Students Leaving the Classroom

This is a big pet peeve of mine.  Students who just walk out of class assuming that I am fine with it or don’t see them.  Yes, I do see you!  It’s rude and it concerns me because I am responsible for your welfare!  I think much of it is their belief that they may just come and go around a teacher who is not the “real teacher”.  Perhaps they want to see if I will let them go or if I will actually say something to stop it.  Recently, there was a student who enjoyed particular freedoms and decided to leave the classroom and do other projects knowing that I was the teacher.  It disappointed me because this student is a responsible and smart student.  I felt disrespected but my SA had a talk with this person and made it clear that it is my classroom now.  I know now that I can be more stern with these students because I always stick to my word and maintain high standards.

Full Load Ahead

Next week is when I take on the 80% load.  I am nervous and glad at the same time that Spring Break is coming!  I cannot wait!  Today I was told that I needed to talk to the special needs teacher to figure out when to work on the tile project.  This was an opportunity for me to collaborate with another teacher and do something that would leave a lasting mark on the school.

These tiles are to be installed in the school garden.  For the last few years, the students painted tiles and installed them into the garden.  The varied designs looked beautiful against the greyness of the surrounding school walls and rocky structures.

My SA suggested that they could work with a garden theme and I agreed.  I needed to look for pictures of flowers, plants, vegetables, and plants that would suit the garden theme.  I had trouble finding bug pictures though.  Most of the magazines in the classroom were women’s magazines :(.  I did find some pictures of flowers and vegetables and the occasional bird.  I looked through the National Geographic magazines for pictures of insects but still no luck.  The current collection I have now is pretty good I think.

When my full load starts, I worry about how I will set up the different classrooms in time.  How do I run from one room to the other?  I have a feeling I will need to come very early before school begins to set up the powerpoint presentations and projectors.  Luckily, I don’t have to do too many as I am only teaching them for 10 classes.  I hope this will go well.

In regards to the daily log, my SA wanted me to show her my daily thoughts, things that come up, observations, troubles.  I feel that I communicate them with her verbally but I need to write them down.  For the most part, I tell her my concerns verbally but I should not have an issue jotting down thoughts for her to read daily.

 

Zero or not to Zero

The one thing that I have debated over is whether or not to give a child 0.  I figure that I would only give a 0 when a student doesn’t hand in the work AT ALL.  But how about my 0.5/day reduction for each day that it is late?  I would pester the kids who haven’t handed in their work but because the worksheet is only out of 3, their per day deduction of points brings them down to a negative number.  This is a predicament that I had to deal with today.  If a student made the effort to write something and hand it in, even if it is not perfect and late, should they really ever deserve a 0?  Unless they handed in to me a blank sheet or answers that are completely off base, then no.  I think the lowest I will reduce their mark to is a 1.

Be the Facilitator

I had another formal observation recently.  I was teaching special needs children and I really wanted to help all of them.  I made sure that all of the students were spoken to and gave extra attention to those who needed the help.  I spent more time with those who were behind or who were struggling to progress with their project.  I wanted them to clean up early because the last thing I want happening is to have them go over and the bell rings.  Especially not with my FA there.  There was extra time and I was wondering what I should talk about. I began to chat with the kids individually so I could get a better sense of who they are.  I enjoy getting to know them so sitting around chatting with the group is quite pleasant.

After the class was over, I had a debrief with my FA and she told me that I had good rapport with the students and was helpful to all the students who needed me; however, I needed to facilitate the entire class more.  I made sure I walked around and talked to all the kids but I guess that wasn’t enough.  I felt that some of the kids were quite independent and many “didn’t require my help”.  I decided that I was going to help a couple of students who were behind but unfortunately, this was seen as taking away from my ability to facilitate the room.  I agree and disagree.  I made my judgement call and felt that I had spent time walking around making sure that they were all helped before focusing on a specific few.  Nevertheless, teachers are supposed to be the facilitator of learning and not their buddy.

On top of the facilitating portion, I also needed to remember a few things when I teach.  It has never really been broken down to me like this before, but it helps:

1. Intro (with review) – Set up an objective/goal for the class

2. Conclusion (review objective/goal) + preview of next class

I knew that all of these measures are important but it’s so easy to just forget!  I need to make sure that I address these points each and every lesson, even if they’re just working periods.  In addition to that, am I the ONLY person on earth who FORGETS to turn off the lights and close the blinds during a presentation?  YES?  I think so.  I must have been so nervous/focused on what I was teaching the kids that I forgot to do this many times.  My SA had to save my butt and turn off the lights for me.  Embarrassed and relieved at the same time, I thanked her for doing this.  I must really make a mental and literal note to do this every time I present!

