Alexandra Bunuan

TLPL433
November 17, 2020
Written Reflection: Field Experience

For my field experience, I went to Seneca Valley High School on Friday, November
12, and observed the teacher Camila Salvatierra-Sinn, or as her students called her Ms. Sas.
Before coming to the school I knew the school was fairly new; they opened the new school
building in March 2021. So, upon arrival the school looked spotless and the students were
nice and well-behaved. I mention that because when I was growing up, this school had a
pretty bad reputation but it clearly has changed.
Camila’s classroom was organized and spacious, especially with the high ceilings.
There were student’s artwork hung up on the walls and ceramic pieces on window sills. Not
only were the art supplies in clear boxes and placed in cubbies, but they were also labeled
for students to easily find what they need. The board is also decorated with colorful
decorations and these all emphasize positivity—positive vibes.
To start off every class, she has a daily warm-up that the students do in the first 10
minutes of class—giving her the opportunity to do attendance. These warm-ups are
prompts of what students should draw their interpretation of. The warm up for the day was
to draw a starfish climbing a cactus. These warm-ups encourage students to think creatively
and generate ideas that are outside the box.
Camila has established a connection with her students and this is evident because
they stay quiet when doing warm-up because they know that she struggles with ADHD and
dyslexia so, in order for her to effectively and quickly do attendance they stay silent.
After the warmup she then proceeds to tell the students the plan for the day, what is
due today, and what they need to accomplish by the end of class. The plan was to continue
working on their project, tunnel book, that they have been working on for two weeks now
and she would be going around to check and grade if they have their ten items for their
project ready. By doing so, she gets a chance to check-in with each student and address any
concerns she or they might have.
The tunnel book project allows the students to learn numerous things, such as, how
to use an exacto knife, think creatively (start thinking 3D), appreciate, and romanticize their
life, especially the scene they’re capturing in their tunnel book.
The students also have a huge folder, a portfolio, for each student to place their
artwork in. The students personalize and decorate these portfolios to not only make it easier
for them to distinguish which one is theirs but it allows them to have a sense of control, be
inspired from their work or their peer’s work, and can help them be productive (mental
stimuli).
While doing their projects, some students do tend to lose focus and/or bring negative
vibes (which is against the main rule of the classroom: leave negativity outside, positivity
only in the classroom). To keep students back on track, she mostly asks them questions
instead of ordering them to do so. She would ask a question like “Have you done ___?”. She
would also respond to these by expressing emotion, such as, “I am concerned with your
grade, why don’t we work on that instead?” These dialogues create a warm and safe
environment that allows a connection between the students and teacher. Also, the use of
“we” allows the students to understand that she supports them—she is by their side.
In one of her classes, a few students with special needs were in the class. These
students usually had a guardian with them that assists them with their classes, but today
they did not have their guardian with them. Camila did not treat them much differently, but
definitely more flexible/lenient with them. One of them did not want to color and her
response was, “Okay, but I’ll be really sad if you don’t.” Again, she expresses emotion for
the students to feel that she deeply cares for them.
It should be noted that Camila does not only express emotion when they lose focus to
put them back on track but also to celebrate when they do something productive or
accomplish a goal for today—she is very enthusiastic and excited when they do so. This
causes the students to feel encouraged, accomplished, and to work or keep being
productive. The focus of her grading is that as long as students are putting in effort and
doing what they are supposed to be doing, they will succeed in the class. In other words,
even if their artwork is not so good, they can still succeed.

Second Placement

I also visited Thomas Wootton High School to observe a ceramic art teacher, Malinda
Pierce, or Ms. Pierce as the students would call her. In a ceramics classroom, it is expected
to be a little more complex and chaotic. The classroom is organized but not spotless as it is a
ceramics classroom. As a previous student of hers, she instructed me to help the students
and help make test tiles on her free period/class.

To generate ideas and make the students feel inspired, she uses pinterest and other
student examples for the students to look at. They sketch a few ideas for their project, which
was making a tray, and then they discuss with her their plan and how they will execute it.

Attention is higher in demand in this setting especially because clay and the tools are
a little more complex compared to Camila’s studio art class. It was especially harder for
Malinda to have one-on-one with each student in her bigger classes. The biggest concern
she has is when she gives too much attention to one student, other students take advantage
of this and play around or even do other homework. Her way of putting them back on track
is assigning them a job to do that many students dislike, such as cleaning the sink or doing
the pug mill. Malinda is concerned that some of the work of students is too complex to
work, especially with them being the first level of ceramics. She does not necessarily crush
their design but suggests and explains that their expectations of the outcome might not be
what they expected. When students are done constructing their tray and are ready to be fired
in the kiln, she plans on taking advantage of the time/gap they would have to wait until it is
done being fired and cooled down to be able to discuss further and go more into detail her
concerns and ideas on their design.

Different art classes that are different mediums definitely differentiate from each
other, but what surprised me the most about the two schools is honestly the fact that Seneca
Valley High School students seem more well behaved than Thomas Wootton High Schools.
Growing up in the area, Seneca had a reputation of being a bad school. Although, I believe
the new building—the new environment definitely changed the mentality of the students
and encouraged them to perform well in school.
NOTES
Observation (Ceramics)

Making trays— stencil for design (tape). Cover in glaze

- visual examples
- multiple
- Give suggestions (be open minded)
- Lot’s of “we” “let’s”
Detention forms (hehe) when it’s getting too loud
Lots of encouraging
Positive criticism
Lots of students do homework lose focus or play when you pay most attention to one
student
Some would rather do their homework than make projects more complex — very boring
ideas just to do something/turn something in
Student work is displayed in the room, tools are located in the middle for easy access for
students

Helped students with projects (tray projects, feet ideas) and slab building
Helped teacher make test tiles for glazes, clean up, pug mill (clay)

Observation (studio art)

Mostly do one-on-one with students— if needed, talk for 10min (max) for new instructions
- quick intro of goals/tasks for today, what’s due or when’s it due
- displays it on the front for everyone to see
They have been working on a project (tunnel-book) for about two weeks
Start class with a quick warm-up—quickly drawing a prompt (daily worksheets)
(opportunity to take attendance)
Allows students to use any materials they want—also have experimental days
Lots of positivity, works of students displayed on walls, common or mostly used tools are
located in the middle of each table
Has cubbies for each materials/tools on the side of the classroom
Have students lay out projects or aspects of projects to go around and grade — an
opportunity to quickly discuss, assist, make suggestions, or just a quick chat about it and
make sure students are on-track
LFI- Learning for independence: people who have autism and need extra help with
classwork— if student does not want to do something she says she’ll be sad about it
Teacher established respect with students
Students are quiet when doing warmp-up so teacher can do attendance quickly — they
know she has adhd and dyslexic so in order to do attendance fast, they stay quiet (respect)
She makes sure students are on-task and asks students who are losing focus if they’ve done
what is needed to be done: instead of telling—ask if they have done it
When students want to dilly dally, she tells them she’s more worried about their grade and
would like them to work on their project instead
Private discussion outside to discuss with students who are being inappropriate
Calls out students who say mean things, positive energy only in the classroom (repeatedly
enforced in the classroom), leave the negativity outside
Have students help each other
as long as students focus and do work—easy A
Move quickly or extension (are they working and putting in effort) — discuss as a class
Make students feel successful and accomplished when it comes to doing work
PG country is more art focused
Enthusiasm when students show work
Portfolios (big) for students to have and students personalize it
involve another teacher if needed to make a connection with a student— individual attention
When students are ahead, they can do what they want and if not, then they’re not
if students are super ahead, they can make a passion project
very lenient, you don't know what kids are going through
serious, care for kids