For my first lesson, I co-taught a quick slideshow with my peer. We were each given a surface decoration technique to show the class that they could use on their tea pot sets. During the presentation, we talked about the history and origins of the technique, explained the steps, and showed examples. For the lesson plan, I created my own version of the lesson as if I was teaching it from the beginning. I enjoyed helping out with the Sculpture I class and getting to talk about surface design.
For our first lesson, Tiffany and I were asked to teach surface design techniques, I was to teach sgraffito. We were asked to teach the technique and show examples of how the technique can be used. Students were taught how to do the techniques the class before, so we prepared a slideshow with examples of different ceramic artworks with the surface designs. The lesson was very brief, but I think that we found some good examples for the students.
When I teach surface design in the future, I think there are a couple things I would do differently. First off, I would utilize the technology when teaching the technique. Clay is a great medium to show on a document camera. When I have taught clay before, I have had students come up and try the technique so that students are getting experience and the class is able to watch. Also, I would probably add a little more historical context to the technique. Traditional mediums like clay have so much history to them, and I think that it is important to connect with those who created it.
Also, I would try and have examples ready either that I have made myself or from students from previous years. It is one thing to see images of an art work, but it is another to see and feel an art work in person.
This lesson was a nice, short one, and it helped me think about how I would have taught it in my own classroom. Any experience is good experience, so it was night getting to lead the art class at Thompson Valley.
U.S. History // The Great Depression
For my second lesson, I co-taught a history class during their unit on the Great Depression. We had the freedom to teach whatever we wanted to, so we decided to do an art history lesson on art in the 1930's. We did two activities with the students to assess their understanding and did a brief interactive lecture. At the end, students filled out a worksheet that was later used for the data-analysis project.
Lesson Plan
Rubric
Reflection
or the second lesson, we had the opportunity to teach an art history class for juniors. They were in the middle of their Great Depression unit, so we decided to do some activities based off the art from the 1930’s and talk about how the Depression influenced art during that time.
We began class by doing an acidity where students worked in pairs to place photos from Dorothea Lange into different categories. This was a sort of pre-assessment for us because it let us see and discuss how much background knowledge the students already had with the images. After that, we did an interactive lecture on the historical context and about the art work from the time period. We had students analyze an art work as a class to see how well they could break it down. Our final activity was for students to fill out a worksheet that asked questions about the historical context and transfer that understanding to contemporary times.
I was unsure of how the lesson would go because the students had no idea who we were, there was a substitute, it was 7:30 in the morning, and we were discussing art in a history class. Despite all these circumstances, I felt like the students were pretty engaged for the majority of the time. It was obvious that the students understood what was going on during that time period, so it was fun getting to show them the relationship between art and politics.
Of course, there are always ways to improve. I was unsure of how long to talk because I knew their attention span would not be long, but I feel like we could have gone a little more in depth on some of the information like regionalism and mural art. When we looked back at the worksheets, there were some misconceptions and we found that many students did not think further than the examples we provided.
I think the students were able to understand the big idea of what we were trying to say which, for the circumstances, made me happy. I was very satisfied with the lesson and the answers on the worksheets. Hopefully the students learned something they would not have if we were not there. I really enjoyed being in a history class room since art is such a huge part of history.