Presenter: Anna Busch

Student teacher Anna Busch came in today to discuss the edTPA and her experiences as a student teacher. It was quite helpful, especially since I have been feeling overwhelmed by both the edTPA and the fact that I'll be student teaching next fall (seems far away, but time will fly between now and then!). Anna began by talking about how student teaching has been for her so far, including her head week experience and how that looks in general, learning how to properly manage a classroom of different ages, how to use prep time wisely, analyzing questioning practices, and how to stay focused on teaching the standards consistently. She also brought up how she managed her edTPA at her placement, which she advised the class to do something we're comfortable with, start collaborating early on with the cooperating teacher, and when the best time to conduct the edTPA lesson would be (around week 5 or 6). Anna also discussed the importance of developing a strong relationship with my cooperating teacher, which would lead to being able to openly and honestly share comments or concerns, develop a better teaching style, learn from their experiences, and share ideas about lessons and other aspects of education.

While I feel pretty anxious about doing well on the edTPA as well as student teaching, I know that it is an opportunity for me to learn how to be successful in those areas. Anna said that it is okay to stumble and fall sometimes, so long as you learn from those experiences and get up and try again. I need to remember that I am there to learn, not just to teach. I think I've had it in my mind that student teaching is going to be this enormous responsibility where I have to have everything together perfectly. While responsibility and being organized is important in formulating lessons and leading them, I have to realize that I am not going to be perfect right off the bat in student teaching, and that there is time for me to grow during my time as a student teacher. That is what student teaching is about. Anna stating this fact was immensely helpful, and it helped me to relax about my future as a student teacher considerably.

How I differentiate my instruction for diverse learners

I differentiate my instruction by taking into consideration the backgrounds my students are coming from on a socioeconomic, cultural, family-structured, and value-oriented basis. Each of these facets of background have a significant effect on learning, and not all students coming from these backgrounds learn the same way. Some may need language assistance, some may need extra help or time to complete the assignment due to lack of supplies at home, and some may just be disinterested in the instruction if it doesn't pertain to them. With all this being said, it is crucial that I differentiate my instruction in such a way that all my students' learning needs are reached in all of these areas. For example, if I had an ESL student in my class, I would take the time to create a handout in the language they understand best, or even find an audio tape in a native language. If attaining a translator is possible, I would try to find one to help this student. For students of another culture, I would make sure I create lessons that allow them to express aspects of that culture in order to express themselves and to teach other students about their culture. These are just a few examples of how I would differentiate my instruction according to my students' backgrounds.

I also differentiate my instruction according to the different ways students learn within my classroom. As a teacher, it is important that I am aware of which students are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners, and that I create lessons that include aspects of each. For example, during instruction, I would verbally discuss the lesson with the students, which addresses auditory learners, and I would also incorporate images or videos to address visual learners. Kinesthetic learners would be addressed through the demonstration, or even during the instruction if I pass an example around of something that pertains to what I am teaching them.

Speakers: Becky Marine and Shanna McMullin

Today we had two guest speakers come in: Becky Marine, who is a special education teacher, and Shanna McMullin, an alternative education teacher. Both women provided me with a lot of insight in regards to special education and alternative education. I especially found learning about alternative education helpful because it is an area in education that I do not think too much about. I've known about the type of students who benefit from it, but I didn't know the details. I learned from Shanna about how at-risk students function in the classroom and what their mindset might be when they seem to be unfocused or unmotivated in the classroom, as they might be wondering what they'll eat today, or whether or not their parent(s) will be drinking today. I also learned the importance of conversing with students about their work and give them the opportunity to make changes if it does not meet the criteria or includes illicit elements, especially at-risk students who are used to failing. Hearing what Shanna had to say opened my eyes to how I should treat at-risk students in my classroom, especially given the backgrounds they may come from, and also how I can create lessons that these students can actively engage in.

Becky discussed special education students in the art room and how it is a chance and challenge to differentiate lessons according to each disability. While I have had some experience doing this, I have not had to differentiate lessons for students with disabilities such as cerebral palsy or low-functioning autism. While Becky talked about this, I found myself thinking about how I could differentiate my lesson that I've been preparing to teach at my placement to fit these students' learning needs, not that they exist at my placement, but if they did. It's good to think about the different types of disabilities that students might have, and how to effectively plan lessons so that these students are learning the necessary skills and learning objectives and are able to take part in the project, if possible. Becky also talked about the importance of taking part in IEP meetings, especially if I have a student with an IEP, which would help me to know the student better and how to help them meet their learning goals.

I'm glad these ladies came in to talk about these topics and their experiences. I found myself actively thinking about ways to reach these students, and how to take upon myself the challenge to get over myself and allow my students to really be who they are, especially students who are at-risk, so that they will feel comfortable with me, which I want.

Things I consider when determining my curriculum

Something I strongly consider when it comes to determining my curriculum is my students' prior knowledge and their skill sets. It is incredibly important to build off of their prior knowledge so that they can make the connections between the language and skills they learned previously to new language and skills to be covered in future lessons. I also consider what my students are learning in other classes and connect those concepts to a lesson I teach in order to build off of my student's knowledge in another subject, and so that they can see how different subjects can be integrated into art. 

Some other elements I keep in mind include my students' interests and experiences. I want to create a curriculum that keeps them engaged throughout the year. The best way to achieve this is to create lessons that incorporate a student's interests, including sports, hobbies, talents, etc. It is also important to connect a lesson with a student's experiences so that they can bring their own perspective into their art, as well as feel more connected to what they are learning.

I find that I must also consider who I am as a teacher when creating my curriculum. I consider my philosophy- that is my desire to have students to explore art and discover who they are as they create, my content knowledge, and what my strengths and weaknesses are, as I do not want to teach something I do not have a good grasp on an intellectual basis and hands-on basis. 

Presenter: Mrs. Larson, Elementary Art Teacher

Today, Mrs. Larson, an elementary school art teacher, came by to talk to my class about her experiences as a teacher, as well as some important points regarding what and how she teaches now. She mentioned that she is not only an art teacher, but a teacher of children in areas of social and life skills, organizational skills, cultural awareness, cross disciplines, and creativity and problem solving. On a logical basis, I know that a teacher is one who has the opportunity to teach children such skills, but to really commit it to practice in the classroom is not an easy task. But it is something I want to be able to establish and do successfully.

Mrs. Larson also talked about what success looks like in art, and how it should be established: having a responsive classroom is important, which includes the necessity of developing a philosophy on how you run your classroom, and how you teach this philosophy to your students before moving on to the subject matter. The best way to create a responsive classroom is through guided discovery, which means that the teacher helps students teak steps to review what they know about a material or medium, and then take it a step further by showing the student how to use it/them properly.

Mrs. Larson talked about a few important concepts that I have heard about, but not necessarily known too much about, including Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) and Student Learning Objectives (SLOs). She explained how PBIS is set up in the elementary school at which she teaches, and how she celebrates good behavior and helps to change bad behavior by reteaching students what good behavior looks like, and the benefits of behaving well. I also came to understand more about what is expected when creating SLOs, and how to effectively develop lessons to reach the goals set, as well as how to measure the progress made.

It was great to hear about Mrs. Larson's experiences as an elementary art teacher and everything she has had to figure out along the way. I found it especially helpful because I would love to teach elementary art one day. I also appreciated how she shared her curriculum map and documents with the class! It is always nice to get different resources from different teachers so that I can utilize what they have been using into my own instruction and tweak it to fit more of my style of teaching as well as tailor it to meet the needs of my students.