Well folks, yesterday was I fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the day with a teacher at Arts High School. In my case, the teacher was Margaret El of the art department.
In a word, Ms. El was "fabulous". (Interetingly, I recalled viewing her classroom during orientation and was hoping I would end up assigned to her. Sometimes the gods work in your favor...)
Anyway, the day began with a double-block session of Art IV, Seniors. This is the main subject course for those enrolled as art majors and I was lucky enough to observe a portfolio review class. (Apparently these seniors were preparing an art porfolio for AP art, for which if accepted, they receive college credit). Ms. El stood on a chair so she could see out over all the student work that had been laid out for review, one student at a time. With a knowledgeable eye, and a pointing finger, she skillfully called "in" or "out" to each piece to help the student put together the strongest portfolio possible, with all explanations clearly given. For some pieces, she suggested how to make them stronger. She was efficient and confident, and I was in awe of her capability. This was not such an easy task, for when you consider how talented these students are, even the pieces that were rejected were pretty great!
The next class I observed, ART I, was totally different. This group of Freshmen were having a multicultural art history lesson using a textbook. After they all went around the room reading aloud (not very strong readers I observed), Ms. El was careful to make connections for them about what they had read. In place of general notetaking, she had given each student a chart with categories such as "object" "who made it" "why" "vocabulary words", etc. and as they discussed the reading she had them fill in key terms on this chart that they would be working with until they finished the multicultural unit.
After this, I bought some lunch from the school cafeteria -- all I will say about this, is that now I know why my daughter never eats lunch at school! However, I brought my lunch back to Ms.El's room and enjoyed some very pleasant chit-chat with her.
After lunch, I attended what they call a PLC meeting with Ms. El and other members of her "team". Apparently teachers attend these "professional learning conferences" monthly and the agenda was about how to design open-ended questions to encourage more critical thinking from students. So "critical thinking" is something we will continue to hear about long after we leave Montclair!
The last class of the day was an "elective" studio art class where I observed students working on watercolor florals. This was a more informal, independent class where Ms. El simply walked around the room making comments and suggestions.
As an art ed major, I felt that I had gotten a really balanced view as I had the chance to observe a critique, a history lesson and a studio class -- all in one day! I really admired Ms. El's style. She was very focused on making learning connections for her students, always careful to point out how one thing was the result of another, or asking questions like, "what do you think would happen if this area was darker/lighter etc."
The kids in the first two classes were totally focused and well-behaved. At one point in the last class (open studio), the talk started going in a direction she did not like and I was surprised at how stern she could be, but Ii have to admit that her reprimand gained control instantly.
In summation, I was very grateful to have this opportunity and it reinforces my good opinion about the quality of the training we are receving at Montclair. I was also thankful to see a successful classroom in action, because a lot of people have been scaring me lately with teaching horror stories and while I am sure there are a lot of them out there, I need to stay focused on the positive aspects of teaching to succeed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I also noticed the same that you did on how the teachers seemed to really challenge the students. I observed a special needs class and to be honest, I couldn't tell that they were special needs students at all. The teacher I observed consistently challenged them by asking them to look things up or research something. I think it's amazing what a huge difference asking and telling can make. By asking a student they are forced to discover the answer themselves, however when you tell a student an answer they are likely to not find it as believable or important.
Wow, I wish I could have observed Ms. El. you are so lucky!
it wasn't long a go that I was preparing an AP art portfolio in high school. I remember how poorly managed that class was (we didn't even have a teacher, because the one they hired on a short notice simply walked out mid-year)and I would have loved to see Ms. El's and how the class SHOULD be taught. It sounds like you were impressed and that you learned a lot.
Post a Comment