Art Advocacy

I feel that is it very easy/ necessary for the roles of art advocate/ art educator to overlap. If they didn’t, there probably wont be art education.

As an art educator I find that I am always trying to prove to others that art is an important subject, and that the students are indeed learning something. Because without the proof, and the state of the current economy, there would be few art teachers. As sad as that statement makes me, it is true. And, that is why it is important to ALSO be advocating for art education. Every single day. It could be something as simple as displaying what the students have been working on with an explanation, to having a district wide art show, displaying all types of work. It is important to show people, whether it be individuals or the whole community, that students are gaining knowledge from art class.

With that, it is also important to communicate to parents and to get them involved. Because if you have the parents on your side, believing in what your are teaching, it will be hard to get hid of you. Not only that, but this will allow you to build better relationships with your students.

            

What is the role/ importance of assessment in art education? What methods of assessments have you used?

Because a lot of projects given in the art classroom have loose guidelines it is important to have a form of assessment to show that the students are learning. For example, I am currently doing a project with my first grade students called “Mona Lisa Smile”. The students are to draw themselves, with Mona Lisa, in a place that would make her smile again. The objective of this project was to teach students about Leonardo da Vinci, the importance of background information, and how to color in the whole page. But, because every student has their own skill set, and a different drawing, it is difficult to say whether or not they are succeeding in the project. So, for my assessment, in the beginning of each class I question the students about Leonardo da Vinci and the requirements of the project. At the beginning of the project, maybe two students knew the name Leonardo da Vinci, but now about 90% remember his name, and his occupations. With students so young it is hard to have a written assessment, so I believe that oral assessment is better. As for the drawing assessment (meaning if they have a background telling me where they are and have colored in their whole page) it is as simple as yes or no if they have fulfilled these requirements. But, it is important to remind the students of these requirements, so they do not forget. For older students, I believe it is possible to give them quizzes on vocabulary words that they were taught, and important things you want them to remember. If the term does not have a solid definition, you could always have them draw it. 

Misson Statement

My goal as an educator is: to help a child’s creativity flourish, while providing them with a positive outlet. To expose student’s to a variety of media, showing them that there is more to art than drawing photo realistically. 

The impact that subject knowledge has on teaching.  What are some resources you can turn to for support in lesson planning ideas? People, places, websites…

As an art teacher you need to know how to do it all. Paint, draw, sculpt, throw, screen printing, etc. The list is never ending. It is nearly impossible to be a master of all of these things. But, fortunate for us these are countless resources out there to help us teach ourselves.

When trying to teach myself how to us new materials my go to websites are, Google and YouTube. While they are both every opened ended websites, it is great to have such an array of information to us to teach yourself. For me, being able to watch someone do the new process, I am trying to learn, on YouTube is great.

When looking for lesson plan ideas my number one website is Pinterest. If you have not used this website before, I suggest you try it right now. It has so many great links to teaching blogs and other helpful hints; it is truly a gift from god. I have already used some on the lesson plan ideas from this website in my student teaching classroom. Another great side for lesson plan ideas is: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/lessons.html. Countless of great, detailed, lesson plans. Dick Blick also has lesson plans on their site, they aren’t really original, but they are good to use as a starting base. Especially if you a teaching a media that is new to you.

And, of course, word of mouth. I always make sure to carry a pen and paper with me because you never no when someone will tell you about a great lesson plan, or when an idea will hit you. 

What class rules are essential to a positive teaching/learning experience?  How do plan to create a positive learning environment when you have your own classroom?

I feel that the number one rule that needs to be in place for a positive learning experience, for all, is respect. It is a broad rule, but I feel as if it covers just about everything. Respect for fellow classmates, the teacher, the classroom, supplies, etc. As of right now, with some of the older students, I am struggling to gain respect. I feel as if they do not see me as a teacher because they know I am only a temporary fixture in the room. Which sometimes can make it hard to teach. But, I feel that if you demand respect from your students they will give it to you. I know that sounds harass, but without respect for the teacher the classroom would just be chaos.

I guess with this I need to definition what respect means in my classroom. In my ideal world, respect means that students listen when directions are being given. They do what they are told/ asked of. Use materials properly. Do not tease/ bully fellow classmates. And finally, use appropriate language in my classroom.

An example of myself struggling for respect in the classroom happened early on during my student teaching experience. It was the second week, and I was left alone with a room full of 35, 6^th graders during a testing time. The class clown decided it was his time shine. He kept muddling noises every time I walked by and it was hard not to laugh because some of the things he was saying were hilarious. But, I knew I needed to step up. I gave him plenty of chances to stop, but of course he didn’t. So, I kicked him out of the classroom after one last warning. This was my first time being “the mean teacher”. I knew I had to demand respect from him or else he would just walk all over me for the rest of my time there. It turns out that it worked. Not only did he later apologize to me for being disrespectful, I feel as if the rest of the class started to respect me because they were tired of this one student taking out their whole entire class period. Ever since this class period has been easy (or should I say easier) to teach.