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! 

 

Week of September 21, 2015

During our ARTED 308 class this week, we presented either a PowerPoint or Prezi presentation to our peers as if we were introducing ourselves to our students on the first day of school.  We were also asked to include topics in the presentation such as teacher expectations, procedures regarding bathroom/hall passes, how to properly enter the classroom, and homework policies.  

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.   

Week of September 14th, 2015

About one week of classes have gone by, and I already feel that I am growing more as an art educator.  In ARTED 308, we discussed the purpose and importance of academic language, especially in regards to edTPA.  

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.      

          

  

Continuing My Development as an Art Teacher

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful Summer and are looking forward to what's to come in the next coming months!

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. 

Practicum Observance from April 23rd, 2015

Today my partner and I went to Bloomer High School for our last practicum observance, and while it was a great relief to have our observance hours completed, it was also bittersweet.  For our Pottery I/II class, we had students fill out a reflection worksheet, which asked them what they have learned as well as asking them personal feelings towards the assignment.  Here is one example of a student’s reaction to the assignment:

 

While my partner and I might have chosen a lesson that was a bit ambitious to tackle in three days, the end results were successful.  Over 90 percent of the class followed the objectives given to them and were beautifully executed!  Here are some examples of the students' work:

 

I cannot even begin to describe how much of a learning experience I received going through practicum.  Perhaps the best piece of information I learned from this experience was how to work with high school students.  High school can be a challenge for both students and for teachers to teach, especially at the high school level, where in most school districts, art is no longer required for students to take after eighth grade.  Many students at this age level approach art with an impassive attitude and feel that it will be an "Easy A" class.  Throughout my observation, I could see that many of the students enrolled in in the art classes had this attitude and it showed in their work.  One student in the Pottery I/II class openly admitted to me that she thought that this was going to be an easy class, and it was a lot more difficult than she thought it would be.  One thing I wish I could go back and change was how quickly I learned about the students.  As an introverted person, I tend to take a while getting to know others, and I wish I went in head first right away getting to know them.  By the time I got to know the students, our practicum experience was almost over with.  I can only take this experience and improve on it by being more willing to ask my students about them in order to both create a rapport with them and to create a curriculum that openly engages my students.  Another thing I learned from this experience that I will carry on throughout my teaching career is that it is okay to make mistakes and it is okay to not have a successful lesson.  In this case, one can only take the information from this experience and make adjustments and improvements to make the lesson successful and a positive experience for both the teacher and the students.      

 

Slab Clay Box Lesson: April 14th-16th (Days 1-3)

Day 1:   

Today was the first day of teaching our clay slab box lesson, and to be honest, it was a little rough simply because I was unsure what exactly to expect.  To begin the lesson, we introduced the students to the assignment with a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and we tried to actively engage students by asking students about their prior knowledge of working with slab.  Unfortunately, many of the students were unwilling to answer questions that were asked of them and only a select few would answer questions, which is counterproductive of an engaged classroom dialogue, which was our original intent.  For students to gain some inspiration, we included examples of slab boxes made by artists.  We then asked students to compare and contrast the examples and talk about why one included organic forms and the other included geometric forms, and vice versa.  Students were then given the grading rubric and we went over each of the criteria and how to achieve the best possible grade.

   *This is a copy of the grading rubric that was given to the students*

After the introduction, the students were given a demonstration on how to construct their slab pieces and students were given a template of the square pieces needed, for time’s sake.  Students soon got to work to cut out their slab squares and before we knew it, the class period was over.  After the students cleaned up and left, our cooperating teacher went over what we did with us and gave us a lot of constructive criticism.  I was honestly very worried at what our cooperating teacher was going to say, but after hearing her input, it put me at ease. 

 

 

 

*The three pictures above are of our cooperating teacher's of the first day of our lesson*

Day 2:   

Today ran a little more smoothly now that we had an idea of what to anticipate because of the information that our cooperating teacher gave us from the previous day.  Before the students began working on their boxes, my practicum partner gave the students a demonstration on how to cut the lid to their box off of the hollow cube.  After the lid was cut off, she demonstrated how to create a flange on the inside of the lid.  A flange is a protruding edge that can be used to strengthen an object, which in this case, the lid, as well as having the ability to keep the lid placed on the box.  Putting a flange on a clay form was a new concept that the students needed to learn, so we made sure to thoroughly explain it and demonstrate it to the students.  

After the demonstration, the students set to work on their clay boxes.  During this time, Emma and I went around the class and helped students with any technical issues.  We also took advantage of this time by asking students what they have learned so far as we were helping students.  We used this information as an informal assessment in order to determine what information needs to be touched on.     

Day 3:   

Today we had students continue working on their clay boxes and perhaps the most serious issue that students are coming across is that they are not letting their clay slabs dry enough to become leather hard.  Because of this, when they attach their slabs together to make the cube form, the walls are having difficulties supporting the weight and are bulging outwards.  Another issue some students are having is that despite my partner telling students several times throughout the course of our lesson, they are not properly covering their clay slabs and the slabs have tried out too much in order to be leather hard.  In order to attach the slabs to each other using scoring and slip, the slabs need to be in the leather hard stage.  Because of these difficulties the students are having, we gave the students an extension in order to complete the projects successfully and correctly.  There were some students who were having success with building the cube form and in many cases helped their friends who were having issues.    

Halfway through the class period, we had the students gather around the table to give a demonstration on how to apply additive and subtractive textures to the surface of their boxes, in which I applied a clay shape resembling an ocean wave, which was my additive piece.  I then added more texture by carving out curves on the wave, which gave the piece a sense of movement while also being a subtractive quality.  After demonstrating the additive and subtractive processes, I demonstrated how to attach the feet we had students make the day before using scoring and slip.  I made sure that the students remembered the information I was giving them by asking them what I had done previously.  The students confidently answered the questions I asked of them and after asking if there were any further questions, I dismissed the students and they went back to working on their boxes. 

Unfortunately because of the technical issues that the students were facing with their slab pieces, my partner and I decided to extent the lesson and gave the students more time to complete the assignment.