Experience Reflection
I am very thankful for the opportunity I have been given
this semester to work with the students at the lab school. They have taught me
a lot about myself and about teaching this semester. I have learned that I have
more patience than I thought because students love to talk and when they get
off topic it can be hard to bring their attention back. I have learned to be
patient with them and that by setting up an attention getting system then you
can gain their attention back. I have also learned to be more comfortable in
the front of the classroom. I have always started out being nervous in front of
the students but over this semester I feel a little more comfortable than I have
before. Also by working with the students to document their work I have become
a better questioner than I thought I was. Being able to ask students questions
that will cause them to think and will challenge them is very important to me
as a teacher. Being able to ask the students lots of questions about their
artwork this semester has really challenged me and caused me to grow as a
teacher. I have also learned that one of my favorite parts of teaching is
listening to my students’ ideas. It amazes me how big their imaginations are
and just the level of ideas they come up with. My students’ ideas continually
surprised me over this semester and I am so glad I was able to be a part of
their learning experience.
Over this semester I also learned that planning, setting expectations, and having routines are very important. I really learned that planning was important because sometimes there were days that we hadn’t planned so well for and those weren’t always our best days. It is important to plan everything out and to think of what the students will be able to accomplish. This means sometimes you need to give students more time than you expect and that you need to keep track of time. It is also important to set expectations for the students. Some of the most success I had with gaining the students attention when I needed it was by using the expectations Brittany had already put in place in her classroom. It was really effective to use the bell on Brittany’s desk to gain the attention of the student during class time to give them instructions on clean-up or to announce when another student had made a discovery. This is something I think could work in my future classroom. One of the best things I think we did this semester was set up a routine for the students. First we would show a power point about what we were doing that day and this was a great way for students to get settled into art class. We also made sure to always show the clean-up directions. This allowed students to be able to see what was expected of them so when they might have not heard what to do they could find it on the board. Having these things in place in the class really help the class time be effective for learning and experimenting with art processes.
Over the semester we had lots of ups and downs. One thing that really worked well was introducing new art processes and materials to the students. During these class sessions students were most engaged because they were learning something new and making sure to pay close attention to the process. Also at the end of the semester when we asked them what they like most about the semester and most of the students mentions that they liked making the costumes and the mono-prints. These were projects that involved new processes or materials for the students and these are the ones they liked the most. Another thing that went well was the topic that we picked for the unit. Having student focus on their personal identity and then turn themselves into superheroes was a relevant topic for the students because superheroes are very big in the media right now. Also at the beginning of the semester students were shown a video by kid president that talked about everyone being able to be a hero no matter who they are.
I really enjoyed this semester with the students. There isn’t much that I would do differently if I could. One thing I would change about this semester is making sure to have better classroom management. There were a lot of times were Brittany had to step in a correct the behavior of students when I felt that it was mine or Lisa responsibility. I think we should have asked Brittany more questions about what her management policies in the classroom so that we could put them in to place when we were teaching art to the students. It would have also helped me to learn more about different policies so that it could help to me to better know what I want my own policies to be. Also I feel having better classroom management could have improved the classes where we got behind schedule because we didn’t pay attention to the time. Going into to student teaching I plan on starting to ask more questions about classroom management so that I can better understand what I want to do in my future classroom.
Over this semester I also learned that planning, setting expectations, and having routines are very important. I really learned that planning was important because sometimes there were days that we hadn’t planned so well for and those weren’t always our best days. It is important to plan everything out and to think of what the students will be able to accomplish. This means sometimes you need to give students more time than you expect and that you need to keep track of time. It is also important to set expectations for the students. Some of the most success I had with gaining the students attention when I needed it was by using the expectations Brittany had already put in place in her classroom. It was really effective to use the bell on Brittany’s desk to gain the attention of the student during class time to give them instructions on clean-up or to announce when another student had made a discovery. This is something I think could work in my future classroom. One of the best things I think we did this semester was set up a routine for the students. First we would show a power point about what we were doing that day and this was a great way for students to get settled into art class. We also made sure to always show the clean-up directions. This allowed students to be able to see what was expected of them so when they might have not heard what to do they could find it on the board. Having these things in place in the class really help the class time be effective for learning and experimenting with art processes.
Over the semester we had lots of ups and downs. One thing that really worked well was introducing new art processes and materials to the students. During these class sessions students were most engaged because they were learning something new and making sure to pay close attention to the process. Also at the end of the semester when we asked them what they like most about the semester and most of the students mentions that they liked making the costumes and the mono-prints. These were projects that involved new processes or materials for the students and these are the ones they liked the most. Another thing that went well was the topic that we picked for the unit. Having student focus on their personal identity and then turn themselves into superheroes was a relevant topic for the students because superheroes are very big in the media right now. Also at the beginning of the semester students were shown a video by kid president that talked about everyone being able to be a hero no matter who they are.
I really enjoyed this semester with the students. There isn’t much that I would do differently if I could. One thing I would change about this semester is making sure to have better classroom management. There were a lot of times were Brittany had to step in a correct the behavior of students when I felt that it was mine or Lisa responsibility. I think we should have asked Brittany more questions about what her management policies in the classroom so that we could put them in to place when we were teaching art to the students. It would have also helped me to learn more about different policies so that it could help to me to better know what I want my own policies to be. Also I feel having better classroom management could have improved the classes where we got behind schedule because we didn’t pay attention to the time. Going into to student teaching I plan on starting to ask more questions about classroom management so that I can better understand what I want to do in my future classroom.