Over this past semester student teaching I feel as though I learned an enormous amount about how to become the best possible teacher I can be. I have learned so much about how to foster a predictable, caring and positive learning environment for my students. In order to foster this type of environment it is crucial that the teacher sets up routines for the students. For example, at Putnum my students had a daily routine that they followed in the classroom. When the students arrived they would grab their sketchbook and whatever project they were working on and go to their seat. They would then work on drawing the step by step drawing of the day in silent for 5 minutes. This transition activity helped me set up a predictable environment for my students. Another way I created a positive learning environment was by starting out each placement by going over my classroom expectations with my students and holding true to my word.
During my student teaching I also learned a lot about how to respect and celebrate diversity within my classroom. One way I did this was by using artists that reflect my students backgrounds and cultures. For example a large number of my students at Putnum are migrants so for the fifth grade printmaking project I introduced my students to the artist, Favianna Rodriguez. Favianna is a famous Latina printmaker who uses the medium for activism she is a daughter of migrants from Peru and talks about migrants within her artwork. By using an artist my students could connect to culturally helped them celebrate their own culture and understand that so many different people are successful in and outside of the art world.
As I look back at all of my reflective journal entries from this past semester I notice extreme growth in my beliefs. One area of self-growth that I observed was my ability to take responsibility for how my students learned. In a post made on January 27, 2019 I mention that, “If I want to see my classroom flourish, I need to take action in order to make a change and avoid making excuses for why things play out the way they do. Teaching is about taking responsibility for the education you provide to your students and the only way to see positive results in your classroom is to take action to make changes.” This belief is one that took me a while to understand but has made me a much stronger teacher. Since I have begun to realize that I am the one who has the power to have students either be engaged and learning or disengaged I have begun to create much more successful lessons and view classroom management in an entirely new light.
As I began to reflect more heavily on my own teaching and learning during student teaching, I also introduced to my students new ways for them to reflect on their own learning. One technique I used was a 3,2, 1 artist sheet. This sheet had the students first reflect on what they learned by creating their project, reflect upon what they liked the most about their own artwork and then lastly required them to receive feedback from a peer on what they could change to improve their art. On the back of this sheet was a rubric that the students used to grade themselves. I believe this technique was extremely successful for elementary students. Although one aspect that was less successful was the rubric on the back. I noticed most of my younger students (k-2) didn’t truly understand what they were graded themselves on but instead just filled the rubrics out without true contemplation. I believe in the future I could adjust this by having the students not fill out a rubric of their own artwork but instead only do the front of the 3,2,1 artist sheet. Another reflective activity I used was in my high school placement. At Fossil Ridge I had my students participate in group critiques that acted more as open conversations where my students discussed what they believed their peers artwork was depicting and what techniques that were used that they admired. This I believe was very successful because by making the critique seem more like an open conversation I noticed students were more eager to add input because it was less formal than a traditional critique. In the future I plan to incorporate some conversation “critiques” with my elementary students.
Overall, my experience student teaching has taught me a vast amount and I have overcome many hurdles and obstacles along the way. The photograph above represents my feeling of accomplishment as I finish up student teaching. The figure in the photograph (which is me) is staring out at all the mountains she has overcome and the trials and errors that have gotten her to this place of peace and accomplishment. I have never before been so proud of myself and I am eager to face the new challenges that will come as I move into my new career as an art teacher.