Overall Teaching Surprises:

My lesson was about students engaging in social issues that were personal to their interests.

Some topics such as food insecurity and suicide surprised me because it reminded me that

students at this age are not naïve to what goes on in the world, and that students have the ability

to connect with large world issues. From my lessons, what surprised me is how important it is to

have the ability to think on your feet as a teacher. You as a teacher need to have the flexibility to

change how you are asking a question or use different techniques or methods to increase

engagement in the classroom and check for understanding.

Best:
A. Student Responses:
During discussions, students such as Alexander and Nicholas seemed to pick up what I

was teaching more easily than the rest of the class. During class, Alexander was always eager to

respond to my questions and even when he changed his topic to the COVID-19, he had detailed

sketches of maps and factories and was able to tell me his plans like the color palette or story

behind his concepts. Nicholas L, whose topic was ‘the future of technology’, was able to go in

depth about how he thinks society should not get too consumed into technology and let it take

over their lives. I think that these students have just been exposed to or are already developed

interests of this nature outside of class, so they are bringing their knowledge with them to the

classroom. As a teacher to support them, I can ask up further questions about why these topics

are their interests or have them explore different aspects of the same issues.

B. Questions/Dialogue:
On the third day of teaching I felt the biggest breakthrough start to happen in relation to

understanding the concept of how public art and installations interact and evoke emotion from a

viewer. When I started asking questions about visual culture related topics such as Tangled and

relating the lights scene to Kusama’s “Infinity Rooms”, the students were able to respond more
in terms of how art evokes emotion and a reaction from a viewer. These questions were

successful because the visual culture connections were something that they could relate to and

talk about. I also incorporated academic language referring to elements and principles when

giving my students feedback on their think sheet papers and when asking questions about the

artist examples during class. I incorporated academic language so that students can use these

specific elements and principles as tools in order to create public artwork designs that were

effective and visually appealing.

C. Problem & Solving:

design proposal relates to their social issue. To help with this, I created the scenario of an

installation where I would cover a wall of their classroom in homework and how they would

feel. Students had an immediate reaction, and that was a great step into helping them understand

the concept of art and location going together. Another problem they had was coming up with

concept sketches of their social issue design works. I solved this by researching different public

artworks that were related to their social issue in some way, which helped students greatly with

having inspiration off which to base new ideas.

D. Organization:
Having my students each have an individual folder to hold their think sheet, sketches, and

final paper made it easy to keep their work all together with one another as well as having their

name tag attached, as it made it easy to read and pass out. By day three, I decided to organize

students by their progress. This was helpful because it kept me organized by knowing who or

what I was dealing with when I visited each table. I also made sure to have feedback written on

different post it notes, so students can know the progress of my communication with them and

will be reminded to all have equal and neat margins in their paintings.
 E. Quality of Student Work:
Looking at all my students, some were nearly finished or started drawing on their final

pieces, while others had start finishing solid sketches. For example, Nathan T. and Ana were able

to fill the entire space of the composition, using symmetry and scale within their final drafts.

Kevin, who wanted to do his project on drugs, once given inspiration to use objects and not just

anti-drug signs, wanted to create a design by scaling up prescription drug bottles and use a

factory space to comment on the drug pharmacy which was highly conceptual and thought out

compared to his earlier sketches. These students were able to be successful because as a teacher I

made sure to give them all specific examples that related to their social issue that they can get

inspired by, and because I made sure to sit down with each individual student at least once

during their brainstorming sessions in order to check their progress and push them in the right

direction.

Improvement:
A. Student Responses:
For student responses, I wish I was able to ask students themselves if they were engaged

in the project and fully confident about their social issues, as well as working on their

understanding of what I was teaching them conceptually. I needed to keep checking their

understanding because what I was teaching them at this developmental age is quite abstract and

complex, which is challenging to their thinking skills, meaning that I need to scaffold my lessons

with more support so they are not completely lost in class. To do this, I would not only try to be

more open and have clarity about the direction of the project, but also having more room for

group collaboration and students talking to their neighbors, not just me calling on people after

posing a question to increase engagement and dialogue within the class.

B. Questions/Dialogue:
At the middle level, this teaching experience made me realize that I need to work on my
vocabulary level as a teacher and using terms appropriate for their age level. When I used words

such as- “interact”, “installation”, and even the abstract concept of ”art as an experience”, those

phrases and ideas can be completely foreign to students at this level. I think that I should have

definitely incorporated more visual culture because once I started to do that on Day 3, I felt that

the attitudes of my students changed for the better. Also, I need to work on including more

academic language throughout my presentations and interactions with the students. To better

include academic language in my lessons and dialogue, I would make sure to go over vocabulary

and when asking students questions about their artwork or artist examples, to make sure they

name the specific elements or principles in their answers. Repetition is important with

vocabulary to normalize it in the classroom.

C. Problem & Solving:

inappropriate answers that I felt were trying to derail the conversation with humor or for him to

start talking politics. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and reason with him, but I felt

that he did not respect me and I would either try and continue my stern nature or ask his actual

teacher on how to handle his behavior. I would try to have a one on one conversation about his

behavior, as well as try to find interests that I know that I would be able to talk about with him,

or at least try to open his mind to other topics that are similar to his interests and redirect his

energy and wit to be productive and somehow infuse it with his artmaking.

D. Organization:
For organization I wish I was able to assign jobs to students according to their name tags

and taking advantage of the symbols I put on them. I would make sure to point out to the

students about the symbols and gone over that on the first day and create a normalized routine of

switching between groups. I think that I should have been better in terms of time management,
making sure to have a proper closure in class so students will remember what concepts they

needed to learn that day, and expectations for next class. This could have been aided by me

remembering the times of the class and checking my watch more when possible. And, when

giving students work time, making sure that I keep track and when I say something like ‘You

have 5 minutes left’, actually meaning it and following through by getting students ready for the

next step.

