Teaching: DAY 3

I cannot believe how unbelievably fast my teaching experience went. Today was both my last day of teaching the lesson and of observing at the high school. It was such a fantastic, enlightening experience. Ms. G was ever-so helpful in giving us feedback for our last day. She said that we did a great job of running the critique. We were worried that we would not have time to get through all of the students, but yesterday she suggested to us a critiquing method that she calls "1, 2, 4." With this method, the students begin by each reflecting on their own pieces. They consider what they did well and what could be improved, as well as the different ways they successfully incorporated the elements and principles of design, as well as the vocabulary from the lesson (tint, shade, value, and atmospheric perspective.) Then, they partner up with another student and the two discuss these concepts about each others' pieces. Finally, two groups of two come together to create a group of four, and the four students decide amongst themselves who was the most successful in incorporating the ideas from the lesson. The groups then present one at a time at the front, so the rest of the class can see their work from a distance, and they discuss the successes of one or all of the drawings. The class is able to make comments at this time as well. This technique, Ms. G explained, is a good way to move rather quickly through the critique so the students were able to have some work time to finish up and frame their drawings. Also, holding the drawings up for the class to see from a ways away allows them to view the drawing as a complete picture, rather than just focusing on some of the tiny details. The critique did work out rather well. Some of the students needed prodding as we walked around to truly discuss the quality of their artwork. A few spent the time just sitting around unless we asked them specific questions. But as the groups presented up front, they did a good job of pointing out the specific techniques that the artists addressed, such as creating convincing atmospheric perspective by muting the colors in the background, or blending several different colors to create shadows rather than using black. These were concepts that they did not understand at all at the beginning of the project, so it showed a great amount of growth, meaning our lesson was successful. Ms. G commented on how impressed she was with the outcomes for most of the class. I am so happy that we accomplished teaching a lesson that the students both enjoyed and learned from. That is the reason I decided I wanted to become an art teacher-- I wanted to show students that even though art can be challenging and frustrating, they are all capable of growing and learning if they devote themselves to their work. I could see in the faces of the students that many of them were thrilled with their outcomes and impressed with themselves. When they realize what they are capable of, they begin to believe in themselves, and soon they feel as if they are unstoppable.

Art Criticism and Aesthetics in the Classroom

Ms. G told us that these can be tricky subjects to approach in the classroom, but she tries her best to incorporate them as much as possible. She says she does not teach aesthetics explicitly, but sometimes thinks that she should. Rather, she tends to take more of an art criticism approach by teaching the students the Principles of Design and Elements of Art. They are each listed in posters that she has hung along one of the walls of the art room, and she makes sure to incorporate these into each of her lessons. Ms. G explained that it is important to ask the students, "What to you see?" She wants them to be aware that their opinions and thoughts are valuable too, and that they are capable of speaking about art in an educated way. She also tries to include art history into each of her lessons by teaching the students about the work of a certain artist. An example that she gave was showing the class a picture of Picasso's "Guernica" with a person viewing it to give them a sense of scale. That painting is incredibly emotional, and showing them how large it is heightens that sense of emotion. These are concepts that students might not consider when they think about art, because it is unlikely that they have ever created a painting that big. That's why it's important to show them what's out there, what is possible in art, and what impact certain qualities of art have. She does not teach art history as a separate unit, rather she integrates it into each of her lessons. That way, when the students create their art, they have something to connect it back to. I thought this was an excellent way to teach art criticism. The students are active and involved in learning about art and how effective it can be.

Teaching: DAY 2

The second day of teaching our lesson came and went like a breeze. I honestly cannot believe how fast the class went. Today was my turn lead the review and demonstration, and it went very smoothly. I reviewed the powerpoint that we showed yesterday, and the students were surprisingly willing to answer my questions. I was worried that I would have to wait forever for responses from them, God forbid. But they participated in the review and listened well while I gave a brief demonstration about a few more ways to use the pastels. As Ms. G suggested, we then had the students create a worksheet in which they demonstrated 10 different ways they could use the pastels, and suggested that it would be a good idea to take inspiration from the photos that they were working on. It was clear that this practice helped them to learn how to represent certain areas of their photographs that they were stuck on.

During work time, the students were constantly asking me questions about what they should do next in their drawings. I thought I did a good job of explaining to them the best course of action, and most of them really, truly listened to what I was saying, and it showed in their end results. A lot of the drawings are coming along very nicely, and Ms. G said that she is very impressed by the students. Most of the feedback that I gave to the students was along the lines of using a variety of colors, rather than just one flat color. For example, in the snow on a lot of their drawings, I would tell them to incorporate some blues and purples, rather than just laying down white. After the lesson, we had a great discussion with Ms. G about how learning to see color takes a lot of training. It wasn't until my Drawing 2 class when we practiced broken color that I was truly able to see all of the colors that are present in shadows and highlights, and ever since that class I cannot stop seeing the different colors everywhere I look. When I told Ms. G that, she laughed and said the same thing happens to her.

