A Brief Self-Introduction

I am a 2010 graduate of the University of Iowa. Over the course of my time in Iowa City, I became very passionate about Art and Art Education. I have had many opportunities and experiences that have increased my knowledge of teaching and working with children.
These include:

1. Forts and Hideouts Workshop- for children ages 5-8
2. Summer Camp in Okinawa, Japan- all day camp with children ages 5-10, centered around constant activities, field trips, games and art projects 5 days per week for 10 consistent weeks.
3. Classroom teaching experiences including Practicum in an Elementary setting, Methods in a High School setting for at risk teens, and Student Teaching in a Middle School and Elementary setting.
4. Volunteer experiences in the Elementary and High School art room settings.

Although I have had many experiences centered around Art Education that I feel have helped to prepare me for a teaching career, I know that I still have a lot to learn. I know that I will gain this knowledge through my experiences in my own classroom.

Clean Up Time Management-- Tricks or Treats -- Elementary Levels

I have found out in the past week that for all elementary levels, K-5, that something as simple as a singing toy can work wonders for classroom management. The holiday toys that sing and dance, holiday themed music, you name it, work wonders for motivating students to clean up and to work during class.

When it is time to clean up, I use an attention getter. In a quiet voice: "If you can hear me clap once....twice....three times...." etc. until students quiet down. This is usually just for grades K-3. Other grades I say "Freeze, freeze, freeze" and they stop and listen. I give instructions for clean up and they don't move until I say "Go". Once students have cleaned up, they are instructed to get into a quiet line while they wait for their teacher to come pick them up from class. On their way out of class I play one of the toys.... right now it's a dancing skeleton that sings some funny song and they dance as they file out of the room.

It is a much easier process to get students at the K-5 levels to clean up than middle school students. Who would have known.

Resources for the Elementary Art Room

1. The Art Teacher's Book of Lists - Helen D. Hume
2. Drawing in 3-D with Mark Kisler - Mark Kisler
3. Andy Warhol 1928-1987 - Prestel
4. Children and Painting - Cathy Weisman Tapal
5. Instant Architecture - Eleanor Lynn Nesmith
6. Instant Art History From Cave Art to Pop Art - Walter Robinson
7. History of Art For Young People - H.W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson
8. Hooked on Painting - Brooke
9. Hooked on Drawing - Brooke
10. Art Smart! - Susan Rodriguez
11. Multicultural Art Activities Kit - Dwila Bloom
12. Mathematics -Art Connections - SRA/McGraw Hill
13. How to Draw and Paint People - Angela Gair
14. Paint Adventures - Kathy Savage-Hubbard and Rose C. Speicher

Teaching Objective

As I began to write my teaching objective, I thought back to the ultimate goals I have for the classroom that I share with the schools I am working in. I know that as I go further into a teaching career, my list of teaching objectives will expand and grow. I came up with the following:

1. Students display and have attained a good understanding of vocabulary pertaining to techniques, artists, and materials in the art room. This knowledge of vocabulary is attained because of its usage in introductions, durations, and conclusions of all projects.
2. Art advocacy. Students will gain an understanding of what it is to create and/or appreciate art that is created individually based, community based, etc. Art work produced by students will be displayed throughout the community.
3. Students will have an understanding of the cultural and historical ties to projects assigned, art work displayed in class, techniques, etc.
4. Students will be familiar with a wide variety of mediums.
5. Students will be able to reflect on their own artwork and art work from other eras and cultures.
   

Monet's Garden---Lesson on Impressionism

Monet Garden—Sponge Painting

4^th Grade Level

Project: Students will be introduced to the art of Impressionism. Students will explore and discuss the elements of art that are displayed in Monet’s paintings. We will begin by brainstorming ideas of man-made objects in gardens (i.e. bird baths, benches, pathways, fences, gates, etc.). All student work is required to have a path and fence; the students have to choice to include extra objects if so desired. Students will draw their stencils based on proportion of the object in the scene to the size of the paper (example shown and discussed in class) and then will cut out the stencils. Students will then apply the stencils to the paper with a removable glue stick. The next step is to start sponge painting. Students will use sponges attached to clothespins to apply paint to their paper. Q-tips will be used to depict smaller objects, such as flowers and birds. Once the paint has been applied to the paper, the stencils will be removed to reveal the negative spaces. Students then may to in and add details such as flowers and birds to the garden once removed. An example will be shown in class and details such as the placement of objects and shadows will be discussed. Students will be working with blue, yellow, green and red paint. Blues will be used to create shadows in the garden, yellows to create subtle highlights, and so on once the initial painting is completed. The concept to Impressionism will be discussed with class before the beginning of the project, and continuously emphasized throughout the duration of the project. This will help students to keep from getting too distracted by how they believe things should appear, and more focused on the art concept and what this type of approach does for the artist’s work, how it affects the audience and the overall mood of the piece.