E. Quality of Student Work:

drawing in shapes rather than lines and keeping them on track to finish what they needed to by

the end of each days. Shapes would have been larger for them to paint in, and I needed to remind

the students that it is not the little detailed single lines that make a painting, rather the large

overall color and composition as a whole. I should have reminded students to draw even larger,

as well as to keep in their heads that their work will have to take in consideration their chosen

location for display. I could have done this by showing my example from earlier as well as

bringing it with me when I would check in with the students.

Differentiated Teaching:

My focus student, Ana, was quiet but was clearly gifted in drawing and picked a complex

issue which was suicide. Because of school policies, I tried to guide her to mental health in

general, but looking at her drawing now, I did notice she had a figure hanging themselves. I

specifically spoke to her about the school policies, and what was appropriate, and instead of

focusing on the act of suicide itself, I reminded her about what comes before suicide, which is

the importance of one’s mental health and their emotions. However, I would still focus on

talking with her to make sure her drawing is art show appropriate, while also praising her on the

movement created through figures going up and down.

I realized that as a teacher, I need to be mindful of the language I am using in class, by

making sure it is appropriate for the grade level and keeping students engaged by constantly

checking for their comprehension of what I am trying to teach. Moving forward, I want to make

sure my lesson plans have clarity in what I plan to do with the students and what I want to get

from them and also connecting to the students more with their personal lives and what they know

within visual culture to keep them engaged in learning. It is important for my students to feel

comfortable to ask me questions when I am being too technical or advanced, because it is about

their learning at their level, not them feeling intimidated to ask me questions and me giving them

answers.

During my teaching experience, when I would ask open-ended questions to students, I

realize now that because I tend to speak at a high vocabulary and my personality is not very

extroverted and peppy, it might have made students disinterested, confused or too scared to

answer my questions incase their interpretations were wrong. Over time, and especially on Day 3

where I asked bluntly if students were confused was when I felt a breakthrough with my teaching

and started to relate more to the students and they opened up for more discussion. I would

continue to include more visual culture within my lessons, and asking students about their own

general past experiences with art whether it be public art or in museums.

I think that some students are definitely on track with what I outlined in my lesson plan,

but many were behind, from either not figuring out their final design ideas and needed to go back

to square one with more research, or they just finalized their ideas and needed to start drawing. I

tried to give them time when I could, but because most of them were still confused by the

assignment and conceptual ideas, I think it hindered their progress greatly in what they were
doing. To improve on this, I would stagger the demos I planned so that those who were on track

can progress further and I can then give more time for other students to catch up to the class by

offering advice as well as asking what specific problems confused them.

From the three lessons I taught, I think that that I never gave myself and the class time for

a full closure session. If anything, it would be a fleeting question right before they were

dismissed, but otherwise because I was not doing great at time management, I never got to delve

deep with closure at the end of the lesson. I think I would need to sacrifice some parts of lecture

or discussion by either having pair-shares and limit to one to two answers before moving on to

the more imperative parts of the lesson.

I think that the students who were on track their work quality is doing well. My focus

student, Ana had all of her figures and building drawn, and were on track to start painting soon.

However, I would have encouraged her to draw her figures larger to make them easier for

paining. Some students like Nicholas L who was doing a robot and Kevin who chose to do his on

drugs had very detailed and well thought out plans in their sketches of large pill bottles and robot

parts. I think that Kevin could have still drawn his pill bottles larger and would suggest he think

about the perspective how we are viewing the drawing. For Nicholas, I would want to know

more about his location and how he would want to display his robot in his public space.

However, some students still needed to finish finalizing their final sketches and start drawing,

like Ciara who was still confused on the assignment. Making sure the students were drawing

large and understood the assignment well so that they could be confident doing it would have

helped them feel more at ease and get them on track fast since drawing in large shapes is simpler

than focusing on only details. I would also give written feedback about their drawings and talk to

them one on one to know where they are headed and what specific issues they need help with.
 I made sure that during their sketching time and starting final drafts on Day 3 I checked

on each student individually as well as in a group. I separated students by how done they seemed

in order to see which group of students needed my help versus those who just needed quick

confirmations or were doing well when left alone. I did this not only to keep myself organized,

but in hopes that students in the same boat could help each other. It allowed for me not have to

flit back between two students in similar situations as I can handle them both at the same time.

I could have definitely improved making sure that I had more time for closure in order to

review that my students did in fact learn something new in class. By asking them questions it

reinforces what they have learned it as well as let me know what they still did not understand. I

also could have checked students more for comprehension by asking them questions as well as

encouraging group work and collaboration with answers so that they could feel more

comfortable talking to me. I also think that my personality can come off awkward and a little

cold, so being livelier could also help with establishing relationships with the students since they

would feel more comfortable talking to me.

I think that after my Day 2 feedback, I think that Kevin specifically was one of my

greatest improvement in terms of ideas. Because I was able to give him an anti-drug artwork that

used pill bottles to create a skeleton, he was inspired to use the bottles instead by scaling them up

of just making signs that say, ‘No drugs!’ with the red circle and the slash through out. I was

glad that I made sure to look up different examples for each student that related to their social

issue so they had a specific reference to get inspiration from. I think also on Day 3 when I started

involving examples using visual culture such as Tangled, or an example that was school related

like homework covering the walls of a classroom, students were more engaged because they

could relate to what I was talking about because it was familiar to their personal lives. Making
sure you have simple examples that easily relate to the students at an appropriate level not only

makes them more open to talking to you but also helps them understand the concepts better.