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.
