Fort Collins High School
Fall 2015
My last practicum experience before student teaching was done at Fort Collins High School and I spent the Fall semester of 2015 working closely with the students and teachers in the art department. During this time I worked in two art classes; painting and photography one. For this practicum I was required to teach two lessons during our time in the classroom. For my photography lesson I chose to have students find houses around Fort Collins that they thought were interesting. Students were also challenged to think about symmetry and balance while photographing their houses. Students needed to find different houses that shared similar characteristics so that they could create a series of three photos that shared a similar quality of characteristic such as asymmetrical balance or unusual door shapes.The painting lesson I taught focused on watercolor techniques that students would be using for their next major assignment. For this lesson I created work sheets for students to use to practice the techniques as I demonstrated them. Techniques taught included sprinkling salt onto the wet paint, rubber cement resist, crayon resist, a gradient wash and layering of colors. Students were then required to keep these worksheets in their sketchbooks to use as a reference at a later time.
In addition to teaching lessons I attended a class that met after our teaching times to talk about resume writing and teaching strategies that would be helpful for me in the classrooms at Fort Collins but also my own classroom in the future. This class also gave me information about interviewing, management plans and working with students with IEP's or 504's.
Below is my Teacher Work Sample from my time at Fort Collins High School as well as the lesson plans for both photography and painting in addition to the resources that were given to students. I have also included my resume and management plan created during this practicum.
In addition to teaching lessons I attended a class that met after our teaching times to talk about resume writing and teaching strategies that would be helpful for me in the classrooms at Fort Collins but also my own classroom in the future. This class also gave me information about interviewing, management plans and working with students with IEP's or 504's.
Below is my Teacher Work Sample from my time at Fort Collins High School as well as the lesson plans for both photography and painting in addition to the resources that were given to students. I have also included my resume and management plan created during this practicum.
Teacher Work Sample:
Fort Collins High School
Fall 2015
-Setting and Context-
The School Community
Students learn in a very proud community. The school spirit is a large part of the school culture. The school provides students with programs and resources that include: ACE, AVID, Advanced Placement, Bio-science Career Academy, Concurrent Enrollment, ELA, FRCC, Gifted & Talented, Outreach, PaCE, Teen Parent, and Transition Academy. There is a Parent Athletic Club (PAC) where parents of athletes can be involved in helping with sports activities. According to the website the school has strong core values that are used as pillars of excellence. “The FCHS Pillars of Excellence as articulated through the core values of acceptance, pride, integrity, respect and responsibility guide our interactions with each other and within our community.” The school also provides a class period for freshman called Lambkin Way; it is a place for the freshman to learn about the school as well as to stay on track with their assignments and grades. The school is place where everyone is given a safe place to learn and exceed expectations. The student body at Fort Collins High School is made up of 69% of white students and 32% of the student body is on free and reduced lunch. While no student is the same, having a majority of the students being white makes the school very homogeneous, and many of the students are going to be coming from similar backgrounds. A lot of the ideas in the school focus around their statement “Where Excellence is Expected.” This statement is posted all around the school making it obvious to students that they will not be allowed to give less than 100%.
Students and the Classroom
Each classroom I am in consists of a mixture of all of the grade levels. Some of the students seem to be less mature than others, some students struggle with motivation. Each of the classes has a cheerleaders, football players, band kids, and kids who get along with everyone. In both classes students seem to stick to themselves or only talk to their table group. Neither of the classes feels like a place where students are quite ready to talk openly around each other. The classroom for painting and photography is the same. There are large windows that allow a lot of light in during the morning hours; this makes it hard to get it dark to give a PowerPoint presentation. The room also has a darkroom for the photography class, and the room if attached to two other art rooms. There are a lot of decorations in the classroom that could be used for still lives or art projects.
Topic and Rationale
In the painting class students have done an abstract painting using a small piece of a magazine clipping and expanding off the clipping to make a painting. The students are now working on a collaborative piece with a social studies class that is going to focus on political art. The social studies class is going to be making podcasts, and then the painting students will create paintings that focus on the podcast and their reactions to it. In the photography classroom the students have done an assignment on the principles of art such as line, shape, form, etc. The painting students seem to already know a decent amount about color theory and composition. We are not in the class enough to get a good idea of everything that they know. The photography students know how to use their film cameras, develop their film, create contact sheets of their film, and how develop images. I am going to be teaching a photography lesson, and in the painting class I will be leading a watercolor technique introduction.
