Journal - Heidi Wetzel

9/21/12
My fifth week was a tough one. I had several chaotic classrooms and a few disrespectful students. However, like I told Cortney, it somehow ended up being my favorite week. I think this is because there was a lot going on. Not only that, but it was a lot going on with my projects, not Cortney's. Working on the my own lessons and being involved with the student's learning processes makes a huge difference in how much I'm enjoying the classroom.

There was a situation earlier this week, where a male student talked back to me inappropriately. I was taken a back. It was my first situation like it. I didn't write him up, but I talked in my teacher voice, saying "Do not talk to me like that. That is incredibly inappropriate." He calmed down a little. He did smirk and scoff a bit, but for the most part I talked to him in a way I hadn't before, and I think he was surprised and that caused him to shut up.

On another day when I was introducing my sculpture lesson, Cortney was standing by some students that were being disruptive. During my lecture, one student's phone rang on silent, Cortney saw it flashing and told the student she better not answer the phone. The student went ahead, picked up the phone, answered it, and walked out of the room. After school, Cortney and I discussed this and the process of deciding when enough is enough. The problem with this situation was that in the previous class, the kids were very talkative and I moved kids, or asked them to stop talking, or paused and kept silent until they were quiet. After the class Cortney informed me that some of the chatter was student's talking about the works I had presented in my Power Point. Therefore, in the next class, I let some of the chatter slide, but also tried to pay more attention to the things students were chatting about. The problem with the student who answered her phone, was that she has a lot of attitude, but she cares a lot about her work and grade. Some students at North have a lot of issues at home, or are doing poorly in their other classes. Sometimes in the art room, it's hard to find a balance between not stepping on student's toes so that they keep interested in the subject and making sure that they're being taught rules of respect in the classroom. This was a topic Cortney and I discussed that day. At first she thought this would be a situation in which I could write the student up. However, she advised I try talking to her the next day, respectfully asking for her respect in return. I tried it out the next day before class and gained the students respect. I didn't write her up, and from that day on, I have not had trouble with her being disrespectful or disruptive.

The students at North are good kids for the most part and very interesting. However, they're difficult to manage a lot of the time and I feel like I have to respond/deal with them differently than high school kids at other schools. It'll be interesting to visit/observe Shawnee Mission East week eight. I have heard so much talk about how well-behaved the kids are there. I try not to stereotype the schools and act like North is way more "ghetto" than the rest in the area, but I do believe there is a difference. The students at North have a low attendance rate and parents are way less involved.

My first few weeks with the students at North was very difficult. I didn't know them and I had to prove to them that I was the authority (not being that much older than them). However, after getting to know the students, their lives and their interests, it's amazing how much they change. Teaching becomes so much more easier and fun when I know the students and have them coming to me for everything! While my favorite part of teaching is when I can walk around and talk individually with students, helping them with particular issues, I am incredibly pleased by my new abilities speak to the class as a whole. I know I am not an expert at this yet, but I feel hopeful of improving rapidly with the next couple of student teaching positions.  I think I still need practice in managing the classroom, but I feel 100% more confident than when I started.

9/28/12

My sixth week at North was just as crazy as the last, even though we took two field trips. Everything kind of seems like a blur, but it feels good. The pace is very quick, but it's because we're in the thick of projects. Sculpture went to the Zoo on Monday and began working on their proejcts. They began working on animal collages with magazine pages. They sketched their animal on illustrator board and tore colors and textures out of magazines to collage over the animal with. This was a preliminary activity in finding and seeing texture and color. It was also a lesson in practicing tearing shapes. I have been so pleased by their ability to find textures and incorporate them in the animals. They worked on so much preliminary work before starting to build their animals, that I think the sculptures are turning out better than they could have been. The students dove right into building. I did a short demo on tearing the paper and taping it together in simple forms to start the base or skeleton of the animal. I then demonstrated watercolor techniques and let them loose with the project. I was so pleased at the amount of students that started building and painting without fear. This was truly been a process based project and it's amazing how much it impacts their productivity. They're interested and they love their work. Students have been creating contraptions for their sculptures: ways to hang them so they can work from the air and/or ways to mount them on the wall, so that they can get the right posture of the animal. This project (and the students) has made me see what makes teaching worth it.

10/3/12

I taped myself teaching the beginning of sculpture today. I believe that in a short couple of weeks I have improved in my rapport with the students, my authority over them, and my confidence in speaking to the class as a whole and managing their attention.

There is a student in my sculpture class that doesn't finish projects. He sits and sleeps and I constantly have to probe him. Today, while everyone was working on their sculptures, I saw him sitting on one of the computers. My first thought was that he was just playing around. I walked over to him and realized he was actually reading an article about the animal he was making. He explained to me what it was about. It was a really interesting story about his animal, so I grabbed some paper, handed it to him, and said, "Write exactly what you just told me on this piece of paper - it is the inspiration for your project!" We went over to his sculpture and began talking more about the story and his project (which is a snake). I helped him figure out strategies on how to construct his snake and he explained to me what colors would work well for it. He hasn't finished the project yet, so I don't want to speak too soon, but it's moment like those that make me want to teach. I want to encourage the students that have no motivation. I want them to discover new things, whether it be news articles that motivate them to create, or contraptions that assist them in constructing a sculpture.