School Experience #1: Week 01

So my first week of teaching experience has come to an end… But there's still so much more to talk about!

I feel very fortunate to have been invited to observe and assist such a lovely teacher, and in such a wonderful art space. However, I am very aware that this is not always the case, and that this school in particular has a decent budget for the arts department, and values the arts as a whole.

In my previous post, I reflected on my first day of this two-week teaching experience, but for this post, I thought it best to reflect on the week as a whole, paying particular attention to classes I didn't have the chance to observe on the first day, and concluding with an overall reflection on my observations of the school, Ms. L's teaching, and the general learning environment.

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WEEK 01 : DAY 03

PERIODS 1 & 2 - Grade 11

This is one of the smaller classes, with just 8 students starting the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme. Ms. L gave a presentation at the start of class to prompt students to see how the work they will begin producing studies for (in this case, these will be focused on portraiture) in class relates to the different components of the IB Visual Arts curriculum. This would potentially help the students get into the swing of the IB programme, and begin thinking in terms of ticking off higher grade bands on the IB rubric. Similar to the structure of the grade 12 classes, grade 11 students have a lot of freedom, but since this is only the beginning of the course, Ms. L wants to slowly transition them into writing their own briefs, so to begin with, the students will have to produce a portrait as a final outcome (their final piece can range from anything between hyper-realistic to abstract). So the briefs are set for them, but there is plenty of room for freedom since the students can decide which media, format, style, subject and scale to work with. Even though the older students have more freedom to decide how to produce work, Ms. L always makes herself readily available to demonstrate techniques and assist in how to use tools and equipment, which is apparent through how often the students approach her for advice, and how comfortable they seem in doing so.

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PERIOD 3 - Grade 6

By far the most excitable group of all, the grade 6 students also prefer splitting themselves up by gender. The boy's group in particular was more troublesome, as they seemed less focused on work and the class as a whole, required Ms. L to try to re-direct their focus several times and warn the boys that a new sitting arrangement might need to be discussed if they don't behave better next class. I spoke to Ms. L about this later in the day, since assigned seating doesn't seem to be the norm in her classes, and she explained to me that she wants her classes to still be fun for her students, since visual arts can be a very polarising subject already, and she doesn't want seating arrangements to contribute to students feeling less enthusiastic about art. This made perfect sense to me, since my fondest memories of art class relate to how much more relaxed and comfortable they were, and how art teachers tended to recognise and treat us more like capable and creative individuals as opposed to just young students .

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PERIODS 5 & 6 - Grade 10

For this class, Ms. L wanted to begin practising gesture drawing with her students. To do this, she made a presentation that showcased examples of gesture drawings, which clearly demonstrated the do's and don't's of the exercise. This meant students had a clearer image of what to aim for once it came to be their turn to make their own gesture drawings. Ms. L split the remaining class time into two exercises: the first half of the class was dedicated to students drawing from images projected onto the white board, and the second half had students acting as models for the other students to draw them live. With the first exercise, students did not have to take into account the perspective from which they were drawing the model, since it was a mere projection onto a flat surface, but it nonetheless gave them the necessary time to grasp the essentials for making successful figure drawings. For the second exercise, students struggled a bit more since their viewpoint for the model varied depending on where they chose to sit, so this newfound sense of perspective posed an interesting challenge. I thought the escalating difficulty of the exercises the the structure of the class to be very logical, while still entertaining for the students since the exercises varied in duration as well, so they remained challenging for the students throughout.

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WEEK 01 : DAY 04

PERIODS 3 & 4 - Grade 7

This was the only class I had not observed yet during this first week at the school, and it is also the largest group Ms. L teaches, with 10 students in total on that day. While the grade 6 students were tasked with a fun yet simple project, the grade 7 students were being taught slightly more complex art terminology and concepts such as, analogous colour schemes, achromatic colour schemes, and monochromatic colour schemes in relation to complimentary + primary colours (as well as 'warm' and 'cold' hues). Similar to the class structure for grade 6, grade 7 students required demonstrations of how to use equipment relevant to the project. I noticed how, in order to hold their attention, Ms. L asks questions and invites students to participate during these demonstrations. When the time came for students to make progress with their project, Ms. L emphasised that originality is crucial, but that researching for the purpose of inspiration is more than acceptable. I thought that presenting and differentiating between the two this early on in a student's art class journey was refreshing and very applicable to when/if these students decide to take the IB Visual Arts course and/or go on to study art in higher education.

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WEEKLY REFLECTION

All in all, my experience so far has been very positive. Ms. L's receptiveness to my questions and open-mindedness to my observations have meant that I feel as though I am taking in as much as I can from this internship. Next week, I am due to give a presentation to the grade 9 students about layout principles in graphic design, so it will be interesting to do a presentation within the role of 'teacher', whereas, any other time I have given presentations, my mindset has always been that I am merely a 'student', with my 'teachers' being the ultimate source of knowledge. So I suppose my presentation will be a complete role reversal, a change I am excited for!

The art classroom here is spacious and as welcoming as ever, much like the haven I remember it being in comparison to the standard rows of desk and chairs lining the classrooms for other subjects. Ms. L's has taken much care to preserve and add to the vibrant atmosphere and displays artworks of various media and sizes, thus even if just subconsciously, showcasing the potential for creativity within the school environment to students considering or perhaps already enjoying taking art classes.

Aside from visiting the school everyday for this past week, I have also begun considering the next steps for my application package for teacher training programs, specially the personal statement and skills test. In a few week's time, I plan on writing about books I have been reading in preparation for the course, research I have done surrounding the personal statement, and any preparation I have planned for taking the skills test. For now, see you next time on my update for next week's class observations!