Middle School Teaching Reflection

​

​

 

     I learned many takeaways and surprises from my six days of student teaching.  Understanding the time restraints, I would encounter and try to accommodate them beforehand. I was still amazed at how quickly six single classes went incredibly fast at 35 minutes. (with prayer and pledge) If I had not planned for this, I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to accomplish my lesson objectives. I was surprised by the thorough completion and comprehension of the lesson plan, especially with the student artist statements.  Collectively, they were so much more complex and thought out than I imagined they would be.  I have attached some here. I was describing the lesson and feeling like a broken record, as one should. I was wondering if I was connecting more than I perhaps needed to.  The artists' statements gave me the validity I needed and showed that they understood the lesson and learned impactfully and responsively. Another takeaway is knowing even further to keep improving (with the spirit of Kaizen I have) my overall efforts to be more organized in advance to promote more student time to work themselves.  One must feel they aren’t planning enough to keep improving, even if they are, as it also highlights improvement opportunities. I keep asking, “What can I do more to prepare?” and “What else can I do to shave time in advance?” There are so many new opportunities for this; the more experienced I become, the more aware I remain of the need.  The more efficiently time and the overall lesson plan can be provided to the students, the more impact the lesson can have. Having material ready, alarms, and time schedules written out beforehand give conditions to focus and allow expediency, encouraging time for students to reflect and explore their creativity even more.

 

            Looking at my students' finished work inspires me to provide more time for them to detail their work, fill in more cleanly, and not feel rushed, as you can see in almost all the work.  The specific successes are certainly in the context of the lesson plan as their artist statements acknowledge a thorough understanding of new vocabulary particular to the individual student. This is true in their responses to the continued open-ended questions I always ask. Also, when describing symbolism, their artist statements elaborated even what I could have taught, personally related, and explained this in their work more amazingly than I could have imagined.  This tells me my message was received.  When I teach this lesson again, as I certainly will with improvements, allowing for time to sketch and focus on the work itself in just context will ensure a more poignant delivery of the message desired in their work that an audience can receive.  When I have full control of time and a classroom, I am sure even more understanding of the lesson will occur. Having my students become aware of how they are and can be targeted and influenced by the visual culture around them, especially tactics in advertising utilizing AI technology, will become even more precise and clear. As successful as I was at achieving this, I feel that only more recognition and one-on-one interaction would individualize their group and learning.