As I begin week six of my student teaching practicum I have definitely noticed a change in how I approach the classroom. I know the classroom routines now and since I am getting to know the students better they are coming to me for help more often. For example, one student asked me to look at his drawing to see if I could help point out to him how the facial proportion was off and he listened to my advice when I told him how to fix the nose. I am also more careful about how I phrase things in that I try to not give praise or feedback in a way that makes it look like I approve or disapprove of the artwork. Many times I will ask the student what THEY think about their work and then I can help them based on their response. It’s hard when you love drawing or clay or sculpture not to jump in and help students fix mistakes in their work, but I also know that is not my job. These students are not in a college art class where critique of technique is expected and the main goal I have for students is self-expression and not technical perfection. The part where I still feel like an art education student is not having enough experience to know when to jump in and help a student who is frustrated or to stay back and let them figure something out on their own. I haven’t found that balance yet.
My cooperating teacher is good at letting me have freedom to walk around and help students, but she is also good at asking me questions to help me focus on areas where I need to improve. The middle school students have a daily point system that help keeps track if they are making an effort to be on task. This doesn’t mean they have to be making art every day. If the students need to do research or look through a book for inspiration they are allowed to do so. A few students do have trouble finding something productive to do during art and I was giving them a checkmark without really asking them if they thought they earned it. I now must pay closer attention to those individuals so I can ask them if they earned that checkmark and they can tell me why or why not? My cooperating teacher and I have Fridays at lunch where it is just the two of us and we can talk about how the week went, what is going well and what I need to work on. I try to ask questions as they come up but there isn’t always time for that during the week so the meetings are helpful.
As I gain more experience in the elementary classroom I am noticing inappropriate behavior more and am correcting it or anticipating it before it escalates. I am developing a classroom management philosophy in which I want my classroom to be a safe and inclusive space for all and name-calling, cursing, and mean-spirited teasing will not be tolerated. I don’t just swoop in and reprimand students who break these rules, instead I tell them I want my classroom to be safe and inclusive and the choices they are making does not make the classroom feel this way and next time, they need to think before speaking and make a better choice. I have also had a few students address me as “Hey!” and I correct them and say my name is not hey, it is Mrs. Lammey or “Miss,” is fine. Another way have noticed I am improving regarding my teacher presence is learning how to stop a situation from escalating. In the younger grades a boy noticed the girls were making purses out of paper and started making one for himself. A few girls said that was weird and I came over and asked them why that was weird and would they like it of someone told them what art they could or could not make? To their credit they said they wouldn’t like that and agreed that boys could make purses too. I think I handled that well in that I didn’t make it a huge deal but just asked a question to get them to think about what they were saying.
The formative assessment of the daily checkmark is so helpful because it means we are checking in with every student every day. I will use this in my own classroom. If there is something I need to talk with about the student further I can make a note of it and talk to them the next class. This daily check sets up the classroom expectation that you will be productive in class. I was watching an art education video on the importance of pre-assessments. They gave the example in kindergarten art class of drawing a straight and squiggly line on index cards and writing the student’s name on the card. The kindergarten students will then cut the lines with scissors and the teacher can assess who knows how to cut with scissors properly and who needs some extra help. A pre-assessment is important with all grade levels because the lesson may need to be adjusted if, for example, most students have made a linocut print before and perhaps you need to do the demo for just a small group rather than the whole class. For a summative assessment I plan to have a rubric based on the artistic behaviors that I wish to highlight: take risks, communicate, develop skills, etc. The assessment may take the form of a conference, presentation, video reflection, etc., depending on the student. I am fine with a verbal reflection if that is what the student is comfortable with.
As I enter week six my goals are to sit down at the tables more while students are working and pay more attention to how students are earning their daily points. My creative piece this week represents my hashtag, "shift." Students are growing and shifting into new people each year as they grow. Their views change and I wanted to represent a student who took a long time to grow up, but they still succeeded. This pretend letter is a making thinking visible strategy that lets us put ourselves in another's shoes and exemplifies how I want my classroom to be.