Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Observation Journal, Beginning - Present

Classroom Observation #2
Carolina Forest High School


Monday November 7th
           
            The classes that Ms. Bassett has are very diverse and dynamic. There are many different types of students in these classes and the mix is interesting to see. She teaches four blocks this year, block one is Painting, Block two is Drawing, block three is Art I, and block four is Painting. These diverse classes allow her to do different projects for each class, circulating around the same standard. The week I am here they are all working on linear perspective, so each class has a production activity, which aligns with this technique. The painting classes did a watercolor; the drawing class BLANK, and the Art 1 class drew a city using perspective. Each class also receives a sketch book assignment on Monday of each week and they have the week to complete it. Each class’s is a little different but it also revolves around a similar technique. This weeks assignment was to illustrate a quote or lyric that they choose. They can draw, paint, etc, as long as it is in their sketchbook.
           
Tuesday November 8th
           
            The classes this semester are pretty good, to what I can see. No one creates a lot of disruption and the majority of students are on task, even if they work slow. It’s the exact opposite of elementary students, these students struggle to get started and take a week to finish a project where as the little kids finish their projects in a day. It’s a vastly different attitude in the room as well. The high schoolers seem to be more reserved and don’t find it necessary to talk to me. It’s a little awkward for me because I’m just hovering over their shoulders as they work. I guess this happens to every teacher when you get a new class of students, but it’s strange for me because I’ve never experienced it.

Wednesday November 9th

            Some students surprise me with their talents, but some disappoint me with their lack of effort. Some students sit and do nothing consistently, and it makes me wonder how they let themselves fail an art class.
            During first block I went to sit in on another teacher’s AP Sculpture class. The students there were doing such amazing work and were putting forth a great effort to make their projects look up to the teachers and their own expectations. This is the type of class I can really see myself teaching someday. Each student was creating work on their own and they had a great work ethic. No one was sitting and doing nothing.

Thursday November 10th - 11th (These days passed the same as the above, no new things were introduced.)

Monday November 14th

            Today was an interesting day because my coordinating teacher was absent, so I got to observe how the class behaves when a substitute teacher is present. This was the quietest day of my observation so far. Since it was Monday, everyone was tired and a few fell asleep. Though some of them didn’t complete any work, some did the sketchbook assignments they were given and completed them with quality of work. Besides the lack of effort, there were no disturbances with behavior. There usually isn’t anyway, but today it seemed that everyone was more settled down than any other day, probably because it was Monday.


Tuesday November 15th
           
            Today is going slower in second block because they are in the middle of the drawing with text project that Ms. Bassett assigned late last week. One or two students are pretty near to the end where as some are just starting even though they’ve already had 3 or 4 days to get working.  
            I talked with my teacher about failing students and what leads to this outcome. It sucks that some of the kids are pushed in good ways and are talented but don’t produce any work, forget to turn it in or loose it, or waste their class time. After showing me how and why the students in class are failing I understand it, but it’s still sad to me that these students don’t care about their grades. My teacher talked to me about how students who don’t care about this class just won’t do the work, and at the end of the day it’s their grade that suffers and it’s their own choices that lead to this outcome. She does everything she can to avoid this obviously. She talks to the student after class, and if that doesn’t work she contacts the parents to try to get them to talk to their child about it. If no improvement is made after these actions, then there isn’t much you can do about it after that.
            The students who are failing in the class I’m currently in are suffering because of their lack of effort during class or their, what seems to be, lack of care at all for turning things in. Some kids don’t do anything at all. I expressed my worries to these students to my coordinating teacher and she assured me that the problem is that these students don’t’ take this class, or any of their other classes seriously. Many students failing this class this quarter have low marks across the board.
            My teacher has told me about experiences she has with parents who see that their children are failing. Many fail to realize that their children barely participate in class if at all. They usually ask that the student can stay after school to make up projects they’ve not turned in or to finish incomplete ones. This happened today. She received an email about a student who sits in the back and consistently ignores production time and really just sits there and does nothing. This surprised me. Usually when a student isn’t doing their work they are on their computers or their cell phones, but this student in particular doesn’t do anything at all. His mother asked if it was possible for him to stay after school for extra credit. My teacher participates in the Homebound learning program and goes directly to the public library to teach a student who doesn’t attend school, so she is unable to meet after class to give the boy extra credit. She replied to his mother’s email explaining that he is welcome to stay during lunch to complete projects if he needs extra time, but assured her that there was enough class time left in the semester for him to pick up his grade if he wants to.
            I guess there’s a point where you have to let these issues go. Still continuing to try and motivate them, but you’ve already reached out to them and their parents, what else can you do?

