Tuesday, April 23, 2013

4/15-4/19


Last week in the classroom was a blast.  I went out on Wednesday until about 1:15 in the afternoon and Friday for the entire school day.  Wednesday was nice because we had the block schedule again.  Ceramics class was in session the entire day and I had the opportunity thanks to my cooperating teacher to teach the new lesson to the class as they were ready to begin it, although I did not get to teach the entire class all at the same time.  Instead when I arrived there at 7:30 in the morning, the teacher wanted me to begin working on the project the students will be starting next.  I had to sketch out some ideas for a culturally influenced tea pot/set.  I instantly thought of an idea that looked good on paper and I started to build it.  During the block class periods, as students began to finish their previous assignments the teacher would instruct them to see me for further instruction.  As I was building my idea for the assignment, I was also introducing the next assignment to these kids, using mine as an example and referring to the rubric they received to show them what the criteria for the assignment was and how to begin the project.  It was nice being able to talk with these students in smaller groups and sometimes one on one because through the process of asking certain questions it is easy to gauge what the students are truly interested in and from there it is easy to help jog their imagination in the direction of a finished tea pot set that means something to them on an emotional level. 
Friday I had the chance to stay for the entire day and had a really good time.  I got to continue working on the ceramics project but I also had the opportunity to teach a lesson to a couple of classes.  Color schemes was the main focus of the lesson and granted some of the material was new, each class I taught it too was at a different point in the lesson so it was nice being able to still introduce new bits of information to the students.  My cooperating teacher had me put together a power point to go over this information with the students and I was surprised at how engaged the majority of the class was during that time.

The most enjoyable thing during Friday that I had observed was how engaged all of the students are in the art program itself.  The teacher was getting ready for a show that was happening on the 20th, (the following day) and was stressing out a bit because she didn’t think she would be able to get it all done in time for her to make it for her prior engagement in Idaho later that day.  Once I arrived I started helping her out immediately and soon enough many other students had shown up early and offered their help as well.  We were done with all of the tasks that needed to be completed by the time first period started.  The students were all happy to offer their spare time and the teacher was very grateful for their help and support.  Once again this is a perfect example of the kind of successful and inviting classroom I want to create for my future students.

4/8-4/12


For the week of the 8th through the 12th of this month was pretty nice being in the art classroom.  I did not get a chance to teach a lesson by this point but the atmosphere of the classroom I am in is very pleasing.  Also I have finally been able to make it in for a couple full days so I can observe all of the classes my cooperating teacher is responsible for.  For three periods of the day she teaches pottery or ceramics.  I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to working with clay so it is nice being able to learn from my teacher the different techniques and assignment strategies for conducting a beneficial class for the students.  One thing I have observed in this class and also in my own high school class years ago is that every student is on a completely different level when it comes to creating artwork in the classroom.  Some students are still working on their first project because they have had craftsmanship problems resulting in the destruction of their projects.  Other students are flying through their projects and enjoying every minute of it.  The teacher for this class has done an extraordinary job keeping up with the students and making sure everyone is making progress with their work.  A lot of the students really seem to enjoy the class and even like to come in during lunch and before school in order to work with clay whether it is for a project or just for their own enjoyment.  In the future I want my classroom to be as successful and inviting as the one I am experiencing now.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Classroom Managment Styles


Classroom management is a very important part of the daily in class routine.  I found an article online about this on the website incredibleart.org that has a lot of useful information towards this subject.  Being in an art classroom is asking for the students to act up and goof around whenever they can.  After observing in the classroom this quarter it is easy to see that a lot of students do exactly that constantly, and they don’t take the class seriously at all.  Discipline is something this article goes into a great deal about and also offers links for further reading on the subject.  It is also stated that not all discipline styles work for every teacher and every class which seems obvious, but it is something we may all struggle with seeing as all these different styles and ideas are available to us and we will have to pick and choose until we find one or more that we can work well with.  One creative teacher idea that was given here I thought might work very nicely, the sense of smell is a very powerful sense that is not commonly used in classroom discipline practice, but she has devised a way to use it as a reminder for the students to behave.  “I give "quiet lotion". Just a small squirt of lotion to remind them to be quiet (they can smell it to "remind" them to be quiet) really works! Kids just say no thanks if they don't want it. Suave in the big bottles is what I use sandalwood/cinnamon rocks.” (Ali). 

Another creative idea given by a teacher in this article is in response to something I have seen frequently during my observation as well, the abuse of bathroom privileges and the hall pass.  A band teacher solves this problem by attaching his restroom pass to a 20 pound tuba case so that the students will not abuse the privilege as often.  According to him the bathroom visits during class have dropped significantly, this says to me that it is a very simple idea with extremely beneficial results.  Although it will probably be a good idea to have something that is bulky but not altogether too heavy because as a person who has had frequent injuries, it would be working against those handicapped people who currently lack the physical ability to maneuver such a heavy object.  All in all classroom management is important, discipline may be spread thin among some students and others may have an abundance, but regardless it is our duty to adapt certain styles of classroom management in order to ensure an effective learning environment for all students.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

TPA Lesson Plan Response

Bryan Roach
April 10th 2013

            The TPA lesson plan is something that we have all become decently familiar with since the beginning of the education program.  Although it may seem a bit tedious at times the structure and formatting of the TPA itself seems like it would prepare the teacher for whatever they may encounter during that specific lesson.  I still have yet to teach a lesson to my art class at Mt. Spokane High because of my late placement.  Teaching a lesson to an art class though will be much different than in many other subjects.  In more traditional classroom settings, one lesson plan could be used for one days-worth of instruction but for me to write a lesson plan for that amount of time seems useless.  The process of creating art as we all know is a more hands on process and to introduce a topic along with have the students create a final product in a 50-90 minute class is just not feasible.  Although I will need to write up fewer lesson plans for this class setting, each lesson plan is going to have to account for about a week of instruction (5 class meetings).  This may be most noticeable when writing up the assessment portion of the lesson plan.  For a lesson to be done properly in this setting formative assessment will most likely be the most detailed aspect of the lesson plan.  The amount of feedback the students will be receiving during the lesson will be extremely beneficial, and will aid them in producing a decent, original product.  Since the students will be creating a physical work of art, summative assessment should be fairly simple.  Student progress will be easily noticed on a daily basis and effort will show in their final product.  I believe it is only fair to have the students know why it is they will be doing the work assigned to them in class.  A copy of the lesson plan rationale to be provided to the students could help to provide motivation to some of them but if that is not provided then the students should at least receive a document stating everything that is expected of them so they have a framework to work from.  As I stated earlier these TPA lesson plans have the capability of being extremely beneficial but sometimes it may need to be tweaked just a little bit in order to provide the best learning opportunities for specific settings.