Journal Entries For Service Learning: Spring 2016
Day 1-FEB 8 Community Connections
Journal Entry #1
Service learning Feb 8, 2016
Narrative:
Our first day of Service Learning teaching happened on Monday. We arrived in the classroom before our students. This gave us a few moments to double check our supplies, speak with Dr. Fahey and Alison about the group and what we had planned for our activities. Since none of us knew who would be in our group we really did not know what to expect.
Around 12:30 the first part of the group arrived. As they arrived we understood that one of our “Get to know you” activities was going to be too much, so we set aside the more complex activity and focused on the simpler worksheet. A few minutes later the rest of the group arrived. The group totaled eleven students. Once everyone was settled in we began the worksheet. At this point Kellyn, Erica and I decided that it would be best to have each of us demo the techniques at the tables, we had planned to do a group demonstration. The planned exploration consisted of how tissue paper can be used to create art. The underlying premise of this exploration was to demonstrate how artists choose their materials and how materials have different uses. The first technique that we demonstrated was the painting technique, we hoped to guide the exploration to overlapping but it naturally evolved as we were painting. At my table, I had Nicole, Dakota and Jillian and their aide-Kyle. Nicole and Jillian were hand-over-hand learners. Nicole was better at continuing the task once shown what to do, but Jillian preferred to experience tactile events rather than paint, although she did try. Dakota understood the direction and ran with it. He finished two full pieces and began a third before the end of session. I did try to demonstrate the other techniques that we had planned, but my group was not willing to move on to different techniques. Nicole did try the oil pastels but preferred instead to paint. The session was ended without a culmination discussion or activity. This group will need a timer set to end the session with a share period. I am not sure how to approach that currently; it will require some discussion with my fellow teachers.
Interpretation/Content Meaning:
I understand that this was the first meeting for all of us, and that it would not necessarily go off without a hitch. I was hoping that I would luck out with verbal communication; however, my group was mostly non-verbal. They each could sign various things, and through raising children and various deaf friends I have learned a few basic signs, enough apparently for basic understanding. I feel that communication with these students might require a little more patience on my part. I must figure out the facial cues of understanding for my non-verbal students.
I also understand that one of my non-verbal students is a very tactile explorer, and will be more interested in the lesson if it includes something she can manipulate with her hands.
Personal Significance
I was a little unorganized when some of my students lost interest in the project we planned. Although we did have a back up plan, I do not feel I made a successful transition in showing them the technique. I will focus more next time on possibilities to keep them interested in what we are doing. I need to remind myself to keep positive when things seem or become difficult. I believe really working with my co-teachers and communicating effectively with them and my students can achieve this. I also believe that over-planning may be an effective way keeping the students engaged, even if we do not get to everything. It is significant to me as a student that I have much to learn. I have not yet learned how to effectively manage this type of classroom. I also feel that I need to observe more of this group of people to better understand what I should expect to impact in their lives.
Future Actions:
Focusing more on non-verbal communication, giving the students a little more room to explore, engaging my tactile learner with some appropriate materials. Perhaps she would like to stack blocks also? And figuring out how to keep everyone engaged. I will also come prepared to be easier on myself and properly tune my expectations to the group that I am working with. I will also communicate more throughout the lesson with my co-teachers to help the lesson run more smoothly.
Day 2- FEB 29- Community Connections
Crystal Hinds
ART325-001
Community Connections
Journal #2
3D lesson:
The Plan: We designed this plan to relate the concept of form and function and object impermanence. Our goal was for each student to acquire found objects and use them in a sculpture that either had function or not. We intended for the students to find their understanding through exploration of several different materials and techniques that we supplied for their use. We facilitated explanation through demonstration of the different options at each table. The students reflected upon their work as well as the work of their peers through a gallery walk during the final 15 minutes of class. The students demonstrated their understanding through the forms they created.
Experience Narrative: We set up the classroom early that morning; we had to go over our lesson plan one more time to make sure that we had included everything we discussed.. We set up four tables with different activities, one of which had materials that the students worked with the previous time. The other three were new materials. There were blocks (both tinker and wooden), frame pieces and found objects (this is the table that the students would contribute to with their nature walk).