-The Lessons-
Photography Lesson
Resources
Post Lesson Reflection
1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved?
Lesson objectives were achieved fairly well. Many students shared their thinking during the class discussion of what kinds of features are found on houses. I think this was a good measure of what students knew to be looking for while out taking their photos.
There were some students who did not have 36 photos taken of houses, even students who had 36 images did not go outside of their neighborhood to find unique houses.
While students seemed to understand what I was wanting them to do with this project I do believe that I could have done a better job of checking for understanding before allowing students to go out and shoot their film. I could have done this with a ticket out the door or even a quick cold call to see if students knew how many photos of a feature they needed, and specifics that I might have rushed over that students may have missed or misunderstood.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach again?
As Mentioned above I would do a quick check for understanding before letting the students work on other things for the class. I would also have more information in my slide show about the best ways to get consistent photos that would make a good series of three. I would include things such as taking photos from the same angle so that students did not end up with with two photos from straight on and one photo from the side. Just making sure the students have all the information they need to get the best photos possible. I would also test my power point before starting. When i taught none of my pictures showed up on my power point which made it difficult to explain to students what exactly I would be looking for from them.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson?
The continuation off of this lesson would be how to show students how to pick and print the three images they would like to use for their series of three. To pick images students need to think about the subject matter that their images are focused on and the type of angle they used to take the image. It is also important that all three images are printed the exact same size and with the same tonal quality so they appear to be a cohesive group of images. After printing it would be very important to teach students how to mount all three of their pictures straight and even on a single piece of mat board. The students already know how to mat a single image, but not three.
Lesson objectives were achieved fairly well. Many students shared their thinking during the class discussion of what kinds of features are found on houses. I think this was a good measure of what students knew to be looking for while out taking their photos.
There were some students who did not have 36 photos taken of houses, even students who had 36 images did not go outside of their neighborhood to find unique houses.
While students seemed to understand what I was wanting them to do with this project I do believe that I could have done a better job of checking for understanding before allowing students to go out and shoot their film. I could have done this with a ticket out the door or even a quick cold call to see if students knew how many photos of a feature they needed, and specifics that I might have rushed over that students may have missed or misunderstood.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach again?
As Mentioned above I would do a quick check for understanding before letting the students work on other things for the class. I would also have more information in my slide show about the best ways to get consistent photos that would make a good series of three. I would include things such as taking photos from the same angle so that students did not end up with with two photos from straight on and one photo from the side. Just making sure the students have all the information they need to get the best photos possible. I would also test my power point before starting. When i taught none of my pictures showed up on my power point which made it difficult to explain to students what exactly I would be looking for from them.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson?
The continuation off of this lesson would be how to show students how to pick and print the three images they would like to use for their series of three. To pick images students need to think about the subject matter that their images are focused on and the type of angle they used to take the image. It is also important that all three images are printed the exact same size and with the same tonal quality so they appear to be a cohesive group of images. After printing it would be very important to teach students how to mount all three of their pictures straight and even on a single piece of mat board. The students already know how to mat a single image, but not three.
Teacher Evaluation
Painting Lesson
Resources and Example
Post Lesson Reflection
1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved?
The objectives for this lesson were for students to be able to demonstrate watercolor techniques that they could possibly use in a larger painting. Each student was given a worksheet like the one above and as a class we worked down the sheet and worked on creating each technique. The techniques practiced included adding salt to the paint, creating texture with sponges and toothbrushes, gradient color, flat application, layering of colors, and resist. Checking for understanding was done by watching students complete their worksheets.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach again?
My classroom teacher and I discussed talking more about the characteristics of watercolor paint and what happens when you use more or less water as well as how it is different and similar to acrylic paint. I think I would also have informational slides up, with little text, as we worked on each technique. When I taught I went through the power point that had instructions before we did the demonstrations and I also had too much text on the slides, so I would work on cutting down the text for the next time.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson?
For a continuation I would have students do a more in depth painting using the techniques we had learned and then once their paintings were done, we would have a discussion about which techniques each student chose to use and why. I think that it is important for students to voice their decisions and their intent.
