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       The past semester of ART325 has helped me put theory into practice. Half of the semester was spent on reading texts on how to approach art eduction, while the other half was dedicated to teaching lessons to a group of students, and working to make quality lesson plans. There has been a decent amount of planning, problem solving, critical thinking, and reflections that helped move from one service learning project to the next. I am eager to teach different age groups, now that I have gotten accustomed to our Artistic Abilities formats, and I am sure there will be even more new challenges that will occur. I think I have been taken out of my comfort zone in a beneficial way, and feel proud of what my service learning partners and I have done with the last few months. 

  

       Before this year, I hadn’t realized how “new” the study of education actually is, (compared to other subjects). Despite schools for adolescents existing for centuries, the methods that teachers have used hadn’t really been studied until the early 1900’s. I think being apart of this modern education movement is extremely fulfilling. I’m excited to see what further research into childhood brain function and development can be made within my lifetime. I think it is important to always

be looking for newer and better methods to make students’ lives better. Constructivist theory says that students build new knowledge on what they have previously learned. Students learn best with hands-on, meaningful lessons that they can relate to their own lives. I feel like this makes sense to my own learning style and development, and I will try to implement these discovery-based methods in all of the lessons I will make for students. Learning about the Reggio Emilia-inspired approach was fascinating. It seems so contradictory to the way the United States approaches early childhood education.

I think that it will be hard to convince school districts to switch over to the R.E. methods, but teachers can utilize self-led, play-based learning within their own classrooms. I think the arts are the best place to introduce the Reggio Emilia and constructivist styles of education. 

  

         The service learning portion of this course has taught me to always leave room for adjustments the day of the lesson. Even when our group tried to plan out every minute of our class, we found that there would always be something that we couldn’t have planned for. Sometimes students would be so interested in their artwork, that it was hard to move them on to the next step of the project. Sometimes students worked so quickly, that we needed to find a way for them to stay engaged in art-making for the rest of the class period. I think that our group planning went really well, and every member of PSD B offered some great lesson ideas. Our take-home lesson was a bit of a change of pace, but a good experience to add to the other in-person classes. I personally learned a lot about time management, and trying to be as resourceful as possible when choosing what supplies and materials we wanted to use. I think using recycled and natural materials happened to be the best idea that we came up with near the end of our teaching experience.

    

         Working with the artistic abilities group helped us experience a spectrum of differences in physical abilities and communication. Having a good relationship built between the teachers and students made the lessons more enjoyable. Having casual conversations even worked as a form of pre assessment to try and figure out how to get students interested in an upcoming project. By the end of our time with the students, they knew our names and interests, and we knew theirs. It was sad saying goodbye after just a few weeks with them, but I hope that they really enjoyed our lessons, and might consider using some of the techniques and materials we demonstrated with them. 

    

        I am excited to get started on the next session of art education. I wasn’t sure what to expect before this semester began, and in the first few weeks it did seem a bit overwhelming. However, once we got started on actually teaching and putting the notes and lectures into practice, everything became more clear and connected. The Studio Habits of Mind is

a great tool for art teachers and makes project ideation easier to tackle. Exploring Art Worlds in particular is one habit that I will aim to focus on in my future lessons, since it is so important for students to be aware of other cultures, and other voices that might have been ignored in past decades in art classes. As for myself, I think that reflection is the most important habit for teachers to practice— to help make their teaching better and stronger over time, and to try and identify weaknesses and shortcomings in ineffective lessons.