The negative experiences I had while student teaching in the Derby Sixth Grade Center or SGC (800 11/12 year olds in one school) centered solely on the age of the student body. I have learned so much about the cognitive capabilities of this age group. The students are clawing their way through puberty, social interaction is absolutely the highest point of importance, and the young men are absolutely incapable of controlling themselves and everything that is happening to them--maturity wise. However, there is a positive with each negative, and in this case it would be my already strong classroom management skills have been honed to a near superpower. I am a steel wall; thank you, boys. Their heinous behavior, immature, inappropriate, wiggly, drumming, humming, tapping, throwing, squealing, running, out of their seats selves turned me into a much better classroom manager, for which I am grateful. (Albeit it did make for some long days...)
The positive aspects of the Derby SGC were the wonderfully welcoming staff and "Explo" (Exploratory Educators) Team, the Principle and office staff, and my wonderful coordinating teacher. I have absolutely learned how to be an art teacher from this amazing woman. As a veteran teacher and survivor of 18 years as a sixth grade art teacher ( grin ) she has a calming demeanor that I know will only come with time and experience. The things I have learned from her would take days to reiterate, however in an afford to be concise I will provide a bulleted list:
- How to manage/account/reuse/upcycle art supplies.
- How to achieve the best cost effective results when ordering art supplies and materials with budget money and a list of dozens of supply sites with a breakdown of which supplier has the best rates for many different types of supplies. Priceless information!
- How to display student work in a fair and equal manner, respectful of all skill levels.
- How to manage hundreds of student grading, work, and projects from the material through passing out graded work.
- An effective and reasonable way of assessing student work with the inclusion of differentiation for lower level learners, special needs, and exceptional learners.
- How to provide concise, effective, simplified instruction for the days lesson. Keep it simple and short, yet understandable and effective. She is a master at this!
I am so thankful for the opportunity to learn from this exceptional educator. The students at this school gave me a run for my money at first, but I would brave this age group for a year to spend more time with her. I absolutely loved absorbing her knowledge, and was thankful she was so willing to share.
One more positive that I was lucky to experience at the SGC was my daily work with the school's 12 special needs students who attend a special portion of the school that teaches life skills and academic basics. The students ranged from non-verbal to higher functioning special needs. These students were my breath of fresh air amongst the pre-teen tornado that I faced, daily. Their incredible willingness to participate, focus on their work and group attack of each project with their own personal form of determination was an absolute inspiration. I observed the students and their individual abilities in the first three weeks at the SGC. After my period of observation I started to adapt the lessons of the main class to the individual students abilities and interests. Each student would take their adapted instruction and create. They were above all of the students most effective "makers" that I taught at the SGC. I learned from them as much or more than they learned from me, a well...to include quite a bit of sign language! The non-verbal students loved teaching me some of their most common signs--which in turn only made me a more effective teacher. They have driven a new personal goal for myself in that I have a burning desire to learn sign language this year! I loved my artists with special needs!
The incredible growth of my own pedagogy this semester has been vast and dynamic. I feel that I have met all of the academic goals that I drove into Derby, Kansas determined to meet. I received wonderful feedback from all of the people who mentored me and I feel as though I applied that feedback and have bettered myself as an educator as a result. I have learned that I definitively teach objectives versus projects keeping the focus on curriculum and providing students the knowledge of art understanding, because above all, I want my students to become life-long learners and art appreciators. Also, I feel richer as a human after my time with "my" special needs students; I feel completely prepared to meet the challenges of maintaining an art classroom; I feel comfortable in my skill to create a safe an rich creative learning environment with dynamic art lessons; and finally I feel confident in my ability to provide quality objectives and quality assessment to the students in my future. I am ready. The Derby Public Schools has done a lot of work with me and has put a finishing touch on my education that I am fortunate to have received.
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