Week 13

Back at Fishers today! Missed seeing everyone for the last two weeks! I was very excited this morning because Ms. O invited me to breakfast with the art department and Principal Urban. He has a breakfast with each department in the school once a year, so I was happy to be included. I initially thought it was going to be a great opportunity for him to get to know me better, but it turned out to be more of a department meeting than a casual breakfast, so obviously I didn't interject much since they were talking about issues with the art department. At least he knows my face now and I have the rest of next year to be more courageous about talking with him. One thing that was mentioned in the meeting that I thought was incredible was that 80% of their graduates go on to college. That's an amazing percentage. I think my high school had like 50-60%. Anyway, the breakfast went well and then we got on with the school day. Intro to 3D is beginning their final project; a paper relief sculpture. This was one of the first times I was able to observe Ms. O introducing a project and giving a "lecture." She does a great job prompting students to answer questions about what she's presenting. She also does a good job taking information and ideas they've learned throughout the course and using it to deduce what a new idea or phrase means. For example, they had already learned the term "abstract" but didn't know what "abstract expressionism" was. So Instead of straight up giving them a definition, she lead them to it by asking them what abstract art was, what prior knowledge they had about expressionism, and then put two and two together to come up with the definition. It's small, but I think in the long wrong it does help students make connections and grasp the concept better in the long run.

During prep, I asked her what the art department's expansion plan was and if there was any possibility of me being a candidate before I complete student teaching. She said I should definitely interview when they post the job because the art department interviews applicants first and then if they like them they do a second interview with the department and Principal Urban. This is definitely a plus for me because I have a great relationship with everyone in the department and I know I can definitely prove myself during mentorship for the next two semesters. That will also give me time to hopefully develop more of a relationship with Principal Urban, but even if I don't establish too much of one, I know if I impress the art department in my interview they'll go to bat for me. Ms. O said she would keep me updated on what's going on and help scheme with me. I think I'm going to ask her next time (promise I won't heckle her every week about this job) what kind of questions they ask prospective art teachers and what they look for in an exceptional candidate.

This has gotten me thinking about what I want to do to make sure I really demonstrate my capabilities as a teacher during my next two semesters of mentorship. I will have Wednesdays available to go to Fishers so this will give me a better shot at being able to introduce projects to the class for Ms. O, or doing mini lessons since they don't do that kind of stuff on Fridays. Ms. O will also be teaching Ceramics 1 which I am so excited for! She's great at hand building and I'm a master on the wheel so we make a great team and can learn from each other and co-teach. I'm going to ask her if I can be in charge of the unit on wheel throwing and have me do the demo-days. Also, Ms. Osborne, the main ceramics teacher, wants us three to get together during the summer and do a little week long intensive making sure we're teaching our level 1 students techniques and ideas she expects them to know in the higher levels she teaches. This will be so fun!

The rest of the day flew by. I didn't get a lot of hands on action with the students because they were either taking notes on the upcoming project or just beginning to sketch out ideas.

In her Jewelry classes, the one that was moving at a crazy fast pace she decided to restructure. Instead of trying to restrain them to working on each assigned project and not allowing them to move on if they were working at a faster clip, she decided to make basically an open studio where she assigned a number of completed projects they need by the end of the semester and left it up to them how to fulfill all the techniques she wants them to be able to demonstrate by the end of the semester and at what rate they make them. I think it's great she recognized that this class was much more advanced than her other Jewelry class and restructured the curriculum to meet them where they were instead of holding them back or trying to make the slower/lower skill level class work faster or demonstrate more difficult techniques. I did look at their critique sheets both classes have to fill out at the end of each class. It basically consists of a rubric where they rate their craftsmanship, technical skills, and concept and then they answer the questions "What could you have improved in this piece?"I think this is a great question to help them reflect, but I would also add a second question asking "What are you most proud of in this piece?" because I think it's easy to critique yourself; it's hard to give yourself props. I want my students to be proud of their work while understanding what they can do better. So that was my only suggestion.

That's all! I didn't take any pictures today because there wasn't much student work, so here is a piece from my intermediate photography final project that I'm proud of!