Students will be able to:

· Demonstrate skillful and appropriate use of tools and materials

· Understand and identify the illusion of depth in artwork and architecture

· Produce works of art using a rich mixture of materials and techniques

· Discuss the effect color palettes have on works of art

· Discuss and understand the concept of Impressionism and the works created by artists during this period

Aesthetics/ Concepts/ Reflection

· Identify the elements (line, shape/form, color, texture, and space) in a work of art

· Discuss the built environment in aesthetic terms

· Understand and identify the illusion of depth in art works: overlapping, placement, size, color and detail

· Know and be able to use the appropriate vocabulary

· Identify Positive and Negative space in art work

· Use repetition and contrast to create movement and/or unity

Cultural/Historical

· Identify the work of various landscape artists

Production

· Use texture, shape/form, line and color in a work of art

· Demonstrate skillful use of tools and materials

· Demonstrate knowledge and ability in the purposeful use of a variety of media and materials

Materials

· 9 x 12” Canvas paper

· Acrylic paints: red, blue, yellow, green

· Sponges

· Clothespins

· Manila paper

· 10 x 13” No-fade construction paper (variety of colors)

· Scissors

· Q-tips

· Removable glue sticks

Vocabulary

· Contrast

· Distortion

· Landscape

· Positive and Negative

· Space

· Style

· Technique

· Two-dimensional

· Art Museum

· Canvas

Procedure

Day 1: Introduction to work of Impressionists

· Power Point displaying works of Monet and other artists famous for Impressionism

· Discuss characteristics of Impressionism with students

o Compare and contrast works of Realism and Impressionism—differences in styles, techniques, moods, etc.

· Introduce new project to students

o Expectations

o Requirements

o Time line of work to be done

o Show students an example of finished product

o Discuss where materials are located

· Discuss what makes a garden

o Man-made objects in a garden

o How to make stencils/what makes a stencil--silhouettes

· Students begin to make stencils

Day 2: Students continue/finish stencils

· Apply stencils to paper before sponge painting

· Demo for students how to paint with sponges—dabbing vs. painting

o How to use colors—shadows and highlights/stencils/how to make flowers and smaller objects with Q-tips

o Start to lay out landscape with paint

· Students work

Day 3: Reiterate--foreground, background, how to achieve depth

· Students work on landscape paintings

· Clean-up: Paintings on drying racks/paint brushes washed out/ materials put away in designated areas

Day 3: Students finish up paintings

· Show students how to finish their final product

o Matting on paper that compliments their painting

o Names

o Tags on art work

Day 4: Extra day to finish if needed

Resources

1. http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Pam-monet.htm

2. http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/c19th/impressionism.htm

3. http://hubpages.com/slide/Impressionism/3946572

4. http://www.gettingtoknow.com/MonetAct.htm

5. http://www.gettingtoknow.com/videos.htm

So Far I've_______, but would still like to ________.

So far I've succeeded in planning long range and created two original units for my first placement . I've have seen them through from beginning to end, have graded, reflected with students and felt the reward and relief of my own lessons actually being a success and not a crash and burn sort of experience. I was able to conquer the last minute doubt that I had in my mind that I didn't know how to lead a lesson to large groups of students. I retaught myself how to be successful at art forms that I haven't practiced in years. I gained confidence and gained inspiration and motivation to do this with new mediums and lessons that I have not yet tried.

I would still like to challenge myself to think of new lessons, to try mediums that I have not yet explored, and to not get too comfortable with what I already know how to do. I think that I still have a lot to learn and will continue to do so for many years to come. I know now that I can be comfortable with the reality that sometimes I will have to reteach myself how to work with some mediums. That it is ok to try lessons that will take much time for me to learn before I introduce them to my students. That it is ok to think outside of the box, and I am capable of learning and teaching new and exciting lessons to classrooms of students.

Saying Goodbye to My First Placement

In some ways, I am excited and ready to move on to a new school. I am looking forward to observing a new teaching approach, classroom management style, learning about available resources and to meeting new students. In other ways though, I have established relationships, set a routine, know all of the supplies and their location, and have become very comfortable working in this middle school environment. In most ways, I don't want to leave at all. I would love a job in an environment like this, one that is so focused on education and that has high expectations for students no matter what the subject.

I didn't know what to expect before I started my first placement experience. I was nervous because I didn't know exactly how much responsibility I would be given as the student teacher. I already felt jet lagged and burnt out from returning just a day before the start date from Okinawa, Japan. It was there that I worked 10 hour days every day of the work week for two and a half months with children as a camp counselor, and traveled every minute during weekends, leaving little time for rest. I didn't know how I would even begin to function enough to lead a classroom. But I did. And I was given a lot, A LOT of responsibility through out my entire experience from week 2 on. I am happy to say that I feel that I successfully rose to the occasion and completely forgot about the burnt out and jet lagged feeling.

