Question 1:
What is the best way to provide support to a student who wants to talk about an idea that maybe doesn't personally relate to you? Should you educate yourself or let the student educate you? Question 2: What is the best way to dismiss the use of a trend/meme used by the students if you find out it is inappropriate? Should you completely shut it down or offer to educate them? Question 3: Is there a line that is deemed “appropriate” when talking about social issues in schools? Interview Question: Since you see students for a very short time through out the week, how do you plan to keep them interested in the projects or activities you have them working on?
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Links:Unit Plan:
Lesson 1 Slideshow: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d5RyWMuD-HkqbMC8ahuiX41qMKbb5M8YrQaSgoTtSLA/edit?usp=sharing Lesson 2 Slidshow: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RJWLFFOO_WuJqpY0LF4QfAP24nmwlc7Q45Ie57drclA/edit?usp=sharing Photos: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1v7ccqSGmREW2vi-hzJs2JENIn6U-w1cq?usp=sharing Part III: ImplantationBeing the last to teach in our 3 class periods, I was fully prepared to teach our first lesson to a new group of students. However, we found out last minute that we would be working with the same group as our previous two lessons. It was now clear that we had to improvise. Together, we decided it would be fun and also interesting to do a large group collaboration project. In the five minutes we had before our class came in, we pushed the desks together to make thee long tables. We then rolled out one long sheet of butcher paper across both of the tables. We provided each group with a primary color palette of paint, paint brushes of multiple sizes, water, and paper towels. When the bell rang and the students started entering the room they were surprised to see the tables set up this way. This lead me to believe that they had never done anything like this as a class. Because I had not visuals or powerpoint prepared for this sort of lesson, I reflected with the students on what we had learned in the previous two class periods. I also wanted to stress meaningful collaboration with the students since we had some difficulties with students being inappropriate in past projects. I also stressed that students try to avoid word art and use visuals to represent what they wanted to say. After I talked with the class, music was turned on and the students were free to begin working. Myself, Katy, Maggie and their lead teacher walked around and engaged with the students. After the students worked for about ten minutes, I turned the music down and encouraged them to find a new spot at their table and add on to a peers work. While a majority of the students followed what I had spoken about earlier and were respectful of other work, a few still choose to act inappropriately. Fortunately, these actions were quickly caught by myself or another teacher in the room and shut down. The students then continued to work for the rest of class on trying to fill up their tables paper. With ten minutes left in the class, I prompted the students to each take on a job and clean up their tables supplies. This went smoothly because it was something the class was used to doing. With five minutes left, us, along with the lead teacher asked the students some reflection questions about collaboration. When we asked for any closing comments from thee students, one boy raised his hand and said he was very disappointed that some people were actively trying to destroy others work. Overall, I think that even though I did not teach the lesson I was planning on teaching, we were still able to teach the students a lesson on respectful collaboration that will hopefully carry on with them. Part IV: REFLECTION
5. Reflecting on the entire process of preparing for and teaching your lesson, what stands out or is significant to you now? Something that I believe to be the most significant in this process is to be expecting the unexpected. I was fully prepared to teach a different lesson then the one I ended up teaching. I think that this went so smoothly because myself, along with my group members, did a lot of research on the concepts we were working with. If anything, this process taught me to be prepared for any situation you can think of and be flexible when things don't go to plan. For our third and final lesson, our group was planning to do the same collaboration project as we did with our first class. However, there was a miss communication when we were first planning and it turned how to be the same group of students we did our previous two lessons with. Therefore, we improvised and did three larger group collaboration projects. We pushed two of the larger tables together to create three groups and taped a long sheet of white paper over each set of tables. I then reminded students of the pervious concepts we learned. This week our group also decided to mention the importance of meaningful collaboration (trying to avoid the use of inappropriate words). This worked for a majority of the students. We only noticed a few students who continued to be inappropriate so we just approached them individually. Much like the first time we did a collaboration project, the students were nervous to make changes to others work. Once we encouraged the students to try to work together and make a plan, a majority of students were willing to work appropriately together. However, still a few of the students who we have had problems with in the past were actively trying tot destroy others work. I think that this lesson was overall very beneficial to most of the students. I think it encouraged them to open up and focus on the process and not necessarily the final product.
What surprised you?
I was actually pleasantly surprised at how open the students were to writing a story to go with their finished projects. Reading through them at the end of the class I was happy to see how much thought a majority of the students put in. I was also surprised to see what the students added to their original piece once they were allowed to ass the final layer. A few of the students actually painted over the entire thing with white or black and started over again. What did you learn? I learned that what students take away from a lesson is so personal to each student. It seemed like a majority of the students thought this was a refreshing experience and some of them they really shut down at the thought of sharing. I didn't consider that students would cover a solid coat of paint but to some that it was needed to be done in order for them to like the piece. Because of this, I think it is really important to teach your kids that some projects are about the process and not the final product. What would you of done differently? I think that the lead student teacher (Maggie) did a fantastic job at closing out this lesson. I liked how she emphasized that being able to convey your art to people who might of not seen your process is very important. If I had tot do something differently, I would of encouraged the students who painted over their entire thing to leave some of the original or take the time to write about why they felt they needed to do that. What surprised you?
