February 28

Today, I planned on asking the cooperating teacher why she chose art teaching as a profession. I never did get a chance to talk to her today, since there was a lot going on with the lesson and there was an assembly right after class.

There was a lot of tension in the classroom today. The teacher told the students that she wasn't having the best day, and that it was a bad day for teachers. One of the students replied, "What do you mean? It's a great day!" I really appreciated his optimism. It is absolutely a tough time for teachers right now with the budget crisis and the threat of layoffs within the district. With the threat of layoffs, I believe that the question I planned on asking, may have been inappropriate for the time and was glad that I decided to hesitate on asking it. I absolutely understand that she is frustrated, but I believe that it is best to carry on and do our best to deal with the situation at hand. The situation at hand was that the students were ready to make origami!

Again, the students worked on practicing origami, but this time at the third level. This level was much more advanced, and honestly quite intimidating to me since I am not in this class every day to keep up with their advancements. My unfamiliarity with origami was definitely a downfall today. The teacher did her demonstrations step-by-step in front of the classroom, while I walked around and attempted to help the students who were falling behind. All I did was the best that I absolutely could and followed the diagrams that were in the packets. There was surprisingly very little frustration going on with the students. They were very patient while I sat with them and tried to figure out each fold. The advanced students were kind enough to help the other students who were falling behind as well. As I was helping individual students, I figured out that if I involve the whole table instead of just one particular student, they all learned from each other, and I definitely learned from them. I would notice that one particular student was doing well and I would ask them to demonstrate their technique for the student who was falling behind. They seemed to enjoy helping one another and conversing.

From this experience, I have learned that it is very important to create lessons in which I will be very knowledgeable on the subject. And, when I do teach something obscure to my own experiences, such as origami, it would be absolutely necessary to practice and familiarize myself before teaching it. It would be necessary that I make all of the projects in the packets, just as the students are doing, but multiple times. An organized system of steps would need to be made to ensure that ALL students were included during each stage/step of the project. The way that origami is taught in this classroom is almost stressful, since so many students have a lack of understanding most of the time. If they miss one step, they miss the rest. Origami, from my research, is supposed to be a calming and therapeutic experience. An origami lesson can be very beneficial for students, and I would definitely be up for teaching it after a great deal of preparation.

The teacher picked up on the stress level and tension. The students got through one of the projects today, and the teacher decided to end it at that. When everyone had finished, she decided to have the students play a game/contest that involved two teams. They had to close eyes, hold hands, and see which team could relax and not talk for the longest amount of time. Two students kept score on the board. This activity definitely calmed the situation.

A social/behavioral situation that I was in today was a good learning experience. One of the girls was talking with a boy who she said called her fat. The girl told me the situation and said that he is a jerk. I told both of them that I know they are both capable of being kind, respectful people. As I talked with them, the issue was resolved, since they were friends before the incident anyways.