Observation #9, #10, and #11: December 14, 15, and 16, 2015 These last few days of observations have been both incredibly wonderful and also emotionally difficult. I did not realize just how close these students, this class, and my Mentor Teacher had become to me. This is been an amazing, insightful, and very encouraging experience for me. I have learned so much, some much more than just the few entries in this blog can tell, so much more than I can describe. His experiences not been a shallow one for me; it has been astoundingly influential on my educational beliefs and has been critical in my decision to continue education in the hopes of ultimately endeavouring fully into the education field is a high school art teacher. Throughout my observations I have been writing down questions to ask Ms. W. to ask her regarding teaching. On the final day of my observations I asked her the following questions. What is the most important thing to keep in mind when teaching? To this she replied, that student learning is kind of obvious, but is obviously the most important. She warned me to not do any “sit and shut up” exercises with art students, which are exercises and projects that may produce art but are not conducive to student learning. For example, tracing one's hand and then colouring it in with different colours could produce an interesting piece, but what exactly what the students learning? I completely understand and agree with this; I suggested that perhaps the best projects that require the instructor to gently push their students, and gently push them out of their comfort zone. She agree with me on this. She also mentioned being constantly mindful of student dignity, which led in perfectly to my next question. What is one thing that teachers can do to aid students’ learning? In addition to minding student dignity and respecting students for unique individuals with their own lives, troubles, fears, hopes, and dreams, it also helps when teachers come down to the students level by acting real with them, by not putting on a mask or persona. Across most important thing that teachers can do for student learning is to always incorporate differentiation, different students learn many different ways and is extremely important for a teacher to remember and cater to that. I also asked her what is a mistake that new teachers often make, and how can they avoid it? She believe that the biggest mistake made by new teachers is overworking themselves. Spending hours on a lesson plan or creating too much to mark can easily become overwhelming for new teachers. She suggests having fun with students, finding ways to make your job fun and interesting - perhaps with new projects, and by being relaxed and calm. She says this also helps students, since they will feed off of your energy and how you compose yourself. I also asked her a couple questions about myself and my performance as a student teacher. What can I improve? She mentioned that this would come with practice and that students would help remind me speak up and project just a little bit more. She also mentioned that confidence and assertiveness is important. And those will come as I gain pedagogical content knowledge in more areas. Asked her what I am good at? She said that my calming and relaxed personality is an asset. Ms. W. also stressed how important passion is, and that my enthusiasm and excitement when teaching is intoxicating and very beneficial to students. Also my ability to connect with students will be very useful. — — — In conclusion, I have logged 61.40 hours and observations, learned loads about education and teaching, and decided for certain on a career. I consider this experience to be a great success. I have thoroughly enjoyed my observations and this EDFX203 class. I will honestly miss both. Thank you so very much Ms. W. and Mr. Galloway. The adventure continues, William L. B. SA Councillor Education Student, Fine Arts Major. Line Cook

Observation #8: December 10, 2015 Today I arrived at the high school and was surprised by something unusual that I found, or rather did not find: Ms. W., my Mentor. I prepared for class and observations anyway. A couple minutes to when class should have started I noticed an adult seated at the computer near the front of the class; at this point the individual got up and moved to the teachers desk at the front of the class. I decided that he must have in fact been a substitute teacher. It was at this point that I noticed scribbled on the whiteboard a Mr. W. - this made me smile. At this discovery, I went up to him, introduce myself, and asked if he would mind me continuing with my observations here. His name as Mr. W., and in his words he was "chill" with me observing. So, I decided I would continue to observe as I believed that watching a substitute teacher provided an interesting opportunity to see a different type of teaching, One that I may very well utilized in the beginning of my educational career, in action. After serving his teaching methods and how he acted as a substitute teacher I noticed two things. Firstly, he seemed to act as a very good substitute teacher. By that I mean that he came into the class, figured out where each of the grades/classes were in their own projects, and then in a commanding voice informed all the students to continue as