Stippling Portraits - A Practicum Lesson

It seems my first page of my lesson plan is too big as an image to upload :(  Keep scrolling for other information regarding the lesson! :)

A project sample I created.  If going for realism, the lesson can be taught a high school level, but if you are teaching a class about gradients, contrast, and value, this project is also attainable.

Blake Lively, Fingerprints

These are the three project samples of the student's work.  We taught a 7th grade class; one of these students had an IEP even!  Can you tell?  I can't!

Student 1: Taylor Swift

 Student Two: LeBron James

 Student Three: Vinn Diesel

Reflection on First Practicum

This semester provided me with my first student practicum experience.  Me and one other girl in my ArtEd208 class - Lindsey - were partners over at a middle/high school about an hour away.  The first day I was there, I felt pretty unsure.  I didn't know anything about the teacher we were partnering with, but thankfully I knew the school from music and sporting events.  That provided me some comfort.

When I met my cooperating teacher, my initial reaction was dread.  He reminded me of my old band teacher - quiet, little awkward, but somehow having immediate respect from his students.  There wasn't a lot of obvious positivity/pleasantness when I met him, and I worried that would make me uncomfortable and feel inadequate.  Luckily enough, Mr. B kind of address it by himself.  He called himself not a Type-A personality and isn't going to be smiling and outgoing all day every day.  But I shouldn't take any offense.  This was one of my biggest "problems" that I ran into my practicum because my biggest fear was that my cooperating teacher and I would not get along.  Not the case at all.  Despite us having completely different personalities, I felt I could talk to him and go to him for advice and be met with reciprocated respect.

The rest of the experience was also incredibly eye-opening.  I taught a week long lesson with Lindsey, and I had many valuable lessons from it.  The first day, we had struggled with time and gave our students a little too much in some areas, and so they got a little squirrel-y.  That was eye-opening that even when we plan activities out for certain amounts of time, sometimes students don't need as much time as we give them.

My third lesson I learned was about the connections with the students.  How I learned this was from a mistake on my part.  I didn't know all the names of the students, instead, I was participating in a "no-hands" calling on method and picking three or four names to specifically call on students and in the process, know their names.  I had read the seating chart wrong one day, and thought one of my students was called *Brian.  His name, in fact, was *Brice.  Easy mistake because of chicken scrawl.  I was calling on students by their name, and then he raised his hand.  I hadn't known the name, so I said, "Yes, you."

The next day, he totally called me on it before the start of class.  We had a good laugh, and I proceeded to call him *Brian.  I thought I was burning down bridges with this student because of my continuous errors, but he turned out to be a very enthusiastic student who both respected and enjoyed cracking jokes with me.  I got to know all the students on some more personal levels.  Such as, I could tell that *Alicia was a perfectionist and did not do well under time constraints.  *John was a stubborn student and did not like being told how to do something, so you'd need to phrase your suggestions in ways that led him to the conclusion by himself.  *Lily was a quieter student, but showed that she has a deeper understander of people through her paragraph describing why she chose the person she did for the portrait.

The last day of my teaching, I felt a mixture of pride and sadness.  Pride because I had succeed at my first long term teaching moment, and sadness because I felt responsible for these children and knew that I'd probably never see them again.

The entire practicum experience taught me many things.  Not only did it prepare me for edTPA and the video recording (what I had was absolute garbage), but I learned so much in regards to student interaction with classroom related and not classroom related subjects.  I also observed many interesting moments and instructional skills from Mr. B that I want to carry with me in my own classroom some day.  I love his idea of giving each student an art kit that they are responsible for the entire year and need to replace anything that goes missing.  I love how he creates his seating charts - allowing students to write two people they'd like to sit by and one person they'd not like to sit by on a card that only he sees.  I appreciated how he goes above and beyond with students he might not even have in his class to work with their parents and get these students back on track.  This first experience was wonderful, and it truly reinforced my wanting to become an art teacher.  Yes, there were hard times, but each of these hard times help me grow to become the amazing art teacher that I want to be.

Up and Down, Like Waves in the Ocean

The last couple days have been absolutely crazy.  I'm at the point where one more bad thing is going to send me over the edge, and I'll break down crying.  But hey, that's part of the college experience.  Part of becoming a teacher.  Oh, and once you are a teacher, you are going to cry for sure.

Today, I was inspired though.  My professor, advisor, program director opened up to my class about something personal and how she overcame it.  I don't believe in coincidences, and I think this story came at the perfect time.  I'm feel pretty low - between school and work - but, after listening to her tell us of this kind of really awful experience and how she triumphed from it....it really hit me in a place that makes it hard to breathe.