The class arrived a little early, to begin our class Erica, Kellyn and I announced that we would be taking a walk outside. We cleared the activity with Alison first. We had everyone make nametags before we went outside, a stroke of familiarity. I noticed that a couple of our students were absent this week. Once everyone was ready we went outside to find some objects to include in our sculptures. Jillian connected with me once we were outside. She originally wanted to show me the pine trees but then she began trying to lead me further away from the group. It took me some time to redirect her back to the group. When we did get back with the group she expressed some anxiety about being outside. It was rather windy, that might have bothered her. I asked her if she wanted to go back inside and she agreed. The rest of the group remained outside collecting their items. Jillian and I sat at the blocks table and she began to build, I remained with her until the rest of the group returned. Jillian is the student that I thought would enjoy the tactile activity. It seems that I was correct. She was very excited about the tinker toys.
Once everyone was settled, we verbally introduced the lesson and briefly explained why we collected the objects. It seems everyone wanted to do the found object table. After the first ten minutes of work time we delegated the frames table to become overflow for the found objects. It seems that the frames had limited use and was not as interesting to the students. Better to over plan than under plan. A few of them finished early and went on to draw. I believe Corey was the first one finished. My co-teachers and I viewed her work and talked briefly to her about it. We then suggested that maybe she could draw her sculpture and she thought that would be fun. The next student to be finished with that activity was Maddie; she finished 5 separate sculptures and wanted to do something different. We suggested to her that perhaps she wanted to draw one of the sculptures; she did opt to draw but not any of her sculptures. She instead made another piece of work that incorporated found objects and drawing.
Jillian explored the blocks and tinker toys the whole session; she created several rolling objects and some structures. She seemed to really be engaged the whole time, this was quite different than the previous session. I was very pleased with her engagement. I worked with Nicole quite a bit during class. She was also working on the found object activity. She created three separate pieces. During the first piece there was a physical clarification about how hot the glue was, she accidentally touched the glue while attempting to attach one of her pieces. This was a very tense moment and I felt really bad. I did make every attempt to keep her from harm. Verbally (“this is very hot Nicole please be careful not to touch the glue”), and physically (I placed the pieces with the glue up so that she could see the glue and place her fingers away from the glue.) She did recognize after the incident that she should not put her fingers any where near the glue and she should look at the pieces she is picking up. I did express my concern for her safety and well being, while recognizing her injury but also trying to redirect focus to the project. She trusted me to help her quickly remove any glue that did get on her fingers and we were successful throughout the rest of the lesson to avoid any further injury. Overall I was very happy with how this session went.
Personal Significance: My feelings on the session are more positive than the previous one. I felt more organized this time, I felt like each of my co-teachers also felt better about our planning and implementation. We also did not just stay at one table the entire time; we each rotated around working with all of the students throughout the session. I like this approach better as it allows each of us to experience all of the students in their different stages of the creative process. We were also able to take more pictures of our students working than the previous session.
Future Actions: In the future I will remember to remain calm and focus on the solution; I feel that I handled Nicole’s injury as calmly as I could. I do not feel that it was handled poorly or with a lot of stress related actions. I will remember that Jillian would like to have some tactile activities, perhaps have some blocks ready in case she is disengaged with the next projects. I feel that it is important for her to be engaged with something that interests her, she is more responsive to people around her when she is engaged. It is possible that she was not feeling especially well the first session and this session she was closer to 100%. I do not know. I hope that our interactions encouraged her engagement. I will remember to check in with Dominic who may need multiple activities to ponder at the beginning of the lesson. I will also consider this with Maddie for the next lesson, perhaps designing a multi-tasked project for her specifically so that she will be fully engaged for the entire class. Ellie likes to explore the materials quite a bit and is interested in how everyone makes their art; we will need to discuss this development between us to figure out the best way to engage this need to explore the make up of things into making art. Perhaps another found object project is in her future, with a different approach. It is something to ponder.
ART325-001
Community Connections
Journal #2
3D lesson:
The Plan: We designed this plan to relate the concept of form and function and object impermanence. Our goal was for each student to acquire found objects and use them in a sculpture that either had function or not. We intended for the students to find their understanding through exploration of several different materials and techniques that we supplied for their use. We facilitated explanation through demonstration of the different options at each table. The students reflected upon their work as well as the work of their peers through a gallery walk during the final 15 minutes of class. The students demonstrated their understanding through the forms they created.
Experience Narrative: We set up the classroom early that morning; we had to go over our lesson plan one more time to make sure that we had included everything we discussed.. We set up four tables with different activities, one of which had materials that the students worked with the previous time. The other three were new materials. There were blocks (both tinker and wooden), frame pieces and found objects (this is the table that the students would contribute to with their nature walk).
