now.
Things to work on and learnings:
- I really liked how the curriculum is based around the principles and elements of art and design, and making sure the students know all of these.
- I need to work on my questioning skills.
- Do not say "So..." or "You guys..." use "next" or "8th grade class"
- I also need to work on writing all of my objectives on the board before the lesson.
- I find that observing my CT is much more purposeful now to compare my teaching to hers and to apply things that are successful and try different ways to do things.
- Always state objectives as well, because even if I don't teach my lesson as well as I'd like to, the students will still know what to do.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Week Two
As time continues on I keep getting more and more comfortable in the classroom. I feel like I am beginning to make good relationships with students and staff; some students look to me for advice and help, or ask me if they can move onto the next step, which really makes me feel accepted and happy to be in a teacher role.
The Studio Art class is really coming along with their work. The Friday Studio Visits compared to last week were much more interesting and helpful to students. Last week they weren't very far along in their work, and to get the students comfortable in the classroom we just went around and looked at what each student was working on and they explained their plans. The students this week really were able to talk about their work and take feedback. I don't want to be too tough on the students, however, I tried to give helpful advice, ideas, or if I think an area needs work, I would ask what the students thought could be done here for the piece to be more successful. None of the work from the studio visits were finished, so the students are still working on changing and developing their projects. I was so impressed with how many of them were so open to the critique. They had great questions about what they should work on, they took critique well, and they most of them were adding to the conversation. Especially that this was the first full critique it was absolutely amazing. Since I am doing my edTPA Lesson this week, my CT did the weekly lesson in the Studio Class. She showed how to make a slab plate and print a pattern (we used fern leaves) on it. I created my own too. Being able to show the students that I, too work as an artist is a rare opportunity. I asked students for advice as well and they also critiqued me and we had a conversation about our artwork while we were working. Last week I also set up a studio at my desk similarly to how they do. This shows students my professional practice in art. This also gives them examples of what I can help them from my experiences and what is inspirational to me.
Our fifth grade students on IEPs are really coming along. My CT set up an area where the students can work on their fine motor skills by working with blocks and drawing on a white board. There are two mats in the middle of their work area that they need to sit on. This has really been helpful in keeping the distractions down for the rest of the class, but also helping the students work at their level and learn how to be appropriate in the classroom social setting. We still work for them to do a drawing or a tracing of what the rest of the class is working on, and once they are finished they get to work in their block/white board area. The rest of the students finished their names and I graded them. The students continued to work on learning about line and line design through a worksheet where they brainstormed more patterns working with lines. The students didn't work up to their potentials on this worksheet or didn't take the time to do the reading that went along with it. While grading these worksheets, I called up students who needed to take more time on it and I gave them suggestions as to what else needed to get done with the worksheet to make it more successful. I told the students that if they did not get full credit on the assignment (5/5 points) they could ask me what else could be done, work on it more, and then turn it back in for more points. The students are now working on four sketches of animals. One gets enlarged, traced in black sharpie, and students get to fill in the animal with different designs and then cut it out. The biggest thing that I found that the students needed to do was to JUST DRAW. They needed to find the confidence to make marks on paper. They might not be perfect, but that is why we have erasers. I made sure the students had a contour line drawing start before I helped them find the shape better. I also administered a pretest and graded to see what the students need to learn as far as vocabulary goes. While grading, my CT told me that I should have marked each word that was wrong. For example: If the students said that the Primary Colors are Red, Blue, and Purple, we need to know that YELLOW needs to be focused on as a primary color; not just focusing on all of the primaries (although this also needs to be touched on).
Sixth grade worked on their shoe drawings. The students showed a lot of improvement from where the fifth graders are at for their drawing skills. The students were able to put the marks on the paper and show the details. I was there to help the students really find the correct angles and shapes in their drawings; to take a pencil and look at the angle that the tongue is coming out of the shoe, or how the toe of the shoe can be drawn as an oval pointing upwards, it is not flat. Next the students outlined their contour drawing with sharpie and chose two color theories to color in the shoe with colored pencil or markers. I walked around the room asking students what their color theories were to make sure students had understanding, and if they didn't I explained why these colors went together on the color wheel.
Seventh grade continued working on their pinwheels. They finished Piet Mondrian, continued onto Vincent Van Gogh, and are beginning Op Art. During work time my CT showed videos of Vincent Van Gogh, and Op Art to help introduce and go into more depth of these subjects for students who are interested, which also doubles as an enrichment tool. For the most part students could work on their own on this project, but I did walk around and help students, especially with the Vincent Van Gogh piece, making his stylized marks with colored pencil. The lines needed to be short with a wide variety of colors that made sense in the area.
