Art journal prompt #1
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Student teaching is a I tight rope. There is a fine balance to student teaching I am learning, if I put too much in I burn myself out, if there is not enough effort put into student teaching I'll fall.
This was my first week officially with the kids and it was very tiring. It was fun, full of smiles, questions, and went by super fast. There is a lot of commitment to teaching and knowing that the students depend on you to be ready to go. So for me this meant being cheerful, bright, and kept alive by coffee. I spend almost all of my free time creating lesson plans or talking to my mentor teachers about what they want to see next. Teaching the students also went surprisingly well, I think with the help of my mentor teachers and planning lesson plans in depth I feel more confident. Also as of this moment it feels like I will never catch up to the work that is due and clean my house, I am hoping that as time goes on there will be a better routine for my life.
Art Journal Prompt 2:
Make it simple.
For this project I wanted to teach my kids about value. We jumped right in and started value with two colors, some students really got it, others got really lost. I originally had then draw 4 different types of values in their sketchbook, one using complementary colors; so i thought by the time they begin their kaleidoscope they should have this down. Just like differentiation in students there are many ways to see a kaleidoscope. That's why I chose the symbol above. After I watched some of my students struggle with the two colors I gave them the option of one color to show gradient. Some wanted only one color, some wanted to take on the challenge of 2 again.
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Plan Ahead and the heir wins the race
The symbol I made above was a cartoon representing how teaching foundations of art is going.I wish I could tell my students go back and take your time. Some of my students zoom through things and really have the project down, but then others try to catch up to the speedy students and learn nothing. I've been practicing telling students to put away distractions as well and get back to work. Its like every time I turn around there is always a couple kids finding some sort of vortex in the class and getting sucked in. I keep fishing them back out of the vortex and telling them to get busy. I figured all students would want to take their time and end up with a good project, but that isn't always the case.
I have been practicing have the next project in my back pocket for when students finish ahead. It is hard however keeping everyone at the same pace.
Plant the seed and they will grow.
My sculpture students have been working with cardboard since the beginning of the semester. They are growing to really appropriate it because I had them work harder in the beginning that by the time they are working on their last project they have a better understanding of cardboard. For the first project they could only connect with elmers glue which got a lot of fuss and begging for hot glue. After the first project I had students come out in the hall with me and have them help me grade them. A lot of their points were earned from craftsmanship and adding more than what they thought they could.(first project was a cardboard relief
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Second project they weren't even aloud to use glue they were making connections by folding, scoring, and pining the cardboard. For the final project they are aloud to connect anyway they choose to including hot glue. I am finding that because they have the option now of using the hot glue now a lot of students are going back to the Elmers glue or alternative connections, and being more considered of craftsmanship. Also because I had them grade themselves and we went over the rubric I am watching the growth of them now going to the rubric and seeing what is expected of them for this final project. I also hear them saying "on the rubric it says add more than just paint so you better do more than just that".They are holding both themselves and each other accountable.
My symbol for this one is a tree I made out of cardboard using both elmers and hot glue. I wanted to start with the first project in mind, so adding layers with cardboard only using elmers and incorporate their last project which is a full sculpture and use hot glue for part of it.
Their final projects are showing a lot of growth as creators, so it makes me want to implement the one on one grading of a rubric together. I think it really help set the standards I have for them and they are holding themselves accountable. I now wish I could do that in ever class I am teaching.
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Art Journal Prompt 3:
The Kangaroo Rat.
Transitioning from student to student teaching is like adapting in the environment for animals. Like the Kangaroo rat they have learned to get by with just eating seeds to get their water because they are surviving in the desert. As a student teacher I find myself drinking less water in the day than I would as a student because you cant use the bathroom as much as you like because you are running a class. The kangaroo rat is so small it is continually learning and watching its surroundings, it can also jump up to nine feet to avoid predators. Transitioning from teaching and learning is being able learn from your students while you are in the classroom; but also being able to jump into the teacher role to help your students. Every classroom you have to adapt to, to make your teacher presents evident. I do keep about three things consistent however, dress like a teacher, visit every student in a class, and let students know what my expectations are for every project. Some classes you have to adapt the routine or the plan and see where students are at, just like animals adapt in the environment.
Art Journal Prompt 4:
Time Management is Expecting the Unexpected
Efficient time management in your home-life is planning out everything you need to do and insuring you do it while still finding the balance of happiness. Efficient time management in the classroom is pacing yourself and checking in with your students before moving on.
