Student teaching at Mountain Range and Tarver this semester provided an invaluable learning experience on my road to developing as an art educator. Being fully immersed in the classroom day in and day out fostered my growth significantly and prepared me to have my own classroom.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD I - Demonstration of Mastery of Pedagogical Expertise in the Content
For standard I, I would rate myself as proficient. My lesson plans are aligned with the Colorado Visual Arts Standards and are challenging, yet appropriate, for the age level I'm teaching. As my teaching philosophy focuses around exploration of materials, I also have done a good job of allowing for student choice and expression with my lessons. This is something I would like to further develop as I move forward in my career, but I feel like I've developed a solid foundation to move forward on. I also believe that I've done a good job of modeling the artistic process and helping students discover their own process for working creatively and generating art. The majority of my examples for ideation and motivation were taken from a diverse number of contemporary artists and I plan to continue this through out my career. This in particular, really seemed to get students thinking about art more open-mindedly.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD 2 - Safe, Inclusive, and Respectful Learning Environment
For standard II, I would rate myself as proficient. By the end of my student teaching experience, I was able to create daily routines that made for a predictable environment for my students. Examples of these were discussing the day's objectives, greeting students at the door, and following the same clean-up routine. I was also able to further develop my class management skills in all areas of the classroom. This includes my direct instruction, guiding questioning, transitions, differentiation, and general disruptions/issues. By limiting by direct instruction and focusing on allowing students to learn through exploration, I've been able to check-in with students individually and address their specific needs in a one on one basis. My student teaching has also provided numerous opportunities to work, or communicate, with students' families. This includes teacher conferences, parent volunteers, art shows, and specific student discussions/meetings.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD 3 - Plan and Deliver Effective Instruction
For standard III, I would rate myself as proficient. My lessons included multiple instructional strategies to best engage all students and allowed them to learn in the most effective way for themselves. I also incorporated various methods of assessment throughout the lesson to provide feedback on my teaching and feedback on the students' knowledge/mastery of the learning objectives. This included guided class discussion, small group discussions, pair and shares, critiques, narratives, artist statements, and gallery walks. In terms of utilizing technology in my lessons, I think did an adequate job. I mainly only used it to view and discuss artworks but I would like to greatly expand on this moving forward. Lastly, I believe I did a good job of holding the students to a high standard and challenging them to push their artwork further. I did this by providing them with detailed rubrics as well as through my expectations.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD I - Demonstration of Mastery of Pedagogical Expertise in the Content
For standard I, I would rate myself as proficient. My lesson plans are aligned with the Colorado Visual Arts Standards and are challenging, yet appropriate, for the age level I'm teaching. As my teaching philosophy focuses around exploration of materials, I also have done a good job of allowing for student choice and expression with my lessons. This is something I would like to further develop as I move forward in my career, but I feel like I've developed a solid foundation to move forward on. I also believe that I've done a good job of modeling the artistic process and helping students discover their own process for working creatively and generating art. The majority of my examples for ideation and motivation were taken from a diverse number of contemporary artists and I plan to continue this through out my career. This in particular, really seemed to get students thinking about art more open-mindedly.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD 2 - Safe, Inclusive, and Respectful Learning Environment
For standard II, I would rate myself as proficient. By the end of my student teaching experience, I was able to create daily routines that made for a predictable environment for my students. Examples of these were discussing the day's objectives, greeting students at the door, and following the same clean-up routine. I was also able to further develop my class management skills in all areas of the classroom. This includes my direct instruction, guiding questioning, transitions, differentiation, and general disruptions/issues. By limiting by direct instruction and focusing on allowing students to learn through exploration, I've been able to check-in with students individually and address their specific needs in a one on one basis. My student teaching has also provided numerous opportunities to work, or communicate, with students' families. This includes teacher conferences, parent volunteers, art shows, and specific student discussions/meetings.
TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD 3 - Plan and Deliver Effective Instruction
For standard III, I would rate myself as proficient. My lessons included multiple instructional strategies to best engage all students and allowed them to learn in the most effective way for themselves. I also incorporated various methods of assessment throughout the lesson to provide feedback on my teaching and feedback on the students' knowledge/mastery of the learning objectives. This included guided class discussion, small group discussions, pair and shares, critiques, narratives, artist statements, and gallery walks. In terms of utilizing technology in my lessons, I think did an adequate job. I mainly only used it to view and discuss artworks but I would like to greatly expand on this moving forward. Lastly, I believe I did a good job of holding the students to a high standard and challenging them to push their artwork further. I did this by providing them with detailed rubrics as well as through my expectations.
FUTURE GOALS
Moving forward into my first position, there are two main goals I would like to focus on.
Moving forward into my first position, there are two main goals I would like to focus on.
- Continue to limit my direct instruction and find new ways for students to learn the content through exploration. This idea is at the core of my teaching philosophy and it's a process that I will continue to develop and explore as an art teacher.
- Implement more technology based instruction and assessment into my classroom. There are numerous ways that I can incorporate more technology into my classroom, but the first method I would like to focus on is the See-Saw app. This tool has so many different applications and uses and I would like to have this fully integrated in all of my classes by the start of next year.
DIGITAL EXHIBITIONS
To find out more about two specific lessons I taught this semester, please follow the links below to a digital exhibition for each placement.
To find out more about two specific lessons I taught this semester, please follow the links below to a digital exhibition for each placement.
LESSON BROCHURES
Tarver Elementary
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Mountain Range High School