The class arrived a little early, to begin our class Erica, Kellyn and I announced that we would be taking a walk outside. We cleared the activity with Alison first. We had everyone make nametags before we went outside, a stroke of familiarity. I noticed that a couple of our students were absent this week. Once everyone was ready we went outside to find some objects to include in our sculptures. Jillian connected with me once we were outside. She originally wanted to show me the pine trees but then she began trying to lead me further away from the group. It took me some time to redirect her back to the group. When we did get back with the group she expressed some anxiety about being outside. It was rather windy, that might have bothered her. I asked her if she wanted to go back inside and she agreed. The rest of the group remained outside collecting their items. Jillian and I sat at the blocks table and she began to build, I remained with her until the rest of the group returned. Jillian is the student that I thought would enjoy the tactile activity. It seems that I was correct. She was very excited about the tinker toys.
Once everyone was settled, we verbally introduced the lesson and briefly explained why we collected the objects. It seems everyone wanted to do the found object table. After the first ten minutes of work time we delegated the frames table to become overflow for the found objects. It seems that the frames had limited use and was not as interesting to the students. Better to over plan than under plan. A few of them finished early and went on to draw. I believe Corey was the first one finished. My co-teachers and I viewed her work and talked briefly to her about it. We then suggested that maybe she could draw her sculpture and she thought that would be fun. The next student to be finished with that activity was Maddie; she finished 5 separate sculptures and wanted to do something different. We suggested to her that perhaps she wanted to draw one of the sculptures; she did opt to draw but not any of her sculptures. She instead made another piece of work that incorporated found objects and drawing.
Jillian explored the blocks and tinker toys the whole session; she created several rolling objects and some structures. She seemed to really be engaged the whole time, this was quite different than the previous session. I was very pleased with her engagement. I worked with Nicole quite a bit during class. She was also working on the found object activity. She created three separate pieces. During the first piece there was a physical clarification about how hot the glue was, she accidentally touched the glue while attempting to attach one of her pieces. This was a very tense moment and I felt really bad. I did make every attempt to keep her from harm. Verbally (“this is very hot Nicole please be careful not to touch the glue”), and physically (I placed the pieces with the glue up so that she could see the glue and place her fingers away from the glue.) She did recognize after the incident that she should not put her fingers any where near the glue and she should look at the pieces she is picking up. I did express my concern for her safety and well being, while recognizing her injury but also trying to redirect focus to the project. She trusted me to help her quickly remove any glue that did get on her fingers and we were successful throughout the rest of the lesson to avoid any further injury. Overall I was very happy with how this session went.
Personal Significance: My feelings on the session are more positive than the previous one. I felt more organized this time, I felt like each of my co-teachers also felt better about our planning and implementation. We also did not just stay at one table the entire time; we each rotated around working with all of the students throughout the session. I like this approach better as it allows each of us to experience all of the students in their different stages of the creative process. We were also able to take more pictures of our students working than the previous session.
Future Actions: In the future I will remember to remain calm and focus on the solution; I feel that I handled Nicole’s injury as calmly as I could. I do not feel that it was handled poorly or with a lot of stress related actions. I will remember that Jillian would like to have some tactile activities, perhaps have some blocks ready in case she is disengaged with the next projects. I feel that it is important for her to be engaged with something that interests her, she is more responsive to people around her when she is engaged. It is possible that she was not feeling especially well the first session and this session she was closer to 100%. I do not know. I hope that our interactions encouraged her engagement. I will remember to check in with Dominic who may need multiple activities to ponder at the beginning of the lesson. I will also consider this with Maddie for the next lesson, perhaps designing a multi-tasked project for her specifically so that she will be fully engaged for the entire class. Ellie likes to explore the materials quite a bit and is interested in how everyone makes their art; we will need to discuss this development between us to figure out the best way to engage this need to explore the make up of things into making art. Perhaps another found object project is in her future, with a different approach. It is something to ponder.