Lately I've been trying to do all my school involved work at school and leave it there. I've been lucky because there are plenty of rooms in the school I can seclude myself in and just work. Although sometimes I feel like a hermit because I don't eat lunch with the other teachers or hang out with them during my planning period, it works because I can work with no distractions but it is also pretty lonely. When I go home I try to unwind from the day but I am also finding it really hard to want to socialize and be with friends. A lot of days I feel drained from talking all day and being social that I just want to come home and stare at the wall. I even have found myself cancelling plans so I can just relax alone. Its hard because I care about my family and friends but I also want to be alone. Finding the balance between all parties in my life has just been a lot of accepting when people are angry and don't really understand that the time you once had to hang out with them is now penciling them into a tightly booked calendar.
Then there comes the times when I'm managing time with my students. In my lesson plans I am so precise about how longs will take, but when it comes time to teaching I just look for social cues. Sometimes it is okay to spend a little more time explaining something, or letting students work a little longer on something. There is also the dreaded I'm finished (days before it was suppose to be finished),this is something I am trying to have mapped out. My mentor teachers say its fine for students to have free work time when they are finished early, but often free work time turns into free socializing time. Recently my mentor teacher worked with me about my time management with beginning art. They were learning self-portraits and my first day I didn't check the cues to know when to move on. I zoomed through proportions and they were staring at me like deer in the headlights.So my mentor teacher described to me her walking around technique. She would explain something in depth like the shape and placement of the eyes, after describing she walks around the room answering and checking where students were at.Every time you describe something you can walk around the room and check, as for questions, or ask questions like "How did I just say to describe the eyebrows?" Simple things like this corrected my time management because I was no longer walking around answering questions the whole time but I was going in depth with the students.
I chose the art of sumi-e because it is an art practice where everything is considered. The white paper is used to create depth and is described as "the art of white blankness".The brush strokes are communicated by the emotion of the creator. I liked this method for time management because time management is so individualized. The depth of the white paper is the bases/plan for our management but the brush strokes become much more individualized just like every class.
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Art Journal Prompt 5:
Professional Development is important for being/ becoming an art educator because it is becoming a part of the school. Professional development is seen in every job or school work because it is a part of doing course work attending meetings, and learning based on the events around you. Before student teaching I thought professional development was dressing nice, being on time, and getting your work done; well all those things are a part of it I am learning there is so much more. Through being at the schools I have learned it is not only about yourself and being on top of things but it is also working collaboratively. Everyday I work with my mentor teacher and learn new things. When I was at the high school working my mentors had lots of positive feedback, rarely constructing my lessons or what I was doing. Now that I am at the elementary school a lot more of my lessons and practices are being constructed harder than before. Even though I am being pushed a little bit harder by my mentor this time that is ok because it is pushing me further into that professional role, I am reflecting harder and changing many more lesson ideas. Part of the professional role of being an educator is learning from what is around you and being able to teach to those around you. In this moment I am a sponge, my professional development is a sponge, I am soaking up all of the learning around me and releasing it into the world around me.
Art Journal Prompt 6
-During the first placement at Manitou Springs High school I had a change of perspective towards the high schoolers. Before going there I was very worried about classroom management and the high schoolers taking advantage of my teaching because I am a younger teacher. Everyday I dressed professional and held myself as an art educator, I didn't have much problem with the classroom management and my co-teachers were great about feedback and making me feel more confident when it came time to manage the class. I had never pulled a student out into the hall to talk before this first placement, but my co-teacher gave me the confidence to do so and taught me strategies to talk to student and just listen instead of reprimanding them for bad behavior. I was under the impression that students in high school would fully read directions and not need them repeated more than once. I learned I was wrong and I would find myself repeating directions multiple times. One way I revised that was writing directions in multiple areas so they knew where to find them and my mentor teacher helped me shorten instructions to more of a bullet point statement instead of full sentences.
-As I went into my new placement I thought elementary school would be a cake walk considering high school went so smoothly. I was wrong. I was under the assumption every elementary student would love art and be focused the whole time. Students from 3rd grade to about 6th grade all want to argue and don't really want to stay productive in art class. It isn't every student in those grade levels but it is a handful of them. So I have been working on building relationships with all the students to hopefully decrease the arguing and up the productivity. My mentor teacher has also been helping me with the classroom management, because I am learning I can tell a student countless amount of time to get back to work but it doesn't mean they'll listen. I am having to stay really firm and someday that means telling their homeroom teacher we did not have a productive day in art or sometimes it means having them come in during reeces and create. When my university coach came in she watched me be very firm with my 5th grade class and explain my expectations, after the students were done I told her I feel guilty for being so strict with them, but if I am not they don't want to work. She told me it was ok and not to smile until December and they will work much better. I also don't see them as much as I did my high school students so I am having a hard time remembering their names. I have them do a check-in every day of class with a quick thumbs up or down based on how they are feeling and they tell me their names. I am also studying seating charts and rosters which was something I was not doing at my first placement. This may also seem silly but going back to elementary school, I have to think backwards in regards to teaching them, some students don't even know how to cut paper or paint with watercolors so I have to show them everything and explain nearly every word that maybe new to them.
