In 5 years, I see myself being either a k-12 teacher or a community college art professor. Becoming an art teacher is a decision of mine revolving around not only the many years of creating art, but also the strive to want to see others find their own love of art and see the possibility of the impact it could have on their entire life. This influence may be in the form of a life-long career of being an artist or even a small influence like having the interest to start going to art museums regularly. My biggest inspiration is from the film Matilda, specifically the character named Miss Honey, she teaches in a style that revolves around kindness and patience. As a child I always wanted to be in her class, and now as an adult I’m impressed by how well she has the classroom controlled without extreme disturbances. On the other hand, there are negative experiences from my personal k-12 experiences that influence the kind of teacher I want to be. I remember many classes in high school involving the teacher putting on a video for the class to watch, repeating this every week. This in turn made me feel as if school was a waste of time, it didn’t feel like I was actually learning. I don’t want to give this experience to my students.
As a teacher, my teaching style will be hands-on and choice-based. Instead on repeating the negative experiences I had, I will focus on allowing the students to have activities to do, for me to be completely engaged and to have assignment that allow students to make choices. Students, especially in k-8, have an interest in activities that ask them to connect their art to their own personal experiences and what they find joy in. This will also allow their art to be used as a form of communication to understand and interpret the experiences of their peers and why there’s importance and hearing what others find joy in. The biggest challenge of teaching is having students be engaged, and I find that choice based teaching can be used as an advantage to overcome that.
Entry and Exit Questions:
How are you feeling today?
What was one interesting thing that you did over the weekend?
What are three things you found most interesting about today's class?
What parts of the lesson are you still confused about?
List three things you learned today
Presentations:
Students will use PowerPoint, Google slides, etc. to create presentations that reflect on what they've learned over the semester. These will need to be graded on not only information but also personal creativity.
Four Corners:
Students will be asked to separate into the four corners of the classroom, choosing between four groups: agree, strongly agree, disagree or strongly disagree. They will give their responses as to why they chose to be in the group that they chose, allowing for strong discussion among their peers.
Gallery Walk:
Students will have their artworks be displayed on the walls of the classroom. Each student will take a walk around the room, observing the art of their peers and write a note explaining how the art makes them feel. This should consist of a critique, an appreciation, or an observaton. It should be longer than four words.