Day 3- March 21- Community Connections
Crystal Hinds
Journal Entry #3
March 21, 2016
Experience Narrative:
For our third lesson, Community Connections worked with clay. We designed three different experiences with the clay. They could choose to make one or all three of the objects with their clay; a pinch pot, a face or an animal. Some of the group was eager to get started, and others really did not know what to do. At the beginning of the class period we took a short walk to the CSU pottery exhibit to view student works. The idea was to allow them the opportunity to see what can be done with clay, as well as to reinforce the idea that some artists work only with clay and 3d objects. It was a little chaotic at the beginning of class as the group from Fossil ridge was running late. I thought that we were all going to the exhibit at the same time so I lead my little group out the door and to the exhibit. When we arrive a few short minutes later, the rest of the group had not yet started moving. That said my group was pretty much finished viewing the exhibit when the others arrived. Dakota was in my group and he was ready to return to the classroom, so we did. My entire group did not come back when Dakota was ready, so I got him started with some clay and by the time he was ready to begin the others had returned. It did not take long for everyone to be ready with his or her clay. I thought that Dakota was all set up to sculpt so I walked away from the table, to attend to the other tables. I helped Maddie get set up with clay and talked with her about what she wanted to do, when she informed me she knew what she was doing and had experience with clay I left her to it to examine progress with other tables. That is when I discovered that Dakota still had not touched his clay. I immediately grabbed some gloves for him to try. This seemed to work and he began to experience the clay. There was quite a bit of positive interaction with the clay from the students. I was very pleased with the lesson content, but really wished we had a little more time to prepare for the class. The class was scheduled the day of returning from spring break. A portion of my team went out of town for break and we found it difficult to get together.
Interpretation:
I feel pretty strongly about letting the students experience the materials and really see what they can do. With this population we have to try to guide them a little more but I think that they mostly know what they want to do.
Personal Significance:
Learning to be more direct with what I expect the students to do when they are in class is important. I have a hard time being to direct or loud, I strive to encourage a safe place to create and feel that if I raise my voice too much it starts to sound angry and could be scary for some.
Future Actions:
Although I really like having options for the students to experience, it may be necessary for this group to really hone in on a progressive activity rather than multiples with little connection. I will also focus on being more direct without being scary.
Journal Entry #3
March 21, 2016
Experience Narrative:
For our third lesson, Community Connections worked with clay. We designed three different experiences with the clay. They could choose to make one or all three of the objects with their clay; a pinch pot, a face or an animal. Some of the group was eager to get started, and others really did not know what to do. At the beginning of the class period we took a short walk to the CSU pottery exhibit to view student works. The idea was to allow them the opportunity to see what can be done with clay, as well as to reinforce the idea that some artists work only with clay and 3d objects. It was a little chaotic at the beginning of class as the group from Fossil ridge was running late. I thought that we were all going to the exhibit at the same time so I lead my little group out the door and to the exhibit. When we arrive a few short minutes later, the rest of the group had not yet started moving. That said my group was pretty much finished viewing the exhibit when the others arrived. Dakota was in my group and he was ready to return to the classroom, so we did. My entire group did not come back when Dakota was ready, so I got him started with some clay and by the time he was ready to begin the others had returned. It did not take long for everyone to be ready with his or her clay. I thought that Dakota was all set up to sculpt so I walked away from the table, to attend to the other tables. I helped Maddie get set up with clay and talked with her about what she wanted to do, when she informed me she knew what she was doing and had experience with clay I left her to it to examine progress with other tables. That is when I discovered that Dakota still had not touched his clay. I immediately grabbed some gloves for him to try. This seemed to work and he began to experience the clay. There was quite a bit of positive interaction with the clay from the students. I was very pleased with the lesson content, but really wished we had a little more time to prepare for the class. The class was scheduled the day of returning from spring break. A portion of my team went out of town for break and we found it difficult to get together.
Interpretation:
I feel pretty strongly about letting the students experience the materials and really see what they can do. With this population we have to try to guide them a little more but I think that they mostly know what they want to do.
Personal Significance:
Learning to be more direct with what I expect the students to do when they are in class is important. I have a hard time being to direct or loud, I strive to encourage a safe place to create and feel that if I raise my voice too much it starts to sound angry and could be scary for some.
Future Actions:
Although I really like having options for the students to experience, it may be necessary for this group to really hone in on a progressive activity rather than multiples with little connection. I will also focus on being more direct without being scary.
Day 4-April 4 Community Connections
Crystal Hinds
Journal entry #4
April 4, 2016
Experience Narrative:
For this lesson we focused on some of the formal elements of art through landscape painting. What this translated to, for the purpose of our lesson, was using proper terminology while discussing the students’ work with them. Ie:“Do you see the line that the mountain makes across the page?” Our three main elements were line, shape and color. I worked with several of the students while making sure that everyone had what they needed to continue with the lesson. Marianna and Russell were very interested in painting and were not as focused on the first two portions of the lesson, Russell enjoys expressing his thoughts in color and mixing the colors as the thought occurs to him. I find this an interesting trait because his work is always in a state of transition. Even when it was time to clean up he was still changing his composition. I also worked with Dominic who in the past had done really well getting into the projects and working diligently. Dominic expressed some hesitation at drawing the landscape that was on the table, his para stated he just needed a little assistance in getting started. I would like to see Dominic work without this para, it seemed as though Dominic would rather have the para do the work, but also that he felt he could not do it. I am certain that Dominic would regain some independent expression if he were allowed to do so.