Art Journal Prompt 7
The art piece I made for this journal was an art piece that I had a couple 6th graders help me with. It is a sand art piece because it is all about letting go and that everything we do is temporary. It is an eye because this whole experience has been very eye opening for me.
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1.Classroom management, professional behavior, and teachers beliefs are three of the most important elements to teaching.
Classroom management is one of the most important elements to creating a predictable,caring and positive learning environment. When the class is under control it seems as if everything else just falls into place. Profession Behavior is also an element I tried to implement everyday, I had to learn that you don't want students to be your friends, you want them to be students and learn from you. Professional behavior and classroom management go hand in hand, if you aren't professional students will not take you seriously.Professional behavior is all about being a leader and setting the expectations you wish your students to also follow. Not only does professional behavior affect how students look at you but also other coworkers. Another part to creating a positive learning environment is all about the teachers beliefs. Before student teaching I always was under the impression you take things with a grain of salt. After student teaching I can see that that is true. I didn't eat lunch in the teacher lounge after hearing some of the negative things they would say about each other or students. My beliefs and judgments are never based off of what gossip is heard from other people. I had to keep my values of taking things with a grain of salt.
2.Strategies that are helpful for me to respect for diversity all depend on who I am working with. I learned often time I let students self diversity themselves, by that I mean practice a lot of self choice. For example I will give multiple options for students to get the project done and whatever they choose is okay. Listening is also a very helpful strategy, not only listening to your students needs to see how you can help them but also listening to other staff members to find success in what they do with particular students.
3. Through my past journal entries it seemed like I struggled a lot with time management and classroom management. I some of my posts I write about feeling drained after a day at school and how exhausted I felt. Towards the end of student teaching I felt least exhausted it was almost like a routine and I started enjoying getting up early and working all day then some at night. I also wrote about having a hard time being strict towards the end of student teaching it got easier to work with the kids and be firm with them. It made or a better classroom environment when students were being held accountable for their actions.
One reflective practice I did was in my 5th grade classroom. The first couple classes I was having a hard time keeping the class under control so after every class I tried to pinpoint where my problems were. My first class I realized it's because they didn't think I was a real teacher, so for the next class I sat on my own without my co teachers help. This was tricky because I had not learned all of their names so it was hard to tell them to stop doing something when I was still practicing names. Next class I had studied all of their names and had them tell me what an art classroom was supposed to behave like. This class I was able to write their name on the board if they were in trouble. I felt so bad after the third class but I was having so much trouble trying to get them to focus, my mentor teacher was observing me that class. She said something really valuable to me that I have been trying in nearly all classes. Do not smile until December. For the fourth class I told students what an art classroom looked like for me and I still havent smiled. This class they behaved much better. As time goes on with 5th grade it is getting easier to teach them. I did however have to change and reflect on my teaching. This was knowledge of myself to benefit my students, because a managed classroom is a safe and workable classroom.
The second reflective process I had to work on was knowledge of students. When I was at the high school I assumed all students would know what certain vocabulary was because I figured it was taught to them before. One example was complementary colors, I went over it briefly but never in depth with the students. They had to make a kaleidoscope with complementary colors to show value scale. I had so many questions and I found myself constantly reminding kids what complementary colors were. After the project I gave a ticket out the door asking what value scale and complementary colors were. I was in disbelief when students didnt know, we had been working on them all week! So I talked to my mentor teacher and she gave me some input on how to describe complementary colors if it came to it again. I had to make it something relatable to the students. Something they would understand. When it came time to teach 4th grade about complementary colors I thought of my students understandings and I asked them critical questions. What makes brown? no not all the colors mixed together. Then I challenged them to create browns by using complements. I had them remember based off of sports teams and holidays (broncos colors, Minnesota vikings colors, and Christmas colors). No matter what age the student is it is never safe to assume what they already may or may not know. This is why pretests are so crucial to teaching.
My metaphor for student teaching is:
Student teaching is the sublime. Sure some days were not truly sublime, but everyday was an eye opening experience and a step into a new journey.
