Field assignments

Name: Emma Moran

School: Hall HIgh Teacher: N/A

City/Town West Hartford

Date of Field Experience: 9/22-11/2 Hours of Observation: all day

Grade level: High School - all levels Type of School: City Suburb Town Rural

Number of Students in the class: 26, 25, 27

List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g. charter, co-teaching,
bilingual, themed magnet) that affect teaching.

Hall high school has a very diverse student population- there are a number of ELL
students in all my courses, and I also teach a Visual Arts Concepts class that is half
special needs students half mainstreamed students. The classrooms are large, but so
are the class sizes; which makes it rather crowded. There was low enrollment in both
Ceramics 2 and Painting 2, so they merged them with the lower level classes. I am
teaching Ceramic 1 and 2 and Painting 1 and 2 simultaneously, in the same room. This
proves challenging when trying to give new assignments to the students because ¾ of
the students are doing one thing, and the rest of the class is doing something else; they
end up comparing themselves to their peers that are at the higher level, which I have
noticed to cause some students to feel self-conscience and lose confidence in their
abilities.
Discuss the variety of learners in the class, including students who need
accommodations and modifications for instruction.

I have a variety of classes:

Painting 1&2: There are three ELL students in this class, who have difficulty
understanding more complex directions. I need to reiterate directions to them
individually in more simplistic language, every time I assign something new. Further,
there is one girl who is very new to English, only Spanish is spoken at home. I have
been able to communicate with her using my basic spanish skills and google translate
for the more complicated words. I also have a behavioral special needs student in this
class, who presents as high functioning socially, but in reality can only read and write at
a 3rd grade level. For assignments in this class, I have had to adapt them to make them
more simplistic and achievable for her, and reframe the assignment using terminology
that is accessible to her. She is easily distracted and constantly needs to be redirected
towards doing her studio work.

Visual Arts Concepts: This class is composed of all students with varying abilities. I
have to do a lot of differentiation in this course, depending on the assignment. I have a
number of students who are unable to use paint, so for the painting assignments I have
to modify them so those students can use either tempera sticks, which work well for
most of them, or fat markers. I have one student who is mentally and physically unable
to hold anything other than a marker, and needs assistance in placing it on the page
and making marks. For him, it was necessary to have a para assisting him with all of the
assignments; so I was able to give instructions to her as I explained them to the rest of
the class, and she was able to adjust them accordingly. Additionally, I had many
students who couldn’t grasp abstract concepts, so most of our projects were centered
on very basic concepts such as pattern, repetition, shapes and colors. I had to modify
many of the assignments to make them accessible to the lowest functioning students in
the class by simplifying them, but also offering slightly more difficult versions for the very
high functioning students in the class.

Ceramics: I taught three different sections of ceramics, but I will focus on the sections
that I taught in period 3 and period 5. In period 3, I had the same behavioral student that
I had for period 1 painting, so she required the same level of assistance and attention in
ceramics. Other than her, my period 3 class was relatively easy in regards to
accommodations needed. I had two students join the class late, so i had to spend extra
time with them getting them up to speed on the skills that their peers had already
learned, and exempt them from some of the assignments that were not achievable time
wise. For period 5, I had one student who was so incredibly anxious that he had trouble
starting any of the assignments, and required lots of hand holding. I needed to make
sure that during every studio work period I went over to him first and reviewed exactly
what he would do in the class period, otherwise he would shut down and not get any
work done. I also had another student who was an ELL and had trouble understanding
the directions for assignments, but he was embarrassed and did not want to admit to
me that he didn’t know what to do. This proved particularly challenging because I did
not realize that he had no idea what was going on until I looked at one of his
brainstorming sheets and noticed that he was copying from one of his classmates, but
he was on a different page than they were so his responses made no sense. After that, I
had to work with him more closely to explain the assignments again, but in a way that
didn’t make him feel singled out which was challenging. I ended up being able to use
one of his classmates' assignments as an example to help show him what needed to be
done, and paired him up with a willing peer who was able to walk him through the steps
without making him feel inadequate.

The classroom:

Describe features and arrangement of the classroom, materials, and equipment

available for use.

The painting classroom (where VAC and Painting take place):

Large, well lit classroom with 30 desks arranged in rows. Projector at the front of the
class with all desks point at it, along with a speaker system and an Elmo document
projector.

Ceramics classroom:

Large well lit room with nice windows, 3 rows of 4 tables, 8 pottery wheels, 3 kilns, a
slab roller, wedging table, pug mill, extruder. All necessary clay tools for creating
pottery, except only a limited number of fettling knives and needle tools so the kids had
to share. (I would hand out and collect the needle tools and knives at the beginning and
end of every class period).

List other resources (e.g. electronic whiteboard, hands-on materials, online resources,
art posters, images, and/or materials for art production) used in this lesson.

Projectors in both rooms. Chrome book carts available for student use in both rooms,
although the wifi was very slow. The lesson materials for most class periods was
provided for me by the ceramics teacher at Conard, and I was able to tailor it to my
class and post it on google classroom. All the classes had their own google classroom
where I posted assignments and they submitted them, which I then was able to use to
grade them. Then I had to transfer the grades to powerschool.

Identify any textbook or instructional program used primarily for visual art instruction.
n/a

How much time is devoted each week to visual arts instruction for the selected class?

Each class meets once daily for 43 minutes M, T, TH, F and 30 minutes on W.