Our biggest problem today was that the time literally flew by. We had planned to leave about 20 minutes for an in-progress critique at the end, but we wanted to give the students as much work time as possible and before we knew it, there was 15 minutes 'til the end of class and the students still needed to clean up. Instead of holding each drawing up front individually, we had them set their work on the table and walk around the room to take a look at everyone's. Then when they sat back down, we asked them to point out a few particular pieces that showed a good understanding of tint, shade, and atmospheric perspective. Tomorrow, we will have the chance for a more in-depth critique where the students can discuss the work together in groups. After class, we asked Ms. G what we should have done about the shortened time for critique, and she gave us a great suggestion that we never even thought of. She said that what she sometimes does is have the students go up to the front in groups of 4 or 5 to hold up their work, and then the rest of the class could pick out of that small group which ones were the most successful and which needed some improvements. She explained that the benefit to this is that the students can see the drawings from a distance, which gives them a fresh perspective. I will definitely consider this for future lessons.

I'm excited to finish our lesson tomorrow. We are going to give the students as much time as possible to complete their drawings to the best of their abilities, and then we will use the remaining time to frame them and critique them. I can't wait to see them all framed; Ms. G says it completely changes the drawing into something spectacular. I'm so happy that the students are all working hard, and I'm positive that the final results tomorrow will show this.

Creating the Curriculum

When Ms. G described to us how she decides upon the curriculum for her classes, she explained that it is entirely based around the Wisconsin Standards for Art and Design Education. There is an incredibly large amount of standards that she has to meet by the time the students reach 12th grade, so she makes it her goal to incorporate a large variety of lessons in each of her classes. For example, in Art I she would not teach exclusively pastel drawing. Not only would it not cover all of the bases, the students would get incredibly bored with it. Having a variety of lessons with different media or art styles gives the students the opportunity to explore the world of art, allowing them to see what they can do and what others have done. She told us about how she implemented this in her stained glass class. Obviously, the students cannot switch between media as they would have the option for in Art I-- they must all work with stained glass for the entire trimester. However, Ms. G writes lessons for the class that allow the students to practice different types of art. The first project she did focused on geometric art and creating straight lines with the stained glass. Then for the next project, she had the students create nouveau art that was more organic in its structure. This gave the students some diversity in their learning and allowed them to practice different techniques. When the students move on to Stained Glass 2, they are then able to create 3-dimensional pieces. They have the opportunity to learn about stained glass in different ways, and build off of previous learning to advance their ability.

Teaching: DAY 1

I am happy to report that nothing went horribly, terribly wrong during our first day of team-teaching in Ms. G's class today, even though my brain kept me up all night weaving as many worst-case scenarios as it could imagine. In fact, I had a really great time teaching our lesson. There is something amazing about knowing that the students in front of you are listening to you and valuing your knowledge and opinions about their work. I could tell that the students looked up to me, and that is a wonderful feeling as an art teacher.

This was my first time teaching an art class to children above the age of about 11. Teaching high school is a whole different ballpark than grade school, and I truly enjoyed it. For our lesson, we had the students find a picture of a winter landscape, and recreate it with chalk pastels. We demonstrated different ways to use the pastels, such as the side versus the tip, and taught them how to use tint, shade, value, and atmospheric perspective to improve their work. We also made sure to emphasize that they needed to look for all the colors they could find in the photographs-- so instead of laying down one shade of blue, for example, they would need to pick out three or four shades to blend together, possibly even including some greens or purples if necessary. We wanted the students to focus on really looking at their photos and making artistic decisions about what colors to use and where. In addition, the students are also learning how to build up a pastel drawing. Some of them didn't quite understand that pastels could be layered on top of each other. I had to take a moment to explain to the class that they should start out by laying down the background instead of sketching the fine details, because the details could always be drawn over the top.

What I enjoyed best about the lesson was the one-on-one time with the students discussing each of their individual projects. I feel as though that is my strength in teaching-- I am good at explaining to teach student what they need to do specifically for their piece. It was nice to be able to show that while teaching the lesson today and gain more experience with talking to the students. This means, however, that I need to work on my large class instruction a little bit more. Tomorrow, I will lead the review of the project, so I will have the opportunity to practice this.

