Although I have finished my fifteen hours, I decided to go in for an extra day. I wanted to talk more with the cooperating teacher about my lesson and ask her what I could improve upon. The students were still working on their clay containers, which is a fun project that I enjoy helping out with. Most of the time, I couldn't help but converse with students and help them with their projects. Now that they are familiar with me, they openly ask questions and seem to value my input and suggestions. It is disappointing that today was my last day with them. One student suggested that they throw a party for me! They were all so welcoming toward me and I will definitely miss seeing them every Monday and Wednesday.
When I asked the teacher for some advice on my lesson, she said that I did very well. She liked my PowerPoint and the content of the lesson. The students obviously enjoyed the project as well. Some suggestions were made in carrying out the lesson. It would have been beneficial to let the students "play" with the materials and get to know them on scratch paper. Next time, I will definitely do this. I did consider this strategy when planning, but I was concerned about time management. The teacher also suggested creating a brainstorming worksheet to pick out which animals would be best for their project. The projection of my voice could be improved upon, as the classroom we were in was quite large.
During some downtime, I asked the teacher what she thought about being facebook friends with students and what the social boundaries are for her. She explained that once her students earn their diploma, they have earned the privilege of being "friends" with her. There was an emphasis on private life and professional life and keeping a separation. I cannot agree with her more. She discussed how rewarding it is to keep in contact with the students who have graduated.
After I thanked her for having me in her classroom and letting her know how beneficial the experience was, she let me know that I was organized, responsible, and that I will make a great teacher. It was nice to hear her compliments and I valued all of the constructive input that she offered me.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Chimera Project (Grading)
Ms. Alberg grading the projects:
Here are some student written reflections on the project:
Here are a few example rubrics from the lesson:
Here are some student written reflections on the project:
Here are a few example rubrics from the lesson:
April 13th
Today, the students did more slab rolling. They had made paper templates of their designs for the clay containers they were making. Each student took apart their templates and used the cut-outs of paper as stencils on the slabs of clay. They were cutting out slabs and attaching them using the joints (slip and score) that they had learned in the last class period I attended. The teacher showed them how to pop air bubbles, "like pimples," which got a laugh out of the students. I walked around and helped students who were behind on their templates, as well as the students who were beginning to cut out their slabs. Some students were having difficulty measuring the sides of their templates to match and fit together. I had to help them understand that the clay would be thicker than the paper and that this would throw off their measurements. One particular student was very hard for me to reach. He raised his hand and had a question about how to measure his container. He described a very complex idea to me, which I could not understand with the way that he was describing it. It did not make sense, and it was very difficult for me to communicate with him. The more I asked him to explain himself, the more frustrated he became. Defeated, I had him talk to the teacher about his design. I was completely unsure of what to do for him. I could not answer his question if he could not explain his idea to me clearly. If this was my own classroom, I would have said that if his idea is too complex to explain, it is too complex to make. Some of the students in this age group have grand ideas, but not the resources to pull it off. I don't like to hinder their ideas, but some things are just too difficult to attain in the middle school art classroom and there is only so much time to complete the projects. Many of the students had hearts in their designs. I noticed this in the last group of students as well. If this were my classroom, I would consider somehow downplaying or eliminating this cliche form, simply to challenge the students and keep them from taking the easy way out. I would have high expectations for their ideas and expressions of individuality. I would ask them questions such as, "What other forms can symbolize love?" "Is the act of making this clay container an expression of love to begin with?" "Is a heart necessary in communicating a like or love for something?"
April 11th
The teacher announced that the students would be working with clay today. She immediately wrote down the supplies that each student would need to collect on the board. She dismissed them by male and female to avoid crowds, which works well. I did not dismiss them separately during my lesson, but have learned that I need to in the future. Once all of the supplies were collected, the teacher was ready to give a demonstration. She showed the students how to decide when the clay needs water added to it and when it needs to be dried out. She went through wedging, explained how to properly use tools, and showed them how to make slabs. Once everyone had made their own slab, she took them step-by-step through the process of making joints with the slip and score process. I walked around and helped students keep up with the activity and steps. I filled containers of water and helped cut clay for students as well. I like her strategy of taking the students through the process step-by-step. It requires them to participate in the hands-on activity. I will absolutely use this in my own classroom. The one problem with this strategy is that some students cannot keep up and it is difficult to tell if a student has fallen behind. One person in charge of thirty-or-so students can be demanding and many things can be missed. When I am there to help the students work and keep up, it seems to go well, but it would be difficult to teach this way alone. When the students do fall behind, they get defeated. A good way to solve the students from falling behind is to have them raise their hands when they have finished a step so that the teacher knows when it is appropriate to continue. Although, this would be more time consuming. Overall, the students had a rewarding day of experimenting with clay.
