Art Journal #4, 10/26/2020
These past two weeks have been a transition not only from high school to elementary, but from online school to in person due to the elementary school being in a hybrid model now. I moved from Poudre Community Academy to Johnson Elementary to work alongside and learn from Ms. England. Their model is very confusing, such that it takes twenty minutes to explain; they have a three-track school, with three different specials classes. Students are in A / B groups to limit the number of people in a group. The district has Friday's as planning / additional support days, and Ms. England has Mondays off as she is only 80% and is completing a degree. The three specials classes are in a 2-week rotation, with each class getting two weeks of a special before moving to the next. With this model, art will not be had for 4 weeks by the classes in the other specials. I took over 4th grade on the 20th for six weeks, teaching the same two lessons three times. On the 3rd of November, I will take over 2nd grade for six weeks and kindergarten for two weeks, in conjunction with 4th grade. All in all, I am making six lesson plans for the rest of the semester as they are being taught to different classes in those six weeks. Currently it is a lot of work, but in a few weeks I will be able to focus more on classroom management. I feel that these students are not getting enough art, and we are sending home mini extension projects they can do on their own time to keep up with their creativity. Teaching in person is important for these students' successes, however the kindergarteners and other students are missing out on important socio-emotional connections that they would normally get at school. Teaching wise, the students are incredibly respectful, with only one or two children in each class that need more accommodations. Ms. England and I were able to discuss with the Integrated Services team about what sort of accommodations each class needs and what helps most learners as well.
After teaching my first lesson, I realized I need to cut down discussion time; some of the students got distracted and off topic the longer the discussion went, and some of it was unrelated; if limited, we could have been more on track for the lesson. The students were very engaged in the artmaking, which made wrapping up incredibly difficult. All three days, I went three to five minutes overtime getting the students on their way out of the door. I needed to prepare my exiting strategy more before teaching; it didn't feel very fluid of a transition and now the students did not have the work to do over this weekend to stay on track next week. I did not hand out the homework, however, as the students were still very engaged with this task and wanted to continue exploring the concept of one point perspective. I was glad that they were engaged to continue, and I am excited to finish the lesson next week with them!
In the end, this week has taught me a lot about how teaching in the classroom works, aside from the half-size classes and hybrid online model. When I have my own classroom, I now know how to better manage discussions to allow more time for creation. I also am learning time management better, since the classes are 35 minutes long, with two classes (3rd and Kindergarten) being in the homeroom to give our classroom time to be sanitized. I am also learning a lot about preparation of materials, as Ms. England handwrites a lot of her handouts and integrates multiple pages onto one long page sometimes. I can now sufficiently use the printer, without accidentally making a landscape or portrait or color copy when I wanted the opposites. I definitely need more time on classroom management and integrating school norms into the classroom, especially since the school norms are changing on a weekly basis with the current pandemic, the wildfires, and the success of different rules.
After teaching my first lesson, I realized I need to cut down discussion time; some of the students got distracted and off topic the longer the discussion went, and some of it was unrelated; if limited, we could have been more on track for the lesson. The students were very engaged in the artmaking, which made wrapping up incredibly difficult. All three days, I went three to five minutes overtime getting the students on their way out of the door. I needed to prepare my exiting strategy more before teaching; it didn't feel very fluid of a transition and now the students did not have the work to do over this weekend to stay on track next week. I did not hand out the homework, however, as the students were still very engaged with this task and wanted to continue exploring the concept of one point perspective. I was glad that they were engaged to continue, and I am excited to finish the lesson next week with them!
In the end, this week has taught me a lot about how teaching in the classroom works, aside from the half-size classes and hybrid online model. When I have my own classroom, I now know how to better manage discussions to allow more time for creation. I also am learning time management better, since the classes are 35 minutes long, with two classes (3rd and Kindergarten) being in the homeroom to give our classroom time to be sanitized. I am also learning a lot about preparation of materials, as Ms. England handwrites a lot of her handouts and integrates multiple pages onto one long page sometimes. I can now sufficiently use the printer, without accidentally making a landscape or portrait or color copy when I wanted the opposites. I definitely need more time on classroom management and integrating school norms into the classroom, especially since the school norms are changing on a weekly basis with the current pandemic, the wildfires, and the success of different rules.
"Building a Home" - 2020
In this reflective piece I focused on how I am building a new normal, or a nest in this transition. The bird in the middle is myself building my home of new techniques and skills from the sticks that were provided by CSU in my learning stage of teaching.
In this reflective piece I focused on how I am building a new normal, or a nest in this transition. The bird in the middle is myself building my home of new techniques and skills from the sticks that were provided by CSU in my learning stage of teaching.