PAEA Preservice Representatives, Keri Marini & Emily Hahn

The purpose of this blog is to help guide future student teachers as they begin on their journeys of educating full time in the classroom setting. Student teaching is one of the most exciting, yet stressful times in a preservice educator’s student career and there always are a large amount of nerves present when going into the experience. I have sent out eight questions to art educators who are fresh off of their student teaching experiences and their anonymous responses have been edited together here. These responses are aimed to offer “real-life” information and advice for future student teachers in the field of art education. 

1- What is your biggest take away(s) from your student teaching experience?

Do not let fear control you! No one is perfect at teaching and you will make mistakes, but that’s ok! Worry about your reactions to your mistakes rather than the mistakes themselves. Your students won’t be upset, it will show them that you are human just like them. Never be afraid to switch things up! If you start a lesson and it isn’t working out, it is ok to completely change it to make it better. Any work that you had your students do before making a change is still good practice. Be flexible with your projects and pay close attention to how your students are responding to it. If they are not responding well, then make a change to fix that. Only go into each day with one main expectation: to try your best! There are always many things that you have no control over, but what you do have control over is how you react to them.

2- What surprised you about your student teaching experience?

Any school you teach in, regardless of area, age of students, or anything else, is bound to give you a number of surprises. You might have extremely well-behaved students or ones who give you a daily challenge. No matter how your students behave towards you, you need to remember your role in the classroom and do your best. You are a student-teacher and someone new in the class, so many students will test you to see what they can get away with. Remember that you are their teacher and you need to stand your ground. If you are not sure how to reach certain students do some research. Talk to your mentor teacher and search online for resources. Aside from the student aspect, you should try to be involved with the community as much as possible. The more that you do will only help you. Be prepared to put a large amount of thought into everything you do for your lessons. You need to reach all of your students the best that you can and have everything prepared before students enter the room.

3- What do you wish you would have known before going into student teaching?

Much of your student teaching you are not teaching your own lessons how you would want to teach them. This varies from placement to placement, but with any placement, you are the guest in your mentor teacher’s space. Many mentor teachers will start by having you observe them teaching, then having you teach their lesson the way they would, and towards the end of your time there you will be able to teach your lessons the way that you would like them to be taught. Remember that any lessons you teach will need to coincide with the curriculum that is already in place at your school.

4- What do you wish your mentor teacher knew about you?

I care strongly for my students and the profession of art education. I often worry and stress about everything being the best that it can be. I have high standards of myself and take it hard if I feel that I have failed. I have worked extremely hard to get to the point that I am at and often feel that I am under-appreciated, I always try my best and I want to be successful and serve my students and school community well.

5- What was the best thing(s) your mentor teacher taught you?

Be confident! You know a lot more than you think and you have a great deal of knowledge to share with your students. If you have no control over a situation, don’t worry about it! Stand up for yourself and be confident. Students will walk all over you if they sense they can. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be human with them! Your mentor teachers have so much knowledge, make sure to take advantage of that! You will learn a lot from them. This includes classroom management, skills, how to teach certain things, and much more.

6- What did your students teach you?

They know so much! My students knew much more than I anticipated and they also reminded me of art’s internal purpose. They have so much potential and they taught me not to underestimate somebody again! Challenges are great for them. While they know much more than anticipated, many were unable to see their own potential. I was shocked to see how hard they were on themselves. Always reinsure and support them. Your students are absolutely incredible and inspiring, but sometimes need help to see that. They also need you to be more than just their teacher. Your students need somebody to talk to about art, life, and more. Teachers are listeners more than anything. Also, remember that sometimes your students have a lot going on in their lives and some things are more important than their projects. You will be surprised how much a few minutes to themselves will help them to calm down. Show compassion and let them know that you are human too. This will help your relationship with them as well.

7- What is something that was challenging for you but ended up being rewarding in the end?

Instruction can be extremely hard and stressful in the beginning, but that gets easier with practice. You may be working with materials that you are not completely comfortable with and it might be extremely frustrating, but in the end, you will be happy you gained that knowledge. The biggest thing about student teaching is that you can only get better. Most things will be tough in the beginning but the more you do it the better you will get and the more confident you will be. Practice will only help you.

8- What advice would you give to future student teachers?

