This
semester I had the opportunity to do my student teaching at Madison Middle
School. I jumped right into being the art teacher, which meant I had to
learn quickly in order to give my students the best art education I could
provide.
Starting in the summer I was required to create a curriculum for both 5th and 6th grade students. This was the first time that most of the students have had the opportunity to take art. My 5th graders needed to start at the basics with the elements of art: line, shape, color, value, space, and texture. While my sixth graders are older I wanted them to see how art comes from all around the world.
Every week each 5th grader had two lessons. My 5th grade classes changed from day to day but I needed to make sure that every student was going the same pass. The first lesson had to be given on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the second half of the lesson could be given on Thursday and Friday. With each element in art the students did on average 2 projects so that they could gain a better understanding of why artists use the element in their art.
My curriculum for the 6th graders was much more involved. As a class we where going to travel around the world through art. I started out by creating a passport/sketchbook for each student. This passport works like a workbook, it allows for me as a teacher to incorporate reading and writing in my classroom on a daily bases, as well as history and geography. Each day the students are to come into the classroom pick up their passports, open them, and be ready to learn about artists from different continents and countries. For the first 5 to 10 minutes of class we discuss and write down facts about an artist and their artwork. The projects we have done are based off of either the artist work or a particular counties culture.
The art classroom hasn’t looked much like an art room for a couple of years since Madison Middle School hasn’t had a full time art teacher for a while. I took it upon myself to change that. I spent an entire week cleaning and organizing the art room, which included going through every cupboard, shelf, cubby, and file. It also required that I fill each bulletin in the classroom. I created a map that would allow me to display different artists work and our individual class projects from each country.
Besides all the prep work and actual teaching I was required to do I spent time working with the Art314 class on campus. The college students in Art314 were required to teach a certain amount of times in my classroom over the semester. It was my job to walk them through the curriculum and observe them as they taught taking notes as they taught. With each college student I took time reviewing their lesson plans, going over procedures, materials, and classroom management.
In order to make sure that my classroom schedule and the Art314 students were all on the same page I met with David Belka every Monday morning for around an hour discussing what would help the college students become better teachers and what I saw in the classroom when Belka was unable to be in the classroom.
Through out the semester I worked with various teachers and colleagues when it came to my student’s schedules. My 6th grade students had an A/B block schedule where they switch back and forth between art and PE. While my 5th graders, still being in elementary school, are split up by who their teacher is, which can be confusing. I needed to know where each student should be on what particular day so that the office could be informed every Monday to announce to the students as well as have a list prepared for the students to look at each day.
I also worked closely with the special ed. teacher, Mrs. Berry, to create some specialized projects for a select group of students that where not signed up for art but really enjoy it. During 6th period on any given day I may have had one of these students come into my classroom and I had a separate project prepared for them to do that may or may not have been related to what the other students in the classroom where doing at the time. I had to be able to teach multiple lessons at a time.
This semester I have grown so much as a teacher and have learned more than I believe I would have if I had stayed with my original placement in Utah. This has been a challenging job but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Starting in the summer I was required to create a curriculum for both 5th and 6th grade students. This was the first time that most of the students have had the opportunity to take art. My 5th graders needed to start at the basics with the elements of art: line, shape, color, value, space, and texture. While my sixth graders are older I wanted them to see how art comes from all around the world.
Every week each 5th grader had two lessons. My 5th grade classes changed from day to day but I needed to make sure that every student was going the same pass. The first lesson had to be given on Tuesday and Wednesday so that the second half of the lesson could be given on Thursday and Friday. With each element in art the students did on average 2 projects so that they could gain a better understanding of why artists use the element in their art.
My curriculum for the 6th graders was much more involved. As a class we where going to travel around the world through art. I started out by creating a passport/sketchbook for each student. This passport works like a workbook, it allows for me as a teacher to incorporate reading and writing in my classroom on a daily bases, as well as history and geography. Each day the students are to come into the classroom pick up their passports, open them, and be ready to learn about artists from different continents and countries. For the first 5 to 10 minutes of class we discuss and write down facts about an artist and their artwork. The projects we have done are based off of either the artist work or a particular counties culture.
The art classroom hasn’t looked much like an art room for a couple of years since Madison Middle School hasn’t had a full time art teacher for a while. I took it upon myself to change that. I spent an entire week cleaning and organizing the art room, which included going through every cupboard, shelf, cubby, and file. It also required that I fill each bulletin in the classroom. I created a map that would allow me to display different artists work and our individual class projects from each country.
Besides all the prep work and actual teaching I was required to do I spent time working with the Art314 class on campus. The college students in Art314 were required to teach a certain amount of times in my classroom over the semester. It was my job to walk them through the curriculum and observe them as they taught taking notes as they taught. With each college student I took time reviewing their lesson plans, going over procedures, materials, and classroom management.
In order to make sure that my classroom schedule and the Art314 students were all on the same page I met with David Belka every Monday morning for around an hour discussing what would help the college students become better teachers and what I saw in the classroom when Belka was unable to be in the classroom.
Through out the semester I worked with various teachers and colleagues when it came to my student’s schedules. My 6th grade students had an A/B block schedule where they switch back and forth between art and PE. While my 5th graders, still being in elementary school, are split up by who their teacher is, which can be confusing. I needed to know where each student should be on what particular day so that the office could be informed every Monday to announce to the students as well as have a list prepared for the students to look at each day.
I also worked closely with the special ed. teacher, Mrs. Berry, to create some specialized projects for a select group of students that where not signed up for art but really enjoy it. During 6th period on any given day I may have had one of these students come into my classroom and I had a separate project prepared for them to do that may or may not have been related to what the other students in the classroom where doing at the time. I had to be able to teach multiple lessons at a time.
This semester I have grown so much as a teacher and have learned more than I believe I would have if I had stayed with my original placement in Utah. This has been a challenging job but I wouldn’t change it for anything.
1 comment:
Caitlyn this is AMAZING! That sounds like a ton of work and a ton of fun. Way to go!
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