The Decision

I enjoy using dramatic titles for my blogs.  Makes it seem like something super serious, but in today's blog, it's pretty low-key!

Essentially, I had a question that needed answering - "How does my cooperating teacher decide upon the curriculum for the art class?"

I was indeed curious about this because this is an area we've discussed in my ARTED208 class.  How does a teacher choose the curriculum?  My cooperating teacher has been at Osseo for 6 years.  When he first arrived, he based his projects off what the previous teacher had done.  He went through all the lesson plans and if there was something that didn't interest him, he chose not to continue that project.  From my understanding, he indicated that a teacher's interest in the project is just as important as the students' interest in the project.  If you, as a teacher, are bored with what you are teaching or showing, how will you properly and to the best of your ability teach the students?

I discussed with him briefly about this, and stated my opinion that I would perhaps also teach to my strengths.  If I'm not very good at ceramics, I may not teach that area very often.  He understood my point, but believes that variety in the art room is good, and to keep in mind that these students are a lot younger than myself.  Even if I'm not a master at the pottery wheel, I can still teach the basics and (hopefully) demo and create a project in a weak subject area that is better than what they can do.

In the end, I think when teaching a subject matter that I'm weak in, I just need to make sure I'm better than the students, haha.  

Work Now, Work Later

So my practicum experience has been a bit of a slow starter.  My cooperating teacher's kids have been sick the last week, and so he wasn't able to make it in to school.  Because of such, I missed out on two days - or six hours - of my experience.  Little disappointing and now there are some other factors I'm worried about.

Those factors.  Well, I mean, it's not too many.  It's more factors that are concerning me about how I'm going to make my hours for ARTED208.  The full-time manager at my store is going to be putting in her resignation next week.  This lady is amazing as a co-worker and as a friend, and I'm going to miss her dearly.  Where my stress comes in is that she and I had it figured out - my schedule - for my practicum experience all in advance so I wouldn't need to worry about what days I'd have off from work; I'd have it all planned out.

Well, since she's leaving now, and before my hours are filled, I'm concerned my Regional Manager is not going to be able to respect the days I needed, and instead tell me that as the part-time manager, I need to suck it up and take my "manager responsibility" and fill in Michelle's position.  

I'm ready for a talk with her though.  This class is the priority, not work.  That's a little hard for me because work IS how I pay for everything while I'm here at college.  I have an apartment I have to pay for, insurance that needs coverage, WiFi to attend to so I can do homework not on campus, and so while this current job is important, ultimately my FUTURE job is important.  The job where I'm going to be impacting children's lives till I'm sixty or even seventy.  (Yes, that would be so cool to teach art that long).

This will be difficult.  Heck yes, on so many levels.  But, I guess if an agreement cannot be found, I'll need to perhaps leave a current job that I enjoy over any of my past jobs, for the opportunity to make sure I'm 100% prepared for my future job.

Identities

Going to be bluntly honest with you good people.

Today was awful.

Some of you may put me in my place and remind me it could be worse - I'm not dying, right?  But today and the last couple weeks have been a struggle and never-ending uphill climb for me.  I dealt with a case of mono that kicked my butt one week and then kept me out of school and work another.  I'm still dealing with some symptoms that include weakness in my arms and legs, shakes in my hands, and then random fuzziness in my brain that makes it super hard for me to focus.  (Or, maybe I just need to go get glasses ordered already.)  And I'm still behind in the classes I missed that one week.

But why am I telling ya'll this?

Because of an important discussion that was held in my ARTED208 class, and a small subject we talked on - identities in today's society.  Granted, that is a broad statement of what we discussed because if I was to give a step by step guide on how we got from Point A to Point G, I'm going to lose you lovely ladies and gents.

It was that topic that made me contemplate my own personal online identity.  My assumption is that I probably don't know 90% of the people reading this.  Perhaps more.  And perhaps, I do know you very well which means shoutout to you!  But, my online identity is only a partial, and mostly Cindellerized version of my life.  You will probably see very little Facebook statuses from me complaining about how much I hate someone, or how hard was today (it could always be worse).  And, even though it's nice to post all the good, sugar and spice, frou frou of the going ons in my everyday life, it's really not an honest depiction.  And, more ironically, honesty is something I value and appreciate in people.

So time for that honesty.  Today was awful.  To the point where my body started to shake, and I could feel I was about to burst into tears and feel the overwhelming crippling effect of a short term anxiety attack.  Yay me, right?  And while I could have succumbed to that awful feeling that I thankfully don't get as much anymore, and could have planned to skip my last class of the day and go home and sleep, I took a mindful moment and have...slightly, put everything in prospective.

I came home, yes.  But, I didn't crawl into bed and pray for the waves of emotions to pass.  I decided I was going to write an article on my blog because, this does relate to my journey of teaching and once I finished that blog post, I was going to work on ***************.  This relates to my journey of becoming a teacher because I'm in college, college is going to get me a degree, and that degree will get me a job.

Haha, that's a very vague statement of why this relates.  But really.

School now, is going to get me into a school later.  And my journey isn't going to be all dandelions and confetti bursts.  So, every now and again, I'll post about an awful day, I'll take a moment to compose myself, and move on down the road that is going to make it possible for me to teach and impact children someday.

And in the end, HOW COOL IS THAT.




