What is the role/ importance of assessment in art education? What methods of assessments have you used?
One of the most important tasks that teachers have is assessing students. Assessing students' work gives me the ability to find out what they are having difficulty with, so that I can provide some support and boost their expectations for success. Assessing the students' work and checking back for understanding of terms, important processes, and instructions also informs me what I need to work on. If I assess the students and most do not understand the content or instructions they I have just given, it makes me reflect on and reevaluate the way I presented my lesson.
The most common method of assessment that I use is a quick visual inspection of student work as they're working. This enables me to give very specific help and suggestions to students immediately. It also enables me to encourage students that are doing well, and show students examples when happy accidents occur.
A quick visual assessment of the entire class gives me a bigger picture to consider. I can quickly see where I may not have placed enough emphasis on important procedures of the lesson and allows me to stop the class so that I can get explain a concept from a different angle or refresh the students' memories.
As students begin turning in their work, I like to examine their finished projects. Reflecting on the finished pieces helps guide my instruction for the next class that will encounter the same lesson. I can constantly rework my lesson through this type of assessment so that the students get the best lesson possible.
Scoring rubrics are now an absolute must for the students that I am currently teaching at the high school. I write them so that they are very specific. At the beginning of an assignment, every student receives a copy of the rubric and we review every item on it so that the students can effectively assess themselves. Attached to the rubrics is a schedule that the students can use as general guidelines as to where they should be as far as completion is concerned.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Content Knowledge
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…
Having a strong foundation of content knowledge has been very beneficial for my student teaching. My first elementary lesson plans that I used focused on my particular specialty, ceramics. My experience and knowledge of hand building gave me confidence going into the lessons. I knew how to answer the questions that my students were asking and I was able to recognize and fix problems before they became major issues.
Another benefit of having good content knowledge is being able to create a variety of projects to suit the level of students that you teach. Differentiating lessons by adapting them to an individual's needs comes with the experience of having worked with the materials before.
Ordering, storing, and managing certain materials is a skill that is hard to come by without experience. My content knowledge has helped me immensely because I have a full understanding of how much material (clay) a student needs, how quickly it can dry without breaking, how to manage the materials (firing kilns & cleaning properly), and how to store materials with little or no loss.
The resources that I have turned to when looking for some lesson plan support are people, websites, and books. My practicum teacher will be retiring at the end of this semester and was kind enough to share several of her lessons with me. I was able to witness several of them being taught, which was very beneficial. During my time with this veteran teacher, I took very detailed notes while observing so that I would have a better understanding of each lesson. She has become a great resource and inspiration for ideas and advice.
I find that websites and books are also useful in my search for ideas. I have found a few that I have used, but most seem to need some modification to fit the students, time constraints, or materials that I have on hand. One website that I have chosen to use, incredibleart.org, has an overwhelming number of lessons. This is one spot that I have found to search for ideas when my mind has gone blank at the end of the day.
Having a strong foundation of content knowledge has been very beneficial for my student teaching. My first elementary lesson plans that I used focused on my particular specialty, ceramics. My experience and knowledge of hand building gave me confidence going into the lessons. I knew how to answer the questions that my students were asking and I was able to recognize and fix problems before they became major issues.
Another benefit of having good content knowledge is being able to create a variety of projects to suit the level of students that you teach. Differentiating lessons by adapting them to an individual's needs comes with the experience of having worked with the materials before.
Ordering, storing, and managing certain materials is a skill that is hard to come by without experience. My content knowledge has helped me immensely because I have a full understanding of how much material (clay) a student needs, how quickly it can dry without breaking, how to manage the materials (firing kilns & cleaning properly), and how to store materials with little or no loss.
The resources that I have turned to when looking for some lesson plan support are people, websites, and books. My practicum teacher will be retiring at the end of this semester and was kind enough to share several of her lessons with me. I was able to witness several of them being taught, which was very beneficial. During my time with this veteran teacher, I took very detailed notes while observing so that I would have a better understanding of each lesson. She has become a great resource and inspiration for ideas and advice.
I find that websites and books are also useful in my search for ideas. I have found a few that I have used, but most seem to need some modification to fit the students, time constraints, or materials that I have on hand. One website that I have chosen to use, incredibleart.org, has an overwhelming number of lessons. This is one spot that I have found to search for ideas when my mind has gone blank at the end of the day.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
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?
There two rules that I have noticed are becoming more important to me as my time progresses as a student teacher. The first rule that I will enforce without any mercy or hesitation deals with keeping people from touching each others work. Some students have this sense of entitlement or an unusual amount of curiosity and think that they can or should put their hands all over projects that aren't their own! There are several reasons why I become severely irritated and angry when I see this happen.
Reason #1:
This could obviously lead to damage, destruction, or an unwanted alteration to the project.
Reason #2:
Most of the students I see only receive 40 minutes of art per week, which translates to about 30 minutes of actual work time when you include cleanup, transition times, and demonstrations. We don't have time to make projects over again if someone ruins or breaks another persons work.
Reason #3:
I don't want to have to break the bad news to a student that their time was wasted and their project was destroyed.