they were. He would then take attendance buy reading out the list of names and checking off those who answered, then he went about his own business and whatever he was doing, and the students went about their own business as well. I must commend him for coming into the classroom, taking hold of the situation, and sending students on their way as smoothly as he did. However, the second thing that I noticed was - and I cannot think of a more diplomatic way of putting this - his enormous lack of actual teaching. And he seemed to be very detached from the situation as if he was more of a supervisor or observer. On a positive note, this made it much more fascinating and beneficial for myself. Since he was so detached and unapproachable, many students came and asked me questions, especially in the grade 10 class; as they were more familiar with me than with him. I greatly enjoyed their questions and was pleased with myself for being able to answer all of them. All in all, I was very grateful for this unique opportunity. Until next time, William L. B. SA Councillor Education Student, Fine Arts Major. Line Cook

Observation #6: November 26, 2015 Good afternoon Colleagues, You are all in for a treat! I am starting this blog of with a poem of my teaching metaphor, which is Sculpting. I believe that teaching is much like the art of sculpting in many ways. Sculpting by William L. Baliko The teacher must be hands on, Their touch gentle, but firm In order to mould and contour The epic, raw potential into shape. This process is intimate and delicate And must be done surely, steadily Even the slightest pause or halt Could disrupt and distort the product. Calm persistence is invaluable And set-backs will occur, inevitably But every masterpiece has history Unforeseen scars can herald inspiration. This unpredictability can be translated Skillfully as potencial betterment Once the master’s ten-thousand hours Are etched, ingrained in mind and palm. Today was really fascinating! Ms. W. taught me about Perfectionists, Fatalists, and Revertists; the three main types of art students. We also spoke about budgeting and what it can be like to budget for a high school art class, and of course with that the storage for all the materials and works in progress. NOTE: I have recently discovered that these observation posts are only supposed to be a couple paragraphs long, which I thoroughly have not followed in my notes - which is ok, because I am confident that my detailed notes will be very useful for me in the future when I am teaching and have questions of my own. Anyway, following journals will be shorter, but still likely over the recommended two paragraphs, mainly because of the lack of time because I have been enjoying writing my thoughts and observations down for this class. In brief, each of the three art student types are as follows: Perfectionists are not risk-takers, they may be exceedingly slow to avoid mistakes, and likely erases lots to get each mark just so. As a teacher, one must be careful, gentle, and very patient in coaxing the perfectionist into creativity. Fatalists would rather rush something on the page/canvas, then badmouth and blame the assginemt/teacher/class rather than risk attempting to make something that may not work well. Teachers need to encourage students like this and not be too heavy handed with criticism too soon. Revertists will only draw/create one thing: bugs, anime, comics, dogs, ect. Although they are probably very good at this one thing, they rarely will willingly step outside that comfort zone to try something new or different. Teachers need to use creativity sparklers (short and easy creativity/art games/projects that get the creativity flowing) and positive reinforcement to bring these students out of their comfort zone so they can learn new things. Budgeting and storage is something that is rarely thought of or discussed when future teachers think of teaching, but it is very important and should be at least considered once by all student teachers. Budging will often vary and depend greatly on the institution that you end up working for, however some practices can be applied to all cases. One of which, perhaps the most important, is to plan, plan, plan. Even if you are going into a class blind and last minute, plan for what you should/may need as soon as you can, the sooner the better. And after planning, act and acquire what you need. Also, always try to leave some extra in the budget for “oops, I forgot about paper or [insert obvious item here].” And of course, storage for art teachers specifically can be difficult, again varying heavily on the place of work. Always try to keep storage in considerations when planning around your budget. Happy shopping! William L. B. SA Councillor Education Student, Fine Arts Major. Line Cook