See, I've had my fair share of awful events.  They still get to me in multiple ways.  I was assaulted my sophomore year of college at a Stout organized event.  By a friend nonetheless which statistics tell you is the majority of the time.  At the same time, I had been dating someone for a little over a year, and the event brought out his true character.  He was unbalanced, childish, and emotionally abusive.  It happened at the worst time because I needed someone and the one person I would have turned to, did nothing to support me and give me the time that I needed to heal.

Thankfully he is no longer in my life, and I've been able to grow from what happened to me, but there are times when I'm dealing with high stress that it all crashes back in on me and the doubt he placed in my head comes whispering back.  Until just a bit ago when my professor talked to us, I was getting close to a type of down I haven't felt in months.  A type of down that would consume me for a few days, which, obviously is not good timing.

What I'm trying to say is, you never know who needed those kind words, that inspirational speech, the high five.  You never know when someone needed to hear exactly what you had to say.  I'm still feeling unsteady on my feet, but I'm going to be okay.  This too shall pass.  A mantra that is good to live by.  To see someone overcome something that very much was the end of the world, it gave me what I was looking for to keep pushing on no matter what the obstacles and get to the finish line.  The finish line of teaching students about art for the rest of my life and changing their lives, as so many teachers - both art and not - have done for me.

Questions (6-10)

We are so close to the end of this semester, a semester that taught me more than I thought possible.  And with the end coming to a close, that means there is a whole bunch of last minute things to be done that weren't taken care of in the beginning, haha.

I will finally answer the rest of the assigned reflective questions in regards to my student practicum experience.

Question 6: "Are there rules posted?  What are they?"

At the beginning of the experience, Mr. B didn't actually have the rules posted.  That was something my co-teacher, Lindsey brought to his attention.  It was almost like he had a, "d'oh" moment with how helpful having the rules in visible spots for the students would be.  About halfway through, he got them posted on the backs of their cubbies that face the student work section.  These rules talk about classroom etiquette such as picking up after oneself and not wasting materials, but it also described their discipline policy that is school-wide and has just been put into affect in the last year.

Question 7: "How does the teacher address safety issues?"

During our time with Mr. B, we never got to see him address safety issues in the class, so I asked him how he goes about doing such.  He stated that whenever they start a new project, and there is possible safety concerns, he goes over with the students how to properly handle the equipment.  Sometimes, the equipment cannot be handled by the students so he explains the reasons why.  His number one thing is to always explain "why" about new situations or with questions.  And then, if students break the safety rules the discipline plan is put into action.

Question 8: "How does the teacher handle: bathroom breaks/locker/drinks? Radio/Ipods? Telephone? Use of materials? Borrowing materials overnight? Cleaning up?

Mr. B teaches middle school and up, so the first day he has them in sixth grade he gives them the, "You're almost all adults," talk.  Through this, the students are given the power to go the bathroom without needing to ask.  The only way they can do such though, is if the bathroom pass is in the classroom (aka not being used).  When they leave, they are expected to take no longer than 5 minutes, and if they constantly abuse that rule, the privilege of bathroom breaks is taken away.

Students are allowed music in the classroom if they have earbuds and are not doing any extra stuff such as social media and games on their phone/ipod.  There is also conditions such as them getting their homework done, misbehaving, etc.  They also need to have a B or better in the class to have access to that privilege.  Mr. B does play music over his speakers during work time which all the students seem to enjoy.

Borrowing materials overnight is not an issue because at the beginning of the semester they are given an art kit with all the supplies they will need for that class.  Items are accounted for when the kit is checked out to them, and if the items aren't there at the end of the semester/quarter, they student pays the teacher the replacement cost.  That isn't an empty consequence either.  He had students who did not receive their diploma because of replacement costs they accumulated throughout their art years.

With cleaning up, it is the expectation that they are all adults and he is not their parents.  Students lose privileges such as music if they do not clean up after themselves.  They may also lose points - when the class has gained 10 points through review questions asked they get to come to class and get straight to work.  If they lose points, they have to go back to reviewing questions.

Question 9: "Does the teacher use a lesson plan, curriculum map, or a calendar to plan units?  Does he/she have a written curriculum?  What does the plan include?"