Something that I dealt with quite a bit during my experience that I did not expect was parents. I'm not talking about Parent Night and Parent Teacher Conferences, I expected that sort of thing. What I didn't expect were parents who are defensive from the get go, who obviously just want to find out why their child isn't doing well in class, but don't go about asking in the calmest way. What I didn't expect was the demand of answering emails, telephone calls, etc. on top of grading, prep upon prep, while staying late and coming in early so kids can get help one on one and catch up, and coming in even earlier and staying later than them to get ready and organized for the next days. By now, I understand that this is the job. It is not simply cookie cutter and easy, nor should it necessarily be this way. It is because it isn't this way that I appreciate the job and the work that goes into education that much more. I feel that I got a worthy first experience dealing with things that they don't necessarily teach you in college. It was a tough, challenging, full of insight, wonderful, exciting, stressful, humorous and all of the above all at once. And I only am getting a taste of it. But I know that I want more and I want to continue to be an art teacher. I know I'm going to miss it when it's gone, and can't wait until I find my own position as an art teacher.

Communicating With Parents

I don't know if anyone else has had to deal personally with parent issues yet, but I have gotten a good taste of it and thought I would share this article. It's broken down into the important issues and was helpful.

Class Rules

I have found that the most essential classroom rule for me is clean up. If I don't keep an eye on my students, they will slip scraps under things just so they don't have to walk them to the trash can. I am currently doing a lesson on batik and bookmaking and I had to lay down serious ground rules for how to treat a classroom with the materials that we are using. Because they are eighth graders, I had originally assumed that they would know how to do this. Everyday when I cue that it is time for clean up, I go over exactly what needs to be cleaned up and how. If my students don't clean up properly as they are expected to in the art room, I spend twice the amount of time cleaning up after them, cutting into my prep periods for other classes. I find that with sixth grade, they know to clean up and take a seat until things are checked and they are dismissed from class. With my seventh graders, they have a little more tendency to not want to stop working and to continue until they run out of time to clean up and are eager to go to their next class. Yet, when I get on them to clean up they do and they will stay in the classroom, near their tables. My eighth graders are the hardest to get to clean up. Suddenly at the end of class I have a new student named "somebody" and they always get blamed when no one wants to claim a mess.
As far as other rules in the class go, my students get for the most part and I don't have any huge issue with any of them. They know that when I'm waiting quietly at the front of the class that I won't tell them to quiet down, they need to do it on their own. At first I would try to speak over them but I have found that it works better if they remind each other to be quiet when they see me waiting. They quiet down quicker this way. We have discussed this before, so they know to quiet down quickly. When explaining rules to them in the beginning of the year, I told them that I am there to teach them, and it is their job to come to class ready to work. If they come to class noisy they are wasting their own time because the lesson will not begin until they have settled down. They are eager to get to work on their projects so this is never really an issue.

I don't expect the students to be completely quiet during art class as long as they are working. We have an understanding that as long as they are getting the work done that they need to in class, they can talk quietly amongst their tables. However, when I am helping students throughout the classroom, I should not be able to hear any one discussion. If I do, I tell them that I'm hearing too much talking for the amount of work that needs to be done by our set deadline. I also give them mini deadlines to keep them on track so I often refer to these.

To me however, as stated before, cleaning up after themselves is the number one issue and rule in my class. I can handle chatter, I can handle letting them quiet themselves down, I can come in early and stay late to help any student with work they need help on.... any other rule I don't necessary find hard for students to follow. But when it comes to cleaning up, that it the first thing I enforce everyday in the art room. I suppose that the more experience I get with working in the art room the better it will get. Expectations of my classroom will be passed down and I feel like right now as the student teacher I'm being tested a little bit. But if there is one rule that needs to be in the art room it is accountability for your own mess.

Resources

During my first placement experience, I have found that teachers can turn to one another for ideas for entire projects, jumping off points for projects, classroom management and so on. The team of teachers I am working with look to one another for project ideas, and willingly exchange new ideas that they think of, come across as they research, and so on. This is a great resource because you although you are jumping off from someone else's idea, you can tweak project ideas to make your own. The project may even evolve in to something completely different.

I have also found, as I'm sure everyone has, that internet sites are an incredible resource for teachers. In my school, we are unable to use YouTube videos. This site is blocked to protect students from getting on and searching for inappropriate or harmful subjects, but my teachers and I found a way that we could still show our demos using You Tube. I have heard of a couple of different sites, such as TubeSocks and ImTooYouTube. These sites allow you to download videos at home and show them at school. I find that it is a really valuable resource for my lessons, because the students not only see me doing a demo in front of them, but also are able to see videos of other techniques. A lot of the videos I have found help to explain how lessons relate to other cultures and so on. I definitely would recommend looking into it if you haven't already stumbled across it.

The Art Department meetings have been focused around the use of SMART Boards. What I think is so neat about SMART Boards is that you can use the sites through the program, Notebook, to supplement your lessons. I thought that you had to buy the SMART Board in order to be able to access these, but I was told yesterday at the meeting that you can download the Notebook program and use it with a LCD projector. Some of the sites, like one that was shown yesterday explaining perspective, could really be valuable for lessons and would help to break down information and concepts for students into easier understanding.

I have been lucky enough to have resources passed down to me from the teachers I am working with. Artists, books, videos, websites, templates, rubric ideas, assessments, project ideas, you name it. I have binders full of information that I know I will use in my own classroom in the future. I think that beyond this however, you can use almost anything as a resource if you are creative enough. Just flipping through magazines, or paying attention to what you observe when you are outside of school can spark an idea for a project.