Janna, week 4

This has been one long week and it was only four days long. I put in about eight hours this week.
On Tuesday I visited during his planning period. During this time we went over the lesson for Wednesday. Mr. Jones was very helpful. He went through the lesson with me and asked questions such as; how long are you going to spend doing each thing? What is your plan if you finish early? What questions will you ask the students?This helped me a lot and I revised my lesson plan and made photocopies for my lesson.

Wednesday was the day I taught my lesson. It was on watercolors. I taught them how to use different techniques with them and they painted a landscape. The part that was most rough for me was my demo. I was using the elmo camera and became very flustered because I had never used one before. This caused me to be nervous which led to me going to fast through the demonstration. As a result of this I left some of the students confused as to what they should be doing. I made up for this by going around the classroom and talking and helping everyone individually. I also found it hard to gain everyone's attention when I did not know all their names. Unlike the honors class I do not know all of the painting student's names yet. For the most part my lesson went smoothly and by the end of it I was much more comfortable with what I was doing. I think it was a good start for not having taught in the classroom since class with Mrs Bishop.

Friday I was at the school for 4 1/2 hrs. It was a very good day. At this point I feel very comfortable in the classroom and can talk to the students easily. Mr. Jones trusts me to take control and I feel like we work very well together. At the end of the day we reflected and discussed how my lesson went. I feel like I am gaining a lot form this experience.

Janna week 3

This was a 4 day week for the students. I went extra long on one of the days to make up for the fact that there was no school on Friday. I am becoming more comfortable with the students. In the honors class I can now know all of their names. They just finished up a project this week called the pretzel project. It is basically a project that is created to challenge the students creativity. I enjoy talking to the students about their work and I think they are warming up to me and are more willing to talk to me or ask me for advice on the projects.

Jessie Post #3

I drive out to Seneca about 3 times a week. So far I have only had limited involvement with the two classes I observe. Because I came in during the middle of a painting, there hasn't been much need for instruction. I have on multiple occasions been able to give students advice on their paintings such as color mixing, brush stroke, blending, referencing the photo and what areas of the painting they need to focus on. I really enjoy working with the students, however I don't think I will be able to fully take ownership of the classroom until I am able to actually teach. As of now I still feel like a visitor who doesn't have much authority in the classroom. My favorite part of teaching art is being able to interact with the students. When we start the next unit I think I will be able to do more of this because I will be able to see the project through its entire process from beginning to end.

Jessie Post #2

I have been observing Mr. Ed's classroom management over the past few classes. I have noticed that He does not like to yell, much less raise his voice. He rarely is behind his desk but spends most of his time circulating throughout the room helping students individually with their paintings. I often see him taking a few seconds to scan the room and monitor student productivity and behavior. The class is pretty laid-back, students are allowed to talk quietly amongst themselves and even listen to music on their i-pods. Most of the students in the class tend to stay on task with the exception on a few. Students know the parodical to follow if they need help in class, they raise their hand and wait patiently for Mr. Ed to make his way to them.
Every friday Mr. Ed. checks sketchbooks. Each week students are to create 5 sketches in their sketchbook that revolve around a specific theme. The weekly themes and posted near the front of the room where students can check during any time before, during, or after class.
When Mr. Ed is talking to students he gives helpful advice and encourages the student with out being over complimentary. He shows them different techniques in mixing color or brush strokes that will help them throughout the painting. The only thing that I have seen him do that I am not very fond of is actually painting on student's work. I think it is important that students andre able to take ownership in their work and you must be careful with how much you actually "help" them.

Jessie Post #1

The first day of my placement I woke up at the painfully early 5:30 a.m, got ready and made the 45-50 min. drive out to Seneca High School. I arrived around 7:30 a.m., signed in and was directed on how to get to Mr. Edgerton's Art classroom. I introduced myself and talked to Mr. Ed briefly about his class. We then stood on the hall to welcome students to class and monitoring the hall. As class begun we had the moment of silence and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Ed then introduced me to the class. Begin the first day I didn't have to terribly much to do besides observe how the class was run and set up. The kids seemed really well behaved for the most part. I could tell that Mr. Ed had established his authority in the classroom and that the kids were aware of how they should behave. The class is an ART 1 class and they have just recently begun a painting project based off of photos. Some of the students are farther along then others so it was interesting to see the methods in which Mr. Ed was having them approach the paintings. He had the directions written up on the black board so that students could easily progress between the stages of the painting process. In this class Mr. Ed has a student helper who supervises materials and helps with simple tasks. The materials for the class have been laid out before the class begun so as students come in they retrieve their painting from their shelf and after morning routines, begin to retrieve the paint and brushes they need. As class comes to the end Mr. Ed has students clean up their supplies and area during the last 10 minutes. Overall I think Mr. Ed runs a well managed classroom and I look forward to working with him.

Janna, week 1 (technically week 2)

Total hours so far...8hrs 45min.
I have been really enjoying my placement so far. The classes I have been mainly observing are the Honors one and two class and the painting class. The classes are very different from each other. The honors class is much more independent and confident with there work. They require less attention from the teacher but still need help staying on task. The painting class needs much more individual attention and  need reassurance. The painting class is more of a lower level art class in it they learn acrylic, watercolor, and oil painting. Mr. Jones has been kind enough to let me teach part of the watercolor unit. I am looking forward to working with these students for the rest of this semester.