Margaret Derrig

Dr. Ketal Patel

ArtEduc 4500 Pre-Practicum Clinical

6 December 2021

4500 Final Reflection

At my primary site, I taught a unit about lines to kindergarteners. The unit had three

lessons, and I taught lesson one and two to one class, then I taught lesson two to another class as

well. I am very glad that I got to experience teaching two lessons in sequence to one class, as

well as teaching one lesson to two different classes. I think it was a better experience than just

teaching three different lessons to one class or teaching the same lesson three times to different

classes. I got to work with more students and see how the classroom dynamics change between

different groups, but I also got to see how the dynamic changed in a specific class as the students

became more comfortable with me as their teacher. I am excited to experience more of this as I

start teaching the kindergarten and first grade classes in January.

Overall, I think the three lessons that I taught went well. Even though I felt like I was

well prepared with my lesson plans, I still wasn’t sure what to expect for my first time teaching. I

felt nervous for my first lesson, which I think made my instruction and demo portion a bit

choppy, and I wasn’t as comfortable with my transitions. This improved a little in my second two

lessons, and I anticipate it’ll get easier as I teach more. Once the students started working, I felt

better because I could see that they were able to follow along with my instructions and knew

what they were supposed to do. The students seemed to really enjoy the projects and had fun

creating them. Dr. Patel gave me feedback about the structure of my lesson and how I could

break it up in the future, which I think will work a lot better and help me with the flow and
transitions in the lesson. The students didn’t have many behavior issues, although I do need to

work on how I get the students’ attention and being okay with waiting for them to calm down

and listen. Overall, I think I need to work on keeping myself relaxed and trusting that I know

what I am doing, because I do.

My mentor teacher at my secondary site teaches high school photography and ceramics

classes. I really like the way the school has the classes set up. There are two classes, level 1 and

level 2&up. Students start by taking level 1, then they can take level 2&up as many times as

they’d like. I think there are many benefits of this: students can continue to improve their skills

overtime in an area they enjoy; teachers can have students multiple times and build relationships

with them; and students get more freedom with the types of projects they work on in the higher

levels. I taught a photo 2&up class for my lessons in November. I came up with a project that

would be basic enough for the photo 2 kids’ skill level, but had enough choice for the higher

level students to push themselves.

After teaching my first high school lesson, I realized my perception of high school art is

not as accurate as I thought. I forgot the amount of time projects usually last, which is longer

than what I was thinking. My project I did with them was a little rushed because of when I was

there, so we didn’t get to do everything I would’ve for the lesson. I also ran into some challenges

throughout the lesson that resulted in some changes to my plan. I think it was a very beneficial

experience, though, because I had to learn how to adapt and ask myself what was most important

for my lesson. There were some things that I had to take out that I think would’ve been

beneficial for the students, but there were some things I took out that I realized weren’t needed or

wouldn’t have worked how I thought they would. I still need to work on figuring out how much I
need to explain to the students and what they already know. They are at varying levels so their

prior knowledge varies as well.

Part of my preparations for student teaching at my high school has been relearning some

of the skills and concepts for the ceramics classes. I don’t have as much experience with

ceramics, and I only got half a class in spring of 2020 because of Covid, so I need to learn more

of the course content before I’m able to teach the students. For the photography classes, my

preparations have been more of figuring out what the students will know already before I get

there so I know what I should be teaching them. I’ve gotten more comfortable with assuming the

role of the teacher and having that authority, which was strange to me at first. One thing that has

helped a lot with this is when I see the students doing what they’re supposed to and that they’re

enjoying the projects. It reassures me that I know what I am doing and the students think so, too.

There are some things I still need to work on, like waiting for the students to pay attention and

how to address bad behavior and get the students to work. I think as I become more comfortable

as the teacher it will become easier to do those things.