I was genuinely surprised at how much the students were not willing to collaborate. More specifically, how much they didn't want other students to "ruin" their own works. Also, a select few fo the students took pride in trying to destroy their peers work. At the end of the class, their teacher told us they had never actually done anything like this before and it went better then she had expected. What did you learn? I think that my biggest take away from this experience was how important collaboration really is. A lot of the students were very turned off by the experience at first, but began to open up towards the end of the class. I talked to a few of the students and they said this experience was actually very fun and engaging because they have not yet been able to get messy with paint in their art class. What would you of done differently? I think that the lead student teacher (Katy) did a great job at leading the first lesson. She was able to go over everything we had planned in a way that was informative and easy for the students to understand. One thing I think we could off done better as a group was actively going around and shutting down students who were behaving inappropriately. School AWhat surprised you?
Going from school B to school A was interesting this week because school A was also introducing a new project. What surprised me was this class was doing all of the research and learning on their own using their computer. The assignment was read a short paragraph about abstract art, pick and artist and research their work, and finally sketch something that is unique to you but inspired by the abstract artists work. I was shocked by the lack of interest the students had in this preparatory assignment. Most of the students finished quickly and did sketches of a few circles on the page and claimed it to be "modern abstract art". This was upsetting to me because it made me feel like they didn't get the opportunity/understand what abstract art really is. What did you learn? I learned that it might be more beneficial to introduce the project as a group and maybe ask the kids to come to the next class with an artist in mind rather than wasting an entire class on it. I also think the students could have used some teacher or student made examples. They were told to do thumbnail sketches but the examples of thumbnail sketches they were provided with were of a still life. What would you of done differently? I would spent one class period of introducing what abstract art is as a group, and maybe even facilitated a quick activity that they could do as table groups to give them inspiration for next class. In my own teaching philosophy, I believe that collaboration is so important, especially in the beginning stages of a project for younger students. School BWhat surprised you?
Today, the students were starting a new project about carving and printmaking. Nothing today really surprised me too much, it was a pretty standard project introduction day. I did like how she had carved examples from a previous teacher that the students could see and touch. The teacher also did a good job and discussing what kind of cuts help to make a finished piece successful. What did you learn? One things I learned in this class period was that you could use styrofoam in place of more expensive carving blocks. When we asked her why she did this she said that she didn't have it in the budget for sixth grade, but still thought it was important for them to have this experience. I thought this was valuable because printmaking was not something I got to experience until I was in high school. What would you of done differently? For this particular class period, there is nothing that I would have done. different. I thought the teacher did a great job at introducing a new lesson while also keeping them engaged through group interacting and being abound to see/touch examples. School BWhat surprised you?
Today, the students were working on the bodies of their monster creations. What surprised me the most was how they went about creating the bodies. The teacher instructed them to pain two pinch pots and connect them together so that the inside of the body was hollow. This is a strategy that I have never seen before and will be interested in seeing how it turns out. What did you learn? This class was the very beginning stages of their monster project so they were very focused on getting started. One thing that I learned was how to effectively get students to clean up in a timely manner. The teacher played a game of "Simon says" with each table in order to get them to put their materials away as a group. I can see myself using this in a future classroom because it was not only. fun but also effectively cleaned up the room. What would you of done differently? One thing that I would do differently is do the clay demo at the beginning of the class. The teacher did a demo on how to make eyes in the middle of the class and I thought that it weirdly broke up the class and took up too much time. Overall, I thought she did a good job at keeping the students engaged and inspiring them to create. Location BWhat surprised you?
Walking into this classroom, I was both happy and pleasantly surprised with how welcoming both the teacher and students were. Unlike location A, Location B's art room was much more of an open, free space. This particular class period was a transitional period for the students, so they had a group table sculpture they worked on together. What did you learn? The sculpture the students worked on was nothing too intense. Each group used modeling clay and toothpicks to see who could make the tallest tower. Because of this, I would say that I learned that each project, especially mini one day projects, don't need to be something super deep and thought out. Having an activity that keeps the kids engaged, collaborating, and excited to create can me just meaningful as a longer, more thought out project. There were also really good transitions between each part of the class. The teacher used music alone with verbal reminders to let the kids know when activities were coming to a close. What would you of done differently? It is hard to say what I would do differently because I felt as if we were there for such a shot amount of time. The only thing I would have maybe don't differently was go around and engage with each individual group a little more. However, she could have been stepping back because because we were also talking to different tables of students. Location A What surprised you?
In this visit, the students worked on their two point perspective drawings. One of the things that surprised me was how they worked through each step. The teacher had individual videos prepared and posted on their google classroom that the students watched step by step as a class. It was also available for the students to go back and look at the steps if they missed them. What did you learn? I learned some ways you could integrate Google classroom into an actual classroom setting. I thought this was both beneficial but also distracting. I think that is was helpful because kids were able to go back and look at the steps on their own time. However, it was a lot of stopping and restarting which made it feel like the class went by really quick. What would you of done differently? I would not of used technology in teaching the students about two point perspective. While I think it is beneficial to have visuals to support your projects, but I wouldn't use it to fully teach the lesson. The teacher did very little actual instruction and I almost felt like she didn't even need to be there for the kids to be able to complete the lesson. |
AuthorMy name is Carolyn Arosell and I am a third year Art Education student at Penn State University. Archives
April 2019
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