REFLECTION

The importance of organization and consistency is one of the many lessons I learned in this course. Students, especially in the art room, need to be able to have an understanding of where to find materials and the expectations of how those materials are to be used, cleaned, and stored. In an unconventional setting, such as the classroom we visited, I can understand how it would be hard to obtain this type of organization, but I still feel it to be just as important.

If this order is achieved, then I believe consistency not only in classroom routine but also in expectation of achievement will soon follow. Students in our field experience did not seem to be able to rely on their teacher in the sense on following through with requests or being knowledgeable of finding what they needed. Even searching for an everyday item such as a sharpened pencil or pen seemed like a continuous struggle. Consistency in order will allow students to feel the classroom to be a reliable environment for their creativity, without this stability the greater the chance of unproductively among the students. Honestly I feel that a more structured classroom, with guided discussions and planned lessons, would benefit the artists of the high school we visited. The school does has certain circumstances that happen more frequently than others, but I still feel that the organization and consistency will lead to and environment that as just as caring, and emotionally connected as it is now, but with a new sense of reliability in which students walk in the door knowing that they will be learning something new and exciting that will result in a finished product.

What surprised me the most about this experience was the amount of maturity these students demonstrated when I learned about the circumstances they were living under. They have been dealt cards that I know as a seventeen-year-old I would not have been able to handle. Once I am an educator in my own classroom, I hope to communicate an understanding that students can come to me for help. I plan to create an atmosphere in which students can feel that I am a reliable, trustworthy, and caring source for knowledge and that I will help them in any way possible. Teachers need to be ready for whatever may come their way because students will look to us for guidance even when they will not show us a shred of respect in the classroom. Educators may not be counselors, but they are the adults that students see every day, encouraging and supporting them, making the effort to build bonds in the classroom that will hopefully give students a feeling of consistency in knowing that their teachers are there to help.

This experience has made me want to continue to explore self destructive tendencies in teenagers as well as cultural differences that may clash in a classroom setting. I would also like to explore the strategies used in art rooms from a multitude of alternative high schools in order to compare techniques and find which benefit students taking into consideration elements of nurture and productivity.

REFLECTION ON TEACHING EXPERIENCES

At our field site I taught a few students the process of creating a stain glass piece. We began by sketching a geometric design that would be simple enough for a first piece. I explained how important it was for the pieces to all fit together and be big enough to grind out and solder. After the designs were complete we made a few copies so that they would always have an image to refer back to. Next the students picked out their glass and glued the design shapes so that they would be ready to cut out the shapes. Students were given a lesson in how to cut the glass and then grind it down to size. This was a long and frustrating process for the students when they realized I was not joking about how precise the pieces had to be in order to fit together. “Like a puzzle,” I explained and from there on out the students did not cut corners in trying to grind down each shape. The soldering process seemed easy for them compared to the length grinding period. Wrapping the copper tape around the shapes and taping the puzzle together to be soldered were the quick steps. But remembering to use the flux and solder neatly seemed to pose a bit of a challenge. It took almost the entire trimester for students to complete their pieces, but the patience and determination that was demonstrated was astounding.
When the students were finished I felt successful in the sense that I knew that they understood the process and would be able to repeat it to create more pieces as well as teach it to peers so they could do the same. But what I felt was unsuccessful, was the amount of time I had to spend with them each week, as well as the organization of the classroom I taught them in. I felt so bad when materials that were crucial to the next step of the process went missing. Even when I tried to label and even hide the supplies they would still go missing. A lot of time was wasted searching for the necessary materials and that took away from the time I could have spent demonstrating so the students would be more prepared for the days I was not at the school.