TEACHER QUALITY STANDARD III
Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates learning for their students.
STANDARD III REFLECTION: Throughout my student-teaching experience I have come to honor that one of the most fundamental philosophies when it comes to Art Education, is considering how many choices students have in their studio practice. When I provide my students with lots of choices, whether it be open-ended prompts or a diverse collection of mediums, I am creating space for students to have autonomy over their work. When students feel in control over their art, they also tend to feel motivated and tenacious. Eventually, the growth mindset is developed and continues to foster. I have found that scaffolding various choices allows me to differentiate and accommodate students' mental, behavioral, and physical needs. In many cases, when students learn to work in a choice-based, student-centered format, they tend to work on both individual and collaborative projects and ideas. Since this does not require whole-group instruction, it allows me, the teacher, to move around the classroom working with and making accommodations for students' ideas. It also allows students to work through projects in the best ways that they see fit. Whether it be working with a team or using technology, I will always provide my students with endless possibilities for creation, learning, and growth.
ELEMENT A: Teachers demonstrate knowledge about the ways in which learning takes place, including the levels of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.
Differentiation Plans for ART 8 / Integrated Art - While student-teaching at WMHS, I have developed multiple lessons that consider the needs/accommodations that students require to be successful in a project. For ART 8, I considered how some students needed more challenges than the Self Portraiture project provided, so I made the provision for students to opt out of the project by writing an alternative project proposal. The alternative project has its own guidelines and rubric. There were also several students in the ART 8 course that suffered from mental health issues, so I created the self-portrait assignment to be a mindful "paint by number" experience that decreased stress/anxiety.
For Integrated Art, I developed a project that accounted for the diverse needs of the class by creating the Dwellings, Living Spaces, & Community lesson plan. This lesson allows students to create a miniature living space within the confines of the box. To accommodate different abilities, students were presented with a wide array of media and assistance from their teacher/instructional aids/peer helpers
Differentiation Plans for Art 8 Self-Portrait Projects
Differentiation Plans Intergrated Art Dwellings and Living Spaces Project
ELEMENT B: Teachers use formal and informal methods to assess student learning, provide feedback, and use results to inform planning and instruction.
Personal Painting Rubric - While student-teaching at WMHS, one method that I used to assess student learning and provide formal feedback was a rubric that I used for a project in ART 9/10. In this class, students were creating paintings inspired by their perception of the community. After students turned in their paintings, I assessed their work according to this rubric. Since WMHS uses standards-based grading, I was able to assess them on a 1-4 scale for each standard and the grading system takes the average of this for the student's overall grade. I also had students grade themselves according to this rubric in order to gain a perspective on how they interpret their artwork. Based on the scores that I gave and that students gave themselves, I would say that students struggled with painting techniques and craftsmanship for this project. If I had the opportunity to complete another project with this class, we would explore the techniques of painting and the processes of historical and contemporary painters.
Personal Painting Bingo Critique - While student-teaching at WMHS, another informal method that I used to assess student learning was a Bingo Critique for that same ART 9/10 class that I referenced prior. For this critique, students, filled out sticky notes for their peer's personal paintings as suggested by the slots on the bingo board.
ELEMENT C: Teachers integrate and utilize appropriate available technology to engage students in authentic learning experiences.
Image Resize/Reformat Guide - While student-teaching at WMHS, ART 8 students worked on a Self-Portraiture project that required the use of online technology. During this process, students uploaded an image to their computers, posterized the image using an online tool, and then uploaded that same image to a rastering website that converted the image to a printable poster. During this experience, students learned how posterizing an image limits the tones and range of color to create an abstract, graphic effect. They also learned how to raster images to scale them larger while maintaining proportional values.
SeeSaw - While student-teaching at Beattie Elementary, I utilized the program SeeSaw, to document students' creative processes, artist statements, and final artwork. I also instructed 3rd-5th grade students to do this themselves with the iPad. In the program, students learn how to photograph/title their artwork and shhare it with their peers, teachers, families, and community.
ELEMENT D: Teachers establish and communicate high expectations and use processes, such as questioning, to support the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Artist Statement (3-5) Slides / Worksheet - While student-teaching at Beattie Elementary, I did a mini-lesson on developing artist statements with 3rd-5th grade students. In this mini-lesson, students were presented with contemporary artwork and artist statements. They were asked to discern the impact of an artist's statement by answering the following questions:
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What is an artist statement?
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Why do artists have artist statements?
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What do good artist statements have?
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What do we know about this work of art based on this artist's statement?
Students were also tasked with completing an artist statement worksheet that has several inquiry questions that they had to answer about their artworks. Overall, through inquiry questions and discussion about contemporary art, students learned how to critically think about their artwork in terms of product, process, material, and connections to self and world.
ELEMENT E: Teachers provide students with opportunities to work in teams and develop leadership qualities.
Puppet Show Performance - While student-teaching at Beattie Elementary and facilitating a TAB classroom, I always presented students with the opportunity to work individually or in groups for any project/endeavor they work on in the art room. As a result, many students chose to work in groups. One group of students created a set of puppets and a stage for an eventual class performance. The performance and photos of the artwork are presented below:
ELEMENT F: Teachers model and promote effective communication.
Various Learning Target Slides and Photos - While student-teaching at all of my placements, I provided students with a multitude of learning targets, tasks, and project overviews for every single project. I always present instructions/tasks visually on the whiteboard/TV screen and say them verbally to students. This ensures that I am allowing learners to access information in a way that honors their learning styles and multiple intelligences.