 

Working Period

Today was Day 1 and I got to teach my Studio Art class again.  They are working on their comics so when I told them they could begin drawing, they were excited just to get to work.

I started off talking about the consequences of losing their worksheet.  It was necessary that I remind them so that they would take what I say seriously.  If I didn’t, they would keep asking me for worksheets and lose them time after time.  I got to speak to the class to address this issue and many of them did listen.  I said that they would only get one sheet and if they lost it, they would need to copy the template off of a friend.  There are still a few students who didn’t hand in their sheet but I got a good chunk of them to.  I was especially proud of the students who were ELL and wrote their concept sheets in Chinese.  I had a student in the class translate it into English for me!  I really appreciated this help.  When the ELL students were given the opportunity to communicate in their own language, I felt that they were better able to get their ideas across.

The afternoon was rather relaxing compared to the ones previous where I had to present and facilitate discussion.  I walked around and talked to each of them to see how they were doing.  The more quiet students were able to open up and it was pleasant to talk to them.  I agree…with time, the students will eventually understand who I am as a teacher.  I am a kind teacher and would ideally, have all my students succeed.  It is also true though, that some students will just dislike you from the start.  They’ve made up their minds about you and it’s not going to change.  There is no point fighting those students.

One of the best tips that I heard from a fellow TC is that when you’re feeling a lot of negativity from your students, perhaps try to talk to those who are more positive.  I’ve tried it and it does alleviate some of the anxiety, frustration, and disappointment I feel when I deal with disruptive students.

After class, I spent some time preparing for next week…aka the 80% load!  Scary times…I want to be as mentally and physically prepared as possible, but as I’ve learned, the best preparation a teacher can do is to be flexible.

Shoe Design Assignment

I wanted the students to think conceptually about shoe design.  I knew that many were stuck in the mode of thinking literally about shoes that are wearable (crocs, flats, runners).  I felt that exercise could prompt them to think “outside of the box” and venture into the world of conceptual art.  They were given about 20 minutes.  Here are some examples of the in class assignment.

 

Consequences, Consequences

Today my FA observed me teach the ceramics class.  I typically have trouble getting through to this group of students so naturally I was worried about my observation.  I wanted to teach well but I also wanted to be relaxed while I teach.  She called it a “performance” much like myself.  I was going to have the students gather into groups that I assigned randomly, and encourage them to share their shoes with the group.  The point of the exercise was to talk to each other about their design and development process.

The biggest difficulty I found with this is how quickly their conversations would go.  They would describe it in a couple of sentences and call it a day.  I guess I am used to the discussions that take place in university where people can elaborate for a long time.  I forget that they are not used to these sort of discussions and are probably uncomfortable in sharing.  Perhaps their ideas are there but they haven’t learned to articulate them.  I am hoping that with more class discussions, they can feel comfortable.

Another barrier to the presentation was that my classroom is not presentation friendly.  It is very long and often times, when I present, there are many students who sit in the far back who can barely see the projector.  Unfortunately, this is the set up of the room and cannot be helped.  For more formal presentations, I think I will have to address this by moving the tables aside and creating a round circle with the chairs.

During the debrief with my SA, she used the word “consequences” many times.  I need to enforce my consequences on my students so they don’t keep acting out or taking advantage of my generosity.  For instance, many students lost their concept sheets that they were supposed to hand in and I kept handing them out again.  My SA said that I should come up with a plan to make sure they KEEP their sheets or else face negative consequences for losing them.  One suggestion is that I tell the class that they only get 1 handout and no more.  If you lose it, you will have to copy a friend’s sheet.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  I agree with this because photocopying all those sheets is a huge use of paper.

The other problem I am having is how to deal with smart aleck students.  I had one in particular who would respond to my questions with “I don’t know” and roll his eyes and use sarcasm as a way to alleviate the challenging questions I would pose.  It really frustrated me to see how he was undermining my authority and my intentions for him to learn.  I’m not sure what to do but I think I will continue to just encourage him to think about his art and to mark him accordingly to the work he actually produces.  I can only push so much.

I also began marking this week.  It takes a LONG time!  I can’t imagine marking academic papers.  I marked the concept sheets based off my rubric I created.  Most students did very well except for a couple who I knew rushed it.  They deserve the low mark.  I have the rubric to back me up.

Always expect the worst of a school’s Internet connection…

Before I taught today’s lesson on social justice artist, Rebecca Belmore, I sat in the staff room reviewing my slides and thinking to myself, what if the video doesn’t play?  I wanted to show a video performance by Belmore to the class and have them analyse it.  Suddenly, my gut feelings kicked in and told me that it wouldn’t work.  It just wouldn’t play.

