Natasha Smith

LTC 4240: Art

Orange Block
October 23, 2014
Art Classroom Observations
My field placement for the semester is in a multiage first and second grader
classroom. The art classroom in the building was very small and there were not a lot
of things on the walls. The environment seemed like controlled chaos, there were a
lot of half finished art projects on carts throughout the room and the students
seemed very distracted by them. There were tables that all had a different color
strip of tape on them and that was how the teacher released the students and
separated them. When the students walked in they were instructed to sit on the
carpet in front of the smartboard. There were three words up on the board, weave,
value, and pattern. The teacher asked for volunteers to explain what these words
meant. They then proceeded to discuss the difference between light value and dark
value. The talked about how the color can be same but the value can be different.
They then talked about weaving and patterns. The teacher provided example of the
weaving they would be doing in class and explained that they must follow the
directions in order to complete the project. The teacher demonstrated the project in
front of the class so that they would be able to see exactly what they were about to
be doing. She was very good about explaining the details.
When they started cutting she had the second graders cut all their own
papers while she cut the first graders on the paper cutter. This made the second

graders frustrated and they seemed to not care as much about what their paper
looked like and many of them did it backwards causing them to have to start over.
After they were finished setting up their papers they all went back to the carpet to
learn the next few steps of the process. The teacher demonstrated multiple ways of
doing it and had the students point out the wrong ways.