Theme 1: Viewing and responding to art.
In art classrooms viewing and responding to art is very important. Students will always need references and jumping off points to make their own art. When we viewed the artwork in class the first or second week it brought to my attention how important it is to critically discuss artwork. Students will need to gather big ideas, themes, moods, and subject matter in the artwork. Another way we responded to artwork was through the process of VTS. VTS is very helpful in viewing art for all ages. By utilizing this tool students as well as I will learn much more about works of art than by simply viewing the art and having a brief discussion. Students, especially younger students, need to have a chance to view art to help them in their own projects.
Theme 2: Developing art curriculum.
This course has taught me that A LOT of thought has to be put into making art units and lessons. When we start with a big idea and have to connect to that theme all throughout the whole unit, it is very challenging. Even the smaller lessons have so much planning that has to go into them. When I was observing the classes at Oakland Junior High I observed the teacher getting her preparations done very quickly. This told me that she made her plans for the lessons ahead of time. While I didn’t have a great experience in the classroom one thing I learned from the teacher is having the weekly schedule up on the board for the students to see all throughout the week. I think this would be very helpful in trying to keep the students on track with the projects.
Theme 3: Teaching art.
Through my observations and participating in TIger Artists I’ve learned that teaching art is a process. It’s not just a day to day “Hey we are doing this today” kind of curriculum. Plans have to be thought out and preparations be made to have successful lessons, classrooms, and projects. To go along with having successful lessons and classrooms you have to have good classroom management. The students in art classrooms have a general idea that Art is a blow off subject. The class I observed did not have very good management. I could just tell that the teacher did not have control over her classroom. The teacher had no consistency, which is very important , and let too many things slide. I do think that the art room should be a fun environment but it also a learning environment. You can’t have students putting lotion in other students hair (yes, this actually happened) and simply say “you can’t do that” and let it go. The students need to know that you are in charge otherwise you will never get anything you want accomplished. You also need to be as consistent as possible. You can’t send a student to the office one day and laugh at a student the next day for doing the same thing. If you want your students to get the projects done and have them successful classroom management and preparation is very important.
Theme 4: Peer Units Review & Unit Self Evaluation.
The reviews of the unit plans were very helpful in my opinion. I really likes my unit plan but after hearing what everyone else had to say about it I think it made the project so much better. All of the opinions were insightful and added to the overall idea of the unit plan. I still like my unit plan, although, it still needed some work, and all of the suggestions really helped.
