This week, we observed the art classroom at location B. I think we'd all agree that it was a very different experience than the observation at Location A. First of all, we were able to get there around 12:20 and they were in the middle of having their lunch period so we went into the classroom with barely enough time to actually observe a class. However, this gave us some time to talk with the teacher about what her days look like teaching there and the current projects her students were working on. I felt like she was much stricter of a teacher than the other was and stricter than the kinds of art teachers I was used to in middle school and high school. I don't think this is a bad thing by any means, I just thought it was interesting to see two teachers who taught the same grade level and subject but were very different. I noticed that her classroom was very organized from the posters to the rules posted on the walls, I actually did really like how her classroom was set up and how organized she had it, I don't know if I personally would be like that since I kind of thrive in a messier art space but it was definitely interesting. Her students were working on perspective drawings of streets. Something I found surprising was that they watched a video on google classroom on their chrome books that she recorded herself demonstrating how to draw from the one point perspective. I found this very different from what I was used to as a student because we'd be physically taught how to with the teacher in front of the classroom instead of watching a video of the steps but I thought it was still beneficial because they could rewind which steps they missed or messed up the first time. However we only saw the classroom in action for ten minutes since most of our observation was during their lunch period, so we didn't see very much.
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While observing for the second time at location A, the students were starting a new project making monster sculptures our of clay. Their assignment today was to do two thumbnail sketches of their monster idea. They did their thumbnail sketches on a worksheet, they were told to color in the one that they liked the most. There were some really wonderful, creative sketches. They had to incorporate some body parts and features while others were optional. They used their chrome books for references to their monsters. When walking around the room this time, I got a chance to look at some of the finished projects from the eight grade class and noticed that their rubrics included two sections, one being the student's score (what grade or the amount of points the students would give themselves) and the next being the teacher's score (what their actual grade is). I really liked that idea, that's something my middle school art teacher did as well and I feel like sometimes it can really boost students' self-confidence as well as teach the students how to self-evaluate.
To sum up the whole presentation including all four of the speakers, I liked when Gude said, "My focus today has been on how teachers can expand students' range of choices for making personal meaning through representing and investigating the everyday". Art educators teaching the disciplines of art should do it in a way that goes beyond traditional art practices and discussions. All of the speakers were sharing their personal experiences and stories of emphasizing the importance and success of students' personal choice. These stories start with topics like engaging complicated issues, and strong support of risk-taking.
A lot of the projects Douglas discussed didn't involve any lesson plans and I found that very surprising but the students'' work showcased what they were learning, and developing by thinking like an artist and making their own choices. What I took from Thulson's part of the presentation was how interesting it was that she chose to replace material with a concept for students to develop. Gude talked about what art can be about and focused on narrative, she provided worksheets for her students as prompts for their projects based on their own personal narrative. Some of these worksheets involved themes such as, tell about a time, dirty stories, and awkward silence moments. Out of those prompts, the students had a choice to answer any questions they wanted that were on the worksheet and out of that, made artwork that reflected the stories they wanted to tell and it ended up creating conversation in the art classroom. Sharif Bey said, "Little ideas and little choices birth big ideas and meaningful choices." I found a part of his very interesting when someone wanted him to take some faulty pottery wheels and instead of working with clay, he decided that his students were going to paint using the pottery wheels. I also loved the fragmented self-portraits and that they posed questions like, what would it look like if you lost yourself that you had to piece yourself back together? and that was what resulted out of that torn-apart self-portrait. This presentation was very meaningful to me as I continue my journey to become a successful art educator. It opened my eyes to a lot of different processes and practices that were more student-involved in the development of them and I want my classroom to be more student-choice based like all of theirs seemed to be. I think it turns out to be both more rewarding for the students and the teacher. With questions I would pose after watching these, I was particularly curious about Douglas' presentation and how some of the projects she discussed didn't involve any lesson plan at all. I want to ask, is this even possible in current public education to teach a lesson where you don't exactly have to provide a lesson plan for not just yourself but for the principal and other school administrators? While observing at location A, I was surprised and pleased by many things that I saw. The students were involved in a lesson based on a contemporary artist who I've never heard of. They had black pieces of paper while some had a big blue banner-like sheet of paper and they were creating asymmetrical designs with chalk pastels drawing with both hands at the same time. I was surprised because when I took art classes in middle school, I feel like my teachers would see using chalk pastels as being too messy, but the students were loving it, I saw some just smothering bright color all over the paper, clearly enjoying having such freedom with the material. One student even asked the teacher if he could wash his hands and she said "no" and I loved that the class was embracing the mess they were making. I also learned and became more aware of how little time there is in a class period in a public middle school, theres only so much time for students to get prepared, create their pieces, and clean up afterwards. It's very important to manage time and decide how much time you'll put aside for each part of the lesson or class period. Next time, while observing I think I'd benefit from asking more questions whether it's questions addressed to the teacher or her students.
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LACIE SOLTArchives
May 2019
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