Self Reflection: What Did I Learn, My Educator Effectiveness
My experience at Polaris taught me a huge amount of who I am as an educator and coworker. It felt as if we were pushed out of the nest. We were given lots of guidance, but it was mostly up to us to steer our own learning. In this way, it was like a long experiment. We were able to choose what to teach, make mistakes, gather data, and make the proper adjustments. Not to mention, the community at Polaris couldn’t have been more welcoming. It felt good to come in each Friday and be known as the art teacher. The students were so excited and willing to learn, it was a delight seeing how creative and eager to make they were.
For this reflection, I will go through the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards. I’ll touch on how I’ve grown, what I’ve learned in that area, and how I know that I’ve grown; as well as what went well, what didn’t go well, and what I will do differently in the future.
1. Demonstration of Mastery of Pedagogical Expertise in the Content
Writing lesson plans and delivering them is something that only gets easier with practice. I have learned over these past months that linear thinking is not the right way to approach creating a lesson. If you think in terms of just filling out the boxes, then it will not be cohesive. It’s most beneficial to begin with what students will definitely be learning. It’s a way of thinking that involves focusing on details, as well as keeping the main idea in mind at all times. What are the main learning targets and how can everything else (pre-assessment, inquiry questions, etc.) fit around that? Especially with the first graders we worked with, it was critical that we considered what it actually was we were trying to get across to our students. We had to plan for each question we asked, each transition that was made, each thing written/drawn on the board in order for it all to come together.
There was one lesson where we planned to point out discoveries while students were creating. We had usually gone over them at the end. But this time, we kept a record of the discoveries students were having throughout class. I mostly lead this, and I felt that my initiative and dependability increased by fully following through with what I had planned to do. I feel this is a big part of teaching; following through and not being afraid to screw up. Either way, this exercise gave students more of an ability to learn based off of what they’re classmates we’re learning, which could be considered a scaffolding method.
Integrating numeracy and literacy has become an aspect that I notice is already prevalent in art making. As a teacher, taking those already embedded aspects of literacy and numeracy and making them known to your students is the most effective way of going about it.
>Example: *Detail Activities - We had students record what details they observed, or ideate about details of their creature. In this way, students were using literacy components to talk about details. We brought up the concept of adjectives, and how we use them to describe. Students used adjectives to explain their creature on an ideation sheet
One thing that I should work on in the future is putting more thought into ways for students to respond to their artwork. I usually ask them questions and have them inform me about their work and the process. I could improve this by adding more literacy and numeracy into their reflection activities. For example, having them write a story or numerically rate different components of the finished product and their experience.
Overall, we really focused on allowing the students to create on their own. We wanted them to feel that their art making was personal to them. We could have done better providing art experiences that are clear. There were some lessons that ended slightly contrary to how we planned, which was a result of us not being clear with what we expected. This got easier over time once we began to make things simpler.
2. Safe, Inclusive, and Respectful Learning Environment
As the teacher, you hold the power to provide equitable experiences for each of your students. Specifically, as an art teacher, it’s my job to push students to further their thoughts and develop higher ways of thinking through art making. I’ve come to realize more so that each student has a unique and special way of thinking. I’ve grown with my ability to harness those individual ways of problem solving, understanding, and approaching a task of each student. It’s a delicate balance of allowing students to create and learn on their own time, but stepping in when you need to.
>Example: *Recognizing personal engagement – One student from Polaris always appeared to have a harder time grasping on to the concepts we introduced and what was expected of him. There was one activity that we did involving creating new colors with watercolor. He wasn’t as organized as other students, and, without knowing him and his abilities, it would appear that he was just being messy and reckless. I came to the conclusion that he was learning just as much as all the other students, maybe even more. He was making numerous connections through play, and it was logical to let him keep going.
One of my main goals with teaching has to do with creating a safe environment for self-expression. There’s so much value in being comfortable with who you are and what you can bring to the world. During my time at Polaris, I really strove to point out personal achievements. We had a couple reflection activities that involved sharing your work. For the future, I would implement an activity that has to do with learning respect for yourself and other classmates. It would involve being learning about how we’re all different, and being different is good.