Observation #7: December 3, 2015 Good evening Colleagues, And on to the teaching! Today I was able to get a very real and legitimate teaching experience. I was in fact, teaching! Since this was a very different set up and flow of events compared to my usual observations, my blog for it will be a bit unusual too. Firstly, please allow me to share the story of my teaching with you, and then I will provide a brief commentary and self-reflection on my teaching and the work that it entailed. Also, pictures of student work from my teaching will follow this post in another post. The story: A couple Thursdays back, my Mentor asked if I would like to teach, which of course I answered enthusiastically that I would love to, especially with guidance - since I still feel so new to the whole profession. And so, she gave me a couple books with art projects and some of her notes on the projects in them, and suggested that I pick a one-day project (like the Exquisite Corpses from a while back) to do with the grade 9 or 10 class, and create a marking rubric for it (which she gave me some examples for) by the following week, last week. I did so, finding a very fascinating project that taught students how to lay down a ground (something that I greatly enjoy doing in my own art), make dynamic marks with charcoal and conté, and was a very good exercise for studying line. I also decided on teaching grade 10, and had the rough draft of a rubric. We also decided how we would teach, who would teach when, and came up with a game plan. During the week before this day, I had tried a few of the projects myself to see how they played out. And of course, because I believe that teaching from experience is the best preparation for teaching and the best way to teach, I wanted to garner as much experience in these projects as possible. Once I selected one project, I continued to test it and try it in different ways all through the next week. This morning, I awoke ready to teach. The bus ride over seemed to go so slow and too fast at the same time, but I was already enjoying the day, I was grinning, I felt alive, and I felt ready. I arrived at the school, greeted my Mentor, and set up the classroom with what I brought, as well as helped get the materials out with Ms. W. The grade 10 class had first period, so they were already starting to sporadically file in. We had agreed that Ms. W. would teach the history and theory behind the project, and I would show the students how to execute it. When my role came into play, I addressed the class, introduced myself, further introduced the lesson and project, and began to lead the students through what the new mediums were and what was some of their potential. For the project I recommended that every student use one of the two types (willow and compressed) of charcoal that we had to work with, two-four colours of conté, white compressed chalk, and an artist’s razor for preparing the ground. Once everyone had their tools and paper, I demonstrated how to lay down a ground and recommended some ways to manipulate the ground. Ms. W. had informed me before the class that most the these students had never laid a ground down before, many had not used charcoal - unless they had been in her grade 9 class, and none of them had used conté before. This information greatly excited me; I thought that it would terrify me, but I was just overwhelmed with joy at the prospect that I would be able to introduce students to several mediums that I personally absolutely adore. I called everyone up around me to see how to lay the ground, I continued to show them how to make some dynamic marks with charcoal and the other mediums; the class followed along nicely. Everyone received a couple pieces of cheap printer paper for a practice run, which they all eagerly engaged in. Ms. W. and smile at each other as we enjoyed a moment where the whole class was silent, meaning they were all in the right brain and the creativity was flowing uninterrupted. A student showed up late, who I took aside and swiftly brought them up to speed. Soon it was time to get on to the very expensive paper - the final piece of the project that would become portfolio worthy for many of the students. The entire class was very engaged and participated eagerly, I personally believe it was at least in part due to the passion and enthusiasm that Ms. W. and I both exuded (it was a favourite project of hers and mine). I then displayed some examples of finished work by both Ms. W. and myself, and gave a couple other ideas to consider, and set them up for the portfolio piece. Again, they all got to work, a little slower this time, there was a lot of discussing ideas at the start - which I personally did not mind. Nearing the end of the period, Ms. W. and I both instructed the students to start cleaning up and to take their finished pieces to the vent for fixing, which most of them had not done before. I went over to the vent to teach the students how to properly fix a drawing like the ones we had done, because of the limited space, I taught groups of 5 or so how to use fixative at a time, which worked very well because of the more concentrated student to teacher ratio. And I ended the class with asking the students to bring their finished pieces to the front to be marked. Now! The class ended, but my work just started: marking all of these pieces. I wrote and formatted an entirely new marking rubric for this project based on what I felt was important to check for learning and understanding. I dedicated a lot of time to assessing each piece, so it took quite some time, and it gave me an idea as to how much time marking could take when I am actually a teacher. In reflection, I am honestly really pleased with how this whole experience turned out. I learned a lot, but most importantly I learned that I can in fact teach. Up until now I have been concerned that maybe I don’t have the potential, especially after seeing so many incredible teachers around me in my education journey. Teaching these kids and seeing them actually learn directly from me was so incredible. I know now for sure that I want to become a teacher, and I now feel confident in the possibilities and abilities that I have. Inspired and going to be busy in the right side of my brain now, William L. B. SA Councillor Education Student, Fine Arts Major. Line Cook

