Amanda - Week 7

     This week (10/16, 18) I held a critique with the students for their Gradient Design projects and then taught a new lesson on Op Art.

     I did the “Good Cop, Better Cop” critique again so the students could improve in the process.  We began class by discussing the rubric so that the students would know what to look for in critiquing the works they were assigned.  I had all the artwork out on the center tables and asked students to take a walk around to look at all of them.  Then they went to their good cop piece and wrote down two good things about it in their sketchbooks.   After a couple minutes, I had them switch and do the same with their better cop piece, noting what could be improved.  Then I projected each piece on the board and had the two students assigned to it come up and talk about what they wrote down. 

     I struggled with time management with this critique.  I commented too much on the first pieces to be projected and not enough on the last ones because I was trying to fit more in, but still there were four pieces left at the end that were not critiqued.  It was okay because Mr. Powell said he would finish the critique with them the next day, but I still need to work on that.  The reason I spent so much time on the first pieces is because I was trying to continue training the students to use art language.  I think it was a valuable experience for some of them, and I saw some improvement from the first critique I had with them, which was exciting.  Every critique can’t take two days though, so spreading the time out evenly between each work is necessary.  I could probably take some time from the beginning where I explained the rubric and had the students walk around as the students become more familiar with the process. 

     I also had some students in the back of the classroom who were not fully engaged in the critique when they weren’t presenting.  While other students were talking about a piece I just gave stern looks to the ones chatting and that worked for a little while, but I had to repeat that tactic a few times.  It made me wonder if I should have addressed it more.  I also wondered if it would be better to bring stools up to the front in an arc so that students could see better and maybe that would keep them more engaged in the discussion.

     My Op Art lesson went really well, and it was a really fun day to teach!  The students were interested in the lesson, answered my questions well, and asked some really good questions of their own.  I spent more time on the “lecture” portion than I planned on, but I felt like it was really valuable time for them, so I didn’t want to rush through.  We talked about what Op Art is, what artists have to think about to make it, and two Op Art artists: Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley.  Then I introduced the project and walked through an example process with them for a practice piece. 

     I spent a lot of time planning this lesson and creating the PowerPoint presentation because I got excited about teaching it, and I could definitely tell during the lesson.  The information came out of me without my having to think about it much, and I was able to enjoy interacting with the students without worrying about what was coming next.  I even wore a black and white patterned dress because it reminded me of Op Art; I think I’m becoming an art teacher!

Amanda - Mock Interview

I interviewed with Principal Bruhjell last Friday, November 9th in the conference room at Southwood.  It was a fairly comfortable setting though I was a little bit nervous about the possibility of not knowing how to answer something he might ask.  Mr. Bruhjell made it a little more casual by giving me feedback after each question I answered and I took notes.  Afterwards, he gave me the question sheet with his notes on it, so it was a really valuable time.

He asked 9 questions:
1. Tell us about your background and include any experiences and training that have prepared you for this position.
2. How do you plan for instruction?  What resources do you use?
3. How do you assess student progress?
4. How do you organize your classroom and manage student behavior?
5. How can you connect your activities in the art room into lessons taught within other subject areas?
6. Why do you think art is an important part of a child's education?
7. Describe some ways you present and display student work throughout the school and the community?
8. What would be your vision for the program?
9. Do you have any questions?

According to Mr. Bruhjell, I did well with most responses by being careful to answer every part of the question and stopping when I had answered it instead of filling the time while he was writing notes by rambling.  He talked about how some people do that when they are nervous and sometimes they can say things they don't really mean.  He also liked that I talked about proactive strategies for classroom management that aim to prevent issues instead of focusing on punishments for when issues arise.  He told me to make sure that in answering #2 I mention state standards early on because it is really important for administration to hear that a teacher is aware of standards and knows how to use them since that is what their school is measured by.  He also told me that even though I don't have my own classroom yet, I should answer questions as if I do to make my answers more confident and mature.  For example, with #5  I started my answer with "I would like to meet with teachers from other subject areas..." but he said phrases like "I would like to" or "I plan to" give reason for doubt in a principal's mind as to whether or not the teacher will do what they "plan" on doing.  He told me to go ahead and say, "I meet with with teachers..." and that way the response is more clear and shows an appropriate level of confidence.

This was a really helpful assignment that gave me a lot of practical knowledge about the interviewing process and more confidence about interviewing for "real."

Rachael Week 9

I only went to Centerville this week because Friday begins Fall Break for Anderson District Five.  I continued work on my fourth grade perspective lesson.  Again, I felt frustrated with the classroom management aspect of my teaching.  The kids are so enthusiastic though and their work is excellent! I then observed Kindergarten, who was working on patterns.  They were given tempera cakes and allowed to paint shapes and lines of their choosing in a pattern.  They turned out pretty well although some of the kids still don’t know what a pattern means and were just painting shapes no matter what you told them! 

I also had the opportunity to observe the other art teacher today.  Ms. Stanzione thought that it would be good for me to see someone else for a change.  It was a good experience.  Ms. Allison made giraffe drawings with her first grade class and showed them pictures from the famous giraffe at the Greenville Zoo.  It was interesting to see a different organization of a classroom and a different handling of classroom management.  I was able to directly compare the two teachers.  I found that I identified better with Ms. Stanzione who is more strict and more organized than Ms. Allison but I could see how with time (Ms. Allison has been teaching for quite a while) I could become more relaxed in my classroom. 

This time at Centerville concluded my fifty hours of observation in the classroom although I do think I will go back to help with the fourth grade lesson and take pictures for that.  I have enjoyed working at both Centerville and Homeland Park.  It is a good experience to be in two schools.

Rachael Week 8

Another crazy week of lessons.  I know that before too long I will be teaching many lessons each day but teaching a lesson with 4^th grade on Thursday at Centerville and then a lesson with Kindergarten at Homeland Park on Friday kind of messed with my head!  I suppose I will soon be even better at multi-tasking and doing a thousand things at once. 

My lesson on Thursday was a continuation of the perspective lesson with fourth grade.  It looks like they will be working on that for a few more weeks though since they are so enthusiastic about adding detail.  I love how excited they are about this lesson.  I do feel that this group in particular is hard to control, though and I felt sort of frustrated after the experience.  I had to scoot out early after the Kindergarten class’s lesson following fourth grade to make it back for a Ceramics demo at school.  The Kindergarteners drew spider webs with crayons and then water-colored over it.  The results were awesome and they always love to paint.

On Friday I worked on my display for the pumpkin pictures and then finished up the lesson with Kindergarten.  I loved doing this lesson with the kids and the results came out really well, I think. (See pictures)  I also attached some pictures of my Johnny Appleseed project!

Friday afternoon I went back to Homeland Park and helped paint faces for the Fall Festival.  It was a lot of fun to see the kids all dressed up.