At times, we had difficulty providing all of the materials during class so things would go smoothly. This stemmed directly from lack of planning in instruction. We learned after 3 or 4 times, that we needed to plan when and how we would give students their materials to work with; as well as be completely prepared before teaching. Otherwise, not as many tasks get completed, and there’s a sense of chaos in the room.
Things can get stressful in a classroom, especially when you’re new to teaching. But it’s important to keep your whit about you and demonstrate ethical behavior and integrity. Rising above stress and being an example for your students provides a role model for them, as well creates a mutual respect.
3. Plan and Deliver Effective Instruction
Instruction is where the pre-assessment, objectives, ideation, etc. come together and play out in the classroom. It’s a way of translating your intentions of the lesson into an actual step-by-step plan. My group and I grew a good amount in regard to how to present information to students. We began with vaguely introducing what we were going to do for the day, then letting them loose. This resulted in the students not quite taking away what we intended from the lesson. It was imminent that we had to simplify instruction and make it clear what we would be accomplishing from the day. We began to ask the students what they know or see, rather than tell them what they should know.
>Example: *What do you know? – There was one power point that we presented to introduce the concept of sketchbooks. It had a good amount of information on each slide about the history, how they can be used, etc. You could tell that our students understood most of it, but didn’t quite comprehend the information to the point that they would be able to make their own inferential connections. The next power point that we made was mostly pictures, and we had the students figure out what was going on in each slide by asking about what they know, how they know, etc.
Set your students up for success. This was a big thing that I learned from Polaris. It involves you, as the teacher being clear with what will be taught, as well as making it clear to students. For first grade, it worked to have usually one or two objectives for the day on the board and having everything else follow. For example, one of our objectives was “understand the components of a 3D shape.” We spent most of class talking about the difference between 2D and 3D. I was the lead teacher, and I demonstrated creating a 2D shape on the board, then modeling it with clay. Once it was clear that students understood, we set them free to explore the clay. During this class period, I had a bit of trouble using my tact and judgment. I presented students with an ideation sheet that involved drawing 4 shapes, then creating those shapes with clay. I wanted to give the opportunity simply play with the clay, but also knew I needed to integrate some sort of ideation. After the class was over, I realized I should have let students play to get excited about clay. Then about halfway through, I should’ve handed out the ideation sheet to give them something a bit more structured and challenging. These are the “experiments” that I spoke of before. I wasn’t sure how to approach this lesson, but after teaching it my tact and judgment increased. I now know that it’s okay to change up the lesson halfway through class after monitoring student progress.
A big thing that I intend improve on in the future is increasing my ability to communicate to students. I think part of this will come with experience, learning what to say in certain situations. But overall, it concerns manipulating students to consider the larger premise of what they’re working on.
4. Reflection of Practice
Reflecting on an experience and drawing conclusions from data is how the human brain moves forward. In teaching, the educator must know where their students are at with what is being taught. I learned that it’s easy to simply give what you know and expect students to receive it, but you must be sure that they’re receiving it. Documenting what students say about their creations shows their thought process and their ability to make connections. I also really enjoyed doing journal responses. Looking back on them now allows me to bring everything together, and see my progression. This is something that I will definitely continue in the future, for the therapeutic and logical reasons.
I realized that when I was taking a video of a student speaking about their art, it was important for me to maintain eye contact and be in the moment. It felt like I was just concerned about getting documentation, rather than really hearing what they have to say and responding as an effective communicatory. So in the future, I will be more subtle with collecting data.
I really learned the most when reflecting on my own performance. Hearing the feedback from our host teachers and discussing with my group members about what went well and what didn’t go well, really bestowed me to want to improve.
5. Demonstration of Leadership
There’s a common misconception of the term “leader.” It seems that people think there can only be one. This is not true. Even with students, a lot of times the ones that go unseen are the ones that have the most dependability and character. This last semester at Polaris taught me a lot about how I contribute in a group setting. It wasn’t easy working with people that all have somewhat different perspectives and ideas. But I learned to hear each of my members out and remain rhetorical in my stance. I continued to learn when my word was useful, as well as my dependability as a group member. Contributing to that sort of situation requires a good amount of effort from each member to bring what they can, and learn to work together.