Always be early and be sure to communicate with your mentor teacher. I learned a lot just from talking to my mentor teacher and communicating how I was feeling. Respect both students and professionals within the school and take all advice (good or bad) as learning moments. If you can, walk in with experience and knowledge. If your school has a student chapter of NAEA, join it! I learned so much from NAEA events and got great teaching experience from it. Also, do your best to attend professional development opportunities. I have learned so much from conferences and they are great networking events as well. Remember that above all, you are a student while in this experience. Nobody is expecting you to be perfect and you will make mistakes. You will learn much more from your mistakes than your successes. Remember that you are learning even more than you are teaching. Yes, this is an exciting and overwhelming time, but you are ready and you can do this. Good luck and welcome to the profession.

Blog by Marie Elcin region 12 member and PAEA board secretary

As the past few weeks of staying home and social distancing have slowly passed, there are so many things I am thankful for. My family, my home, my students who keep showing me their creative efforts, and my community that is showing solidarity, positivity, and caring. There are two more things I’m very thankful for because they have kept me grounded and connected in what for many people is a scary and stressful time. 

The first thing I turn to is my own artistic practice. Throughout my career as an art educator, I have maintained a steady focus on my personal work as a fiber artist. I have always found stitching to be a meditative experience that helps me keep calm and let go of the stresses of teaching middle school art. For the past four years, I have set for myself an intention to complete a year-long project of either daily or weekly pieces. Having a consistent format for the artwork and theme for a year makes it easy for me to keep up a regular practice. It’s like a healthy habit, and I’m grateful that it is there to carry me through the empty hours of quarantine.

The second thing I turn to is my community of art educators. I am fortunate to be connected to several circles of art educators. My closest friends are all artists and teachers. In Philadelphia, led by our PAEA president-elect Leslie Grace, we have a regularly meeting group of art teachers in the Philadelphia Art Teacher Alliance. As an Art21 Educator and mentor, I also have a network of art teachers across the country who I connect with regularly. While I miss our face-to-face interactions, Zoom meetings have become windows into each other’s houses and a place to collaborate, commiserate, and escape our own four walls. Despite being isolated we have found ways to come together and even strengthen social bonds.

My artistic practice and my social circles intersected in 2019. As I started to plan out my year-long project in January 2019, I noticed everyone on social media posting their “top nine” photos on Instagram. I thought they were a strange sort of self-portrait. When posting on social media we already filter ourselves, only posting what we are proud of or like. Then the “top nine” algorithm was culling what other people liked about what you like, creating a doubly false representation of a person’s profile. I felt like social media was giving me a fake sense of who my friends are and making real friendships shallower as we liked each other’s photos but failed to have real conversations. 

I decided to create portraits of my friends on social media. I would attempt to make one weekly or at least start a new one as soon as the last one was finished. My rules were to contact a friend on Instagram, ask their permission for use of their photos and to do their portrait, and have a conversation about how they use social media before I started. Then I used their “top nine” photos as inspiration for colors in a nine-patch quilt foundation piece and used one of their selfies as a source for a line drawing portrait stitched in black thread over it. Sometimes I would add embellishments or quotes in the background to show more about their interests or character. While my original goal was to make 52 of them, I managed to create 30 over the course of the year. The beginning was easy as I approached those in my closest circle of friends- people I actually see in everyday life frequently. It got harder to approach those with whom I had weaker connections as the year progressed. However, in doing this project I was able to deepen those relationships.

Once each piece was completed, I posted it on Instagram along with a description of how I knew the person, what I admired them for, and a quote from our conversation. The portraits documented my social circle so that it did not just exist in the ether of the internet, but was materialized in the real world. Another aspect that emerged from the project was that the majority of the people I stitched were also artists and art educators, and the project became a celebration of the wonderful people in our profession. Here are a few whom you may be familiar with from our PAEA community: Lauren Stichter (Director of Administration and Supervision), Rebecca Hughes (Region 12 co-rep), Wendy Osterweil (former Professor of Art Education at Tyler School of Art), and Sue Liedke (preschool art teacher at Settlement Music School and museum educator at PMA and PAFA).