Interpretation/Content meaning
I believe that Russell creates transitioning pieces because that is how he relates the information he is receiving. Sometimes he mixes the same color over and over, but other times he tries to make different colors even though his paint has already been contaminated with the other mixing attempts. Both his para and I talked about saving some of the paint and mixing in a different area so that he could have more opportunities to mix new colors, he really wanted to make purple. The landscape that Russell and Marianna were painting had a lot of purple in it as well as stones throughout the foreground. Russell’s finished piece was a multitude of different colored circle shapes all over his canvas. He did finally create a purplish color but it blended almost completely away with his continued work.
Personal Significance:
In retrospect it is refreshing to see how Russell is thinking through his art methods. He is constantly reflecting upon what marks he has made, reconsidering the mark and maybe the color, and then trying something different. This is the first lesson that he was completely engaged during the whole lesson. When students are engaged and enjoying what they are doing it allows me to feel successful with the lesson.
Future Actions:
I think that the reason this lesson was so successful (outside of student interest) was the preparation that went into this lesson. That is my take away from this lesson. Preparation it is key to being successful. We tried some new techniques in organizing our presentation as well as our time. I will definitely remember and consider this lesson in the future.
Journal entry #4
April 4, 2016
Experience Narrative:
For this lesson we focused on some of the formal elements of art through landscape painting. What this translated to, for the purpose of our lesson, was using proper terminology while discussing the students’ work with them. Ie:“Do you see the line that the mountain makes across the page?” Our three main elements were line, shape and color. I worked with several of the students while making sure that everyone had what they needed to continue with the lesson. Marianna and Russell were very interested in painting and were not as focused on the first two portions of the lesson, Russell enjoys expressing his thoughts in color and mixing the colors as the thought occurs to him. I find this an interesting trait because his work is always in a state of transition. Even when it was time to clean up he was still changing his composition. I also worked with Dominic who in the past had done really well getting into the projects and working diligently. Dominic expressed some hesitation at drawing the landscape that was on the table, his para stated he just needed a little assistance in getting started. I would like to see Dominic work without this para, it seemed as though Dominic would rather have the para do the work, but also that he felt he could not do it. I am certain that Dominic would regain some independent expression if he were allowed to do so.
Interpretation/Content meaning
I believe that Russell creates transitioning pieces because that is how he relates the information he is receiving. Sometimes he mixes the same color over and over, but other times he tries to make different colors even though his paint has already been contaminated with the other mixing attempts. Both his para and I talked about saving some of the paint and mixing in a different area so that he could have more opportunities to mix new colors, he really wanted to make purple. The landscape that Russell and Marianna were painting had a lot of purple in it as well as stones throughout the foreground. Russell’s finished piece was a multitude of different colored circle shapes all over his canvas. He did finally create a purplish color but it blended almost completely away with his continued work.
Personal Significance:
In retrospect it is refreshing to see how Russell is thinking through his art methods. He is constantly reflecting upon what marks he has made, reconsidering the mark and maybe the color, and then trying something different. This is the first lesson that he was completely engaged during the whole lesson. When students are engaged and enjoying what they are doing it allows me to feel successful with the lesson.
Future Actions:
I think that the reason this lesson was so successful (outside of student interest) was the preparation that went into this lesson. That is my take away from this lesson. Preparation it is key to being successful. We tried some new techniques in organizing our presentation as well as our time. I will definitely remember and consider this lesson in the future.
