Introduction
For my final semester before transitioning to student teaching, I completed my EDUC450 practicum at Rocky Mountain High School (RMHS). RMHS embodies the "Lobo Spirit," a set of core characteristics valued by both staff and students. A Lobo is intelligent, strong, courageous, loyal, and learns from experience—qualities we all strive to embody.
During my practicum, I was paired with Missy Wolf as my mentor teacher. In the first half of the semester, I observed and assisted in her drawing class, which was especially nice being in since drawing is the medium that started my love for art. For the second half, I was in her sculpture class, which was timed perfectly, since I was also taking a sculpture course at CSU. One aspect I was particularly interested to learn was how grading is approached in an art class, where what's considered to be "good art" is highly subjective.
As part of my practicum requirements, I needed to create and teach two lessons using the CEP lesson plan template. My second lesson being much smoother then the first. In the lecture part I learned different Making Thinking Visible strategies and taught one of the strategies, "I Use to Think...Now I Think" to my peers. The class was also assigned an interdisciplinary project where teachers from different content areas collaborated to design a connected lesson plan and summative assessment.
When it came to learning in the classroom, the first thing that caught my attention were the relationships Missy had with her students. At Rocky Mountain High School, you are repeatedly reminded the most important part of being a teacher is forming strong relationships with students.