Inside the mind of a future art teacher with a passion for art, working with children, and her Golden Retriever.
Saturday, December 12, 2015
Week of November 30, 2015
I believe that by going above and beyond to help students succeed is one of many ways that I can make a difference in the lives of young people. One way to do so is to simply know your students. By knowing your students, you make them feel worthy and respected by both their peers and you as an educator. By giving students opportunities for success while still challenging them, students gain self-confidence in themselves and learn about what they are capable of achieving.
A personal example I can give of this is my high school Algebra 2 teacher. I had previously had him as a teacher for Algebra 1 so we had somewhat of a relationship, but this teacher did not make a significant impact on my life until Algebra 2. I have struggled with math my whole life, and Algebra 2 was proving to be even more of a struggle. I was failing the course according to the scores I received on my tests, but the results on my daily homework assignments were sufficient. After having a meeting with my teacher, he gave me the opportunity to retake my tests that I had failed, and I would have been insane not to take advantage of it, despite math being my least favorite subject. The one thing that I remember him saying to me was, "I refuse to give you an F in this class." When he told me this, I committed myself to proving to him that I deserved to pass this class. He was able to secure a permanent pass that would allow me to come to his room during Resource to work on homework, he allowed me to retake tests both orally and written, and when I re-took that first test and I received an A-, I broke down in tears because of the weight lifted off of my shoulders. From then on, I began to gain confidence that I could pass this course. Before every test, I re-did EVERY SINGLE homework assignment of the chapter. Eventually I worked my grade up from a F, to a C. Because of this teacher's dedication to my success, I want to be able to give this opportunity to my future students so they can experience what I felt and help them discover that they can do anything through hard work and determination.
Week of November 23, 2015
Week of November 16, 2015
The one aspect of the job searching process that I have been most concerned about is not being prepared enough, and so the most beneficial aspect of this session was to learn how to be better prepared for the interview. One way to do so is by researching the school district to which you are applying to. After the interview, a good way to prepare yourself for future interviews is to write down the questions that you were asked and analyze them. By analyzing the questions, you can start to see patterns of common questions that are asked at interviews, thus giving you opportunities to practice your responses to these questions.
Another aspect of the job search process that I had not taken into consideration is to never turn down an interview, and after discussing this with Mr. Weber, it only makes sense. By participating in interviews, you are practicing how to participate in interviews. Even if you participate in an interview for a job you don't necessarily want, it still is only beneficial to you. These opportunities can help you practice and then by the time you have an interview for the job you truly want, your interview skills should be top notch.
Overall, I am ecstatic that my classmates and I had this opportunity to better learn about the job search and interview process, and I believe that the other art education classes could benefit from this information as well. I feel more confident in my abilities to prepare for looking for a career and going through the interview process, and by doing so, I can only go up from here.
Week of November 9, 2015
8) Look for Alternatives when Creating Art: Its okay to look for alternative mediums to achieve a similar looking finished product. For example, if your budget doesn't allow for a kiln or clay, use air dry clay or paper mache
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Week of October 26, 2015
One of the concerns I have had as a future educator is how to work with and include students with disabilities into the classroom, especially because the diversity of disabilities is so vast and broad. The most essential factor that I found to be beneficial in how to learn how to include students with disabilities into the class is to simply ask about them; talk with your students, talk with the paraprofessionals, talk with the guidance counselors. It is ALWAYS okay to ask questions!
Week of October 19, 2015
I have made attempts at including literacy and including academic language into the lesson that I will be teaching to my Practicum students by first introducing the unit with a book that introduces the students to Australia. This semester, the students' curricula encompasses the continents of Africa and Australia, and the unit that I will be teaching will be the first unit that is based out of Australia. By reading the book "Australia ABCs: A Book About the People and Places of Australia," the students will be further exposed to the country besides what they currently know. I plan on implementing this type of instruction into my teaching style at various times throughout the school year.
By including writing into the classroom, students will 1)improve on their writing skills, 2) practice writing and using the academic language appropriate for the unit, and 3)improve the students' literacy. Students would have opportunities to write during such activities as think-pair-shares, writing self assessments, vocabulary quizzes/tests, etc.
By giving students opportunities to have discussions about artists' works, their own works, etc., students will have the chance to verbally demonstrate academic language and refine their understanding of those terms.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Week of October 12, 2015
This meeting was especially beneficial to me because I was able to get to know about her as a teacher and information about her school and her students. I was very humbled by hearing how committed she is to achieving success for her students, so much so that she drives over an hour every day to teach at Black River Falls, and is divided between three elementary schools! During my ARTED 208 Practicum, there we several times where I was questioning whether or not I belonged in Art Education. After listening to Mrs. Dahl's advice and working with her and her students during Practicum, I have realized that this career field is truly where I am meant to be.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Week of October 5th, 2015
My ARTED 308 professor challenged us to think about why we as individuals chose to pursue art education, as well as asking us to think about what our best characteristic is.
