Class Synthesis: Blog #5

On the first day of this class in August, I do not think I realized how much I would be learning and doing in this class. I know, we looked at the syllabus and discussed what all this semester would have but still I did not comprehend it all. With the semester almost over and done, I realize how jammed pack this semester actually was with these four themes.

Viewing and responding to Art

In this theme we look at a couple different ways to view and respond to art. There were a few that really stuck to me throughout this year. The first one is the one we looked at first where Kathy assisted us and looking at the painting The Gulf Stream and how we first said what we saw then when on when she gave us more and more information about the painting. With all the extra information I feel that as a class we were able to determine what the artist’s intent was. My favorite viewing and responding to art strategy would have to be the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS). The reason I like VTS so much is because there are absolutely no wrong answers that a student could say. I feel by doing VTSs in the classroom it would build confidence and trust within my students and as a classroom as a whole. I also feel like VTSs make the students use and build on their background knowledge to participate in the activity. I really do wish that in my art classes in high school we would have view art more and these strategies to understand what we were seeing.

Developing Art Curriculum

WHOA! Let me be the first to say I had NOO idea how much it take to actually develop a lesson and unit plan.  And even though I really enjoyed the unit that I did, I feel like it could be improved and tweaked a little bit more to make it better. But really I feel like all of our lesson plans could be enhanced with time. Like I learned while observing at Lange Middle School, I feel like a lesson usually works better the second time around; because the first time around you realize that even through it looks good on paper, there are still a few kinks that could be changed for the second time around.  I also feel like the more lesson and unit plans I write the better they will be (that is at least what I am hoping for).

Teaching Art

This was my very favorite part of the class. The reason why it was my favorite part was because of three reasons. Number one reason was this was the time where I got to teach students and help them explore who they are now and who they want to become. My second reason is because I was interested in the lesson that my group did. While developing the lesson I really started to think about different rites of passage and also myself. Reason number three was because I knew I was not in this alone. I knew if I had any questions about what I needed to get done all I had to do was send out an email and BOOM one or all of my wonderful group members would have a  suggestion. Also on our teaching day, there were so many helpers that it was just a relaxing environment for me and I could teach and have fun with the kids. Yes there were parts to the teaching day that were unexpected but I think that we rolled with what we could do and it really worked out!

Peer Units Review & Unit Self Evaluation

There are so many things that I learned while writing my unit plan that I was not expecting to learn. One thing I learned was I need to do my exemplar exactly like I am asking my students to do it. With my exemplars I had access to a press bed which was wonderful; but in my lesson plan, I said the students would use spoons. I need to change this because what happens when a student’s print is not printing correctly and I have no advice for them. Another thing I am rethinking for my unit plan is instead of doing a black and white line linocut and a reduction linocut I would have my younger class do the black and white line and try to bring more subject matter and meaning into their work. And I would have the upper class do a reduction with strong meaning as well. This way both prints will speak loudly with their subject matter but one class will be doing a basic linocut and the other a more difficult linocut.