This semester more than many others made me realize my will to become an art teacher. I’ve always had trouble committing myself to things that I couldn’t fully connect to. But the hard work and thought that went behind each lesson was incredibly rewarding and I strove to get better each time. I feel that I grew in almost every area of the dispositions. My professional behavior towards teaching grew because I felt truly committed. I can always continue to work on each of these every time I teach.
For this reflection, I will go through the Colorado Teacher Quality Standards. I’ll touch on how I’ve grown, what I’ve learned in that area, and how I know that I’ve grown; as well as what went well, what didn’t go well, and what I will do differently in the future.
1. Demonstration of Mastery of Pedagogical Expertise in the Content
Writing lesson plans and delivering them is something that only gets easier with practice. I have learned over these past months that linear thinking is not the right way to approach creating a lesson. If you think in terms of just filling out the boxes, then it will not be cohesive. It’s most beneficial to begin with what students will definitely be learning. It’s a way of thinking that involves focusing on details, as well as keeping the main idea in mind at all times. What are the main learning targets and how can everything else (pre-assessment, inquiry questions, etc.) fit around that? Especially with the first graders we worked with, it was critical that we considered what it actually was we were trying to get across to our students. We had to plan for each question we asked, each transition that was made, each thing written/drawn on the board in order for it all to come together.
There was one lesson where we planned to point out discoveries while students were creating. We had usually gone over them at the end. But this time, we kept a record of the discoveries students were having throughout class. I mostly lead this, and I felt that my initiative and dependability increased by fully following through with what I had planned to do. I feel this is a big part of teaching; following through and not being afraid to screw up. Either way, this exercise gave students more of an ability to learn based off of what they’re classmates we’re learning, which could be considered a scaffolding method.
Integrating numeracy and literacy has become an aspect that I notice is already prevalent in art making. As a teacher, taking those already embedded aspects of literacy and numeracy and making them known to your students is the most effective way of going about it.
>Example: *Detail Activities - We had students record what details they observed, or ideate about details of their creature. In this way, students were using literacy components to talk about details. We brought up the concept of adjectives, and how we use them to describe. Students used adjectives to explain their creature on an ideation sheet
One thing that I should work on in the future is putting more thought into ways for students to respond to their artwork. I usually ask them questions and have them inform me about their work and the process. I could improve this by adding more literacy and numeracy into their reflection activities. For example, having them write a story or numerically rate different components of the finished product and their experience.
Overall, we really focused on allowing the students to create on their own. We wanted them to feel that their art making was personal to them. We could have done better providing art experiences that are clear. There were some lessons that ended slightly contrary to how we planned, which was a result of us not being clear with what we expected. This got easier over time once we began to make things simpler.
2. Safe, Inclusive, and Respectful Learning Environment
As the teacher, you hold the power to provide equitable experiences for each of your students. Specifically, as an art teacher, it’s my job to push students to further their thoughts and develop higher ways of thinking through art making. I’ve come to realize more so that each student has a unique and special way of thinking. I’ve grown with my ability to harness those individual ways of problem solving, understanding, and approaching a task of each student. It’s a delicate balance of allowing students to create and learn on their own time, but stepping in when you need to.
>Example: *Recognizing personal engagement – One student from Polaris always appeared to have a harder time grasping on to the concepts we introduced and what was expected of him. There was one activity that we did involving creating new colors with watercolor. He wasn’t as organized as other students, and, without knowing him and his abilities, it would appear that he was just being messy and reckless. I came to the conclusion that he was learning just as much as all the other students, maybe even more. He was making numerous connections through play, and it was logical to let him keep going.
One of my main goals with teaching has to do with creating a safe environment for self-expression. There’s so much value in being comfortable with who you are and what you can bring to the world. During my time at Polaris, I really strove to point out personal achievements. We had a couple reflection activities that involved sharing your work. For the future, I would implement an activity that has to do with learning respect for yourself and other classmates. It would involve being learning about how we’re all different, and being different is good.
At times, we had difficulty providing all of the materials during class so things would go smoothly. This stemmed directly from lack of planning in instruction. We learned after 3 or 4 times, that we needed to plan when and how we would give students their materials to work with; as well as be completely prepared before teaching. Otherwise, not as many tasks get completed, and there’s a sense of chaos in the room.
