Service Learning Lesson 4 Reflection
Take-Home Project “Mosaic Sun-Catcher”
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Relate this event to theory, research and readings. What is your interpretation of these events based on current class readings and discussions? What worked well for this art experience?
-Since this was a take-home packet, and we didn’t actually meet with our students for this service learning experience, my reflection will be entirely based on the theory, research and readings that helped us develop this project. Pre-assessment had to be done based on our previous 3 service learning lessons, and what we felt was a good combination of stimulating yet easy to understand from the materials we sent out to students. We still had a video resource if students had access to the internet, and I think that addition was extremely beneficial for our specific students’ learning needs. We wanted to use art materials that wouldn’t need any explanation or learning-curve to use when students were left to themselves to develop their piece.
Relating this project to brain-based theories, we wanted to utilize the idea of scaffolding/spiraling. Our previous lessons with these students had repeated the idea that self-expression is at the forefront of each art project, but also thinking about what you want to do (visualizing) before choosing materials, is another important step in art making. We had also covered ways of mixing colors, and what colors work together in their previous projects. We had conversations identifying what we remembered their hobbies, interests, and favorite colors were, and encouraged them to use those self-identifying aspects in their artworks. I would like to think that we were able to set up a system that encouraged scaffolding off of previous ideas, and would help them start this project on their own.
Our video asked them to think about “what happens to colors when the pieces of tissue paper are layered on top of one another?” And then in the video, we told them to play around with the materials and swap out one color for another— there was no glue or adhesive involved, so their artworks were flexible and changeable, so risk was low and experimentation was encouraged. We also had to utilize what we knew about working with students with different learning abilities and needs, and every decision was made to ensure the success of the student while they worked outside the usual classroom setting. Instructions were numbered clear, concise and kept to a minimum. The video was filmed with teachers using a clear, loud voice and free of excess information that might lose their attention. Each art packet included exactly what they needed to limit feeling overwhelmed, or wasting any materials. Packets also included a written copy of the instructions, with a personalized greeting and a link to the video resource. We tried to cover all of the bases that might help the students make an enjoyable piece of art.
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?
-Personally, I found the experience of working with my fellow teachers rewarding once again. We came together outside of class and worked together to make a solid, simplified take-home art project that we felt good about, and felt like student’s might enjoy it. We had larger ideas, more expanded options, but quickly realized that our grand ideas might not translate well to a take-home packet, and would be better served in an in-person classroom setting. I think that this particular project would have been much harder developing on my own, and I appreciated the ideas and teamwork that came from each person in our group. I think it is always important to make sure each voice is heard when doing a group project, and it was important for me to personally find my best role for this particular project. We were all “lead teachers,” so we all needed to clearly put an equal amount of work in, especially when it came to the video portion. Several times I wanted to make the project even more detailed, but realized it might just add to confusion and ruin the clarity we had developed for the packet.
Without having the feedback from students, I think we didn’t have any real difficulties regarding this lesson plan. The main difficulty was making the project easy to split into individual student packets, and include every bit of information they might need. Without seeing the student reactions, it’s hard to gauge the level of interest, so we had to go on pure hypotheticals, as well as out previous knowledge of the last 3 lesson plans successes and failures.
I think recording the actual video was the most challenging thing for me (and the other teachers seemed to agree.) We had gotten used to teaching with no do-overs or re-recordings, and could change what we were saying as we saw reactions from students. The video was a bit intimidating, and I didn’t want to mess up what I was supposed to say, and then have to re-record the whole thing over. Luckily, our initial anxiety was baseless, since we were able record our video explanation and demonstration without any issues! I think the only way to make a better experience for this, is to record more lesson plans. It’s definitely a good skill to work on, especially after COVID pushed all students online for so long. It’s better to plan ahead in this regard.
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?
As I mentioned in the “challenges” portion above, even though I was not excited to do a video recording of the lesson, I saw the clear benefit from it. In the past, I’ve seen students audio or video record lectures and projects to look back on later. I think when teachers post their presentations for students to look back on after class, it can be extremely useful for students with sensory processing issues that prevent them from fully focusing during a class period. It also helps students that might be out sick, or have to miss a lesson. We don’t want to punish students for things they can’t control, and if we want to really help students that might struggle, we (as teachers,) want to give students the biggest toolkit to succeed. After reflecting on the benefits of these recorded lessons, I think I would be interested in implementing them into my future classrooms. I have to get it out of my head that the recording needs to be super professional, well-edited, YouTube-quality, and it’s just an extra resource for students that want to use it.
Without having the actual service learning portion with students, It’s hard to imagine what I might have done differently. I think there are plenty of options I would have added to the project if I had even more time and money to involve. I think the stained glass project could be done in a variety of ways. The one way we had chosen, with the bags and tissue paper, was extremely limited, but it was a conscious effort for the sake of clarity. I think flexibility and changing expectations was a big part of this project, and I definitely feel like it has helped me plan for future projects that would get sent home with students.