The teacher uses lesson plans, but does not have a curriculum map.  He has something a little different which is a book of all the lessons the previous art teacher taught, along with all the art lessons he has ever taught and project examples with each one.  He has done A LOT.  I think it was really cool to see all the options he has created along with how he constantly looks to revamp the art program and not give the same old same old every year.  We did express that it would be beneficial to create the lessons around multiculturalism and art history more, and that was something he stated he is looking into developing more.

Question 10: Ask students questions.

Lindsey and I got to know the students throughout the weeks.  At the end of our lesson, I felt very much like when I had to leave the children I babysat for four years.  I made connections with them, and now I will probably never see them again.  Throughout the lesson, the children expressed that they really liked how they were able to do the portrait on someone they admired.  We got to see why they chose the person they did through the paragraphs they wrote, and it was really interesting to see the not as shallow reasons that (I may) have expected.  Other projects they had done was a clay house that got really detailed!  I was a little intimidated by them in the beginning that I probably didn't get to know them as well as I could have, but come the week of us teaching I was able to see more of them and their talents from my direct working with them.  I saw that the IEP student was very talented with painting and had a good eye when it came to picking out the different values.  I saw the almost alarming levels of anxiety one student dealt with in regards to deadlines and wanting things to be perfect.  And I saw another student that I would have pegged as a meat-head jock, do some beautiful stippling with his painting.

A Rocky Road

The rocky road on getting my degree in Art Education has happened.  When I first joined the major this year, it was perfectly possible for me to complete it by spring of next year - 2017.  I thought I could handle it, but much to my disappointment having to work practically full time and go to school full time was just not possible.  I was really frustrated because I felt like I had failed myself, my parents, my dreams, etc because I'm not succeeding at that goal.

I went and had to sit down and think for awhile.  What could I do about this?  Do I just give up?  A part of me felt like that...And then, an opportunity at my work showed itself.  I'm possibly going to be offered the full time manager position at my work, and it's exciting and nerve racking.  I know I can do it because I've been a part of running the store for almost the last year, but it's a lot of responsibility.  So a spontaneous, disheartened part of me knew that I could grow from this position in the company, and going back wouldn't need to happen.  I could just manage stores for the rest of my life.

And that's where more thought came in.  I looked at all the classes I have left to do.  I'm SO CLOSE.  I could indeed manage doing two classes while working at Family Video as the manager.  I was hesitant for ARTED308, but I can get 38 hours at Family Video a week and take care of 40 hours in the field experience if I can do something early in the morning.  It should be possible, and I'm hoping it happens.  The whole point of doing this - staying in college part time and working full time is that for my last year (Fall 2017-Spring 2018) I will have saved up enough money that I can NOT WORK at all.

That's where all this came from.  I cannot work and attend school full time at the same time.  I want to be able to put in 100% effort, and having to worry about money makes it so I can't.  And that is incredibly disappointing.  But, I've come to that realization, and I know now what I need to do to get my degree.  That is what is mattering to me right now.  I've had some hurdles to jump over, I've been having some problems getting to the finish line, but I am going to get to the finish line.  Whether it took me four years, or six years of college, I am going to do it.  My mom might not be thrilled that I'm doing things the way I'm doing them, but I'm going to get it done.  I want this more than anything, and I'll get through this rocky spot in my journey.

Topics of Discussion (Questions 1-5)

As you can see, part of the requirements of the ARTED208 class is keeping a blog.  What's really cool is a lot of student continue to use the blog through the rest of their education and into their teaching, along with using it as an important example of their readiness to be student teachers in our Benchmark II interviews.

One specific requirement for my current observational teaching is to answer a certain set of questions that reflect on the students, the teacher, the classroom, etc.


1. How do the students act upon entering the class?  How does the teacher act?

I definitely could see a difference as the grades moved up in age.  6th graders entered the class with extremely high energy and talkative with one another.  7th graders came in quietly giggling with one another, and 8th graders came in even quieter and took their seats while being on their phones.  The teacher waited till the bell for the period to begin rang before addressing the class - unless some statement given to the first couple of students to tell the others wasn't being followed; such as students getting out supplies after the teacher stating not to do stuff.

2. How does the teacher get their attention to begin class?  Is there a procedure for listening?

The teacher gets their attention for class by talking in a loud, clear voice and beginning to talk.  It is expected the students will put away their phones and stop their conversations.  I am assuming this is because the teacher has gained a level of respect from them.  There really is no procedure for listening - it is expected that when he is talking, no one else is.