Our current isolation is heartbreaking, especially for art educators who thrive on the human connections of friends, colleagues, and students. In our schools we are often the glue of the community, celebrating creativity, human expression, and beauty in the world. We know that making and looking at art can raise spirits, build community, and reflect the times we live in. We can still be that glue of our schools even if school now exists in the ether of the internet, by communicating with our students, families, and colleagues, by sharing inspiring artworks, by celebrating the artistic efforts of our children, and by challenging them to keep being creative at home. We can use this time to expand our own creative practices by setting intentions and by carving out some space in our homes and time in our days to establish a healthy habit of artmaking. Finally, we can turn to this wonderful network of art educators in PAEA to share resources and deepen our connections with each other to get through this difficult time.

Connect with me on Instagram @marieelcin

Hey there art teacher friends.

This is an impromptu post from your blog moderator pal, Leslie Grace.

First off, I hope you are all healthy and well.

As many schools begin to shut down for X amount of days or weeks, I thought it might be helpful to share resources that other teachers have been sharing across Facebook and the internet for remote learning for visual art.

Of course, this is not something that all communities and students can do or have access to, as having internet and home computers are a luxury that not every family can indulge in. Most of my students do not have home computers, and can only access the internet through their parents’ phones. Not to mention the supplies they do not have available at home! So I am grappling with my own thoughts of how to serve my students’ artistic needs remotely, with a lack of resources, and lack of technology.

If your kiddos do have access and resources, perhaps these teachers’ ideas/links/lessons can help ya out:

PAEA Peep Show Contest

Rickey Willens created this slideshow on Drive to help families guide student activities at home.

Artsonia how to videos made by art teachers.

MissArtRoom.Blogpot.com shared a bunch of great resources like the images below and these links:

• https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/k-5directeddrawing
• https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/k-5artsongs
• https://www.instagram.com/missrsartroom/

The Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe has online lessons in English and Spanish at
http://www.internationalfolkart.org/learn/lesson-plans/

Artful Amy Google Drive folder of teacher submitted lessons –  This one is a gold mine of resources! But no “borrowing” for profit y’all!

Mrs. Velasques’ Art at home guide

Carol Bowen’s Flipped classroom lessons- “I “flipped” my classroom a couple of years ago, so I have more than 150 art teaching videos on my Youtube Channel. I normally keep them private and just use them in my classes. However, in these unusual times, I am sharing them to help any other folks who might need art lessons to use for remote teaching. I hope they help. They are for middle school through adult students. Feel free to share with any art teacher friends–or parents who are at home with their kids, looking for educational activities. Stay healthy!”

Amber Kane; How to teach art online- Many schools are closing and asking teachers to teach classes online to avoid the spread of (COVID-19), while it is possible to teach art online (it’s something that I’ve been doing for 6 years) it can feel overwhelming in the beginning. It can be hard to know where to start, what platforms and equipment to use and how to find the time. To help you, I’ve collected some of my favorite tools for teaching online and am sharing them below.

Paula Mclain– Lessons and ideas she compiled from other art teachers, institutions, etc.

Art Ed Guru– Covid19 Remote Teaching Resources

Blog post by Leah Shuck

The definition of compliance is:

1. the act or process of complying to a desire, demand, proposal, or regimen or to coercion
2. conformity in fulfilling official requirement (1)

_________________________________________________________________

For the last two years, my school district art department has been working with a local organization called the Arts Education Collaborative (AEC)(2). Last year we worked with them to rewrite our curriculum using the National Visual Art Standards. This year, we are working with them on assessment. Like most of you, I’m sure, rubrics are a huge part of the assessment that takes place in the art rooms here at West A and AEC really got me thinking about what I’m assessing and why.

In working with the AEC, the most impactful activity for me so far was the day we completed a task analysis of a lesson example to support one of the anchor standards from our curriculum. I chose:

“VA:Cr2.1.IIa: Through experimentation, practice, and persistence, demonstrate acquisition of skills and knowledge in a chosen art form.” (3)

For this particular standard, I was using my senior linoleum block printmaking unit as an example. First, we were asked to make a list of the things we find ourselves constantly saying to students during this lesson and write each on a Post-It note. I identified the following (see justifications for each italicized below):

1. What is going to be black?
2. • Many students struggle at first with planning out what exactly is going to be black (surface of the block) vs. what is going to be white (carved away).
3. Your first idea isn’t always your best idea.
   • Students tend to think of this at first as more of a stamp than a print. I try to push them to think of subject matter beyond just flat shapes, rather something with value and texture as well.
4. How many prints do you have?
   • I want them to do this until they get the hang of it, not just until they’ve fulfilled whatever arbitrary number I’ve assigned then stop.
5. How many monoprints have you tried?
   • Altering the prints is the most fun part! I want them to be able to take what they know about other art mediums and really experiment, be creative, and take risks with the mono-printing.
6. It has to be successful as a print, not just as a monoprint.
   • Some students only think of the monoprint as the end product, relying too heavily on that for setting, detail, and visual interest. I have to remind them that the print itself is an art piece too.