Eighth grade finished up cutting out their Frank Stella pieces and are working on painting them. My main focus for this time was working on their Xacto knife skills. I wanted the students to realize that especially cutting with Xacto knives on cardboard, you are not going to get through the piece in one cut. Do not saw with an Xacto knife. Use it like you do a pencil and go over it numerous times until the piece is cut out. I worked a lot with the students on Xacto knife safety. My CT also gave a demo on working with spray paint: how to use it safely, correctly, and how to clean up after it.
This week I focused on prepping for my edTPA a lot as well. I edited my lesson plan more, my presentation, previewed the Alexander Calder video, and cut wire. The students are going to begin the wire sculpture next week, but brainstormed how to show movement in their own chosen subject during class.
On Friday I began my edTPA lesson while being observed for the first time. All in all, it went well, but there are a few things mentioned below that I will be working on that I am very happy to receive from this experience. Going into the day I felt very prepared, but butterflies would appear every once in a while, but I worked to settle my nerves as much as possible. Throughout all of the planning and preparation I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to handle the class period. HOWEVER, nerves set in, camera was rolling, the students were behaving angelically, but were completely silent. I did not wait long enough for answers in questions that I asked and I went very fast. I believe that the students found understanding of what they were to be doing during the class period, but I needed to take more time with collaboration and making sure the learning objectives sunk in. So, to prepare for the next lesson, I wrote out bullet points of questions I want to ask, when I want them to work collaboratively, and how I want the day to go step by step. This way I will have it out in front of me to refer to, a bold: "SLOW DOWN!" written on the top! Once again I am a little nervous, because I would prefer to not use video clips from Day 1 of my lesson, but if necessary it will not be a problem. I feel confident once again going into the lesson, because I know what I need to work on and what my strengths are. I was very happy to hear that through the observation I seemed confident in front of the class (the only reason she knew I was so nervous was because my observer already knew me), I have good rapport with the students, the students are interested in my project, and my lesson plan was well written. I really need to work on student collaboration and slowing down my own teaching. Of course all of these areas can still be improved greatly and I am going to continue working on all of them, but I am happy that I have a little bit of a hold on some areas of teaching so I can really focus on others while hopefully improving in all.
Goals and Main Learnings
The Studio Art class is really coming along with their work. The Friday Studio Visits compared to last week were much more interesting and helpful to students. Last week they weren't very far along in their work, and to get the students comfortable in the classroom we just went around and looked at what each student was working on and they explained their plans. The students this week really were able to talk about their work and take feedback. I don't want to be too tough on the students, however, I tried to give helpful advice, ideas, or if I think an area needs work, I would ask what the students thought could be done here for the piece to be more successful. None of the work from the studio visits were finished, so the students are still working on changing and developing their projects. I was so impressed with how many of them were so open to the critique. They had great questions about what they should work on, they took critique well, and they most of them were adding to the conversation. Especially that this was the first full critique it was absolutely amazing. Since I am doing my edTPA Lesson this week, my CT did the weekly lesson in the Studio Class. She showed how to make a slab plate and print a pattern (we used fern leaves) on it. I created my own too. Being able to show the students that I, too work as an artist is a rare opportunity. I asked students for advice as well and they also critiqued me and we had a conversation about our artwork while we were working. Last week I also set up a studio at my desk similarly to how they do. This shows students my professional practice in art. This also gives them examples of what I can help them from my experiences and what is inspirational to me.
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| My Studio Space |
Our fifth grade students on IEPs are really coming along. My CT set up an area where the students can work on their fine motor skills by working with blocks and drawing on a white board. There are two mats in the middle of their work area that they need to sit on. This has really been helpful in keeping the distractions down for the rest of the class, but also helping the students work at their level and learn how to be appropriate in the classroom social setting. We still work for them to do a drawing or a tracing of what the rest of the class is working on, and once they are finished they get to work in their block/white board area. The rest of the students finished their names and I graded them. The students continued to work on learning about line and line design through a worksheet where they brainstormed more patterns working with lines. The students didn't work up to their potentials on this worksheet or didn't take the time to do the reading that went along with it. While grading these worksheets, I called up students who needed to take more time on it and I gave them suggestions as to what else needed to get done with the worksheet to make it more successful. I told the students that if they did not get full credit on the assignment (5/5 points) they could ask me what else could be done, work on it more, and then turn it back in for more points. The students are now working on four sketches of animals. One gets enlarged, traced in black sharpie, and students get to fill in the animal with different designs and then cut it out. The biggest thing that I found that the students needed to do was to JUST DRAW. They needed to find the confidence to make marks on paper. They might not be perfect, but that is why we have erasers. I made sure the students had a contour line drawing start before I helped them find the shape better. I also administered a pretest and graded to see what the students need to learn as far as vocabulary goes. While grading, my CT told me that I should have marked each word that was wrong. For example: If the students said that the Primary Colors are Red, Blue, and Purple, we need to know that YELLOW needs to be focused on as a primary color; not just focusing on all of the primaries (although this also needs to be touched on).
