Student Teaching Post #14

I had a wonderful student teaching experience. Every difficulty taught me how to better approach issues in my future teaching career. It went by so fast and I will miss all the students that I taught. Teaching exists on so many different facets. I have learned to be proactive to situations instead of just reactive. I have to look beyond for solutions. I have learned new approaches to help students learn. By educating students in the arts, I have become a better artist. My self-study reveals how my teaching has affected my personal artwork. During my elementary placement, I had a wonderful experience at Fine Arts Night. I was so lucky to be there at that time to experience how arts brought the school and community together. I am versed in the extensive efforts necessary to put on a Fine Arts Night. My secondary placement challenged me to revisit the elements of art on a deeper level in order to walk students through each steps that art processes involve. I observed my cooperating teacher model different ways to connect with students. Some situations were difficult and trying, but it has stretched my perspective and understanding about all that teaching entails. Student teaching allowed me to see how the school functions as a whole and all of the many elements that go in to it.

Student Teaching Post #13

The professional qualities of my dream job help me to be an effective teacher. I have a supportive community within the school and among parents. I manage my time efficiently and write a news letter connecting with the school community about how the arts are important to students and what they are currently learning/creating. I have established confidence within myself and deal with classroom management situations right away. If there are more concerning issues, I work with supportive staff members and my principal. I am encouraged to take advantage of professional development opportunities as a teacher and as an artist. I am always searching for the opportunity to showcase my students artwork. At my dream job the school takes great pride in ALL of their students interests and reflects this through their school environment.

Student Teaching Post #12

I believe that a successful teacher is primarily a matter of being tuned in to your students needs. It is SO important that they remain on the top of your list. We teach and we exist for them! A successful teacher is always scouting ways to improve their craft and effectiveness in the classroom. They hold passion for the content they teach, model flexibility, is reflective in nature. They enthusiastically introduce students to new creative experiences that will facilitate their development. An excellent educator understands that every student develops in his or her own unique manner. They are astute to implementing differentiation. They constantly utilize their flexible teaching abilities to meet the needs of every student and cultivate their personal best.
Studying and understanding the outcome of each lesson aids their ability to judge their effectiveness and measure students' achievement. They love learning about their students because it helps them be a better teacher. They believe it is important to find new ways to approach encouragement in order to exert students' full potential and keep them on their unique paths of discovery.
In order to better understand their students' perspectives, they are always building on their rapport skills. They understand that developing positive student-teacher relationships with students facilitates a greater opportunity to truly understand and educate students. They communicate with parents and the larger community in order to support their students. an excellent educator is keen to implementing technology in their classroom and addresses a myriad of cultures through their teaching. Lastly, they are always looking to improve their classroom management skills so they can better support the core purpose of learning in the classroom.

Student Teaching Post #11

I think support will be very important for me in order to jump into my first teaching job. I hope to have support from a variety of people such as the principal, my mentoring teacher and other teachers at the school as well. I will continue my communication with my cooperating teachers that I student taught with so I can have support in my subject area. I also aim to communicate with other art educators in the school and the district. I expect that it will be very important for me to do a lot of listening and observing of how the school flows and how they go about education. I am sure that I will have many questions and hope that my mentor teacher can guide me. I definitely believe that it is important to connect with all of the staff at the school and get to know the school as a whole. Touching base with all the staff will help me keep those line of support open.

Student Teaching Post # 10

I have had the opportunity to utilize technology much more during my secondary placement. The art classroom is equipped with a projector and an Elmo. I created PowerPoint presentations to introduce three new lessons. These presentations gave me the opportunity to provide a visual for my students and present the project outlines as well as show artwork from our anchoring artists. I also showed a 20 minute educational DVD about masks for 3D Design. The Elmo is very helpful when giving demonstrations to students. I used Adobe Photoshop to create artwork labels for students when exhibiting their artwork. I also used it when creating handouts and project outlines. I hope to continue all of these uses of technology in my future art classroom. I will take advantage of technology to help students with disabilities. I hope to have a Smart Board in my art classroom as well. This will give me the opportunity to use technology as a more interactive tool to support students learning.

Student Teaching Blog #9

Problem solving and critical thinking are taught in many ways through art. Translating ideas into two and three dimensional pieces of work challenge students to improvise and adapt new techniques to illustrate their thoughts and perspectives. Lots of problem solving skills are called upon with the wide range of media that art making requires. The process that art making is carried out is developed through problem solving. Certain steps are executed before others for key reasons. I have tried to influence students to use critical thinking by connecting art to out contemporary culture and asking them to question things in their surroundings.

Student Teaching Blog #8

I think my professional development will evolve throughout my career as an art educator. My focus currently resides on the foundation that I am building for myself. At the moment, I am trying to really tune into my interactions with students. I continue to be reflective and often as my cooperating teacher if I was clear about my expectations for a project and if I presented ideas in a fluid and understandable manner. Daily, I experience new situations that require attention in new ways and from different angles and approaches than the ones which I am more familiar. I think my professional development as an art educator is vital to my ability to be consistent in my teaching. It will also enhance my ability to be more resourceful and quick to solutions when solving problems.