- Portfolios
- Digital Imaging
- “Big Ideas”
- Clay Fountains
- Pop-Art Self-Portraits
- Group Mystery Mural
- School Wide Mural
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Ideas I would like to try:
What is most important to me about my teaching?
The most important part of teaching for me is my students. I want my students to have the opportunity to experience everything the arts have to offer. I want them to be able to express their creativity while honing their artmaking skills. I want them to be able to discuss their artwork and the work of others. I want to create a comfortable environment for them to work in, free from the pressures of standardized testing and the world around them. Mostly, I do not want to crush the students’ spirits and make them hate the arts.
All too often, students grow to hate school and certain subjects they study there. I try to use constructive criticism along with praise when looking at a student’s art. I always try to tell them about the good parts of their work before giving suggestions of what they could do differently. I want to provide the students with a place they can succeed, even if they are not successful in their other classes.
I want to be non-biased about the students. I do not eat in the teachers’ workroom because I do not want to hear bad things about my students from other teachers. I want to form my own opinion about each student individually, and I want to give them multiple chances. Everyone has bad days now and again, teachers and students alike. I try to give each student a clean slate when he/she walks in the door.
All too often, students grow to hate school and certain subjects they study there. I try to use constructive criticism along with praise when looking at a student’s art. I always try to tell them about the good parts of their work before giving suggestions of what they could do differently. I want to provide the students with a place they can succeed, even if they are not successful in their other classes.
I want to be non-biased about the students. I do not eat in the teachers’ workroom because I do not want to hear bad things about my students from other teachers. I want to form my own opinion about each student individually, and I want to give them multiple chances. Everyone has bad days now and again, teachers and students alike. I try to give each student a clean slate when he/she walks in the door.
How would I like to change my teaching?
As we grow as teachers, our teaching methods are continually changing and evolving. The more we teach a lesson, the better we get at teaching it. We are constantly expanding our knowledge base as we teach different topics and methods. Although we develop techniques we like and use again and again, there are always ways to improve the way we teach. There are a few things in particular I would like to change about my teaching.
Firstly, I would like to incorporate more technology into my classes. I currently use PowerPoint to show slide shows of famous artworks to my students. While they enjoy seeing the pictures, they do not get to use the computer themselves. I only have one computer in my room and only have access to the computer lab during restricted hours. I would like to have my students work on digital artworks and at least learn how to manipulate a digital image.
Secondly, I would like to incorporate better critique techniques into my classes. My students presently do a group critique approximately once a month. I try to encourage more discussion of the artworks (their artwork or famous artworks) they are critiquing. The students’ responses seem very limited and not everyone actively participates. I have tried using a critique worksheet that the students fill out individually but the responses are still very limited.
I would also like to help my students to better develop portfolios. At this time, only a small percentage of my students create portfolios. The students who are applying to the county gifted program create portfolios. Even these students struggle with the portfolio process. I would like all of my students to create portfolios. Then if they would like to apply to the gifted program, they could simply choose pieces already included in their portfolios. Right now, I do not have students create portfolios due to space limitations and due to the students’ excitement to take home their projects. I would like to find a way for them to create portfolios with those limitations.
Firstly, I would like to incorporate more technology into my classes. I currently use PowerPoint to show slide shows of famous artworks to my students. While they enjoy seeing the pictures, they do not get to use the computer themselves. I only have one computer in my room and only have access to the computer lab during restricted hours. I would like to have my students work on digital artworks and at least learn how to manipulate a digital image.
Secondly, I would like to incorporate better critique techniques into my classes. My students presently do a group critique approximately once a month. I try to encourage more discussion of the artworks (their artwork or famous artworks) they are critiquing. The students’ responses seem very limited and not everyone actively participates. I have tried using a critique worksheet that the students fill out individually but the responses are still very limited.
I would also like to help my students to better develop portfolios. At this time, only a small percentage of my students create portfolios. The students who are applying to the county gifted program create portfolios. Even these students struggle with the portfolio process. I would like all of my students to create portfolios. Then if they would like to apply to the gifted program, they could simply choose pieces already included in their portfolios. Right now, I do not have students create portfolios due to space limitations and due to the students’ excitement to take home their projects. I would like to find a way for them to create portfolios with those limitations.
Issues I face with my teaching:
- How do you teach visual arts to a student who is totally blind?
- How do you motivate students who just don’t want to do anything?
- How do you make lessons meaningful?
- What are the best ways to assess work?
- How can I improve my own skills to better teach my students?
- Who can I turn to when I have questions about art education?
How has my teaching changed?
In the few short years that I have been teaching, I feel that my teaching has greatly changed. When I was doing my student teaching, I wanted to follow all the principles I had learned at Ohio University. If I came upon a problem in a lesson, I had another teacher there to tell me what I should or to come to the rescue and fix the problem. The one thing I did not have to worry about then was discipline. My cooperating teacher never allowed me to fully take charge of her classroom, so I did not have to worry about not knowing what to do. As a substitute teacher, I usually had lessons planned for me and could fill in extra time with a worksheet or a game. When it came to disciplining students, I could use the threat of leaving a note for the regular teacher or issuing a detention.
