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.

Student Teaching Blog #7

The roles of teaching art and art education advocacy overlap in MANY ways. I think that in order to be a successful art educator you must be an art advocate. Support from parents and the community are instrumental in empowering the continuation of art programs in the education system. From what I have experienced through observation and my student teaching experience, the relationships with parents/guardians, the school community, and the larger community are incredibly important. Being involved and representing art in the PTA helps provide additional funds for art materials, field trips, and visiting artists to the classroom. Supportive parents who voice their positive opinions about the arts to administrators and higher parties are very powerful messages about the school. I ultimately believe it influences and strengthens programs. Volunteer parents/guardians were SO much help during Fine Arts Night. We would have never been so successful at exhibiting over 1800 works of art without them. This event was put on as a celebration of students expression and accomplishments. Sharing it with the school community and larger community is a reward for all involved. My cooperating teacher always informs a reporter at our local newspaper. Just in todays paper a parent wrote a WONDERFUL letter to the editor about our Fine Arts Night. The involvement of all these other parties are what the big picture is all about. Students art is such a reflection of their experiences, their community, and their life. Sharing it and involving others makes it all the more meaningful. Last Sunday, we had ceremonies for the students who are exhibiting at the Figge Art Museum. This was a great even and so many families were present. It was a definite plus for all involved with the schools as well as the Figge.

4th Grade Masks

Were are just about finished with the paper mache portion of the project. Several students have moved on to painting their entire mask a single color. They can then move on to design and pattern after they have finished their solid color and no newspaper shows through.