I did not come to choose art education initially when I began my college career at UW Stout. Originally I was a Studio Art major, and after taking classes for little over a year, I kept thinking, "Is this what I'm really meant to do?" I still loved art, but I didn't think I could be competitive enough as a commercial artist as well as financially support myself after school. I decided to speak with the program director of Art Education and she recommended attending a few Children's Art Club meetings, a weekly event where local children, both attending public school and home-school, learn about art from art education students. As I began attending meetings, I met new people and worked with children, and I became a happier person. Every time I came home to visit, my parents told me that I looked happier and I was more excited to talk about art education than I was as a studio art major, and at that point, I knew I belonged in Art Education. Ever since changing majors, I have not regretted it for one single day.
As a child, I was very shy, and many times art was the only way I could express my thoughts, feelings, and ideas. Art does things that many other things can't, and if I can help one child discover how art helped them come out of their shell like it did for me, then it would mean the world for me.
Because of my shyness as a child, I feel that my strongest characteristic is my ability to listen. My grandma was always one for listening to others before she expressed her opinion, and I believe that characteristic was passed down to me. I believe that this personal trait is especially beneficial to a teacher because teachers need to be able to listen to their students in order to be respected. I believe that respect is a two-way street and in order to get respect, you need to give respect, and I believe that begins with listening.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Week of September 28th, 2015
In ARTED 308 last week we were given the opportunity to listen and ask questions of former classmate and current student teacher, Ms. Carr. I felt her advice to be especially helpful because it gave me an idea of what to expect from student teaching when I will be going through the process. I feel more at ease of the idea of student teaching in the fall semester instead of the spring semester because in a way, you are learning along with the students in regards to classroom procedures and even each others' names. I feel that this would be an easier transition to make for a student teacher than for a student teacher in the spring semester because in the spring semester the students are comfortable now and are familiar with classroom procedures, and then a student teacher comes in and their world has changed over the course of 8 weeks. One piece of advice that I especially appreciated is to observe how your cooperating teacher manages a classroom. Currently, I am taking a classroom management course, and we have yet to discuss techniques and strategies on how to manage a classroom. I may be a bit ahead of what the course schedule entails, but I feel that this is the most important thing to take from the class.
Another piece of advice that was helpful to me was how to engage and connect with my students. I believe that it helped hearing that information from a peer currently going through student teaching rather than a current teacher or professor because sometimes the information is more relatable coming from someone on the same level as me.
Overall, the best piece of advice I learned from Ms. Carr is just to be calm. If you can't be calm, you cannot be flexible, prepared, healthy, or even be yourself!
Monday, September 28, 2015
Week of September 21, 2015
Overall, I felt that my Prezi presentation was successful, but I know that it would not hurt to make some adjustments to make my presentation a little more engaging with my students. One way I tried to make it more engaging was to include more pictures than words, especially if I am going to be presenting this presentation at the K-5 level. It felt a little awkward placing homework/late work policies into the presentation when I was originally planning this presentation for a K-5 age group. I specifically chose to make a Prezi presentation over a PowerPoint because I feel the way the slides transition in Prezi are more dynamic and engaging than PowerPoint. I have seen how children react to Prezis during my times volunteering at Children's Art Club here at UW Stout, and they seem to be more engaged and focused on the task at hand than with a PowerPoint presentation.
One thing I would like to include into my presentation would be a reward system for good behavior, where the students would earn points as a class. When the class would earn enough points, they would be rewarded an activity, such as watching a movie related to what they are currently studying, a popcorn party, or an extra day to work on their projects. I believe this type of reward system would help students be consistently engaged in their classroom, as well as teaching them responsibility for their behavior.
During the presentation, I felt a little nervous presenting because a few of my peers presented before me and I felt that how they presented certain topics was more successful than how I presented them, but I told myself, "If you presented something differently, it doesn't mean that it is bad." Students learn differently from one another, and that includes learning about the classroom on the first day of school. Initially when I presented in front of my peers, I felt that I appeared frazzled and anxious, but I soon began to relax and by the end of the presentation I felt confident about the information I was presenting.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Week of September 14th, 2015
I have struggled to find an effective way to introduce academic language to students in a way that is engaging, especially at the high school level. I especially liked the activity where we read the brief paragraph from Mary Abbe's review of "Claes Oldenburg's 1960's Work at Walker Art Center" in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and then highlighted sections of the text where the words highlighted in yellow were words that would be considered academic language in the subject of art, and the words highlighted in blue represented words that would be considered overall academic language. I could use this activity for all school levels by determining what words my students know and what words they do not know, otherwise known as an informal formative assessment. Another activity that I believe I can easily incorporate into my classroom at any grade level is to include a word wall for every unit I teach.