Reason #4:
I don't want to have to reprimand a student and have them miss out on an opportunity to learn because my rules concerning handling other students' work wasn't clear enough.
Reason #5:
Students should feel that their work environment is safe for not only them, but also their work. How much motivation would anyone have if they felt like their hard work could be destroyed as soon as they left the room?
The second rule concerns students' comments on each others work. Students' will not demean the work of their peers. While I realize that some level of criticism is necessary to grow as an artist, there is a time and place for it in critiques. If students don't believe that someone's work is good, they need to learn to offer advice rather than to make hurtful comments. I have witnessed students of all ages shut down and become unproductive because of negative feedback that was given the wrong way. This rule also deals with creating a safe environment for students to work in. If students can't express themselves without fear of ridicule, they will play it safe in the art room and never take risks that payoff with big rewards.
While I have read through the rules in the student handbook and believe that they are all valuable, these two rules are particularly important for me.
There two rules that I have noticed are becoming more important to me as my time progresses as a student teacher. The first rule that I will enforce without any mercy or hesitation deals with keeping people from touching each others work. Some students have this sense of entitlement or an unusual amount of curiosity and think that they can or should put their hands all over projects that aren't their own! There are several reasons why I become severely irritated and angry when I see this happen.
Reason #1:
This could obviously lead to damage, destruction, or an unwanted alteration to the project.
Reason #2:
Most of the students I see only receive 40 minutes of art per week, which translates to about 30 minutes of actual work time when you include cleanup, transition times, and demonstrations. We don't have time to make projects over again if someone ruins or breaks another persons work.
Reason #3:
I don't want to have to break the bad news to a student that their time was wasted and their project was destroyed.
Reason #4:
I don't want to have to reprimand a student and have them miss out on an opportunity to learn because my rules concerning handling other students' work wasn't clear enough.
Reason #5:
Students should feel that their work environment is safe for not only them, but also their work. How much motivation would anyone have if they felt like their hard work could be destroyed as soon as they left the room?
The second rule concerns students' comments on each others work. Students' will not demean the work of their peers. While I realize that some level of criticism is necessary to grow as an artist, there is a time and place for it in critiques. If students don't believe that someone's work is good, they need to learn to offer advice rather than to make hurtful comments. I have witnessed students of all ages shut down and become unproductive because of negative feedback that was given the wrong way. This rule also deals with creating a safe environment for students to work in. If students can't express themselves without fear of ridicule, they will play it safe in the art room and never take risks that payoff with big rewards.
While I have read through the rules in the student handbook and believe that they are all valuable, these two rules are particularly important for me.
Monday, February 4, 2013
How do you approach planning and teaching to diverse learners? What accommodations have you made for diverse learners?
My approach to teaching to diverse learners is to first and foremost, create a classroom that is safe for everyone to express their views and take risks. I believe that creating this type of environment allows students from different backgrounds to flourish by making them feel like they can ask questions to reach full understanding or experience new activities that they could benefit from. Students will be encouraged in my classroom to openly discuss each others work with care and we will take time to get to know one another.
Part of creating this community and bond, will come from getting to know the hopes, concerns, strengths, and needs of these diverse learners. Digging a little bit to get familiar with a student's culture so that I can develop my understanding of their classroom behavior will be part of this effort. As teachers we should also do everything in our power to get parents and guardians to participate inside and outside of the school.
I will be sure to emphasize that every student has the same high expectations. Along with these expectations, I will be there to provide the support the students need to reach those expectations. If a student comes in behind the rest in a certain area or lacks a specific skill set, they should not receive a watered down lesson that ultimately lowers their standards and self esteem. I want students to know that they can achieve on the same level regardless of their background.
My instruction will acknowledge diversity and use it to form different points of view through which students can learn once the classroom community is strong enough. Effective instruction takes diversity and turns it into an opportunity to build new knowledge and perspective, further developing a diverse learner's connection to the classroom community while building on their abilities.
My approach to teaching to diverse learners is to first and foremost, create a classroom that is safe for everyone to express their views and take risks. I believe that creating this type of environment allows students from different backgrounds to flourish by making them feel like they can ask questions to reach full understanding or experience new activities that they could benefit from. Students will be encouraged in my classroom to openly discuss each others work with care and we will take time to get to know one another.
Part of creating this community and bond, will come from getting to know the hopes, concerns, strengths, and needs of these diverse learners. Digging a little bit to get familiar with a student's culture so that I can develop my understanding of their classroom behavior will be part of this effort. As teachers we should also do everything in our power to get parents and guardians to participate inside and outside of the school.
I will be sure to emphasize that every student has the same high expectations. Along with these expectations, I will be there to provide the support the students need to reach those expectations. If a student comes in behind the rest in a certain area or lacks a specific skill set, they should not receive a watered down lesson that ultimately lowers their standards and self esteem. I want students to know that they can achieve on the same level regardless of their background.
My instruction will acknowledge diversity and use it to form different points of view through which students can learn once the classroom community is strong enough. Effective instruction takes diversity and turns it into an opportunity to build new knowledge and perspective, further developing a diverse learner's connection to the classroom community while building on their abilities.
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