            This class really puts the nail in the coffin for me that I want to teach AP. I don’t mind teaching intro for a few years, but I want to get the AP training as soon as possible. With my experience in the AP classroom I visited on Wednesday, I liked that they all gave good effort. I think after years of students not taking their classes seriously I may get annoyed with it.



My next post will contain November 15th through to the end which is this Friday.

Friday, September 9, 2016

So I Hear You're Taking the Praxis!

Hi guys, it's Ariana. Another year brings another graduate assistant, and this time it's me! I'm here to give you a brief summary of my experience with the Praxis and offer some helpful tips that will help you approach this test with confidence.

Before your internships in January, you're required to take the Praxis II: Art Content and Knowledge exam. If you've just graduated with a studio art degree the study material won't seem awfully intimidating for you, and the knowledge you've learned in the last four years of collage should come swiftly back to you when you skim the online study guides I'm going to include. However you should take care in reviewing all the mediums and processes to familiarize yourself with the tools and techniques. Printmaking, photography, film, and digital media was represented heavily in my multiple choice questions, so take a few minutes and refresh yourself on those. However don't forget about our old friends sculpture, painting, drawing, and ceramics.

Sprinkled among the exam are questions that relate to your knowledge of art history, I hope you've saved all those power points from your art history classes! They will help immensely, but if not don't fret. Go online and do some research and review your art history and make sure to include areas such as impressionism, modernism, Byzantine, early roman and greek sculptures, and architecture.

Once you've completed them multiple choice questions you're then prompted to respond to 3 constructed response questions. One of these responses is art history based, and the last two are questions that you answer about your submitted work. When I picked the work I submitted I made sure that they were pieces that I could write a decent bit about. The questions ask you about things like process and content. I chose a self portrait I painted in my last painting class to discuss process, because it was fresh in my mind and could discuss the entire process of painting it from the underpainting to the final details. For the content question, I chose a piece that was very heavily conceptual. I chose the piece that I could talk about how the concept, materials, and process, are all linked.

Below I'm going to link some sites and books I found helpful for studying.

https://quizlet.com/94664118/praxis-art-content-knowledge-flash-cards/

https://www.ets.org/s/praxis/pdf/5134.pdf

https://www.theartofed.com/2015/04/10/the-ultimate-guide-to-acing-the-praxis-ii-art-test/

https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Mona-Lisa-Prehistoric-Post-Modern/dp/0836280059

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Teachers-Book-Lists/dp/0787974242

Don't let the stress get you down, you're gonna do awesome on the Praxis. And if you need to take it one more time, there will be time for that too. Best of luck!

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Middle School Observations

In October I had the privilege of going to observe a middle school.  It was the first time I had been back to a middle school since I was a student.  To say the least it was very interesting.  I am not so sure I would be cut out to teach middle school, but I did learn a lot of useful information.  I was very impressed by the design in the classroom and would like to share some photos. . .
Each student is assigned an art job to help the classroom run smoothly and make the student feel that they have something to contribute.
Each year the teacher paints the windows in the classroom based on the lessons that will be taught.  This makes the room look more appealing and peaks the students' interest in the class.


The teacher also hangs the powerpoint for the current lesson so that the student is able to go up and reference it when neeeded.

Elements and Principals for students to reference.

A craftsmanship reference for the students to look at to see how their work compares to what the teacher expects.  It shows examples in crayon, marker, and colored pencil.

When students are finished with their work they "free draw" or draw what they want to until it is time to start the next project.  They also are allowed to free draw on Fridays and/ or finish up work on previous projects.

This is a way for the student to check their work before they turn it in for a grade.

This is an example of one of the teachers bulletin boards.

This is an example of the student's agenda for the class.

I thought this was a fun way to get the kids talking and interested about the new lesson before class starts.












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Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Hello,

My name is Cheyenne Jakubek and I am currently enrolled in the MAT program at CCU with a focus in Art Education.  I will be periodically posting some of the lesson plans I am writing and about my experiences observing different schools in the county.  I believe that I want to focus on elementary art education.  I hope that you enjoy my lesson plans and that I can give a fresh perspective on teaching elementary art education!

Sincerely,
Cheyenne

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery is now on Pinterest! 

We are pinning all things Art and Art Education, check it out: http://www.pinterest.com/bryangalleryccu/

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Check out our new Classroom Management page! 

This page is full of wonderful information on the classroom management strategies of educational theorists. More information will be added!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

New Lesson Plans!

We have just added an entire new unit to our Lesson Plans page! It is a 3 lesson unit on Street Art, designed for High School Level 1 students. Students will have a lot of fun with this, check it out!