JOURNAL ENTRY #1

During the first two weeks of student teaching, I’ve started to get involved in teaching from a number of different facets. One of the major components of this is that I’ve been thinking about creating lesson plans that are not only accessible to students at home, but also are engaging in the online format. I’ve noticed that while students are at home, their creative thinking is influenced by a variety of things. Oftentimes during in person learning situations, students are inspired and influenced by each other, they are having conversations that lead to their work having connections to those conversations. While students are online, I’ve noticed that each of their ideas are drastically different from one another. This is some ways is exciting, however in some ways those in person conversations create a community of deeper thinking. 

I’ve been teaching the lesson that students are currently working on in sculpture. They are building found object sculptures using any materials they find at home. I created a list of possible materials, but students were encouraged to branch out and use any materials they were interested in. Each student’s sculpture is extremely different. Students have created a tree, a snake, abstract sculptures, architectural forms, etc. The variety is really exciting to see, students are thinking and developing ideas that challenge themselves. I’ve also seen students dive into conceptual understandings of their work. They are pushing and working to create meaningful works of art. 

The challenge with this specifically is the lack of conversation between students that push them to dig deeper. Talking about works in progress can help students to develop new ideas, and it can spark their creative minds. Part of the content of art education is developing this skills in communicating and talking through our ideas. As I continue forward, I would like to incorporate more of these discussions into our class. Part of this is asking the right questions to get students thinking and talking, but also creating an environment where students are excited to talk. It would be amazing if our students were all working on their projects and talking during that time, but this is difficult to facilitate online. I wonder if breakout rooms would make students more comfortable talking and interacting with each other as they are working on their projects. That might be one way to facilitate these types of discussion in an online format. I could then go into each of the breakout rooms periodically and add to the discussion, and take a look at what they are working on. I think in terms of this, I could work on further planning out the ways we can discuss what students are working on during the art making process. 

Personally, this continues to develop my understanding of the importance of community in art making. Having a strong community pushes everyone to develop their creative thinking skills and therefore create meaningful art that they are passionate about. Community has always been an important part of art making for me, but this online format for the start of student teaching has made me realize just how truly valuable it can be for a community of learners and art makers. This is something that I will continue to work on throughout the semester, whether we are in person or online. This is also something that connects to my future as an art teacher, and an area that I can work to develop in my art classroom. In an in person setting, the way that a classroom is set up can help to encourage this conversation and allow for students to develop the practice of discussing their work and their process. Online, I can continue to develop ideas of how this might be able to happen for students, ways that I can encourage this community of discussion.

I’ve also realized that continuing to develop my understanding of art making will make a huge difference for kids. It gives me a better understanding of questions that I can ask to encourage ideation, questions that encourage students to give each other meaningful feedback, etc. This for me suggests the importance of developing a deep and meaningful understanding of art, art history, art techniques, etc. The more information I have, the better I will be able to help kids in the pursuit of their own creative endeavors. Alongside this, I need to develop my understanding of art based on what kids are thinking about and wishing to pursue. Art is ever changing, and so it is important for me to make changes to my own understandings and practices along with it. This will expand my knowledge and benefit the kids as they are pursuing their own creative endeavors. 

For me personally, this means that I will continue to develop my own practice throughout my career. I will delve into new and unknown areas, I will challenge myself. This will also allow for me to relate to the students and understand their process and thinking when it comes to art making.