Art Journal #1, 8/31/2020
My teaching journey started with an innate motivation. I wanted to inspire others to create art. I grew, worked through college on honing my teaching reservoir of knowledge, and it is at this point where I see the culmination of my work. Much like how my teaching journey started, this year has been many unexpected circumstances culminating in an entirely unique experience. Due to the events of this year, a great majority of my knowledge was flooded with different focuses and needs. Instead of addressing the physical classroom setup, I knew quickly into summer that it was more likely that I needed to hone my digital skills. I felt like the first two weeks of my being in community with other teachers were filled with me wading in the sea, with no shore to swim to or concrete goal that I could work toward other than the overarching dream of teaching well and helping students realize their creative talent. This and last week were two difficult weeks of learning and adapting, most of the times on the fly, much as if I was in an actual classroom. It was only on the 20th that I realized what I was aiming for and dived into my role as a teacher instead of waiting and watching.
I feel grossly under prepared for unit planning. That being said, I've been working it out with my teacher and with help from the suggestions on our resources. i have learned the balance between work and home life, and am doing great at keeping my sanity with all of the stress. Because of COVID-19, my mentor teacher and I are working on keeping the students busy while not overworking them in this traumatic time. I have rediscovered how important it is to network with the other faculty and learn how they are solving problems and what different problems they've discovered. I have found that I have a lot of knowledge to offer these faculty members, and it's been interesting navigating the new territory of digital teaching with them.
I want to delve into teaching and learn the intricacies, while absorbing the knowledge for later use. I lament that I can't have those in-person teaching moments that make the experience of teaching in a classroom, but digital teaching is a good lesson in the fundamentals of teaching students without the classroom. The students are having technology issues attending, and the teachers are all figuring out the best way to suit their needs and how to make it most accessible for everyone.
I feel grossly under prepared for unit planning. That being said, I've been working it out with my teacher and with help from the suggestions on our resources. i have learned the balance between work and home life, and am doing great at keeping my sanity with all of the stress. Because of COVID-19, my mentor teacher and I are working on keeping the students busy while not overworking them in this traumatic time. I have rediscovered how important it is to network with the other faculty and learn how they are solving problems and what different problems they've discovered. I have found that I have a lot of knowledge to offer these faculty members, and it's been interesting navigating the new territory of digital teaching with them.
I want to delve into teaching and learn the intricacies, while absorbing the knowledge for later use. I lament that I can't have those in-person teaching moments that make the experience of teaching in a classroom, but digital teaching is a good lesson in the fundamentals of teaching students without the classroom. The students are having technology issues attending, and the teachers are all figuring out the best way to suit their needs and how to make it most accessible for everyone.
Image: Diving Deep - 2020 - Digital charcoal and pastel
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