Deerton Practicum!

Yesterday my classmates and I had the opportunity to teach at Deerton School. We were all placed in the gymnasium and given long lunch tables to work on. I posted my samples board on the wall and my tri-fold was on the end of the table so I could point out the objectives and give history for the lesson. All in all I think the lesson went very well. I have posted the reflection on the practicum because I think it covers all the bases!

Enjoy! There are lots of pictures, too :)

Questions to Ponder about Autrain-Onota (Deerton) School:

1. Did your art lesson fit the age level that you taught and why? (challenging, about right or way underestimated).

I think that the lesson I taught was just right for the age group. They all actively participated in each part of the lesson (writing, drawing, and painting, reflecting) and were engaged in the project. It was not too challenging for any of the students, except for maybe the students who wanted to talk to me instead of draw or color!

Yay Art!

Not quite how I wanted the pastels to be used..

2. How did the physical surroundings affect your lesson, noise, long tables, etc.?

I did not notice any issue with the surroundings at all. I felt like maybe my teacher voice would be overpowering but I wanted to speak at a normal volume so everyone could hear. I made sure to check for understanding each time I gave a direction and asked students to repeat steps. I liked the long tables and being able to show the students the lesson objectives using my boards. They were excited to read the captions and learn about the pictures. I do not think the students were distracted by other groups either because they were highly engaged.

Engaged and creating!

This one turned out so cool! The back was really interesting, too.

3. How many hours did it take for you to prepare for your lesson?  Was it enough or did you need more?  Explain.  How did your illustration boards help?

Inspiration for 4wheeler drawing

4wheeler drawing with worksheet

Altogether I spent about a month working on and improving my lesson plan and visual boards. The lesson took maybe 4 hours in total, after revisions and separate research. I felt well prepared and versed when the students arrived. I caught myself talking too fast at one point and slowed down my information – sometimes my mouth gets in front of my brain and that confuses my students and I! I think I jumped around a bit with the content, but the students followed along and asked questions when they had them. My visual boards, as I said before, were a big aid in showing the kids the expectations for the assignment. They were also eager to make comparisons on the “Stained Glass Stories” visual board after they saw the examples I had provided. Some of the students’ work was definitely inspired by what they saw. It was also nice to have the ‘samples’ board to refer back to when working step-by-step with the students. They saw what the end results looked like at each step and I had written directions on the poster, too.

4. How would you have taught this lesson if you were alone with 25 students? 

If I was working on this lesson with 25 students I would hope to be able to use technology, just because I do not think the visual boards would be seen by everyone and they were a major part of the lesson background. I would keep the teach sample board the same way and since I did not give out supplies until we were ready to work, I might have students view a live demonstration in addition to the sample board…. But it was a pretty simple lesson; it just had a lot of steps. I think I would also have the students use bigger sheets of paper, or maybe do the project as a collaboration.

All done. Love the variety :)

7 Kids - if only all classes were that small haha

5. Did you watch the time? Was it long enough? Was it a 2, 3, or 4-day lesson?  Would you have had better results?  Explain your feelings about being rushed and stressed?

I was watching the time like a hawk. I even wore a watch to keep better track of the time limits. I actually found time was moving slower than I thought it was most of the time and I had to stop myself from telling the kids to hurry up. Coloring takes time when they want to make a quality product! Some students took longer than others to become fully engaged in the lesson so their drawings took longer. I had to keep those kids on task by reminding them of the goals each time I caught them being distracted (mostly by each other). I had a student with some Autism spectrum characteristics as well and he spent a long time coloring detailed spaces and lines. I did not want to rush him into finishing because he was very meticulous in his drawing and coloring. In the end I adjusted for ‘lost’ time by having students start to paint as soon as they finished coloring. As a result, students were getting up to wash their hands right after they finished painting and there was not an issue of waiting for bathroom time. I think if I was to teach this in a regular classroom this would be a two-day activity.

This student made sure to include a lightning bolt, because I said they would be cool.
Then he told me I would be responsible for paying the BILLS on his car. YEAH RIGHT!

6. What did you expect and what were you surprised by? 

I guess I forgot how much time it took me to complete the project and I expected the students to work faster than they did. They worked at a very steady pace and took time to look at the work before continuing with a new color/a new line etc. I was surprised by some of the students not wanting to write at all. They just wanted to start drawing – not that that’s a bad thing, it was just not what I expected.

This student wanted to draw Arizona, which she considers her sanctuary and 'happy place'. And the cow is great, too.

7.     Where you as organized as you could be?  Why? Why not?

I think I was very organized and precise with how much of each item I needed, how much space I used, and how much time was spent on each activity. I spent extra time planning and revising my lesson to make sure I made the most of my time and supplies.

It's a rocket ship. Check out the cool planets.

                     

Hypno turtle

8. Was there enough time for evaluation, presentation and demonstration? 

YES!! The students all got to display their work on the table and everyone saw all of them after they were finished. I had a small group so it was easy to arrange all of the pieces on the same table. We talked about which ones were most successful and why, what stories they were telling, and if we would do the project again. All positive answers- they all wanted to go BIGGER.

Presentation time was well thought out. I made sure I kept an eye on the time so the students would have time to reflect and write before they drew anything. Some of them just wanted time to think before they put chalk to paper.

I did very little demonstration with this lesson. The only times I demonstrated anything were when I was teaching students how to keep the paint cups from spilling (we had a spill, but it was cleaned up quickly) and when students needed to water down the tempera.

9. Clean up, was there enough time?  What could you have done to make this better?

I think there was enough time for clean up. I had students going to wash their hands right after they finished working on the project and then they helped clean up. Students were eager to help and made sure to be careful with the supplies to not make a mess. We had one spill but it was quickly taken care of. I put newspaper on top of it to soak up the water and paint and then gathered up the wet papers to get them off the table. No problem; no harm done to students, clothes, or projects. AND there was no distraction from the mess.

10. Some students finished quickly…were you prepared for this?  What could you do to keep them learning?  Helping?

All of the students were painting at the same time so they didn’t seem to finish too far apart from their peers. The students that finished early helped me clean up and made sure that the supplies were returned to their containers. Some students wandered off to wash their hands but they came back to help at the table and see what their peers were doing.

This student took a little while to get started, but the results are awesome! He drew a 'zombie killing' dream he had. Yiikes. 

11. There were some students absent, if your lesson was for 2-3 days, how would you handle this?

I think if I made the project collaborative and had students assigned to certain sections of the paper that student would be able to come back to their work. If I did the project as an individual assignment I would just have the student start on the day they got back. I was able to do the project in an hour; why wouldn’t a student be able to do it in a shortened amount of time? The extra days would be for more introduction to the assignment and background information. Maybe a day for student research into their own design references or inspirations as well?

12. What mistake did you make that you will not make again?

I do not think I made any big mistakes. I think I was well prepared to teach and organized the lesson effectively. That being said, I think if I knew the personalities of the students ahead of time I would have moved some students to other seats to ensure productivity. But there was no way for me to know how they would act and react.

Other thoughts:

I had a lot of fun with this lesson! I learned a new technique and I was able to teach the students a new way to create art. They were engaged and asked lots of questions while making interesting and fun artwork that meant something to them. I felt like the lesson was successful and the students were affected in positive way. Many of them commented on the project with positive feedback and they enjoyed getting messy, too. Couldn’t ask for a better lesson or group of students! I want to go back!

Everyone did an awesome job :) 

Okay, time to fight off this cold. Until next time,

Ms. K