Ms. G was very helpful after the lesson in explaining to us what we did well and what we needed to improve on. She went into great depth and brought up some points that I had never even considered. For some of the positives, she said we did a nice job with the powerpoint and having the class participate in defining the terms that we were teaching them (tint, shade, value, and atmospheric perspective.) She also said we gave good individual feedback to the students while they were learning. However, her critiques of our teaching were the most informative part of the day, since this is our first time teaching a high school class. First, she mentioned that we should never answer our own questions that we ask the students. Even if they are silent when we ask, we need to wait for a response or prod a response from them. It is important to learn to be comfortable with silence. She also told us to go more in-depth with the pastel practice. We had the students practice a few different mark-making techniques, but she suggested having them create 10 different line designs with the pastels and turn it in for a grade. This would force them to become more familiar with the medium before starting the project. We will do this at the beginning of the class tomorrow to give them some of this practice. Finally, she said to make sure we discuss the criteria with the class before the start of the project. We handed out the rubric, but should have gone over it as a class to ensure everyone read and understood it. Tomorrow morning, we will project it onto the screen and go over it before continuing on the project as well.

I am very thankful to have Ms. G as a guide while we learn about teaching lessons. Her feedback was incredibly helpful and I feel as though I am now a thousand times more prepared to teach another lesson. I can't wait until tomorrow to continue with this lesson and watch as the students develop their drawings. I've already seen some that are turning out great, and I hope to be able to assist the rest of the class in achieving their best work.

Laws of the Land

Today, Ms. G explained to us how she makes and enforces the rules in her classroom, describing them as one of the most important parts of her teaching. Set up across the district are the classroom expectations that are categorized as "Be Respectful," "Be Responsible," and "Be Safe." Ms. G uses these same categories, but in a way that relates specifically to her classroom, with rules such as "Respect others' artwork -- ask permission to touch, hold, etc." and "Clean up after yourself -- work area and materials. It was very important to Ms. G to follow the rules of the district. She said that some staff members are lax when it comes to these rules, and that the students will pick up on that and take advantage of the teachers, causing "chaos," in Ms. G's words. For this reason, she explained that it is very important to be stern with the rules and follow through with discipline when necessary. Students will learn immediately if a teacher enforces their rules or not, and they will become incredibly difficult for those who do not. I have witnessed Ms. G enforcing the rules in her class several times, and it is obvious that it prevents other students from breaking the same rules. In addition to the posted classroom expectations, Ms. G has also written an art contract that the students must sign at the beginning of every trimester in which they agree to rules such as not leaving without permission, not eating in the classroom, and using equipment safely and responsibly. This holds each and every student personally accountable for his or her actions. As far as safety rules go, Ms. G simply expects the students to use the materials in a safe manner as taught by the lesson. For example, when they are carving wood, they must wear protective gloves. If the students break a tool by not using it safely or responsibly, they must pay the replacement cost. Finally, the district gives each student a punchcard in which they are allowed 3 cellphone uses, 3 tardies, and 9 bathroom breaks per trimester. Because of this, students must really consider whether or not they need to go to the bathroom, use their phone during class, or show up late to class. It keeps them from constantly missing out on instruction, but it gives some leeway at the same time. Ms. G says that she is rather understanding in her use of the punchcards. If a student clearly has to use the bathroom but is out of punches, she will allow them to go. If they want to use their cell phones for internet research, that is fine by her. She also allows iPods to be used in the classroom with one headphone only. As long as the students are not abusing these privileges, she will let them remain. I really enjoyed learning about Ms. G's rules, and I think mine will be similar in my classroom. What is mostly important to me is that, like Ms. G, I follow my districts guidelines on classroom expectations. The students need consistency in their expectations to avoid violating them, and the district needs the support of all its teachers in enforcing them. Additionally, I will create and enforce rules that keep my students safe and their artwork safe at all times.

Ms. G's Passion for Teaching

During her prep period, which was about an hour long, my partner and I asked Ms. G what made her decide to become an art teacher. Her answer took up roughly 3/4 of the period. She is anything but concise, but I could tell that Ms. G had a passion for art and teaching that could not be matched. She explained that she originally obtained her degree in commercial art and spent a long time working for companies as an Advertising Artist and Advertising Manager. Once she had her first child, she became a stay-at-home-mom. She then had five more children, which kept her busy, but she said that during this time, she would still create logos and other projects for people. She had a huge love for art, and realized that she wanted to share it, so once her children were grown, she went back to school to get a degree in Art Education, graduating from UW-Stout in 2008. She has been teaching at the high school for the past 8 years, and I was blown away by how thoughtful she was about her students. I could tell when she spoke that she cared about each and every one of them, and this was why she was so tough with them. She wanted them to be prepared for a career and the rest of the world outside of high school, so she made them do their very best work. If they gave anything less than their best, she made them re-do it. If they did not do anything, she said that that was their choice and gave them a zero. But she was also very understanding. She described a few experiences in which students were acting out in the classroom because of issues that were going on at home-- heartbreaking issues that I can't imagine dealing with. When the students needed time, she gave it to them, but also made sure to keep them on track. Those are exactly the kinds of teachers that students look up to, and that is the kind of teacher I want to be.

