Semester Reflections

Semester 4

During my Capstone, I gained a lot more confidence presenting. What helped me was the amount of preparation I conducted beforehand which made me comfortable sharing out my ideas. My semester reflections also demonstrated growth because with more experience in the Art Scholars program I was able to apply a lot more of what I learned to other experiences. For example, the first semester I was talking about how I was exposed to a lot of new mediums I’ve never worked with before, but this semester (semester 4) I led a workshop to students using mediums I was unfamiliar with. The reflections really show how far I’ve come and have developed.

My perception of art has dramatically changed after Arts Scholars. During my time in this program, I was exposed to various art forms that redefined what I view art as, and the many ways art shows up in people’s lives. For example, I attended the “Cuckoo” Rice Cooker performance field trip. I didn’t know how rice cookers would be able to tell a story, but Jaha Koo utilized them to take us on a journey about Korean History, showing how really anything can be turned into art. During our West African Drumming class, I also saw how people use art for different things. I came into class thinking we were going to learn how to play the instrument, but I left with a deeper understanding of how powerful West African Drumming is spiritually and in the ways in which it creates a community. Being exposed to these forms of art shows the wide range of art experiences that exist and how complex the ideas and emotions it communicates is for everyone.

During my two years in the program, I was exposed to many kinds of learning. We rarely had any “traditional” lectures, and learned through hands on activities, small group discussions, and reflections. I was able to learn how to effectively engage a classroom, which inspired many of the lessons I implemented into the workshop I led this semester. For example, we utilized “minute papers” and mind maps a lot in colloquium, and I incorporated these into my lessons for my students to do. I also learned the importance of mingling with others even if you don’t really know them, so I made sure the students in my class had plentiful opportunities to talk with others around them through discussions and reflections. This create a close community of students whom they all felt comfortable with.

I always loved creating visual art and was interested in design. I would do this recreationally, but during my time in Art Scholars I saw how powerful art can be to raise awareness or fight for a certain cause. This made art a lot more meaningful for me and allowed me to develop a deeper appreciation for the art around me. Also, by leading a workshop, I was able to develop my leadership skills and combine them with my creativity to show how I can use art as a tool to foster growth.

Each week this last semester, we conducted peer reviews on two different lesson plans for workshop leaders. We offered constructive feedback on changes we would make to enhance their lesson plan. My workshop plan also got reviewed each week. I was able to demonstrate collaborating effectively with different artistic perspectives because I’d combine their feedback with my ideas to create my finalized lesson plan. The diverse perspectives offered a lot of new insight and showed how to work with a multitude of ideas.

Overall, my scholars experience taught me a lot of key lessons for my future. I know I am going to have to conduct a lot of presentations, and leading the workshop each week made me comfortable presenting to a group of people and taking on a leadership role. Arts scholars also made me comfortable with being uncomfortable, because I learned that stepping out of my comfort zone is really the only way I’ll grow.