Dec. 13th

Last Official Observation

Today was my last official day of observation. When Ms.R announced this to the students I felt appreciated when the children groaned in disappointment that my partner and I were leaving. During one class that was working on making paper snowflakes, a student approached me holding a snowflake she made. At first I didn't know what to think so I asked her, "What can I help you with?". She replied by saying, "It is for you!". This was also very pleasing to hear, so I insisted that she write her name on it so I remember who it is from. I feel that today was a great day and in both classes I observed I was interacting with students.

Other Cultures in the Classroom

How Do You Incorporate Other Cultures into the Classroom Through Art Making?

My cooperating teacher does incorporate other cultures into the classroom. Through my observation I have not seen her teach one specifically but she does use multicultural lessons. She does include specific projects that cover art and other cultures for each grade level she teaches. I believe she said that older grade levels (3-5) deal with more multiculturalism that the other grades. Two of the projects that she mentioned were Native American and Egyptian masks, which is usually done by fourth and fifth graders. Ms.R usually works with the social studies department when she integrates a multicultural lesson into her classroom. The way she does this is through communication with the social studies teacher about what material is going to be covered throughout the module. This gives her an understanding of what and how she can turn the material into a new lesson. She also uses the other teacher’s textbook to ensure that she has all the information she needs to create a thorough lesson that covers the other culture in detail. I think that I will incorporate multiculturalism into my classroom as much as possible. I believe that this is a great way to keep the students interested in the subject that the multicultural lesson covers.

How Cooperating Teacher Assess Student Art

How Do You Assess Student Art

My cooperating teacher assesses art through her understanding of each individual student. What I mean by this is that she gets to know her students on a personal level of understanding their tendencies. Some things that she pays close attention to are attitude or work ethic, interest, and skill level. What seems to make this possible is that she is the only art teacher at the elementary school; therefore, the students that go through the elementary school k-5 will have her as an art teacher. When it comes down to actually grading the art and the students work the school uses a website that is for specifically for grading. This website shows a class list where the teacher can comment on each student and their projects individually; the teacher can also click on the students name and an image will appear of the student along with information about them.

I can imagine that assessing student art at the elementary level is very problematic. I would think that this is the case because elementary art may not always appear high quality.  It is important for a teacher to realize how students develop and grow, so they understand that it takes time for their artistic skills to improve.  It is also important to know that some students will be more developed artistically than others at every age.  In the end I think that a teacher must put a greater amount of attention on student effort instead of skills at the elementary level, especially when it comes to grading. Personally this makes me feel the same as Ms.R in that each student should be graded differently based on your observation of them as a teacher.

Dec.6th

HOW DO THE STUDENTS ACT UPON ENTERING THE CLASS? HOW DOES THE TEACHER ACT?

When students enter the classroom they usually walk in and sit at a large circular table, where Ms.R does demonstrations and informs them of upcoming projects. On occasion Ms.R will have the students artwork ready for them to begin working as they walk in the room. Ms.R is always very inviting when the students walk into class, she usually is standing until all the students come in and sit at the circle table.

HOW DOES THE TEACHER GET THEIR ATTENTION TO BEGIN CLASS? IS THERE A PROCEDURE FOR LISTENING?

After the students enter the classroom and take a seat Ms.R usually begins talking about what is on the agenda for the present day and upcoming days. If there are students talking or not listening Ms.R usually stops and asks them politely to pay attention. In the classes that I observe my cooperating teacher doesn't seem to have very much trouble with the students listening.

COMMENT ON THE TEACHER'S INSTRUCTION (HOW HE/ SHE BEGINS CLASS, DEMONSTRATIONS OF TECHNIQUES, INCORPORATION OF TECHNOLOGY, SENSE OF HUMOR).

I think that my cooperating teacher's instruction is done very well. The students are like trained sheep in that they always walk into the classroom immediately and sit at the circular table. I think that she also demonstrates her techniques well because the students projects always come out looking great. For the most part students don't have trouble working on projects. Ms.R does not incorporate technology in her classroom.

HOW DO YOU SEE CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT BEING HANDLED? ARE ANY STUDENTS BEING OFF TASK OR DISRESPECTFUL- HOW DOES THE TEACHER HANDLE THIS? IS THERE A SYSTEM OF DISCIPLINE THAT THE SCHOOL USES?

 Ms. R manages the classroom very effectively. When students get off task she will always remind them to get back to work and if nothing changes then she will move the individuals. The school does use what they call major and minor reports if a student is misbehaving.

ARE THERE RULES POSTED? WHAT ARE THEY?

(Image to the right) There are rules posted in Ms.R's classroom. They are as follows:

• I will treat you with respect, so you will know how to treat me
• Feel free to do anything that doesn't cause a problem for anyone else
• If you cause a problem, I will as you to solve it
• If you can't solve the problem, or choose not to, I will do something
• What I do, will depend on the special person, and the special situation

"If you feel something is unfair, whisper to me, I'm not sure that's fair, and we will talk"

Be respectful, Be responsible and Be safe (school rules)

HOW DOES THE TEACHER ADDRESS SAFETY ISSUES?

Ms.R usually deals with safety issues separately for each project. For example, if the students are using scissors and glue, not to mix them together.

HOW DOES THE TEACHER HANDLE: BATHROOM BREAKS/ LOCKER/ DRINKS? RADIO/ IPODS? TELEPHONE? USE OF MATERIALS? BORROWING MATERIALS OVERNIGHT? CLEANING UP?

From my observation Ms.R usually lets students go to the bathroom and get drinks when they ask. I'm not sure if the elementary students have lockers but I know if the students leave their projects or materials in their classroom that they are allowed to get them as long as this isn't recurrent. As for the radio, Ms.R lets the students listen to it on occasion but if what they listen to becomes a problem than it gets removed. I pods and telephones are not allowed in the classroom. Materials are usually given overnight to students who are behind on projects. When it comes to cleaning up the classroom the students usually clean their own place. If a table is still messy Ms.R will ask the students who were sitting at the table to go back and clean their place.

DOES THE TEACHER USE A LESSON PLAN, CURRICULUM MAP, OR A CALENDAR TO PLAN UNITS? DOES HE/ SHE HAVE A WRITTEN CURRICULUM? WHAT DOES THE PLAN INCLUDE?

I know that Ms.R may have used lesson plans in the past but now when she teaches she does from memory. She has also talked about how she will make lesson plans up during a school year and implement them.