Final Reflection

Theme 1: Viewing and Responding to Art

The theme of viewing and responding to art was a reminder of how important it is to teach students how to critically view art and articulate their opinions. The VTS is one way of doing this that I wasn’t very familiar with. By giving students the chance to brainstorm ideas about an artwork in an open setting, they force their peers to view it from a different perspective. And by viewing art through multiple perspectives, students begin to think about the artwork in multiple ways that they may not have without an open discussion. That’s what makes them so productive; it’s a way of creating a dialogue about art.

Theme 2: Developing Art Curriculum

I definitely learned a lot about developing lesson plans this semester, especially since I had never done it before. Because of this lack of experience, I feel that it was best that I developed my first lesson plan with the other members of my Tiger Team group. This gave us all the opportunity to work with each other and get a feel for what is appropriate when creating a lesson, and it gave me the experience needed to create a unit plan by myself.

The class readings were also very helpful, specifically when big ideas were emphasized. Before this class, big ideas weren’t really something that I thought about too much in terms of making an art curriculum; but now it’s the first thing I think about before planning a lesson. It gives any lesson some much needed direction and focus.

Theme 3: Teaching Art

Observing at Shepard Blvd. was very rewarding. Not only did it give me experience in an art class that will obviously help me in the future, but I also built relationships with the students, which is very important for a future teacher. However, since I did more observing than teaching at Shepard, I feel that the Tiger Team lesson was the most rewarding teaching experience. It put my peers and myself in charge, and it gave us a better sense of what it takes to create a successful class period. It’s also notable that with this experience, the mistakes taught me the most about teaching. They gave me a better understanding of simple things to avoid for the next time that I teach a class.

Theme 4: Peer Units Review & Unit Self Evaluation

The P3s were very helpful when reflecting upon what I could do better with my unit. It’s important that I’m happy with my final product, but the constructive criticism of others is also very important in the sense that it gives me an idea of problems that I have or potential problems that I can anticipate. A second opinion can never hurt. After all, in some cases, problems are brought to your attention that you didn’t even consider. Personally, the P3s showed me problems that needed addressing, which I will definitely keep in mind when creating future units.