Sixth grade worked on their shoe drawings. The students showed a lot of improvement from where the fifth graders are at for their drawing skills. The students were able to put the marks on the paper and show the details. I was there to help the students really find the correct angles and shapes in their drawings; to take a pencil and look at the angle that the tongue is coming out of the shoe, or how the toe of the shoe can be drawn as an oval pointing upwards, it is not flat. Next the students outlined their contour drawing with sharpie and chose two color theories to color in the shoe with colored pencil or markers. I walked around the room asking students what their color theories were to make sure students had understanding, and if they didn't I explained why these colors went together on the color wheel.
Seventh grade continued working on their pinwheels. They finished Piet Mondrian, continued onto Vincent Van Gogh, and are beginning Op Art. During work time my CT showed videos of Vincent Van Gogh, and Op Art to help introduce and go into more depth of these subjects for students who are interested, which also doubles as an enrichment tool. For the most part students could work on their own on this project, but I did walk around and help students, especially with the Vincent Van Gogh piece, making his stylized marks with colored pencil. The lines needed to be short with a wide variety of colors that made sense in the area.
Eighth grade finished up cutting out their Frank Stella pieces and are working on painting them. My main focus for this time was working on their Xacto knife skills. I wanted the students to realize that especially cutting with Xacto knives on cardboard, you are not going to get through the piece in one cut. Do not saw with an Xacto knife. Use it like you do a pencil and go over it numerous times until the piece is cut out. I worked a lot with the students on Xacto knife safety. My CT also gave a demo on working with spray paint: how to use it safely, correctly, and how to clean up after it.
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| Week 2 Schedule |
This week I focused on prepping for my edTPA a lot as well. I edited my lesson plan more, my presentation, previewed the Alexander Calder video, and cut wire. The students are going to begin the wire sculpture next week, but brainstormed how to show movement in their own chosen subject during class.
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| One of my Alexander Calder Wire Sculpture Examples |
On Friday I began my edTPA lesson while being observed for the first time. All in all, it went well, but there are a few things mentioned below that I will be working on that I am very happy to receive from this experience. Going into the day I felt very prepared, but butterflies would appear every once in a while, but I worked to settle my nerves as much as possible. Throughout all of the planning and preparation I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to say and how I was going to handle the class period. HOWEVER, nerves set in, camera was rolling, the students were behaving angelically, but were completely silent. I did not wait long enough for answers in questions that I asked and I went very fast. I believe that the students found understanding of what they were to be doing during the class period, but I needed to take more time with collaboration and making sure the learning objectives sunk in. So, to prepare for the next lesson, I wrote out bullet points of questions I want to ask, when I want them to work collaboratively, and how I want the day to go step by step. This way I will have it out in front of me to refer to, a bold: "SLOW DOWN!" written on the top! Once again I am a little nervous, because I would prefer to not use video clips from Day 1 of my lesson, but if necessary it will not be a problem. I feel confident once again going into the lesson, because I know what I need to work on and what my strengths are. I was very happy to hear that through the observation I seemed confident in front of the class (the only reason she knew I was so nervous was because my observer already knew me), I have good rapport with the students, the students are interested in my project, and my lesson plan was well written. I really need to work on student collaboration and slowing down my own teaching. Of course all of these areas can still be improved greatly and I am going to continue working on all of them, but I am happy that I have a little bit of a hold on some areas of teaching so I can really focus on others while hopefully improving in all.
Goals and Main Learnings
- Continue finding teaching voice and developing a teaching persona in the classroom.
- Help the students think about their work in depth. What are their ideas? What could they do? If I give students a couple ideas: Which one would work best with your work?
- While testing, make sure to take very exact results of the information. This is necessary in knowing exactly which information needs to be reviewed or covered.