When I first switched my major into Art Education, I was excited to learn how I could teach children about my passion for art, but I never considered having my students write on a regular basis. I never wrote in any of my art classes as a child, so why would you need to write in an art class now? It wasn't until I began college that I started to write about art, my processes, and my ideas, which was a great challenge for me. One question that was brought to my attention during class one day helped me understand exactly why we need to know academic language in art; "Why teach academic language?" By teaching academic language, we are helping students learn and grow, it helps students learn how to articulate better in the given discipline which increases their cognition and thinking skills, and it increases rigor in the students when they understand what is being discussed in the class. By having a word wall, I believe that it can encourage students to use academic language in the art room for such activities as writing artist statements, critiques, and open discussions about art.
As I introduce a unit with terms that I want students to know, I would post each term on the board and would have 2 columns under each word, one column being "know", and the other column being "need to know". I would pass out a certain amount of pieces of paper, depending on how many terms there are, and ask students to write their initials on the paper and tape it in the column they feel is appropriate. I would use this activity to determine what words I know my students know and what words I would need to touch base on.
After an activity such as this, I would define the words in a way that is age appropriate for my students, then I would have my students attempt to use the word in a sentence. As we progressed through the unit, I would use the words as a form of an exit ticket for students to leave the classroom at the end of the day. I would give a student a word from the unit and they would have to use it in a sentence. Before a formal assessment, such as a formal critique or written test, I would make a Jeopardy game with the terms and the students would be in small teams. I believe that having some form of peer interaction would also help students remember and retain the academic language that they need to know for the class.
Discussing how we can teach academic language in the art room has helped me come up with many engaging and productive activities that I hope will help my students improve their understanding of academic language in art.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Continuing My Development as an Art Teacher
My summer was pretty hectic between working almost 40 hours as a manager at my wonderful summer job back home in the Northwoods, volunteering to be the head art teacher at my church's Vacation Bible School, and many other things.
It is with a heavy heart to say that my beloved dog, Dutchess, who I have had for eleven years, passed away over the weekend after a short battle with high-grade Lymphoma. As many of you know, I have had a passion for dogs ever since I was a little girl, and dogs have taught me many things in life that I know I can apply to my future career as an art teacher. I hope to bring compassion, responsibility, and respect into my classroom so that students know how to be productive members of society as well as keep their sense of creativity after they leave my classroom.
I am looking forward to learning more about art education in the coming semester and hoping that it will help further confirm that I am in the right place in my life. I am not afraid to admit that I am a little nervous about the unavoidable Benchmark II, but I am hoping the things I learn throughout the semester in ARTED 308 will help me put my mind at ease.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Practicum Observance from April 23rd, 2015
Slab Clay Box Lesson: April 14th-16th (Days 1-3)
Practicum Observance from April 2nd, 2015
Practicum Observance From March 26th, 2015
Missing him was dark grey all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met
But loving him was red
Loving him was red
Practicum Observance from March 12th, 2015
Many times our cooperating teacher will teach more than one class at a time. In my opinion, I do not think I could do that because I feel that I would be an ineffective teacher and it would only hurt my students in the long run. I wonder how this style of teaching affects these specific students? Observing the students walking into class, many of them seem to walk in with an impassive attitude, as if they are only in this class because they needed to fill in an open spot on their schedule. Other students enter class with a positive attitude and look happy to be here. As the bell rang, the students gathered their supplies and current projects and our cooperating teacher gathered the students' attention by projecting her voice for all the students to hear. There doesn't appear to be a specific procedure for gaining the students' attention. Our cooperating teacher has the curriculum for each class posted in several areas throughout the classroom, which includes each project that will be completed with due dates posted.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Criteria For What Counts as Art
According to United States senators, the NEA should determine what is art and what isn't based on these criteria:
- To support the survival of the best of all forms that reflect the American heritage in its full range of cultural and ethnic diversity and to provide national leadership on behalf of the art
- Should not be offensive across the board
- Something the whole nation can appreciate and admire
- Something that causes a positive aesthetic response when viewing it
- Does the work affect all people?
- The affect could be either positive or negative
- Does it provoke an emotion?
- Can we learn something from this particular piece?
- How can we incorporate what we have learned from viewing the piece into our daily lives?
- Approach the piece from both contextualist and formalist viewpoints
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Engaging Students in Using the Language of Aesthetics
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Concerns Going Into Practicum Teaching
I am a "planner" by nature, but I know there's always a chance that something unexpected will happen. Based on my personal concerns, I know that I will have to be prepared ahead of time in order to avoid last-minute time crunches to finish material in order to teach class. As I have grown and matured throughout my college career, I have learned to be more independent and that sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone in order to get what you want in life, and for me that happens to be becoming an art teacher. Even though I have these concerns going in, I know in the long run it will only help me improve my teaching and how I interact with children.