Practicum-Name Bugs:)

Art Practicum Reflection

March 14, 2011

I think a few things went really well with this lesson. The kids seemed to really enjoy the project and really got into making it their own unique picture. They all thought the art I showed them before was started was cool and they all were able to understand the concept of symmetry.

If I were to teach this again I think I would change the way I gave directions for the name bugs. I need to figure out how to teach to the quick kids as well as the ones who may be slower in following directions. I had the classroom teacher kind of go around with me and help the kids who were having trouble writing their names etc. I think I will maybe have some of the kids go around and help their classmate in the future since I won’t have another teacher in my classroom.

I didn’t anticipate the amount of confusion that the kids had in where they were supposed write their names. I just had to go around and tell students to erase and start over or get a new paper, or flip it over because they had written it in the wrong place. I will have to write up step-by-step instructions next time maybe with pictures to accompany the steps because kids like to go ahead when they think they know what is going on.

The students loved this project! I wasn’t surprised though because I loved it too when I was in third grade. They thought it was really cool to design and color in their own bugs or monsters. Some of them got really creative in their backgrounds and some even made their bugs saying things, which they came up with all on their own.

I would probably teach them another visual concept like that of symmetry. For example, patterns. We could make another bug or monster out of patterns and they could have a family of bugs or something like that.

This project did make me excited to teach art because the kids were creative and I could tell that they were all having such a good time. It’s fun to see their brains working and see what they can come up with on their own. I think that I would enjoy just teaching art in my classroom and not being a full time art teacher just because I feel like it’s easier to relate art to their lives when you know their lives better.

We actually hung of all the students work on the white board with magnets. The students were all able to go and hang their picture up when they thought they were done with it. The teacher will eventually put them in their portfolios that they keep all year. Parent teacher conferences were actually later that week and so the parents got to se their work hanging up while they waited or after they were done with their conference.

A student who is normally very shy and unwilling to share their work with others was very proud of hers and thought it was awesome. She was willing to show the class and explain what all the parts were, which is a huge step for her. It was great to see this leap of faith she took with my lesson. If I can make it so that kids learn to have confidence in themselves and their abilities I will feel like I have accomplished something as a teacher.