- It takes time to figure out what works best for students. This process is always changing and SHOULD always evolve as the students show growth.
- I want to work on finding how far is appropriate to push individual students with their work.
- Slow down. Make the students take time to answer the questions. I feel uncomfortable waiting for answers, but if this happens maybe have the students work collaboratively and talk to their desk partner, and then bring the question back in front of the whole class.
- SLOW DOWN!!! The students will find more success this way.
- Make objectives and "I can's" more clear. Write them on the board and talk about them as well.
- Have one definitive definition for vocabulary words.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
Week One
Prior to the first day of school with students was five days of inservice, one including an open house. I was able to use this time to become comfortable with the classrooms, my cooperating teachers, and professional learning community.
My cooperating teacher (CT) is so on top of things, that I was able to brainstorm for my edTPA lesson and even get started on it. Since I had the experience as a practicum student working the same classroom two semesters prior, I was already familiar with some of the projects and rules of the room. My CT went over the syllabus for each class, each project, the learning essentials, and the curriculum as a whole. Through Build Your Own Curriculum (BYOC) I am able to see each lesson, K-12, and how they build on each other, while also fulfilling the standards.
The first day of school was a different experience, because it is such a long day for all of the students as well as the teachers. The Studio Art class in the morning knows exactly how things are run. They set up their studios, gathered art supplies, and went over the syllabus. I was impressed with the students drive to begin their work; some students were brainstorming since they signed up for this class. My CT described what the difference was between taking AP Studio Art versus Studio Art. The students have the opportunity to take a 2D AP Studio Art Course, 3D AP Studio Art Course, or the Studio Art Course offered by the school. Many of the juniors are suggested to take the regular studio course to build their portfolio and to take the AP course next year. The students knew what they were doing immediately and got started on their various mediums and personal ideas.
On Friday I taught my first lesson in the Studio Art course. I worked on my edTPA for the last week and a half and was still continuing my experimentation with wire as practice on my own. As I gave my presentation on Alexander Calder, the history of sculpture, and how Calder transforms his drawings into wire sculpture, I became worried that I wasn't doing well. The students seemed tired, and I only had one or two out of the eight advanced students answering my questions. Later I had the students work with "Twisteez" as a practice for wire work. We had a small work group going and then we talked about the lesson. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually did find my lesson interesting; I just had "Friday Morning Syndrome" happening. The students created some interesting sculptures with only one "Twisteez" and then we discussed them and my presentation. I trust in these students opinions because they are closer to the 8th grade class at their age than I am. The students said that they actually really enjoyed my presentation!!! I had some suggestions to
A) show Alexander Calder's "Circus Video" via YouTube during the lesson as well as
B) go over vocab PRIOR to the lesson. The students didn't remember "contour line," which is very important to my brainstorming for the project, and
C) tell the students which medium was used to make the sculptures I showed during the presentation of "The History of Sculpture."
The students have not experienced much with sculpture beside craft and ceramics sculpture. I feel this is part is very important to the project in showing how much sculpture has changed throughout time. I was very excited to present in front of the high school students to get their honesty and experience with my presentation. I didn't feel good about it at the beginning while I was presenting, but was pleasantly surprised with the success, especially when one of the students decided to start working with wire IMMEDIATELY after!
I gained confidence by teaching this project to the Studio Art Class, and that is a goal of mine throughout this year. I know what I should do, but I need to be CONFIDENT in my presentation. I feel much more confident in my presentation after this experience.
The middle school classes go quickly. The prep time is filled with travel time, students coming in during their resource hours, and lunch.
Fifth grade came in wide eyed as it was their first time being at the middle school. This class is going to be a huge challenge for me. Their are upwards of 25 students, three of which are very low and need a lot of special attention. Each day they come with an aide, however with her, myself, and my CT, it is still very difficult to keep these students interested and productive. While listening to the rules on the first day, I was very distracted by these students, and I am sure that the rest of the fifth grade class struggled to pay attention to the instructions as well. My CT and I are currently brainstorming ideas for how to keep these students motivated and still include them with the rest of the students. We tried making drawing books for them to trace shapes, lines, and draw cats, houses, flowers, etc. It was still very difficult to keep them motivated and was still above their level at some points. My CT then had the idea of setting up a mat in a more secluded part of the room where they can work on their fine motor skills using blocks and drawing on a white board. Thus far they have loved it. The rest of the students are working on scratch art bubble name designs. This class will be a huge challenge, but I will learn a lot about inclusion and modifying projects. I helped students trace their names by writing the name out beforehand in bubble letters and they got to follow the lines. Another modification is having the students scratch out the bubbles instead of making designs inside of the bubble letters.