I immediately looked for screencaps of the performance and added it onto my powerpoint presentation in case I had to resort to this.  When I attempted to play the video performance, it worked for a couple seconds and then it stopped.  It didn’t work.  I was told that the Internet connection there was shoddy and couldn’t be depended on.  THANK GOODNESS FOR MY SCREENCAPS!!  I was able to carry on the class discussion with my last minute screencap additions.  Lesson learned….

Grouping the Students

Surprisingly, group dynamics play a huge role in determining the success of the class discussion.  I battled with how I would approach the group discussion today.  I decided that at the end of the day, the kids would be more comfortable with their group of friends.  For one, many refuse to get out of their bums to move and secondly, they are more likely to talk to people they are comfortable with.  The problem here however, is that certain groups of friends are generally more talkative or less talkative than others.  I encountered this very problem today when I reached the group of ELL students.  I knew they always sat together and I knew they were not big talkers.  They did not pay attention most of the time in class either.  I think their greatest fear is that they don’t think they could speak English.  However, judging from their writing, their comprehension of the language seems fine.  Granted, it is more difficult to speak sometimes than it is to write.  I do understand that part in learning a new language.

Despite this, I continued to pressure this group to give an answer.  I remember what it was like to be in that situation.  I hated it.  I hated it because I was often too shy to speak.  Not because I didn’t know the answer.  I was also too afraid to say the wrong answer or say something stupid.  I do feel badly for the students who are struggling in class due to language barriers, but I am really trying to find a way to help them.  I know that their understanding of English is far from perfect, but it is adequate.  Adequate enough to participate in a class discussion and to complete the concept worksheet.  I don’t want to come off as a teacher that is insensitive to my students.  I attempted to mix in a native English speaker to their groups many times and this native English speaker always ends up being the talker.  I don’t even know if the group even talked at all!  This is the frustrating part about class engagement.  Do I continue to push for entire class participation at the expense of precious time I could be using to teach new material?  At this point in my practicum and my career, I feel like I need to find a balance.  I must get through my material but I also must address the issue of class engagement.  I realize now that many students in my art classes are there because they were forced into it.  Many also sign up for this class to “slack off”.  I don’t appreciate this and they certainly don’t appreciate me trying to make it academic.  But this is my job and my true intentions as a teacher.  I don’t want art class to be the “easy” class.  I do want it to be enjoyable and educational at the same time.  If I let a couple things slide, it would look bad on me during an observation.  If I tried to catch everything that goes wrong during class, I would be unable to teach anything.  So what is it then?  What must I focus my attention on?  I think that truthfully, I will be unable to catch all of the students who aren’t paying attention, no matter how interesting the subject is.  I have come to accept that I need to find a fine balance between WHAT I have to deliver that day and WHO must absolutely pay attention to the material that I am teaching.  Walking around the class certainly helps.  They tend to put down their phones and start to “look up” once you have graced their presence.

 

A Shoe for a Raver

Today I worked with the same TOC from yesterday.  She was supremely helpful in the classroom.  She stepped in when she could sense that the students were feeling restless or bored.  I really appreciated her suggestions and her attentiveness to the class I taught.  I knew that my teaching still needs work.

I taught a special needs art class this morning.  The more that I work with them, the more fond of them I become.  They are so sweet and genuine.  I find it a refreshing change from regular students.  The non-special needs students seem to be more capable of trickery while the special needs students tell you directly what is on their mind.  They continued working on their pinata project from weeks ago.  I’m surprised at the amount of time it takes for them to complete certain projects!  I need to take this into account when I start my unit with them.

The second class I taught was the ceramics class.  This class was filled with Grade 10s who enjoyed talking and not necessarily about the things we were learning about.  I had a quick presentation on shoes and engaged them in group discussions about different types of shoes.  They had to discuss the nature of the shoe and who could possibly wear them.  They struggled with the more conceptual and abstract shoes because they were looking at shoes as if they were meant to be literally worn.  I walked around to help them expand their range of thinking.  Think about the type of shoe that is depicted, the way it’s made, how it’s shaped, the designs and colours.  They weren’t used to thinking conceptually.

After the discussion activity was over, I had the students choose a number between 1-30.  The number they chose would determine the type of shoe they would need to design and hand in at the end of class.  Some of these shoes that they had to design include “raver shoes”, “a bad driver’s shoes”, “a librarian’s shoes”, and “a philosopher’s shoes”.  When they started to work, I could see that they began to think conceptually.  The group discussion we had I think, really helped prompt them to design their shoes.  I don’t think that without this scaffolding, their shoe designs would be much more plain and literal.  Although I did have one student who seemed rather eager to get started on the actual ceramic project, I feel confident that the presentations that I am doing will allow them to produce a richer and better art piece.