Service Learning: Lesson 2 Reflection

“Creative 3D Self-Portrait”

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1. What is your interpretation of these events based on current class readings and discussions.? What worked well for this art experience?

    -For our second service learning class, our “big idea” was based around identity and sense of self. During the previous week’s class, I was the lead-teacher, but for this lesson, I had the ability to hang back, and assist another one of my group members with their class instruction. While demonstrating and speaking to the class was a little nerve-wracking, it is also a different kind of challenge to work with a group, and make sure that everything you are doing with students aligns with the lead-teacher’s ultimate class goal for the day. 

    Introductions had already been done the week before, so this week was great for diving right into a demo and making art. For my watercolor demo, I wasn’t able to hold the visual attention of the students, but for this lesson, Sophie, the lead-teacher, was extremely animated, and utilized the whiteboard for part of the demonstration. She made jokes, used dynamic body language and the students really seemed to respond well to her style of teaching. I was impressed and aim to bring some of that energy into future lesson plans. I think Sophie really embodied the “making learning visual” aspect of differentiated learning. Many of the texts we have gone over in class emphasize that teachers must be passionate about the material they teach, and students will be able to sense when teachers are being authentic and genuine. The students’ energy during the demo, carried over to the art-making process and willingness to try new materials for their 3D self-portraits.

    Another thing that went particularly well, was that students worked on their pieces for the entire duration of class. We had to remind the students of the time, and had to help them accept the point where their portraits were “complete,” because most of them would have continued to work on their pieces long after class would have ended. The big idea of “self” and “identity” was a great starting point, and clearly made the students want to make art that was meaningful to themselves. 

 

 

2. Consider the meaning your teaching experience has for you as an individual. What does this experience mean to you personally? What didn’t work well for this art experience? Why?  

    Once again, being a part of a group of teachers shows that teamwork can be a powerful tool if the group works well together. I feel like when one of us has a question, we can ask one of the other three group members. It helps us work through some problem solving better than if we were going into these lessons solo. Being a part of a group also allows us to choose a table of 2-3 students, or one particular student that has more needs, and give more focus to a smaller portion of the class. It gives me an opportunity to see what working with students with different abilities and special needs might be like in my future classrooms. 

    Each student is their own person, and seeing our lesson plan in action, reminds us to leave plenty of room for flexibility, since some of our ideas just wont be relatable or meaningful to the students, and we cannot make them interested in something that we care about, but they do not. 

    There were a few things that didn’t work as well as we had planned. The styrofoam that the head is made of, was hard to use normal glue, but hot-glue would have melted the styrofoam, so some of our ideas of gluing pieces on the heads, had to pivot to being more focused on alternative methods of attachment. There might have also been too many items for students to choose from. We wanted them to have limitless possibilities of creative expression, but on reflecting, we could have limited the amount of fabric, paints, and smaller found objects, and the students would have been a little less overwhelmed. Most students stuck with painting the head, using a few pom-pom balls, 1-2 small styrofoam balls, a handful of pipe cleaners and a small amount of yarn.  

    We also had pre-portioned limited palettes of acrylic paints, but students didn’t use all of the colors we had poured, so there was more wasted product than we would prefer. We also had poured more glue than we needed, which was more wasted product that could not be recycled for later. 

    At least one or two students wanted teachers to work on their pieces and “help them” with their ideas. We had to realize that doing painting or attaching pieces for the students would take away their creative voice, and would end up being something that they hadn’t completed themselves. It was difficult to say “no,” to working on the project for them, but we found ways of persuading the students to push through their frustrations and keep working on the 3D portrait all on their own. The only assistance I would allow myself to offer, was to hold the base of the head-form to keep it steady while they painted or attached pieces to it. It was a top-heavy shape, and a bit of a challenge to paint without knocking it over, but the students didn’t seem too frustrated with it. 

 

 

3. Relate your interpretation of the meaning of your teaching as it pertains to your education as a future art teacher. How will you configure or reconfigure your future actions as an art teacher as a result of this experience? What would you do differently? Why?

    Even in the smaller class we are working with, the students each have their own way of working through projects. Each service learning experience is a good reminder that having a strong lesson plan is important, but remembering the goals of differentiated instruction is vital for student success. Teachers do not have the ability make 12 individual lesson plans each class, for each individual student— Instead, I should aim to be flexible in how students can demonstrate their understanding. The big idea and materials should be rigid, but the other aspects of the lesson plans have more room to shift around when students are struggling. I have been able to observe students that appear to be struggling, but they usually just need encouragement or leading questions to get them refocused on the big idea of the lesson. 

    I think our biggest collective realization was that we were wasting materials in this lesson plan. I think it’s important to ask myself: “Is this particular material supporting the big idea or theme of the project?” We all had the goal to make our next 3 plans more precise, and involve more recycled or found material. This is important for the class budget, but also good to keep in mind for when I might be in an art class with no spare budget for supplies. Being resourceful and frugal can be really important in the art classroom. It also teaches students to build habits that are better for the environment. If I were to do this project again, I would probably make the head-form out of newspaper or a recycled container, since it was just going to get covered in paint and materials anyway.