Day 1

Today was my first day of observation at the high school. It was nerve wracking. And overwhelming. And exhausting. And amazing. When I learned I would be doing my observations at a high school, I thought it would be weird, because I was in high school less than two years ago. However, I did not feel like a high schooler when I was in the classroom, and it was fascinating to realize how much of a difference there really is between high school and college students. I've certainly grown a lot since high school, and I'm sure these students will too.
When we got to the school and walked into the classroom, I could immediately tell that this was the kind of place students would want to be. There was art hung from the ceiling to the floor. The room had a messy but fun atmosphere that only an art room can. Ms. G was an incredible personality. She was funny, sarcastic, thoughtful, and some strange combination of strict and relaxed. It was clear to see that the students loved her, but still knew she was in charge. When they gave her sass, she sassed them right back. I've noticed in the past that students tend to give more respect to teachers with a backbone, and Ms. G is no exception.
At the beginning of class, the students strolled in as the bell rang. They all took their seats and talked amongst themselves while Ms. G silently took attendance and helped a few other students with some questions. Then to begin class, Ms. G gave a sharp "Alright, listen up," and the students all fell quiet. She immediately dove into the critique for their most recent photography project. The students were assigned two teachers and had to make a poster in Photoshop for each of their classrooms that contained a few images to reflect the teachers' personalities. At least one of the photos in the collage had to be taken by the student. It was a creative and interesting way to learn both photography and graphic design, and I was amazed by the skill of some of the students. They were creating poster designs that were more impressive than some of those that I've seen here at Stout. The reason for this was the critique. Ms. G put each student's poster up on the board and the class had to explain what was working and not working, and the student then had to make adjustments accordingly. I was struck by how active the whole class was in participating in critique-- again, it was more impressive than some of my own college art classes. The students were great at articulating their thoughts.
As with any class, there were some students who did not listen well, and Ms. G was strict in her managing style. When one student was talking to his friend during critique, she made him move to the other side of the room. When the students cursed, she made them say 10 nice words beginning with the letter of the curse word they said, forcing them to think thoughtfully about what they say. She was not overly harsh with the classes, so they still liked her, but she was firm.
As I walked around the room during the various classes, I was surprised to see how many students were actively working without instruction. In a few of the classes, the students all got straight to work without Ms. G even having to start the class. Many of them worked diligently and got incredibly far on their projects. Of course, some complained, but continued working nonetheless. It was clear that Ms. G had a good grip on her classroom.
I am excited for my next visit to the school. Today, I was mostly just observing the students. I help a few of them and talked to a few of them, but next time I want to get more in-depth. I can't wait to learn about their experiences in their art classes, because it was clear that many of them had a passion for what they were doing.

Mr. Harsh Video Reflection

After watching this video, I was in awe of Mr. Harsh's ability to engage his students in an interesting and in-depth lesson on aesthetics that is actually easy to understand. I hardly thought this was possible, as aesthetics is a concept that can be so difficult to grasp. Mr. Harsh had an incredible strategy for teaching his students. He explained to them the difference between practical experiences and aesthetic experiences in terms they could understand, and using real-life examples. For instance, to describe a practical experience, he poured cream into his coffee to improve the flavor. But he then turned this moment into an aesthetic experience by watching the cream hit the coffee and describing the visual sensation he witnessed. He then engaged the students by allowing them to describe the experience of witnessing a drop of food coloring hit a cup of water. I was incredibly impressed by the amount of students who were willing to share their reflections of this moment-- in my high school, the teachers tended to have to prod students to share any of their own writing. Mr. Harsh was reaffirming of the students' ideas and praised each who was brave enough to speak up. He was also conscious of explaining his lessons in both English and Spanish to adapt his lesson to all of his students. I do not think there is anything I would change about Mr. Harsh's lesson-- in fact, I will definitely take pointers from this video when I teach aesthetics in the classroom. He did a great job of allowing his students to understand a challenging concept in an interesting way. The students clearly were responding positively to his methods. I thought it was exceptional how he used aesthetic experiences to describe every day experiences, and then tied that same train of thought back into describing pieces of artwork, which is the ultimate goal of the lesson.

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