April 4th (Lesson Day 2)
Teacher Made Example
Supplies Table
CriteriaThe second day of my lesson was an interesting experience. The teacher had warned me that a substitute would be there today. She let me know that she wanted me to take charge and be their teacher while she was gone. I was up for the challenge! I was a bit nervous to see how the students would respond to me as their primary teacher for the period, but I was also very excited to have this opportunity. The substitute took attendance and then proceeded to let me take charge. I reminded the students of what they should be working on for the day and re-wrote the criteria for them on the board. All but three of the students finished their Chimera project. It went extremely well for having a substitute. There were some behavioral issues with students smearing charcoal on each others faces, but I addressed it and told them to keep their hands to themselves. When they cleaned up at the sink, it got out-of-hand, so I walked over and told them that they needed to take a seat when they were finished washing up. They responded to my directions well, for the most part. Looking back, I would have announced at the beginning of the class period that they should keep their hands to themselves and the charcoal on the paper. This would have likely prevented the only behavioral problem that the students had during the period. Overall, it was an awesome experience and I have learned that I absolutely love teaching at the middle school level.
March 30th (Lesson Day 1)
Today was the first day of my lesson. It was the first lesson I have ever taught to students. I taught about Chimera, which is a mythical creature from Greek mythology. A PowerPoint was presented with an engaging activity for two volunteers. They were asked to draw examples for the rest of the class on the board. They seemed to enjoy it and got a good laugh out of it as well. I then showed them the supplies they were expected to use and went over the criteria. It went well and they were engaged and listening the majority of the time. Once I had their attention, they seemed to be pretty enthralled in the subject. I never had to use the chat box and they were very well behaved. The teacher even gave them a star at the end of the day. The students were busy at work the entire time and were very excited about the project. Many of them told me that they thought the project was fun. One student even said, "I love this teacher!" I have to admit, it felt great to have them respond so well to my lesson. The project was done with charcoal and chalk on paper. I did not do a demonstration for the sake of time, and the teacher does not typically give a demonstration for working with charcoal and chalk for the 8th graders. I followed in her footsteps assuming that they could figure it out on their own with practice. Looking back, it would have been best to do a demonstration. It would have also helped if I reminded them to use up the entire piece of paper. I learned a lot of details that I missed out on in this lesson that I will definitely remember for the next time.
March 28th
Today, a new group of students were coming into the art room because of the new quarter. The teacher went over the syllabus and made it clear that each student needed to sign the syllabus as if it is a contract that they will agree to. This is a good strategy in holding them accountable for their actions. It is extra credit if the parents sign it as well. This is a good way to get parents involved and let them know what is going on in their child's life.
The teacher went over the basket and folder system of the classroom. She showed everyone where the folder was located with information about absences for each day. This system holds the students accountable for figuring out what they have missed on their own and taking the responsibility to make up for it.
A PowerPoint was given about the projects that they will be working on throughout the semester. The students got the choice to decide which projects they want to do in what order by voting. This made them feel like they were an important part of the class and that they had an opinion about what goes on. This, again, holds them even more accountable for their choices and actions. Origami, Ribbon Drawing, and Clay Containers were the projects that they had to choose from, which I have already experienced in the prior semester. The teacher offered a description of each with photos of example projects. I like the idea of letting students have an opinion on scheduling of projects. I would definitely use this in my own classroom.
Seating charts were then discussed, as well as the chat box. The students start out the semester sitting in their assigned seats. When they are well behaved, they can earn stars. If the class has two stars at once, they have free choice in seating. They can lose this privilege when they fill up the chat box (if they are loud or poorly behaved). Each time the chat box fills, they lose a star. I do like this as a strategy and would try it out in my own classroom, but I would rather have an expectation for my students to be mature without the need for a system like this. I would make a seating chart and use it every day. If the students start the class with good behaviors, I would let them move during work time if they would desire to. If the students started showing signs of bad behavior, I would give them a warning. If it became too much to deal with, I would tell them that they would need to remain in their assigned seats for the rest of the period. I don't see the need to make a game out of following directions.
This is a very large class and we actually ran out of chairs for all of the students. The classroom is very large, but there is not enough furniture to fill it. There are not enough tables for supplies and demonstrations either. It can get frustrating when there is nowhere to set things. There is a lot of shelving for projects, but very little work space. If I taught in this classroom, I would ask my principal how I can get more furniture, if possible. If there was no funding to get more furniture, I would likely make tables or buy some on my own, simply because it is just very difficult to teach art with little work space.
