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.

Week of September 28th, 2015

Another week has gone by of classes, and I continue to learn about new things every day, and in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "Live as if you were to die tomorrow.  Learn as if you were to live forever."

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!