3. What is the current project?  What are the objectives?  What materials are being used?

Sixth graders are currently working on a painting project that involves tracing a posterized version, 3 layers, of themselves.  After that, they pick one color to develop a dark, a medium, and a light of, to paint in their tracings accordingly.  The idea behind this is to not frustrate the students that their work isn't perfect, but allowing them to trace - it gives them confidence in their drawing skills.  They use graphite pencils, tracing machines, and paint.

Seventh graders are working on a drawing project that works to develop value.  Students could choose between different categories such as, "tattoo drawings, pets/animals, things that are black and white, etc,".  Learning Targets include, I know how to use a wide range of values to show strong contrast, I know how to draw with clean lines and have crips values, and I know how to create great transitions between values with my blending stump. For materials, they use a variety of graphite pencils, paper, blending stumps, and erasers.

I sadly had to leave before I was able to sit in and see what the eighth graders were learning, but I will definitely be talking about their projects in the near future in my blog.

4. Comment on the teacher's instruction.

The teacher has essentially gained the respect of most if not all of his students.  They listen to him, and behave pretty well - even if some get off task and distracted.  He keeps things professional with the class, and doesn't seem to have a sense of humor really.  The class is technology oriented through their computers, drawing tablets, tracing lights, etc.

5. How do you see classroom management being handled?  Are any students being off task or disrespectful - how does the teacher handle this? Is there a system of discipline that the school uses?

I would say classroom management is handled when problems arise.  I say this because the students all seem to respect Mr. B, and disciplining issues rarely happen.  Some students do get off task - especially with his 6th grade group right now, but he handles it through their discipline algorithm.  The school district created this algorithm because of discipline problems, and from my understanding, it's the first one that's actually worked.  How it is set up, the student gets two official verbal warnings.  After that, they get sent into a quiet place away from the rest of the students.  Both the students and the teacher take time to calm down, and then the teacher takes a moment to ASK the student why they are doing what they are doing.  It's really question based and not accusation-like.  After that, the student is let back into the classroom if they come to an understanding, but if the student continues to misbehave they are sent to the office and either get a minor or a major referral.  Depending on the severity of the offense.

Cooperating Teacher Observations

One thing Mr. B has cooperating teachers and student teachers do at the end of the day/lesson is go over some questions he has made to help guide us and teach us things that maybe we were unclear of during our time.  There's about twenty questions, we need to pick four and answer a minimum of two.  It also includes a "tip of the day," or our way of expressing something we would like to be different or changed.  There is also a check list of "the perfect teaching day," and it shows how we did - or how we felt we did.

Today was the second day of Lindsey's and my lesson.  We are doing portraits with finger prints.  The students were allowed to find someone who inspires them and then we would put the photo on a transparency for them to trace the outline of the person onto the paper.  Today was the tracing portion of the day, and while we had stated a time limit to them, we didn't do a very good job of enforcing it.  80% of the students flew through it, but there was the 20% that lagged a little and even one didn't get it done.  Which was disappointing.

The questions I answered were:

1) Name one area of weakness/problem you encountered today.  Describe how you overcame it and how you might prevent it from happening next time.

My demo was a bit weak on what to trace of their projected image.  I did a good job grabbing their attention, and going into the demo.  I asked questions to specific people and explained what to do, but wrapping up was weak - I didn't have much of a conclusion.  There really wasn't a way for me to overcome this.  Next time, I'll make sure to prepare my demo's even more and make sure I know what to say to come full circle.

2) Which student do you feel like you built bridges with today? Why?

I felt I built a bridge with *Allie today.  She was having a lot of difficulty understanding what to trace due to the transparency being too dark to tell parts apart.  I showed her how to use the original image to eyeball the difficult areas.  I made sure it was okay for me to draw on her paper, and then gave her a visual example on how to do such.  After a few minutes of letting her gain comprehension and try and work on the tracing by herself, I came back and praised her for taking what I gave her and using it herself.

My tip of the day was: "I wish I would have jumped into interacting with the students sooner.  I was a little unsure of my place in regards to the classroom, but I was also uncomfortable with how close I am in age with them!  I found myself talking to them more like my babysitter years; which would may be more joking than authoritative, and I wanted to avoid that.  It's hard because I listen to the same music they do!  Taylor Swift!"



So far, I'd say the team teaching is going well!  I did have to scold a couple boys in regards to messing around by our recording equipment.  I plan on being the "bad guy" tomorrow at the start of class and taking a few minutes to remind them on proper etiquette.  The recordings are part of our grade, and if we can't record because someone stopped it, that is really bad.