Visual Arts Concepts meets 2x per week, for 40 min, alternating days (for the special ed
students). The mainstream students attend class daily following the aforementioned
schedule.

The teacher:(professional background, philosophy, manner with students, etc.)

n/a It’s me! Graduate student, teaching experience from month long high school
ceramics camp.

The lesson: Third Lesson: Slab Construction

How does the teacher connect the lesson to concepts and ideas, as well as skills and
techniques?

Initiation/engagement: Quick reminder: Who can remind me what a Luminary is? And
the definition of openwork that we learned last class?

Description of main activity: Presentation on how to create their final luminary pieces.

Teaching Method 1: Slideshow presentation comparing soft and stiff slab construction
methods, with step by step pictures.

Teaching Method 2: Demo on how to use stiff slabs for construction. The students last
project utilized soft slab construction, so they did not need another demo on this.

Teaching Method 3: When a student had a question about what method would be best
for their project, raise the question to the class: “This student has a large square
luminary and they are wondering what slab construction they should use. Who can help
us decide what she should do?”
Discuss the central focus and key concepts of the lesson.

The students will understand how to use soft and stiff slab construction to create a luminary of 6” or more
that demonstrates personal significance.

Discuss the standards covered within this lesson and how the chosen lesson/instruction
supports the development of students’ abilities to achieve these standards.

VA:Cr2.1.IIIa Experiment, plan, and make multiple works of art and design that explore
a personally meaningful theme, idea, or concept.

Describe how the teacher provides opportunities for student choice within the lesson,
promoting individuality and originality in their personal work.

I showed the students numerous examples of how underglaze can be used to create
different effects, and how overglaze can be used in place of or in combination with
underglaze to create different finishes. I told the students they could use whichever they
wanted and do whatever design they wanted, encouraging them to make it something
personal and relevant to the rest of their design.

Explain how the teacher’s instruction builds on prior learning.

-Students had previously rolled slabs and used soft slab construction to make a small
mug; this shows them how to push that further and make something larger, or use that
in combination with other techniques they have learned such as pinch pot creation, to
create a larger sculpture.

Supply Organization

All the clay is kept at the back of the classroom for students to use. They have most of
their own tools and additional supplies such as rolling pins and fettling knives are kept
on a cart at the front of the room which they can use as they wish.

Distribution of materials:

-I only distributed needle tools when needed and collected them at the end of class
How did the teacher elicit student responses, promote thinking, and/or help students
develop their abilities to express or understand meaning through interpreting art,
developing works of art, and/or relating to art context?

-The students had to brainstorm a concept that was personal to them for the previous
activity, so this lesson gave them skills and knowledge to implement that theme on their
luminaries. I offered suggestions when they were stuck on which techniques would be
appropriate, and encouraged them to reference the slideshow and examples to figure
out what might be the right construction technique for their design.

Classroom management techniques:

Describe management techniques that contributed to effective teaching. Include

discipline management and/or expectations for behavior. How were behavior
expectations conveyed to students (i.e. rules in room)?

-Students stayed in assigned seats, and worked together at the slab roller when
necessary. I reminded kids a few times to keep their hands to their own clay, but other
than that they were on task.

In what ways did the teacher promote a positive learning environment?

-I encouraged students to talk to their neighbors about their designs, and ask them for
suggestions before asking me. I played upbeat music and reminded them about trial
and error in clay being the best way to learn.

Monitoring Student Learning:

Discuss how the teacher assessed student learning throughout the lesson. What kinds
of questions did you hear being used during one on one instruction?

: Walking around and checking that the students are choosing the appropriate method of construction for
their luminaries. When the students might be going in the wrong direction, asking leading questions to
investigate why they chose this method. In most cases students came to the conclusion on their own that
they need to choose the other method of construction for optimal success.
Formal: Completed luminary will be turned in on the to be bisque fired shelf on October 22, and assessed
by rubric

Clean-up procedures employed:

-Students had 5-6 minutes to clean up from clay and were reminded to wrap their
pieces and clean their tables before leaving.

Closure:

What closure techniques were used to effectively review instruction? If no Closure was
observed, what may have contributed to the teacher’s inability to use Closure?

Went over the Luminaries rubric again, reminding the students of what is expected of them. Told the
students that their work was due on Oct 22, and let them know that we would be working on this for the
next several class periods so they know what to expect.

Critical Incident Description (Can be negative or positive. Describe the main factor
affecting the students' learning during this lesson.)

-Positive critical incident: one student who typically struggles to come up with an initial
design/start her work came up to me after a few minutes of working and wanted to
share with me she had decided all on her own to use soft slab construction, and told me
it was because she wanted her luminary to be a round shape. THis built off of prior
learning and showed that she understood the lesson, which sometimes takes reiteration
for her..

Reflection. Analysis (Why did the Critical Incident happen? What factors contributed?
Lesson structure, teacher's attitude, special circumstances, etc.?)

The lesson implementation ran as expected, however this lesson may have been more successful if
presented during a typical class period. Although I had allotted the proper amount of time for the
presentation and demo, the students weren’t given much time to begin their work. This was ok, but might
lead to more student questions next class if they didn’t get to start construction today. (Many of them
decided what method to use, but didn’t actually touch clay). Today’s class scheduled was amended due to
the PSATS. Overall the only changes I would make to the lesson would be to encourage more student
engagement throughout the slideshow by including more questions

If you were teaching this class, what would you have done differently? Evaluation

N/A i was teaching :)