************* indicates a secret thing I'm making in case said person reads this blog - don't want to ruin the surprise!

Introduction Foremost

While I have already posted a couple writings already, I think it best to introduce myself not only as a person, but as a student and growing art teacher.

My name is Valerie; at the moment I'm going to omit my last name.  Even though my blog profile has one listed, that is my creative made-up one since I want to monitor how easily people can find me through social media.  I think that's actually very important as a person participating in daily online activity.  Always be aware of what you post because you never know exactly who is reading.

The school I am partnering at is at a middle school about an hour away.  I attend my 12:30-3:30 on days when I'm not in class and not working as an assistant manager at a movie/game rental store, and so far, it's been very enjoyable!  There is one half hour during that time where he has a 9-12 grade class, and it's very interesting to see the difference in their behavior versus the 6th-8th graders.

Mr. B is the cooperating teacher I was paired with, and I'm looking forward to working and learning from him.  I'm interested to see how we get on because today he acknowledged to me that I'm an "A-type" personality, and he is not.  I like to think I can get along with anyone - you just need to know how to adjust yourself to fit their puzzle of social pieces - but I still get nervous that people will get annoyed with my loud laugh, constant smiles, and bubbly demeanor.  I know it did in high school, and that was four years ago!  I think he'll be able to teach me a lot and help me realize what kind of teacher I want to be since he is wise and knowing from 15 years of teaching.

The reason I've been paired with a teacher at a school in the surrounding area was for my ARTED-208 class here at UW-Stout.  It's essentially our first practicum experience; getting our feet wet.  From my understanding, it's a pretty open-ended experience.  There are some requirements, but after that first observational day, our teachers can use us however they need to.

Today, I actually helped Mr. B find a better price for a set of paintbrushes.  He has been working on buying certain new supplies for the year.  It is crazy, yet awesome how much time he puts into figuring out his budget.  He compares prices against four major businesses, and then, "other" stores that might include Walmart, Menards, etc.  Going back to how I helped him today, as sort of an example, he gave me a catalog and told me to find a set of brushes; not coarse bristles, a mix of round and flat, and preferably a fan brush too.

I found three sets total to compare against.  Two of them were ones he had already found, but then, I found one that he somehow missed.  The first set came with 5 brushes and was only $2.10, but didn't have a fan brush.  The second set was $6.95, set of four and came with a fan brush.  The one I found was only $4.95, came with six brushes - one of which being a fan brush.  After doing the discount the company offers, the set was only $3.28 and was the cheapest option against all the difference choices he had picked from the company.  It felt....good, knowing I helped him save some money.  My first little success. :)

It also showed me the importance of good budgeting.  Mr. B gets a very nice budget for the art department, but he has shown incredibly responsibility with that money.  Yeah, comparing and contrasting prices to multiple companies may take up my time, but it helps save money; and some schools definitely struggle with funding their fine arts programs enough.

So yes!  That was my first day.  I'll be hashing out an entry probably tomorrow or shortly after answering specific questions required of the ARTED208 class.  Chip, chip, and cheer-io!

In Response to Mr. Harsh

For Tuesday, February 2nd, 2016, ARTED208 was asked to watch a video by a teacher - Mr. Harsh.  The video was an excellent example of teaching aesthetic experience in our art classes.  I easily became engaged with watching the video and Mr. Harsh because of his enthusiasm and love for not just the material, but also his students.  Such was apparent by the end of the video when he became choked up talking about what the students thank him for at the end of the school year - that he taught them how to love themselves.  

How powerful is that?  Seeing a real example of how we impact our students lives.

• How does Mr. Harsh teach aesthetics?

Mr. Harsh taught aesthetics by moving them gradually into the understanding of what aesthetics mean.  He turned something ordinary or "practical" as he put it, and described experiences (such as pouring creamer into coffee) in a way that was beautiful and showed his point - that aesthetics are an experience and that experience can be even something simple in everyday life.  

• How does Mr. Harsh engage students?  How do you know that they are ENGAGED?

 He was also very successful in engaging his students.  I think one way he was able to engage them successfully was the fact that he went through the class lesson and teachable moments in both English and Spanish.  By doing such, he didn't leave anyone out and developed a level of respect with the students.  His enthusiasm was contagious, and his energy was so positive with everything he said.  It was obvious to me that the students were engaged because he had to do little to no prodding to get them to participate and/or ask questions.  Students volunteered with their responses to the red dye being dropped into the water, and no one needed their arm twisted to do such.

• How does Mr. Harsh create instructional opportunities adapted to diverse learners?

This is where it was so cool he took moments in the lesson to talk in both English and Spanish!  Perhaps there are students in the class that know the basics of English, but by him going and saying instructions once in English and then once in Spanish, not only is he allowing them to understand what the lesson is about, but also for them to make that connection of what he is saying and better their own language skills.

• Are there topics that Mr. Harsh touches on that you would not?
• Or would you address topics in a different way? 

 I believe Mr. Harsh did a very good job with delivering the material and how he presented it.  Nothing felt unrelated or irrelevant.  I don't think I would address these topics in any other way.  Mr. Harsh is actually something of an inspiration to me now.  

To define "aesthetics" at a fifth grade level:

The way a person can appreciate and experience beauty - or what one considers beauty - in not only art work, music, literature, etc - but also in everyday life moments.