1.What went well in this lesson? Why?
I think the powerpoint presentation part of the lesson went well. The slides were simple and kept student attention as they learned about Todd Parr as an artist, a person and his journey to becoming an artist. It was a good segue into talking about feelings. It was also a good thing that I had an opportunity to work with the students and iPads the week prior and to have the iPads ready to be used on the tables.
2. What problems did I experience? Why?
I experienced problems during the small group discussion part of the lesson. I didn’t have a super clear goal of what I wanted them to discuss in small groups and therefore couldn’t and did not model what I was looking for. So students didn’t look at the artwork in the way I wanted them to.
I also experienced problems while students finished their artwork all at different times. I did not effectively plan to manage students finishing at different times so I focused my attention on individual students, therefore giving other students the opportunity to engage in off task behavior.
I also experienced problems while students finished their artwork all at different times. I did not effectively plan to manage students finishing at different times so I focused my attention on individual students, therefore giving other students the opportunity to engage in off task behavior.
3. How did I engage and involve the students?
I engaged the students by choosing to have them use the iPads to create their drawing. They love to use the iPads and the outcome looks similar to the style of the artist. I attempted to involve the students by having them look at the artwork in small groups instead of just as a class.
4.What could I have done differently?
In order to address the small group discussion issues, I could have provided direct instruction on how to read artwork and look at the lines, colors, shapes, instead of the subject itself. I could have modeled this process with the whole class and then sent them to do the same thing in small groups instead of just letting them have a go at it without telling/showing them what I expected.
I also could have had students get started on their drawing more quickly by them just saying their emotion out loud instead of coming to whisper it to me.
I also could have had students get started on their drawing more quickly by them just saying their emotion out loud instead of coming to whisper it to me.
5. What did I learn from this experience that will help me in the future?
I learned that teaching and learning is a process. The road to becoming a good teacher begins with making many mistakes and learning to learn from them. Learning is a process also, in that we learn and students learn concepts over periods of time and multiple experiences instead of just one. So in creating integrated lessons, it helps to focus on small points in separate lessons that are all related to the main point.
6. Preparation and research - Was I well prepared? - What could I have done differently?
I was well prepared in certain aspects; I prepared the iPads, created the laminated pictures, borrowed books that Todd Parr wrote from the public library, and wrote a lesson plan too.
However, I was not prepared in all aspects. I forgot the actual powerpoint presentation, I didn’t think well in advance about the small groups to form, I didn’t think through the art experience part of the lesson either, so students were left to off task behavior
However, I was not prepared in all aspects. I forgot the actual powerpoint presentation, I didn’t think well in advance about the small groups to form, I didn’t think through the art experience part of the lesson either, so students were left to off task behavior
7. Written plan – Was I organized? Did the written format work? Is there a better form?
From what I understand we weren’t even required to write up a lesson plan for this art talk. However, I knew that I couldn’t just put the presentation together and then teach it without having a plan, so I wrote one. I though my plan was organized and well thought out on paper, but what sounds good on paper does not always go as smoothly with real students. The written format of the lesson worked as a tool for me to plan where I was going with it, but I should have done a double check to make sure that I had included all of the 8 essential elements in a lesson plan. Clearly this lesson plan lacked modeling, assessment, and differentiation
8. Presentation – Were the students involved? Was I clear in my presentation? How was the pacing? How did I engage all of the students and allow as many as possible to answer questions?
Since this is actually the part of the presentation that went pretty well, I would say that yes, the students were pretty involved. It began with an introduction of my friend, and a few kid-friendly facts about him. The students raised their hands if they liked or had the same things as he did. I think the pacing was alright. I didn’t expect them to memorize these things about him, it was more of a lead-up into the activity.
9.Assessment – Does my method of assessment measure what I want? How did the class do? What should I change for next time?
My objective was for the students to be able to create a piece of artwork that mimicked Todd Parr’s style: A face, using bold lines, solid colors, and details to show an emotion. As a class the students all chose an emotion and used thick lines to draw a face. So they did what I wanted them to do. I only decided that I wanted them to have a background color while they were working, so most but not all of them did. I could have planned that out a little better. However, I would have liked to focus more on the details in the face to show a feeling. I tried to sit down with each of them and ask how they displayed the emotion in their face