The objectives for this lesson were for students to be able to demonstrate watercolor techniques that they could possibly use in a larger painting. Each student was given a worksheet like the one above and as a class we worked down the sheet and worked on creating each technique. The techniques practiced included adding salt to the paint, creating texture with sponges and toothbrushes, gradient color, flat application, layering of colors, and resist. Checking for understanding was done by watching students complete their worksheets.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you make if you were to teach again?
My classroom teacher and I discussed talking more about the characteristics of watercolor paint and what happens when you use more or less water as well as how it is different and similar to acrylic paint. I think I would also have informational slides up, with little text, as we worked on each technique. When I taught I went through the power point that had instructions before we did the demonstrations and I also had too much text on the slides, so I would work on cutting down the text for the next time.
3. What do you envision for the next lesson?
For a continuation I would have students do a more in depth painting using the techniques we had learned and then once their paintings were done, we would have a discussion about which techniques each student chose to use and why. I think that it is important for students to voice their decisions and their intent.
Teacher Evaluation
-Assessment Project-
For the assessment project, we worked in groups of three to four to create a co-curricular unit plan. We had to include an introduction to set the stage for our unit and includes our topic, standards, and objectives, the big ideas/essential understandings for each content area, inquiry questions, possible misconceptions, formative assessment ideas (2 per content area, e.g, Social Studies, English, and Math = 6), description of the assessment, what exactly we will assess (evidence outcomes), and how will this data drive our instruction, description of summative assessment, a rubric of summative assessment, and a poster presentation of project assessment.
Below is a link to the poster presentation my group and I created that includes all of the above information.
Below is a link to the poster presentation my group and I created that includes all of the above information.
-Modifications, Adaptations, Accommodations-
In the photography class, there is a student who recently tore some ligaments in his arm, which made it difficult for him to use his camera. The student and classroom teacher talked and decided that he could use a tripod to help him shoot his photos. She also has a student in one of her other classes that is disabled who has a para in the class to help her. The student is also only required to take ten photos instead of 36.
In the painting class there are a couple of students who are struggling outside of school with family issues, so they are sometimes given extended time on projects, or the classroom teacher will work out a plan for the students to borrow supplies to work on projects at home.
In the painting class there are a couple of students who are struggling outside of school with family issues, so they are sometimes given extended time on projects, or the classroom teacher will work out a plan for the students to borrow supplies to work on projects at home.
-Reflection and Critique-
What did teaching this lesson teach you?
Teaching these lessons this semester taught me that I still have a lot to learn. I have also gotten into a habit of using power points to present materials and I believe that there are better ways to give students information. I believe that my style in front of students is relaxed but firm. There is a time for jokes and casual conversation and there is a time to be quiet and paying attention. I think that it is important to get students involved in the lesson by asking questions and seeing their point of view on the subject. One of my professors very firmly believes that the one doing the talking is the one doing the learning. I think this is a great way to think in the classroom but I think that it is also important to realize that not all students are comfortable talking in front of the class so there needs to be other ways for them to show their learning and understanding of the content.
What have you learned about yourself over this semester?
I have learned a lot about myself this semester. I have learned that I still have a long way to go before I can be the teacher I want to be. I need to be more confident in myself and the things that I know. I know that I do not want my students to be afraid to ask me questions, I want my classroom to be a place where students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of being told they are wrong. Music will be welcome in my classroom, whether the students use their own headphones or I play it on speakers for everyone to hear, it will be there. In my classroom students will have projects that are relevant to them and what they face every day.
Teaching these lessons this semester taught me that I still have a lot to learn. I have also gotten into a habit of using power points to present materials and I believe that there are better ways to give students information. I believe that my style in front of students is relaxed but firm. There is a time for jokes and casual conversation and there is a time to be quiet and paying attention. I think that it is important to get students involved in the lesson by asking questions and seeing their point of view on the subject. One of my professors very firmly believes that the one doing the talking is the one doing the learning. I think this is a great way to think in the classroom but I think that it is also important to realize that not all students are comfortable talking in front of the class so there needs to be other ways for them to show their learning and understanding of the content.
What have you learned about yourself over this semester?
I have learned a lot about myself this semester. I have learned that I still have a long way to go before I can be the teacher I want to be. I need to be more confident in myself and the things that I know. I know that I do not want my students to be afraid to ask me questions, I want my classroom to be a place where students feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas without fear of being told they are wrong. Music will be welcome in my classroom, whether the students use their own headphones or I play it on speakers for everyone to hear, it will be there. In my classroom students will have projects that are relevant to them and what they face every day.