Sixth grade is working on learning value. They began with a couple worksheets making a value scale in pencil, colored pencil, crosshatching with pencil, and stippling with markers. Next, they took a pretest with vocab words to see the degree of understanding each word is at, and which words to emphasize throughout the year to gain more understanding. My CT's goal for the school year is to improve the class's vocab retention by 20%. Next the students began applying their knowledge of the value scale and started putting shadow on shapes. They chose a point where the sun is shining down on a shape and show value from light to dark accordingly. Most of the students were able to find understanding in this and showed great improvement when they came up to the CT or I to give them some advice. Most students were able to show success with graphite before colored pencil, and the biggest difficulty was showing a gradient between light and dark. Not just separated shades: light, medium, dark. My CT showed a demo on drawing shoes and then they started doing practice shoe drawings working with contour line.
Seventh grade is working on their pinwheels. I did this project in the past in my CT's rooms, and it is one of my favorites. The students separate a square piece of paper into quadrants and then do designs with influence from Piet Mondrian, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Op Art. On the back they do a splatter painting influenced by Jackson Pollock. At the end the paper is cut and folded into a pinwheel. Each section of the pinwheel takes a couple of days and students move along for the most part at their own rate, but can catch up in different areas if necessary.
Eighth grade learned about Frank Stella and the numerous art styles that he worked with. The students brainstorm what some of their favorite things are and are able to work around these ideas to create something completely their own, whether it is abstract, heavily influenced by Stella or a style, or very representative of their own work. They are using cardboard, paint, and other patterns. To cut the cardboard they use scissors, xacto knives, and the paper cutter. SAFETY IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. Only five xacto's out at a time.
KEYS TO MY OBSERVATION
My cooperating teacher (CT) is so on top of things, that I was able to brainstorm for my edTPA lesson and even get started on it. Since I had the experience as a practicum student working the same classroom two semesters prior, I was already familiar with some of the projects and rules of the room. My CT went over the syllabus for each class, each project, the learning essentials, and the curriculum as a whole. Through Build Your Own Curriculum (BYOC) I am able to see each lesson, K-12, and how they build on each other, while also fulfilling the standards.
The first day of school was a different experience, because it is such a long day for all of the students as well as the teachers. The Studio Art class in the morning knows exactly how things are run. They set up their studios, gathered art supplies, and went over the syllabus. I was impressed with the students drive to begin their work; some students were brainstorming since they signed up for this class. My CT described what the difference was between taking AP Studio Art versus Studio Art. The students have the opportunity to take a 2D AP Studio Art Course, 3D AP Studio Art Course, or the Studio Art Course offered by the school. Many of the juniors are suggested to take the regular studio course to build their portfolio and to take the AP course next year. The students knew what they were doing immediately and got started on their various mediums and personal ideas.
On Friday I taught my first lesson in the Studio Art course. I worked on my edTPA for the last week and a half and was still continuing my experimentation with wire as practice on my own. As I gave my presentation on Alexander Calder, the history of sculpture, and how Calder transforms his drawings into wire sculpture, I became worried that I wasn't doing well. The students seemed tired, and I only had one or two out of the eight advanced students answering my questions. Later I had the students work with "Twisteez" as a practice for wire work. We had a small work group going and then we talked about the lesson. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually did find my lesson interesting; I just had "Friday Morning Syndrome" happening. The students created some interesting sculptures with only one "Twisteez" and then we discussed them and my presentation. I trust in these students opinions because they are closer to the 8th grade class at their age than I am. The students said that they actually really enjoyed my presentation!!! I had some suggestions to
A) show Alexander Calder's "Circus Video" via YouTube during the lesson as well as
B) go over vocab PRIOR to the lesson. The students didn't remember "contour line," which is very important to my brainstorming for the project, and
C) tell the students which medium was used to make the sculptures I showed during the presentation of "The History of Sculpture."
The students have not experienced much with sculpture beside craft and ceramics sculpture. I feel this is part is very important to the project in showing how much sculpture has changed throughout time. I was very excited to present in front of the high school students to get their honesty and experience with my presentation. I didn't feel good about it at the beginning while I was presenting, but was pleasantly surprised with the success, especially when one of the students decided to start working with wire IMMEDIATELY after!
