End of the semester
Cinamon Gentry
student teaching, I was just interested to hear from you all what you
learned about yourselves as art teachers this semester?
I have learned that I realy do enjoy teaching the little, little kids a
bit more then those high school kids. I love the performance aspect of
it. Every lesson is a show and the elementary kids LOVE art time. But I
also learned that the high school kids are not as scarry as I thought
they would be and that with some more practice in classroom management,
I just might be able to teach the high school kids by my self for
longer then a week with out running out of the room screaming.
While I was at Highland I was able to make a connection with a
"problem" student who just was not motivated to do his work. By the end
of the third term, His atitude about art had changed and he is now
actually coming to me to see how he can improve his artwork and get a
better grade. Before I had to "bug" him just to get him to turn
something in. This student has incouraged me to begin to see my self as
an art teacher for the high school age group as well as the elementary
kids.
Over all my student teaching has been a great experience and has been a
big step in my transformation from Artist to Art Education student to
Art teacher and I look forward to starting my new journey as an Art
Teacher this Fall.
Cinamon
Amy D Eldridge
experiences. I have learned so much, I just don't know
where to begin. I think the majority of my learning is
centered on recognizing my flaws and seeing the
adjustments that I need to make in order for my students
to be open to me and my lessons. I have also found that no
matter how prepared I thought I was, I could have done
much more. I think with more experience I will finally
reach the point of knowing all that needs to be prepared
for and what types of things might come up.
It was difficult to discover where the kids were at first,
so many are just in the art class because they have been
kicked out of so many other classes. When I changed my
teaching to meet them at the level they are, I had more
success. So many of them need the fundamentals covered in
k-6 before they can grasp what I am wanting them to do. I
could go on and on about all the things that I have
learned, there is too much to document in one email!
In January and February, student teaching looked like it
was going to last forever, and it was going to be painful.
With only two weeks left, I feel like I am just starting
to get the hang of it and could use a few more weeks to
refine, but I look forward to my first year teaching,
where ever that may end up.
Would anyone else care to share with the group as they are
hired on in the schools? I would love to know where
everyone ends up, so that we can perhaps continue to
support and encourage each other as we work through our
first years teaching. From what I hear, the first year can
be difficult. Just a thought. Let me know what you think.
I will stop my ramble...sorry it got a bit long!
Amy
Oh, by the way, I have found a couple of great books with
lesson plans for high school art, both are by Ken Vieth.
The first is "Engaging the Adolescent Mind Through Visual
Problem Solving" (2005, Davis publications) and "From
Ordinary to Extrodinary; Art & Design Problem Solving"
(1999, Davis publications)
Best wishes to you all!!!!