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Line Cook

Please note: these first few posts will be very scattered and not as organized as I would like until I find my groove in this blog, but it will come and it will look beautiful so please bare with me. October 22, 2015 I have arrived at my Experience High School, classes have just started, it is 9:20 AM. For now I will refer to the school as “Highschool”. My first thoughts on the school as a building is how clean it is, how homely it looks - with carpets, house plants, large sky windows, and colourful decor, and how practical the building has been structured. The halls are currently quiet, but I can easily imagine how busy they would have been a few minutes before my arrival, judging by the number of lockers in the halls, the size of the halls themselves, and size of the classrooms. After getting directions and checking in, I make my way to my first observation class. I feel pleasantly surprisingly still and am very eager to see what this experience will be like for me. I smile as I enter the class and catch my first glimpse of the students. It is a grade 10 art class. The students are the first to capture and hold my attention after quietly slip into the class. They look excited and happy, many of them are conversing as they sketch and compare their work. My Mentor teacher, Ms. W. smiles and waves me over when she notices me. We go into her office and introductions take place, she is a wonderful lady, someone who I already feel I can respect and learn a great deal from. Ms. W. tells me that this is an exceptional class and creates a good environment for me to smoothly coming into. A short walk around the class tells me that these students (possibly even the whole class) are indeed very comfortable, relaxed even, with each other, their work, and their instructor. All of them are working hard on what Ms. W. has just taught them, and at the same time they are still enjoying themselves. It is truly an wonderful view to behold. Some students appear to be concentrating more than others, but all of these students seem to be currently at similar levels, with a few exceptions. This class is fairly evenly mixed between boys and girls. I’ve also done a quick count, it looks like there are about 35 students in this class. A couple students are missing, Ms. W informs me, after speaking with another teacher who has come in - she is looking for a student who has been missing from her class for a while as well. Ms. W. normally takes a daily attendance check, and there are a couple students who have been missing for over a week. This is not alarming, but at this grade it is less likely to have students who do not show up frequently compared to higher grades. Ms. W. winds the class up at about 10:20 AM, the students help clean up and then file out the door. Shortly after students from the next class, grade 20 art, start to trickle in. They are not all here at once, some were waiting outside the door, others are still showing up now that the class has started at 10:30 AM. This is a smaller class, with about 25 students in total. This is a very more contrasty group. Some students are clearly interested and engaged in what they are working on, others are more entertained by a couple students fencing with metal rulers. A few of these students are clearly well on their way to becoming artists - I am greatly enjoying viewing their work. There are three projects currently underway at different stages, which has students moving around the studio quite a lot. This class also seems more in-tune to my presence and soon I am conversing and beginning to aid students. I still am playing more of an observation role, but I am learning a great deal about the school and class from engaging with a number of these students. Perhaps the most vital piece of information that I picked up is a story and example of how Ms. W. handles these students. One girl was having a very emotionally painful day due to personal problems, and Ms. W. allowed her to spend class time out walking within the school grounds as a calming/relaxing tool. Most of these grade 20 students agree that Ms. W. is very kind, understanding, and good teacher in general. Class ends around 11:40 AM for lunch break, and much like at the beginning of class, some student make their exit swifter than others. Ms. W.’s studio is open for lunch period for homework or lunch, so many other students from around the highschool fill the class almost as soon as the door is open. This has been a great introduction to the classroom environment. Ms. W. also has given me some tips which I will include as part of my next post. I look forward to visiting the school again soon! Signing off, William L. B. SA Councillor Education Student, Majoring in Fine Art. Line Cook