Day 5-April 21 Community Connections
Crystal Hinds
Journal Entry #5
Community Connections
Narrative:
For this lesson my co-teachers and I thought it would be fun to end the class with a collaborative community project. In theory I think this was a great idea. In every past collaborative project I have enjoyed the end product and the making. In this role I had more parts to play than just maker and collaborator. I mentioned that theoretically this was a great idea because I feel that some of our timing was off. I am not sure how much of it was our own uncertainty and how much of it was the time difference in arrivals. Regardless, most of our students really enjoyed this project and some completed more than one piece for our community puzzle. I mostly worked with Marianna, Russell, and Ellie this time. Although I did check in with everyone to see how they were coming along in their projects. I noticed that most of the class was out of sorts. The Fossil ridge students were a bit riled up and our community connection students were mostly tired, a mixed bag. Marianna really enjoyed watching Ellie do her work and paint. In fact she was happiest watching Ellie and I paint. I thought maybe she would like to paint as well so I supplied her with a set and tools to make it happen, she only painted a little bit but was really into cutting paper up into shapes. She constructed two triangles and a whole lot of cut shapes. Ellie was also a very productive artist during this class, she ended the class cutting shapes out of paper after she noticed that Marianna was doing just that.
Interpretation/Content Meaning:
This was a great culmination of our class time with this group. Collaboration is a big part of the art community and is used quite often in our society. I feel that this transferable skill was important for the students to learn. I am hopeful that the students’ take away from this project and the class time, as a whole will be that people can work together to achieve their goals. In this class I witnessed (and was cognizant of the change) praxis, the point at which doing transforms into making. The repetitive cutting of Marianna’s shapes evolved from her just cutting paper to developing shapes and arranging them on the paper.
Personal significance:
In past lessons I found it difficult to sit down at any one table and be able to create along side the students. In a recent lab for another class I was asked to do just that and it felt amazing. This class period I was able to sit at the table with Ellie, Russell, and Marianna and create art with them. I was able to have a relaxed conversation with the students and the paras while creating. It felt amazing, I felt more successful at that moment than any other in that lesson. This is important to recognize when the lessons are going well enough that creative interaction with students is possible. I will remember though, that it is also important to remain alert to the other students and the happenings of the classroom.
Future Actions:
I cannot stress enough the importance of planning and practicing. I feel that if we had made the time to practice our lesson as we had done in the past we would have had a handle on the differences in arrivals and other poorly executed transitions. It is difficult to plan for everything so my message is to go with the flow, enjoy the moment and practice, practice, practice! Over plan…
Journal Entry #5
Community Connections
Narrative:
For this lesson my co-teachers and I thought it would be fun to end the class with a collaborative community project. In theory I think this was a great idea. In every past collaborative project I have enjoyed the end product and the making. In this role I had more parts to play than just maker and collaborator. I mentioned that theoretically this was a great idea because I feel that some of our timing was off. I am not sure how much of it was our own uncertainty and how much of it was the time difference in arrivals. Regardless, most of our students really enjoyed this project and some completed more than one piece for our community puzzle. I mostly worked with Marianna, Russell, and Ellie this time. Although I did check in with everyone to see how they were coming along in their projects. I noticed that most of the class was out of sorts. The Fossil ridge students were a bit riled up and our community connection students were mostly tired, a mixed bag. Marianna really enjoyed watching Ellie do her work and paint. In fact she was happiest watching Ellie and I paint. I thought maybe she would like to paint as well so I supplied her with a set and tools to make it happen, she only painted a little bit but was really into cutting paper up into shapes. She constructed two triangles and a whole lot of cut shapes. Ellie was also a very productive artist during this class, she ended the class cutting shapes out of paper after she noticed that Marianna was doing just that.
Interpretation/Content Meaning:
This was a great culmination of our class time with this group. Collaboration is a big part of the art community and is used quite often in our society. I feel that this transferable skill was important for the students to learn. I am hopeful that the students’ take away from this project and the class time, as a whole will be that people can work together to achieve their goals. In this class I witnessed (and was cognizant of the change) praxis, the point at which doing transforms into making. The repetitive cutting of Marianna’s shapes evolved from her just cutting paper to developing shapes and arranging them on the paper.
Personal significance:
In past lessons I found it difficult to sit down at any one table and be able to create along side the students. In a recent lab for another class I was asked to do just that and it felt amazing. This class period I was able to sit at the table with Ellie, Russell, and Marianna and create art with them. I was able to have a relaxed conversation with the students and the paras while creating. It felt amazing, I felt more successful at that moment than any other in that lesson. This is important to recognize when the lessons are going well enough that creative interaction with students is possible. I will remember though, that it is also important to remain alert to the other students and the happenings of the classroom.
Future Actions:
I cannot stress enough the importance of planning and practicing. I feel that if we had made the time to practice our lesson as we had done in the past we would have had a handle on the differences in arrivals and other poorly executed transitions. It is difficult to plan for everything so my message is to go with the flow, enjoy the moment and practice, practice, practice! Over plan…