Next, we were asked to categorize them into the verbiage we used on our rubrics for that lesson.

That’s when the light bulb went off for me.

Am I really fairly assigning points to the things I am constantly stressing in class? Am I assigning points to things that are assumed, that I do not stress in class? Am I assigning points for things that could or should be separate for evaluating the process vs. the product? Am I assessing their artwork, their learning, or both? Is that clear? Look back to the definition of compliance at the beginning; do I really want demands or coercion to be part of my teaching practice?

Here’s what I found. I was assigning points for following the rules but we do not live in an age where “because I said so” is an acceptable answer anymore. Is participation important? Yes. Is craftsmanship important? Yes. But not just because I say so. Students should comply with these rules but I want them to understand why and how it impacts their learning and their art. So, I am no longer using them as categories on my rubrics.

Here’s what I did. I changed the categories on my rubrics so that the compliance elements were kept but worded so that students understand, for example, why participation is important. If you wasted your class time during this printmaking lesson then it effected how many prints you made, which affected how many monoprint techniques you were able to try, which affects the success of your final pieces. So instead of “participation” I now have “time management”, which is an authentic part of an artists’ process.

Instead of “craftsmanship” I now use “presentation” because yes, your project should be neat but not just because I said so, but because artists have to think about how they present their work (e.g. matted, labeled, clean).

Year after year I encourage them verbally to continue thinking of ideas and push their value and texture but nowhere before was I awarding points for creativity or personal challenge/ambition in this particular project.

Year after year I have to encourage a thorough plan for what is going to be carved away but never before was I awarding points for planning.

Here’s what I kept. I have always encouraged my students to reflect on their art…process and product, so by the time they are seniors filling out this linoleum block printmaking rubric, they know they are in for some questions! I ask them:

1. Did you like printmaking? Why or why not?
2. Would you be interested in learning further techniques in printmaking? (PS: we can do this during independent time!)
3. What was the most challenging part?
4. What was the most successful part?
5. There’s always room for growth! Identify at least one thing you could improve upon or change about your print.

Here’s what I altered. I kept the self-evaluation aspect of my rubric because honestly, without it I don’t think kids would thoroughly read it. Self-evaluation also lets me know where they think they are and what maybe needs more clarification. But what I did do was have them highlight the box indicating the level they feel they achieved. This was a clear visual representation of how they’ve done. After meeting with AEC and receiving feedback from colleagues, it was suggested that I also add highlighting the box of performance where I feel they are, in a different color. This shows where our evaluations align and where they may differ.

Here’s what I struggled with. Space quickly became an issue for me when adjusting this rubric. I wanted thorough descriptions that had distinct differentiation between each level and that added up to a lot of words fast! The headings are also still up for debate. Some say pure self-evaluation and reflection as a form of assessment should be separate from grading so at first I ditched the numerical values for each category “0-12”, 13-15”, and “16-20” but kept the headings “beginning”, “approaching”, and “excelling”. But again after meeting with AEC and my colleagues, they felt that caused confusion as to how the students were supposed to assign themselves a score (and for anyone who teaches high school, you know, every point matters!) so I’ve landed, for now, on keeping the heading as well as the numbers.

All in all, this process has been extremely rewarding. I feel like the learning I seek is clear and the language I use to describe it is more authentic. I want my students to see that I value creativity and experimentation over compliance but that compliance informs practice.

“Teaching, on its own, never causes learning. Only successful attempts by the learner to learn causes learning. Achievement is the result of the learning successfully making sense of the teaching.” (4)

It takes me much longer to type rubrics now but, in the end, I think it is worth it.

Footnotes

• https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compliance
• %20-%20new%20copyright%20info.pdf
• To learn more about the AEC and the work that they do, check out their website here: https://artsedcollab.org/about/ https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/sites/default/files/Visual%20Arts%20at%20a%20Glance
• Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Leah Shuck is a Region 1 representative who teaches visual art at West Allegheny High School, located outside of Pittsburgh PA.