Things can get stressful in a classroom, especially when you’re new to teaching. But it’s important to keep your whit about you and demonstrate ethical behavior and integrity. Rising above stress and being an example for your students provides a role model for them, as well creates a mutual respect.
3. Plan and Deliver Effective Instruction
Instruction is where the pre-assessment, objectives, ideation, etc. come together and play out in the classroom. It’s a way of translating your intentions of the lesson into an actual step-by-step plan. My group and I grew a good amount in regard to how to present information to students. We began with vaguely introducing what we were going to do for the day, then letting them loose. This resulted in the students not quite taking away what we intended from the lesson. It was imminent that we had to simplify instruction and make it clear what we would be accomplishing from the day. We began to ask the students what they know or see, rather than tell them what they should know.
>Example: *What do you know? – There was one power point that we presented to introduce the concept of sketchbooks. It had a good amount of information on each slide about the history, how they can be used, etc. You could tell that our students understood most of it, but didn’t quite comprehend the information to the point that they would be able to make their own inferential connections. The next power point that we made was mostly pictures, and we had the students figure out what was going on in each slide by asking about what they know, how they know, etc.
Set your students up for success. This was a big thing that I learned from Polaris. It involves you, as the teacher being clear with what will be taught, as well as making it clear to students. For first grade, it worked to have usually one or two objectives for the day on the board and having everything else follow. For example, one of our objectives was “understand the components of a 3D shape.” We spent most of class talking about the difference between 2D and 3D. I was the lead teacher, and I demonstrated creating a 2D shape on the board, then modeling it with clay. Once it was clear that students understood, we set them free to explore the clay. During this class period, I had a bit of trouble using my tact and judgment. I presented students with an ideation sheet that involved drawing 4 shapes, then creating those shapes with clay. I wanted to give the opportunity simply play with the clay, but also knew I needed to integrate some sort of ideation. After the class was over, I realized I should have let students play to get excited about clay. Then about halfway through, I should’ve handed out the ideation sheet to give them something a bit more structured and challenging. These are the “experiments” that I spoke of before. I wasn’t sure how to approach this lesson, but after teaching it my tact and judgment increased. I now know that it’s okay to change up the lesson halfway through class after monitoring student progress.
A big thing that I intend improve on in the future is increasing my ability to communicate to students. I think part of this will come with experience, learning what to say in certain situations. But overall, it concerns manipulating students to consider the larger premise of what they’re working on.
4. Reflection of Practice
Reflecting on an experience and drawing conclusions from data is how the human brain moves forward. In teaching, the educator must know where their students are at with what is being taught. I learned that it’s easy to simply give what you know and expect students to receive it, but you must be sure that they’re receiving it. Documenting what students say about their creations shows their thought process and their ability to make connections. I also really enjoyed doing journal responses. Looking back on them now allows me to bring everything together, and see my progression. This is something that I will definitely continue in the future, for the therapeutic and logical reasons.
I realized that when I was taking a video of a student speaking about their art, it was important for me to maintain eye contact and be in the moment. It felt like I was just concerned about getting documentation, rather than really hearing what they have to say and responding as an effective communicatory. So in the future, I will be more subtle with collecting data.
I really learned the most when reflecting on my own performance. Hearing the feedback from our host teachers and discussing with my group members about what went well and what didn’t go well, really bestowed me to want to improve.
5. Demonstration of Leadership
There’s a common misconception of the term “leader.” It seems that people think there can only be one. This is not true. Even with students, a lot of times the ones that go unseen are the ones that have the most dependability and character. This last semester at Polaris taught me a lot about how I contribute in a group setting. It wasn’t easy working with people that all have somewhat different perspectives and ideas. But I learned to hear each of my members out and remain rhetorical in my stance. I continued to learn when my word was useful, as well as my dependability as a group member. Contributing to that sort of situation requires a good amount of effort from each member to bring what they can, and learn to work together.
This semester more than many others made me realize my will to become an art teacher. I’ve always had trouble committing myself to things that I couldn’t fully connect to. But the hard work and thought that went behind each lesson was incredibly rewarding and I strove to get better each time. I feel that I grew in almost every area of the dispositions. My professional behavior towards teaching grew because I felt truly committed. I can always continue to work on each of these every time I teach.