Week #2: Movin' & Shakin'

Monday
As today was Martin Luther King Jr. day and the schools had no classes, the teachers had an "in-service" day (a.k.a. teacher workday). I spent the morning with my supervising teacher cleaning the classroom, packing up materials, gathering lessons for the afternoon meeting and planning for the coming weeks. In the afternoon, the other art teachers and their student teachers came to our school for a meeting to share lessons and talk about other issues. It was interesting hearing about the other situations the teachers were working in - whether it was balancing 2 schools or working out of mobil units without water. Each teacher has a different set of challengesfrom buget to environment but they were all still able to teach everyday to the best of their abilities. We shared lessons with each other as well - giving copies of plans, a review of how it is taught, doing the production part of the lesson, and making suggestions. I now have another 7 lessons to add to my binder, which will come in handy in the future (maybe even during student teaching- if I adapt them to my classes). It was really helpful to spend the day with other art teachers, it made me more excited to take on my own class of third graders on Thursday!

Tuesday
Today was moving day! My teacher and I spent the morning packing up and cleaning the classroom at her first semester school - deciding which posters to take with us and what to store where for when she comes back next January. After loading up the car and making sure all student art work was back to the appropriate teachers, I followed my teacher over to the new school which is about 15 minutes away in the next town over. The drive to the new school is actually very pretty full of farms and views of the mountains; I think I'll enjoy that time in the morning and at the end of the day to collect myself/reflect.
When we arrived at the new school we weren't exactly sure what to expect because my teacher had not had a chance to check out her new room and there ahd been several changes mad to it since the last time she was at the school. It turned out to be a better situation than we were expecting - with a sink, view of the courtyard, plently of storage and an island in the center to use as a desk. We unloaded the car and started settling in - taking a break to so I get a tour of the school, meet some teachers and administrators and so we could eat lunch. After lunch we met with my supervisor to review neccessary paperwork and plans for the next 8 weeks. Then I worked on my lesson plan for a bit, finished putting up posters on the wall, and organizing the classroom. I can't wait to settle in more tomorrow - especially since I will have a desk and drawers of my own, making me feel more at home!

Wednesday
Another "moving in" day. I got to go in a little later because my teacher had family commitments in the morning. When I got there we both settled in to working on our laptops preparing lessons and doing other paper work that needed to be done before we start classes tomorrow. We also finished organizing the materials in the classroom and finding an arrangement that would work well for instruction. We settled on have tables organized so no backs would be towards the front of the room and there would still be plenty of room to move between tables to help students while they are working.
I'm really excited to start having classes tomorrow, especially since we have a really great class schedule that will allow us to prepare for each class and still have a little bit of downtime (with an actual lunch). I start taking the third grade class tomorrow afternoon and am anxious to teach my first solo lesson at the elementary level. I have prepared a lesson based on the self-portrait paintings of Frida Kahlo.; the classes will learn about facial proportion and exaggeration as well as the bright colors that are such a part of many mexican artworks. I feel confident that the content of this lesson will be very meaningful and enjoyable for the students, I just hope that I can execute it in a manner that the students get the most out of it. I worry about not going slowly enough with material or not breaking it down in the most successful way. I am glad that I will have four chances to get the lesson to its best though - that is one of the beauties of elementary art when you are teaching the same lesson again and again. My teacher keeps reminding me that the children are just so excited to finally get that outlet of art class that if something doesn't go exactly as I would have liked it they probably won't notice or probably won't care. I'll cross my fingers, review all the materials and get a good nights' sleep so that everything goes smoothly tomorrow!

Thursday
I taught my first solo lesson to the 3rd graders today and will start teaching the 3rd graders for the rest of my time at the elementary school. I have taught lessons before in practicum however this time it seemed a bit more intimidating; maybe it was teaching something so technical (facial proportions) or having full control of the classroom. I think the lesson will go more smoothly when I teach it again on Monday - I made several notes and talked with my teacher after on ways to improve it - such as giving a whole project overview and starting with drawing the hair first. I'm really excited to see how the final portraits turn out! The students are learning about the self-portraits of Frida Kahlo and then how to create a portriat with correct facial proportions. They will also learn about exaggeration (think Frida's eyebrows) and exaggerate one feature on their self-portraits, then finish them off with with oil pastels in bright colors (think mexican traditional garments). Also, I think I did a pretty good job keeping the kids focused and managing the classroom.
The rest of the day I got to observe how my teacher starts classes with all of the grade levels and how she begins lessons, as well as assisting during the lessons. I really have gotten a lot out of working with my teacher, especially classroom management and organization. She is really efficient in managing her class time so things like setting up seating charts, going over rules and the like dont take an excess amount of time.

Friday
... was spent teaching and planning. There was no third grade class today so I helped out in the other classes when I could and worked on an example of the project for my 3rd graders. My teacher and I also made great use of our large break in the middle of the day to catch up on paper work and lay out a plan for the rest of the 6 weeks together. We are going to team teach a lesson to the 4th graders, which my teacher started this week with wire portraits and I will finish starting at the end of next week by doing a collaging activity for them to mount their portraits on. I will also start taking over another class next week too. I feel that my teacher and I work extremely well together - I respect her as a teacher (she knows her stuff) and really enjoy her as a person. I'm excited to see how next week goes as I am assuming more control over the classroom!