It was a big shock when I began my job as an elementary art teacher. It was terrifying to be thrown into the classroom with only a weekly schedule, a staff handbook and a class list. I was expected to know exactly what to do and when to do it. I felt completely unprepared and the only advice my mentor had to offer was, “they’ve never had an art teacher, so they won’t know if you screw things up.” I knew I was really on my own.
That first year was a real eye-opener. I learned just how flexible art teachers needed to be. Lessons never took the time that I thought they would. My students would rush through projects which I thought would take them days and spent days on projects I thought would only take one class period. My discipline consisted of taking away recess and writing referrals to the office. Other teachers would not send their students to art class as a punishment and let me know that I had no say in this matter. I often wondered if I had chosen the right career path and if I was hindering my students more than I was helping them.
My reviews from the principal came back good despite my concerns, and I was asked to resign for a second year. I decided to give it another try. My second year was completely different. I decided first to allow my students to work at their own pace. Although this took more planning time, it eased the transition from lesson to lesson. Students had less discipline problems because they were kept busy. When discipline problems arose, I decided to handle things more on my own. If I took away a student’s recess, the student had to serve the time with me rather than their classroom teacher. Students did not like serving the recess time with me because I had them write about what rule they had broken and what they should have done differently or art definitions for repeat offenders. This did not work with all students. For those who had lost recesses in their other classes, I had the students put away their artwork, move to an area away from their classmates, and write during class. This decreased problems greatly because the students truly wanted to finish their artwork and hated having to stop to write about what they had done.
Discussing the value of art education with my coworkers and explaining that art class was not a play period to take away as punishment for students did not work. My coworkers basically told me that they would keep their students from art class as needed and there was nothing I could do about it. This just proved how little people value art education. I could not justify giving grades to students whom were never in my class. Since talking to their classroom teachers had not done any good, I presented my dilemma to the principal. He agreed that the students needed to be in my class and the other “specials.” The principal talked to the other teachers in our building and thankfully convinced them that the students needed to be taken to all of their classes.
My second year of teaching was completely opposite of my first. I still wonder from time to time if my students are actually learning anything and my lessons do not always go as planned. But I know when my students proudly present their work to me and when my coworkers comment on how excited their students are to come to art class, I have chosen the right career path. My teaching will always be changing and I welcome the changes that lie in the years ahead.
It was a big shock when I began my job as an elementary art teacher. It was terrifying to be thrown into the classroom with only a weekly schedule, a staff handbook and a class list. I was expected to know exactly what to do and when to do it. I felt completely unprepared and the only advice my mentor had to offer was, “they’ve never had an art teacher, so they won’t know if you screw things up.” I knew I was really on my own.
That first year was a real eye-opener. I learned just how flexible art teachers needed to be. Lessons never took the time that I thought they would. My students would rush through projects which I thought would take them days and spent days on projects I thought would only take one class period. My discipline consisted of taking away recess and writing referrals to the office. Other teachers would not send their students to art class as a punishment and let me know that I had no say in this matter. I often wondered if I had chosen the right career path and if I was hindering my students more than I was helping them.
My reviews from the principal came back good despite my concerns, and I was asked to resign for a second year. I decided to give it another try. My second year was completely different. I decided first to allow my students to work at their own pace. Although this took more planning time, it eased the transition from lesson to lesson. Students had less discipline problems because they were kept busy. When discipline problems arose, I decided to handle things more on my own. If I took away a student’s recess, the student had to serve the time with me rather than their classroom teacher. Students did not like serving the recess time with me because I had them write about what rule they had broken and what they should have done differently or art definitions for repeat offenders. This did not work with all students. For those who had lost recesses in their other classes, I had the students put away their artwork, move to an area away from their classmates, and write during class. This decreased problems greatly because the students truly wanted to finish their artwork and hated having to stop to write about what they had done.
Discussing the value of art education with my coworkers and explaining that art class was not a play period to take away as punishment for students did not work. My coworkers basically told me that they would keep their students from art class as needed and there was nothing I could do about it. This just proved how little people value art education. I could not justify giving grades to students whom were never in my class. Since talking to their classroom teachers had not done any good, I presented my dilemma to the principal. He agreed that the students needed to be in my class and the other “specials.” The principal talked to the other teachers in our building and thankfully convinced them that the students needed to be taken to all of their classes.
My second year of teaching was completely opposite of my first. I still wonder from time to time if my students are actually learning anything and my lessons do not always go as planned. But I know when my students proudly present their work to me and when my coworkers comment on how excited their students are to come to art class, I have chosen the right career path. My teaching will always be changing and I welcome the changes that lie in the years ahead.
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