Art Journal #6, 11/30/2020
The past two weeks I subbed for my teacher once, and had a wonderful last in person week with the students. I learned on 11/13 that they would be going online as of 11/23. This means a big switch to how we teach art: instead of an hour with only 6 classes for two weeks, we will see all 17 classes for 30 min each week online. While I'm glad I will see all of the students in one week, our pacing with all of the classes has been askew because of the four weeks between seeing classes when we were in person. We have three different lessons to teach the three different second grade classes, because one class got all three lessons, one class only got two, and the other class had two other lessons. The substituting went well, with all the students being extremely polite even when I didn't have admin privileges in some of the meetings. The lessons went great, I led a discussion on racial bias with the third graders, taught the fourth graders how to create one-point perspective virtually, created habitats for our insects for the second graders, and created figure drawings with the fifth graders.
It was very exciting to substitute for a full day for my mentor teacher. I learned that even when everything has been planned and tested, there will still be unforeseen events that will change the course of the lesson; I couldn't share my screen for three of the classes. It was exciting to maneuver and adapt to teach the lesson, and I felt as though I got a true taste of being a teacher. The staff was very supportive of me and checked in on me throughout the day. Most of the classes had 15-30 minutes between them, which was nice for planning, but once I had everything planned I felt as though I should be doing more in those breaks. In the future I will take advantage of all the times in between classes to adjust the lessons or equipment accordingly.
When teaching, it is important to have flexibility in the structure of the lesson plans, just like how skyscrapers have room for slight bending and movement amidst their structure in case of wind. It is important to maneuver from moment to moment, week to week; I'm glad I've had the experience doing so while student teaching, from school to school, online, hybrid, and more. I aim to use this experience to heighten my attention to the student needs when the school system is consistent. The students are, in the end, the focus.
It was very exciting to substitute for a full day for my mentor teacher. I learned that even when everything has been planned and tested, there will still be unforeseen events that will change the course of the lesson; I couldn't share my screen for three of the classes. It was exciting to maneuver and adapt to teach the lesson, and I felt as though I got a true taste of being a teacher. The staff was very supportive of me and checked in on me throughout the day. Most of the classes had 15-30 minutes between them, which was nice for planning, but once I had everything planned I felt as though I should be doing more in those breaks. In the future I will take advantage of all the times in between classes to adjust the lessons or equipment accordingly.
When teaching, it is important to have flexibility in the structure of the lesson plans, just like how skyscrapers have room for slight bending and movement amidst their structure in case of wind. It is important to maneuver from moment to moment, week to week; I'm glad I've had the experience doing so while student teaching, from school to school, online, hybrid, and more. I aim to use this experience to heighten my attention to the student needs when the school system is consistent. The students are, in the end, the focus.