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