After the teacher went through the syllabus and classroom procedures, the students began a basic project. Each student would have a piece of paper with their name on it. The papers would be passed around the classroom and each student would draw a line on every piece of paper. The result was an abstract drawing when the original owner of the paper got it back. The teacher and myself walked around the classroom watching over the students as they drew and passed. The teacher noticed that a student had been drawing inappropriate things on the papers. She immediately told everyone to put their heads down for the rest of the period. The papers were collected and thrown in the garbage. Many students had not understood why they were being punished. The teacher took the particular student aside who was drawing the inappropriate images and sent him to the office. After a few minutes, the teacher announced that inappropriate images should not be used in any project for school. She had the students keep their heads down for the remainder of the class. I would have handled this situation very differently, although I do understand why the teacher reacted so severely. What happened is completely unacceptable. I would have collected the inappropriate drawings and had the students start over. It would be announced to the entire class that inappropriate imagery is unacceptable. After discussing this, I would have the students start fresh, knowing the consequences of it being repeated. At this point, I would remove the student who was drawing inappropriately. I would sit down with the student and address the situation and punishment, as he is the culprit. I would not punish the rest of the class for something they did not do. It is a good learning experience for the rest of the class for it to be addressed as a whole, but the punishment should be dealt with privately. The principal would be my last resort in terms of dealing with the situation. Talking through the situation with the student would be my first attempt. By sending the student to the principal, he became quickly angered and ended up lashing out at the principal, which then resulted in suspension. By keeping the situation in the classroom and dealing with the behavior immediately when the student was calm, I think this could have been prevented. If the situation did not go as well as I had expected, I would then either escort the student to the principals office or have a staff member escort him.
The teacher went over the basket and folder system of the classroom. She showed everyone where the folder was located with information about absences for each day. This system holds the students accountable for figuring out what they have missed on their own and taking the responsibility to make up for it.
A PowerPoint was given about the projects that they will be working on throughout the semester. The students got the choice to decide which projects they want to do in what order by voting. This made them feel like they were an important part of the class and that they had an opinion about what goes on. This, again, holds them even more accountable for their choices and actions. Origami, Ribbon Drawing, and Clay Containers were the projects that they had to choose from, which I have already experienced in the prior semester. The teacher offered a description of each with photos of example projects. I like the idea of letting students have an opinion on scheduling of projects. I would definitely use this in my own classroom.
Seating charts were then discussed, as well as the chat box. The students start out the semester sitting in their assigned seats. When they are well behaved, they can earn stars. If the class has two stars at once, they have free choice in seating. They can lose this privilege when they fill up the chat box (if they are loud or poorly behaved). Each time the chat box fills, they lose a star. I do like this as a strategy and would try it out in my own classroom, but I would rather have an expectation for my students to be mature without the need for a system like this. I would make a seating chart and use it every day. If the students start the class with good behaviors, I would let them move during work time if they would desire to. If the students started showing signs of bad behavior, I would give them a warning. If it became too much to deal with, I would tell them that they would need to remain in their assigned seats for the rest of the period. I don't see the need to make a game out of following directions.
This is a very large class and we actually ran out of chairs for all of the students. The classroom is very large, but there is not enough furniture to fill it. There are not enough tables for supplies and demonstrations either. It can get frustrating when there is nowhere to set things. There is a lot of shelving for projects, but very little work space. If I taught in this classroom, I would ask my principal how I can get more furniture, if possible. If there was no funding to get more furniture, I would likely make tables or buy some on my own, simply because it is just very difficult to teach art with little work space.
After the teacher went through the syllabus and classroom procedures, the students began a basic project. Each student would have a piece of paper with their name on it. The papers would be passed around the classroom and each student would draw a line on every piece of paper. The result was an abstract drawing when the original owner of the paper got it back. The teacher and myself walked around the classroom watching over the students as they drew and passed. The teacher noticed that a student had been drawing inappropriate things on the papers. She immediately told everyone to put their heads down for the rest of the period. The papers were collected and thrown in the garbage. Many students had not understood why they were being punished. The teacher took the particular student aside who was drawing the inappropriate images and sent him to the office. After a few minutes, the teacher announced that inappropriate images should not be used in any project for school. She had the students keep their heads down for the remainder of the class. I would have handled this situation very differently, although I do understand why the teacher reacted so severely. What happened is completely unacceptable. I would have collected the inappropriate drawings and had the students start over. It would be announced to the entire class that inappropriate imagery is unacceptable. After discussing this, I would have the students start fresh, knowing the consequences of it being repeated. At this point, I would remove the student who was drawing inappropriately. I would sit down with the student and address the situation and punishment, as he is the culprit. I would not punish the rest of the class for something they did not do. It is a good learning experience for the rest of the class for it to be addressed as a whole, but the punishment should be dealt with privately. The principal would be my last resort in terms of dealing with the situation. Talking through the situation with the student would be my first attempt. By sending the student to the principal, he became quickly angered and ended up lashing out at the principal, which then resulted in suspension. By keeping the situation in the classroom and dealing with the behavior immediately when the student was calm, I think this could have been prevented. If the situation did not go as well as I had expected, I would then either escort the student to the principals office or have a staff member escort him.
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