I gained confidence by teaching this project to the Studio Art Class, and that is a goal of mine throughout this year. I know what I should do, but I need to be CONFIDENT in my presentation. I feel much more confident in my presentation after this experience.
The middle school classes go quickly. The prep time is filled with travel time, students coming in during their resource hours, and lunch.
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| 5th Grade Bubble Letter Scratch Art Example |
Fifth grade came in wide eyed as it was their first time being at the middle school. This class is going to be a huge challenge for me. Their are upwards of 25 students, three of which are very low and need a lot of special attention. Each day they come with an aide, however with her, myself, and my CT, it is still very difficult to keep these students interested and productive. While listening to the rules on the first day, I was very distracted by these students, and I am sure that the rest of the fifth grade class struggled to pay attention to the instructions as well. My CT and I are currently brainstorming ideas for how to keep these students motivated and still include them with the rest of the students. We tried making drawing books for them to trace shapes, lines, and draw cats, houses, flowers, etc. It was still very difficult to keep them motivated and was still above their level at some points. My CT then had the idea of setting up a mat in a more secluded part of the room where they can work on their fine motor skills using blocks and drawing on a white board. Thus far they have loved it. The rest of the students are working on scratch art bubble name designs. This class will be a huge challenge, but I will learn a lot about inclusion and modifying projects. I helped students trace their names by writing the name out beforehand in bubble letters and they got to follow the lines. Another modification is having the students scratch out the bubbles instead of making designs inside of the bubble letters.
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| Adaptive Learning: Working to Provide Lessons at the Correct Level |
Sixth grade is working on learning value. They began with a couple worksheets making a value scale in pencil, colored pencil, crosshatching with pencil, and stippling with markers. Next, they took a pretest with vocab words to see the degree of understanding each word is at, and which words to emphasize throughout the year to gain more understanding. My CT's goal for the school year is to improve the class's vocab retention by 20%. Next the students began applying their knowledge of the value scale and started putting shadow on shapes. They chose a point where the sun is shining down on a shape and show value from light to dark accordingly. Most of the students were able to find understanding in this and showed great improvement when they came up to the CT or I to give them some advice. Most students were able to show success with graphite before colored pencil, and the biggest difficulty was showing a gradient between light and dark. Not just separated shades: light, medium, dark. My CT showed a demo on drawing shoes and then they started doing practice shoe drawings working with contour line.
Seventh grade is working on their pinwheels. I did this project in the past in my CT's rooms, and it is one of my favorites. The students separate a square piece of paper into quadrants and then do designs with influence from Piet Mondrian, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Op Art. On the back they do a splatter painting influenced by Jackson Pollock. At the end the paper is cut and folded into a pinwheel. Each section of the pinwheel takes a couple of days and students move along for the most part at their own rate, but can catch up in different areas if necessary.
Eighth grade learned about Frank Stella and the numerous art styles that he worked with. The students brainstorm what some of their favorite things are and are able to work around these ideas to create something completely their own, whether it is abstract, heavily influenced by Stella or a style, or very representative of their own work. They are using cardboard, paint, and other patterns. To cut the cardboard they use scissors, xacto knives, and the paper cutter. SAFETY IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT. Only five xacto's out at a time.
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| Week 1 Schedule |
KEYS TO MY OBSERVATION
- My CT teaches and explains the way she does things to the students throughout the process. I really like the way she does this, because she tells the students what they should be getting out of the project and the main point.
- She has the students write down what their learning target is on worksheets or asks what the learning target was for the day to see what students learned. (The target is also on the board)
- My CT is INCREDIBLY organized. She was not worried about the beginning of the school year because everything is always in it's right place. She keeps up on her website, curriculum, and lesson plans, so that she can get it all done at school.
- This makes ME organized! This is the reason I am so far along in my edTPA and why I can come into school knowing what is happening today, next week, and even have a broad picture of the rest of the semester.
- Keep the students comfortable ESPECIALLY within the first couple of days. Some students need to get out of their comfort zone, however the students (especially 5th graders who are new to the building) work best when they feel safe and comfortable in their workspace.
- She has the students come up and get their own supplies when they are ready. At the middle school level they should be able to handle this and can put things away afterwards (clean up by themselves).
- Handing back papers is a GREAT way to learn names!
- Write down that safety is gone over in the lesson plan to make sure it is done.
- I began worrying about how I was doing and how my lesson plan for edTPA was coming, but she told me that she will always be honest with me, and with that, worries disappear.
- Combat the smart comments with humor and positivity (easier said than done).
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