I cannot
believe that the practicum experience is over already! Time flew right on by! I
have been done with my practicum for nearly three weeks, and I miss being in
the classroom. I had so much fun observing the students, being able to help
them with their projects when the needed assistance, and overall, just being
able to see them embrace and come to love art. I really enjoyed teaching as
well; the lesson planning, the project sample making, teaching the lesson,
giving the demonstrations…everything! Standing at the front of the classroom
was not uncomfortable for me at all; I loved it. I know for sure that I want to
teach, and elementary school may be my top choice, especially after
experiencing the students and watching them explore with different art mediums
that they had not yet explored. Watching them as part of this adventure brought
joy to my heart, as I got to see each grow as an artist a little more. This
experience really solidified how I want to impact my students’ lives and
hopefully get them to develop a passion for art. I want to help them grow up as
artists, whether they choose to be an artist when they grow up or not, I
believe that anyone can create art.
Mrs. M was such a great influence in this experience. She taught me so much, and I owe much of my growth as a future art teacher to her. By observing her, I learned so much, and I want to use some of the advice, techniques, and methods she used/uses and apply them to my own style of teaching, assessing, and interacting with the students. I want my students to love me as much as they love Mrs. M, which is incredibly apparent in the way they interact with her. I also want to be just as compassionate as Mrs. M was to her students, and the way that she gave equal attention to everyone, and treated no student differently than the rest, regardless of whether they were disabled or not. I respect and admire her a lot, and am extremely grateful to her for this experience.
I feel that this experience has given me a much deeper understanding of what it means to be an art teacher, and how much work it takes to really make an impact in a student’s life. This experience has also strengthened my resolve to be an impactful and effective art teacher for the sake of my students not just at the time when I am their teacher, but past that point as well. It has also helped me see how I need to plan lessons that accommodate children with special needs. Although I have included accommodations in previous lesson plans, I don’t think I gave as much thought to what those students might need in terms of modifications that I should have. After being in a classroom and assisting children who have cognitive and/or physical disabilities, I realize how important it is that I am intentional about how I modify these lessons. Although I always knew this was important, it really struck me when I interacted with these children, and got to see how they would get frustrated when I tried to modify a process for them in the way I thought was appropriate, but it was not working for them. It really opened my eyes to see that I will also need to get to know these students in order to help them in a way that they can learn the same material as the rest of the class, and participate in the same assignment. I think I will also research different ideas for accommodating students with special needs so that I am more prepared in the future.
Mrs. M was such a great influence in this experience. She taught me so much, and I owe much of my growth as a future art teacher to her. By observing her, I learned so much, and I want to use some of the advice, techniques, and methods she used/uses and apply them to my own style of teaching, assessing, and interacting with the students. I want my students to love me as much as they love Mrs. M, which is incredibly apparent in the way they interact with her. I also want to be just as compassionate as Mrs. M was to her students, and the way that she gave equal attention to everyone, and treated no student differently than the rest, regardless of whether they were disabled or not. I respect and admire her a lot, and am extremely grateful to her for this experience.
I feel that this experience has given me a much deeper understanding of what it means to be an art teacher, and how much work it takes to really make an impact in a student’s life. This experience has also strengthened my resolve to be an impactful and effective art teacher for the sake of my students not just at the time when I am their teacher, but past that point as well. It has also helped me see how I need to plan lessons that accommodate children with special needs. Although I have included accommodations in previous lesson plans, I don’t think I gave as much thought to what those students might need in terms of modifications that I should have. After being in a classroom and assisting children who have cognitive and/or physical disabilities, I realize how important it is that I am intentional about how I modify these lessons. Although I always knew this was important, it really struck me when I interacted with these children, and got to see how they would get frustrated when I tried to modify a process for them in the way I thought was appropriate, but it was not working for them. It really opened my eyes to see that I will also need to get to know these students in order to help them in a way that they can learn the same material as the rest of the class, and participate in the same assignment. I think I will also research different ideas for accommodating students with special needs so that I am more prepared in the future.
Overall, this experience was, I reiterate, such an eye opener, and I cannot wait until my next practicum experience. I’m excited to be able to work with middle school or high school students, as I have no prior experience teaching in either of those settings, but I am quite excited about it.
