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.
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