Practicum Observance from April 2nd, 2015

Today the students in Stain Glass were working on a new assignment with which they were given free reign of what subject matter to include into the piece, as long as it fit into the large size requirement.  My partner and I went over the worksheets that our cooperating teacher uses to assess the students’ assignments, and in this case, the Frank Lloyd Wright/De Stijl windowpane assignment.  The worksheet lists several questions, such as, “Did you have any bubbles under the copper tape?”  To the right of the questions, there were 2 columns with blank spaces where in one column, the students would grade themselves, and in the other the teacher would grade them.  Also included in the worksheet were short answer questions with questions such as, “Which style did you choose and why,” and “What are some key features that are associated with the style you chose?”  Our cooperating teacher would insert comments in places where the answer might not be clear or made suggestions to what the student could have done to receive a better grade for each question.  I personally liked this style of assessment because it includes the student into the assessment and allows the opportunity to defend their work.  We asked our cooperating teacher why she decided to do assessments such as this and said that she did this type of assessment for the exact same reasons why I liked it. 

During Drawing and Painting I/II, the students had a critique for their self-portrait paintings.  The students gathered in the cafeteria and presented their paintings one at a time.  The students were asked to say what artist they mimicked, what element of art they focused on, and a characteristic that is associated with the student.  Many times the student could not remember what element of art they used, so our cooperating teacher had worksheets passed out with the elements of art defined on them.  There were also a few students who did not pronounce the artist’s name correctly.  These issues really worry me because it makes me wonder if the students have actually learned and retained the information or it could simply be a case that this group of students is nervous to speak about their work in front of others.  I have noticed that many of the students are overly critical of their own work and will often just accept mediocrity, which just breaks my heart.  One thing I wished that our cooperating teacher would have had the students do during the critique was to have students make comments on their peers’ works and make suggestions for their peers on what they could do to improve their work.

In Pottery I/II, the students are learning about and working on making slip castings.  The assignment requires them to make 2 casts of the same mold, where one is altered and the other unaltered.  There were a few students working on the potter’s wheel where my partner and I helped those students with such things as centering their clay on the wheel and learning how to pull the walls of the bowl upwards.  It was a little difficult for me because I am left-handed and the wheels spin counter-clockwise, which is the direction you want the wheel to be spinning if you are right-handed.