Reflection

Reflect on your experience in this course. What have you learned? How have you expanded your notions related to secondary education? What surprised you? What areas would you like to continue to explore?

I learned a lot by visiting the three high schools and middle school art rooms. Seeing how the rooms were arranged, listening to experienced teachers' stories, and interacting with students was very enlightening. It had been so long since I'd been in a secondary art room! Classroom visits were especially useful to me because I'm a very visual learner, and learn best by doing. It was nice to be able to go out into the actual school environment and practice some of what the College of Ed has taught me the past few years. The two Family Fine Arts Nights that I attended at elementary schools this semester were fun learning experiences too - at one of them I even got the idea to make Mexican suns with my elementary Spanish students!
Since the only art history courses I've taken are Western Art and Culture Before 1400 and Art of Africa, I learned a lot about contemporary art this semester. This is something I definitely want to explore more, hopefully by museum visits, since the only two contemporary art museums I've been to are Chicago's and Barcelona's. I also learned a lot about advocacy this semester, and plan to make foreign language/Spanish advocacy zines since this is another subject area that teachers have to convince people is worthwhile. I learned how to make puppets and glass projects too, and am excited that I have an alter-ego example to show my students! Lastly, I learned how to blog this semester. It has been so much better than writing papers, and makes sharing images so much easier!

The main way my notions about secondary education have been expanded this semester was by learning about the Iowa Core Curriculum, 21st Century Skills, and the National Art Standards. I've never learned about any of those before, but have learned about the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards in six of my classes, so it was really refreshing to learn about a different subject areas Standards. What a breath of air!


What surprised me about this course is how useful the books were/are/will be - especially In the Making, From Ordinary to Extraordinary, and the checklists in Fires in the Bathroom. In my other classes I can usually get away with making a couple photo copies before selling a text book back, but that won't be the case this semester, I'm definitely keeping them for my classroom library!


Overall, this class was so much fun! It was nice to meet new people, and I loved that a sense of community was ever-present - like at the Open House! :)

positive sense of self-identity

How can you help students foster a positive sense of self-identity in the art room?

One of the most important things teachers can do to help students foster a positive sense of self-identity is be accepting of ALL students, no matter what their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, culture, language, or religion is. These things should be celebrated in classrooms, but especially in art classrooms where students have more of an opportunity to express themselves.
Another thing teachers can do to boost positive self-identity in students is to take interest in students' lives. At the first high school we went to this semester, I noticed our professor went up to a student she had never met before and complimented the girl's wacky hair color, and started asking her questions about it as if it were the coolest thing she had ever seen. And she actually listened to the girl's responses too. Our professor might have been the only adult the girl got positive individual attention from all day.
Being encouraging is another way art teachers can support students' positive self-identity, whether it be encouraging a student to go to college, to finish a project, to get through a hard time, to apply for a scholarship, to "break a leg" in the school play, or to do well in a sporting event, recital, concert, etc.
Overall, I believe modeling a positive attitude is the best way for art teachers to foster positive self-identity in their students.

Hispanic Suns

Today my kindergarten, first, and second grade after school Spanish class at XYZ Elementary made Hispanic Suns with clay. I told them the Mexican Aztec legend of the sun and moon gods, and the Guatemalan Mayan legend of the moon god before we got started. I got the idea from an art teacher in the district who displayed her elementary students' Mexican suns at a Family Fine Arts Night. Here are some pictures of our progress so far, they still need to be fired and painted.

collaborative project

A collaborative project I would really like to explore as a teacher would be with the school’s drama/theater department – working as a stage assistant for Hancher Auditorium the past few years has really kindled in me an interest in productions. In middle school I had a lot of fun working on set construction for plays – our art teacher headed up the group. My high school didn’t have a show choir, and I did not participate in the plays or madrigals, but looking back I wish I would have. At the time I was too busy with sports and various other school clubs. What I like about theater is that it is a celebration of the fine and related arts – there is something for everyone, whether it be acting, script writing, ushering, advertising productions, graphic design of programs, singing, band, orchestra, set construction, dance choreography, photography, filming the event, costume design, lighting and rigging, sound engineering, etc. Other positives are that students learn a lot, have fun, make memories and friendships, and a sense of community is really felt within and beyond the school. Money is usually raised for the department too through ticket sales. Another positive is that making an event happen gives students a sense of accomplishment/self confidence. In my experience with Hancher, things like ironing wardrobes in the dressing rooms, directing performers where to go backstage, opening/closing the shell door between pieces, manning the audio and visual aids table, transporting artists from the airport to their hotel to sound check to after parties, being the catering runner, and making sure the fire alarm doesn’t go off while silenced as to not interrupt the performance may seem simple, but the show could not go on without them. In fine arts the smallest details make the biggest difference.
(If you or anyone you know needs a job – apply to work for Hancher. You get to listen to Broadway musicals and other shows for free, get paid to do your homework lots of the time, the staff is so nice, scheduling is really flexible, there always seems to be free food, and you even get to meet semi-famous people like Kathy Griffin and Roseanne Cash!)