final thoughts on this semester
As a pre service teacher my journey emotionally and mentally has so far been a series of realizations that open up my perspective a little more each time. At the start of this semester I wasn’t sure how to feel, and the pace of study in all of my classes felt slow and vague. But as time went on, I started to appreciate the speed and understood more of why the content was so open.Â
As far as I know (and with what we have been told) the day in and day outs of a new teacher won’t differ much from what we are experiencing now - except that we will likely have much less time. So the idea of becoming more comfortable in a state of unknowing, and the skills of being flexible are crucial in our future success.Â
I think the biggest take away for me this semester boils down to one vital aspect of teaching: inclusion.Â
One of the largest projects we had this semester was referred to as our “Inquiry Project”. We were asked create a question or concept that we wanted to know more about in our teaching and I chose to look at the ways we can provide support for students with special needs in art education. It was through this research and the themes we explored in our classes that I came to the conclusion that one of the simplest and most impactful things I can promote and model in my classrooms is inclusion.Â
At the foundation of every successful classroom I saw, safety and inclusion were top priority. Making this connection and knowing how much work it will take to create this, especially as a new teacher is the most impactful learning I have done.Â
The culmination of the Inquiry Project was a Gallery Walk Presentation of the work we have done. We were asked to present our findings in a visual and interactive way. I knew that I wanted to create something engaging that expressed my learning, but I also wanted my audience to understand in a more personal way the challenges special needs students face. I created a trifold of the information I researched and then an exercise: Make a Leaf for the Abili-tree. The audience were asked to create on leaf cuts out I made either blind-folded or with their non-dominant hand. From this experience it was my hope that people would come away with a deeper understanding of what it is like to create with limited capacities and appreciate the kind of support they would have wanted and can provide as teachers.Â
Take a look at my set up below:














