In-depth reflections on lessons learned teaching virtually.
Educator Mid-Year Reflection
Dover Middle School
February 2021
Prologue
This has truly been a year like no other. Before the pandemic hit last March I was in the process of interviewing for the Dover Middle School art teacher position. I was very excited about all the new possibilities, new colleagues, new lessons, and the new age levels. I was also anticipating seeing some familiar faces from Garrison Elementary School at DMS. I spent a good part of the 2020 summer anticipating the new year, working on my curriculum maps and new lessons. I was so excited about my new position!
Everything changed on August 21st, 2020. My mother unexpectedly died from Covid-19. With her death came an avalanche of emotions. I was trying to wrap my head around the sudden loss of my beloved mother and friend. I've learned over the years as a teacher I often have to compartmentalize my emotions for the sake of the students. But, this I was unprepared for though! In a matter of days, I would be teaching students I had never met before, at a school I’ve never taught at before, with people I didn’t know, and in the middle of a pandemic. My first year as a middle school teacher was going to be different on so many levels.
Adapting
I started the school year with a handful of lessons that I had written over the summer. In a matter of weeks, it became apparent that the lessons I had written for in-person projects were not going to work teaching virtually. There was no guarantee that all the students had the materials for the lessons and some of these lessons needed a more in-person touch. The first several weeks were extremely challenging. Most of the students chose to keep their cameras off. How was I going to get to know these students on a personal level and make healthy connections if I couldn't see them or hear them? I had to remember that this wasn't just about me, my nervousness, or my challenges. I had to put aside my emotions of my mother's death, of being at a new school and teaching Zoom classes to essentially a bunch of black squares. I was trying to put myself in my students’ shoes. They must be feeling so scared because of the pandemic, isolated at home, some even alone during the day, and all feeling so exposed on camera. This was so surreal for all of us. We were all in this together.
Middle School is a time in one's life when you feel the most self-conscious. This was not the ideal venue to be teaching. I quickly adapted and quickly changed my lessons and my approach. I did NOT require students to keep their cameras on during class. I expressed it would be appreciated if they did it at the beginning of class as I took attendance. If students chose not to put their cameras on and not speak, that was just going to have to be the new normal. A majority of the students were at least showing up! I can't tell you how difficult it is to speak to a blank screen and not even know if your audience was actually there. I spoke with enthusiasm to the students that I assumed were on the other side of those black little Zoom rectangles.
For the first month of school, I was trying to teach two art lessons and have two quizzes every month. Art is a passion of mine and I often assume, or at least hope, that the students are just as passionate about art as I am. After the first round of progress reports and the unpleasant emails I got from some parents it became apparent that many of the students were struggling to keep up with their core classes, never mind my art class. Again I had to reflect and change my approach. I had to be flexible. I decided I would teach one lesson a month and have one quiz a month. I discussed this with all 24 of my classes during their class zoom. I asked the students what they would prefer and if they were feeling overwhelmed; how would they like to move forward with their assignments. I remember when I was in MS and HS I always appreciated when an adult asked me my opinion and preference. It didn't happen often, but when it did happen I felt like I mattered and that this person cared about me. Slowly, very slowly a couple of the cameras came on. I noticed a couple of the microphones became unmuted. I was making my first real connection with my students. We decided as a class that we would spend more time on a one-month-long lesson instead of rushing through two lessons a month. For the most part, this has worked out. I'm still chasing some students down to turn in their artwork and retake quizzes. For the most part I’ve noticed that the artwork has become more thoughtful and complete.
Another major milestone during this remote teaching and learning time was when I decided to allow the students to use whatever medium they felt most comfortable with. Students often complain about their lack of drawing skills even when they’re in the classroom. This was compounded with virtual learning. So whether the assignment was drawing a still-life or painting a landscape I decided to allow the students to use their medium of choice. This was a turning point for many students as I noticed some started to actually do the assignments. I think the biggest request from students was if they could use their devices such as an iPad to make their artwork. I personally think that we all express ourselves in different ways so I had no issue with a student using his or her device. I did emphasize however that all students still needed to complete the major lesson objectives whether they were using watercolors, pencils, crayons, acrylic paint, or an iPad. It would be challenging to complete certain assignments digitally, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how innovative the students were. So many students have created some extremely amazing artwork this year. My goal was to create a website to showcase student artwork. Unfortunately, one of the major problems I’ve had teaching remotely has been getting the kids to save their artwork in the correct file format for a website. Without getting too technical the students needed to save their images as a certain file type. So many of them embedded the photographs of their artwork into a Google doc or a Google slide (Google Classroom is designed that way. As a result, I would have to go into each image and extract the artwork manually in order to put it on a website. To create websites the images are usually uploaded as batch files to save time. 600 students multiplied by the 5 art lessons would be a huge undertaking. As a result, I’m not sharing student work on a website, but I will highlight some of the work on the Google Classroom Stream.
Making More Connections
I decided to start doing the assignments alongside students using my medium of choice, soft pastel! Many of the students are just getting to know me. My hope was to make some connections and gain some trust and respect. I wanted the students to know that I wasn't only an art teacher but that I was a working artist. I wanted them to be able to trust in my instructions and know it’s based on experience and skill. So during these Zoom classes I would show the students my websites and showcase what I'm capable of doing with digital art, photography, pottery, drawing, printmaking, painting and pastel. Again this was one of those classes when I noticed cameras coming on and microphones being unmuted.
When I was teaching from home I was making different kinds of connections with the students. I know there is such a push for teachers to be teaching from the classroom, but I actually didn't agree with this approach. When I was working from home I was just like the students. We could connect on that level. They looked around my office and commented on what they saw just as I commented on their space. Many of the students introduced me to their pets and siblings during a Zoom. When I was working from home they got to meet my two dogs and my cat. This became a daily occurrence and an expectation. If my cat Zippy was not in the window and Freda was not barking for some attention the students often asked where my pets were. The younger kids always wanted to see Zippy during class. This was, however small, a bonding and connecting moment.
"Office Hours"
So many 5th grade students come to my office hours. On occasions somebody would ask for help but for the most part the kids were coming to socialize. Not only to socialize with me but they socialize with one another. My office hours have become a fun time to share stories, to talk, make art and just get silly. Recently I spent an hour Zoom with a mixture of 5th and 6th graders. We showed each other the ins-and-outs of how to use some of the virtual background features in the Zoom software. So we decided that we would all travel to somewhere different. We changed our backgrounds to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to Stonehenge in the UK, to the pyramids of Egypt, to the Taj Mahal in India, and then we went scuba diving with fish when we figured out how to put a video in our background. The kids were literally giddy with excitement! I had a student tell me that when she watched my intro video from the beginning of the year she thought I was going to be a serious teacher and she was delighted by the fact that I was exceptionally silly. Made my day!
Google Classroom
Google classroom, the bane of my existence. I’ll never get back all the hours I spent studying for that Google Certification during the summer of 2020. Then, just when I was ready to take the test I got a message that my personal computer doesn’t meet “their” specifications. WHAT does that even mean? So I raced to a friend’s house several towns away to use her laptop just before my testing time was going to begin. Did I mention timed tests freak me out? Did I mention that I have dyslexia? Did I mention that I daydream during tests? I hear every sound, even a clock ticking! Well, that was my introduction to Google Classroom.
The next step was to create 24 G-classrooms at Dover Middle School with 600 students. Fun times! Ultimately, I’ve mastered Google Classroom. I have a ‘topic section’, ‘materials section’ and of course a ‘monthly lessons section’. If you don’t know Google Classroom, this is a huge undertaking!
October & November
My most at-risk students are the students that never come to Zoom class or have never done assignments. I’ve reached out to these students through Google Classroom email to the point of ad nauseam. I also emailed families at the end of the first quarter when progress reports we're going out. This was a huge undertaking to contact 175 families through email. This was a frustrating process for me. I come with a background in technology and was confused as to why Infinite Campus wasn't being used to generate updates for families automatically. My understanding is that Infinite Campus is a database and my experience with a database is that they're capable of being automated. Under the current circumstances it would have been a huge time saver if the database had been set up to automatically send out notices to families of students meeting certain criteria. Sending out the 175 emails in some cases puts a target on the sender. The community was in my opinion frustrated enough with the pandemic, personal challenges, struggles, and remote learning. I found that in some cases I was the recipient of the above frustrations. Feeling isolated as it was as a first-year teacher at DMS and not knowing my school community or my students was taking a toll on me. I actually woke up one morning unable to get out of bed, which has never happened to me before. I sat on the edge of my bed crying not understanding why. I'm sure it was because I was having my own challenges with isolation, family death, and taking on the brunt of some of the DMS parents' anger directed at me. I decided to call in and take a personal day. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to compartmentalize the emotions I was feeling on this day. I'm not ashamed to say that I reached out to the therapist I had when my father passed away, I had lost my job of 15 years (due to the recession), and a 15 year relationship had just ended ̶̶̶ when it rains it pours! I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and overworked (maintaining 24 Google Classrooms is a job unto itself). I needed to bounce some thoughts off of someone I trusted. I needed to figure out how to be the best teacher I could be under the circumstances. This was when I realized I was probably overcompensating for the fact that the students were not in school. My lessons were too big, my expectations were too high and something needed to give. As I mentioned in the ‘Adapting’ section above, it was at this time that I had the conversation with my students about how they felt regarding the assignments and expectations. I knew that I couldn’t maintain creating four new grade level assignments twice a month. I definitely wouldn’t be able to maintain grading this amount of work remotely. Reflection has always been one of my strong suits. My therapist helped get me back on the right track and take a deep breath. Mostly, I had to remain adaptable.
During unpredictable times it is more important than ever to create consistency. I needed to maintain consistent and predictable Google Classrooms. Once a month we had a one-week practice lesson and then we started our three-week final piece of artwork. I also stopped giving the students a Google Form as a quiz. On the day I woke up crying and couldn't make it to school I was checking my phone. One of my YouTube subscriptions sent me a message about using Nearpod. Through tears I watched the video (LOL), then I called my therapist. The Nearpod application was a game changer. Something so small made such a huge difference. Nearpod generates a report of each class's quiz grades. So, instead of going into Google Classroom and grading one quiz at a time for 600 students I was able to print off a report for each of my 24 classes. I still use the Google Form for makeup quizzes and students that want a better grade.
Students expect one major lesson each month, including a practice, and one Nearpod quiz monthly that we take together during class. Constantly modifying and being adaptable during this remote learning has become my mantra. The quiz consists of five new vocabulary words. Students are allowed to look at the lesson’s Google slideshow and ask me questions when taking the quiz. I often stressed that I don't believe in memorizing things; that didn’t work for me as a child. I've never understood why you would memorize something for one day and forget it the next week. I believe in looking, reading, and actually doing in order to learn. I had had some students ask me, “but isn't this cheating Ms. Bird?” As long as my students understand the material it isn’t cheating, it’s learning by doing.
Standards and Objectives
During this time of remote learning I have placed a lot emphasis on seven Elements of Art: line, shape, texture, form, space, color and value. These standards, along with creating a visual story in every piece of art are the overarching lesson objectives. The visual story: the who, what, where, when, and how. I find that many of my students are still struggling with the concept of ‘story’. They often think I want them to write a story instead of telling it visually. At the end of every Zoom I allow the students 15 to 20 minutes to work on their artwork either on or off the Zoom. That’s their choice, but they must use this time for art. They don’t have to spend any extra time on their art lesson after school unless they choose to. I have stressed that they are responsible for using their class time wisely. If they choose to get off the zoom they are still technically in art class. Since we work on the 3-week assignment for three classes that would be 45 minutes to an hour on each final art project monthly. The expectation is that they will complete the objectives that are presented in several places in their Google art classroom.
Ask Students for feedback:
During this last semester I plan on sending the students a Google Form questionnaire.
I feel that there is still room for more Improvement and who better to ask than my students. Hopefully, I'll gain some great insight, as well as students' respect and deeper personal connections.
Dover Middle School
February 2021
Prologue
This has truly been a year like no other. Before the pandemic hit last March I was in the process of interviewing for the Dover Middle School art teacher position. I was very excited about all the new possibilities, new colleagues, new lessons, and the new age levels. I was also anticipating seeing some familiar faces from Garrison Elementary School at DMS. I spent a good part of the 2020 summer anticipating the new year, working on my curriculum maps and new lessons. I was so excited about my new position!
Everything changed on August 21st, 2020. My mother unexpectedly died from Covid-19. With her death came an avalanche of emotions. I was trying to wrap my head around the sudden loss of my beloved mother and friend. I've learned over the years as a teacher I often have to compartmentalize my emotions for the sake of the students. But, this I was unprepared for though! In a matter of days, I would be teaching students I had never met before, at a school I’ve never taught at before, with people I didn’t know, and in the middle of a pandemic. My first year as a middle school teacher was going to be different on so many levels.
Adapting
I started the school year with a handful of lessons that I had written over the summer. In a matter of weeks, it became apparent that the lessons I had written for in-person projects were not going to work teaching virtually. There was no guarantee that all the students had the materials for the lessons and some of these lessons needed a more in-person touch. The first several weeks were extremely challenging. Most of the students chose to keep their cameras off. How was I going to get to know these students on a personal level and make healthy connections if I couldn't see them or hear them? I had to remember that this wasn't just about me, my nervousness, or my challenges. I had to put aside my emotions of my mother's death, of being at a new school and teaching Zoom classes to essentially a bunch of black squares. I was trying to put myself in my students’ shoes. They must be feeling so scared because of the pandemic, isolated at home, some even alone during the day, and all feeling so exposed on camera. This was so surreal for all of us. We were all in this together.
Middle School is a time in one's life when you feel the most self-conscious. This was not the ideal venue to be teaching. I quickly adapted and quickly changed my lessons and my approach. I did NOT require students to keep their cameras on during class. I expressed it would be appreciated if they did it at the beginning of class as I took attendance. If students chose not to put their cameras on and not speak, that was just going to have to be the new normal. A majority of the students were at least showing up! I can't tell you how difficult it is to speak to a blank screen and not even know if your audience was actually there. I spoke with enthusiasm to the students that I assumed were on the other side of those black little Zoom rectangles.
For the first month of school, I was trying to teach two art lessons and have two quizzes every month. Art is a passion of mine and I often assume, or at least hope, that the students are just as passionate about art as I am. After the first round of progress reports and the unpleasant emails I got from some parents it became apparent that many of the students were struggling to keep up with their core classes, never mind my art class. Again I had to reflect and change my approach. I had to be flexible. I decided I would teach one lesson a month and have one quiz a month. I discussed this with all 24 of my classes during their class zoom. I asked the students what they would prefer and if they were feeling overwhelmed; how would they like to move forward with their assignments. I remember when I was in MS and HS I always appreciated when an adult asked me my opinion and preference. It didn't happen often, but when it did happen I felt like I mattered and that this person cared about me. Slowly, very slowly a couple of the cameras came on. I noticed a couple of the microphones became unmuted. I was making my first real connection with my students. We decided as a class that we would spend more time on a one-month-long lesson instead of rushing through two lessons a month. For the most part, this has worked out. I'm still chasing some students down to turn in their artwork and retake quizzes. For the most part I’ve noticed that the artwork has become more thoughtful and complete.
Another major milestone during this remote teaching and learning time was when I decided to allow the students to use whatever medium they felt most comfortable with. Students often complain about their lack of drawing skills even when they’re in the classroom. This was compounded with virtual learning. So whether the assignment was drawing a still-life or painting a landscape I decided to allow the students to use their medium of choice. This was a turning point for many students as I noticed some started to actually do the assignments. I think the biggest request from students was if they could use their devices such as an iPad to make their artwork. I personally think that we all express ourselves in different ways so I had no issue with a student using his or her device. I did emphasize however that all students still needed to complete the major lesson objectives whether they were using watercolors, pencils, crayons, acrylic paint, or an iPad. It would be challenging to complete certain assignments digitally, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how innovative the students were. So many students have created some extremely amazing artwork this year. My goal was to create a website to showcase student artwork. Unfortunately, one of the major problems I’ve had teaching remotely has been getting the kids to save their artwork in the correct file format for a website. Without getting too technical the students needed to save their images as a certain file type. So many of them embedded the photographs of their artwork into a Google doc or a Google slide (Google Classroom is designed that way. As a result, I would have to go into each image and extract the artwork manually in order to put it on a website. To create websites the images are usually uploaded as batch files to save time. 600 students multiplied by the 5 art lessons would be a huge undertaking. As a result, I’m not sharing student work on a website, but I will highlight some of the work on the Google Classroom Stream.
Making More Connections
I decided to start doing the assignments alongside students using my medium of choice, soft pastel! Many of the students are just getting to know me. My hope was to make some connections and gain some trust and respect. I wanted the students to know that I wasn't only an art teacher but that I was a working artist. I wanted them to be able to trust in my instructions and know it’s based on experience and skill. So during these Zoom classes I would show the students my websites and showcase what I'm capable of doing with digital art, photography, pottery, drawing, printmaking, painting and pastel. Again this was one of those classes when I noticed cameras coming on and microphones being unmuted.
When I was teaching from home I was making different kinds of connections with the students. I know there is such a push for teachers to be teaching from the classroom, but I actually didn't agree with this approach. When I was working from home I was just like the students. We could connect on that level. They looked around my office and commented on what they saw just as I commented on their space. Many of the students introduced me to their pets and siblings during a Zoom. When I was working from home they got to meet my two dogs and my cat. This became a daily occurrence and an expectation. If my cat Zippy was not in the window and Freda was not barking for some attention the students often asked where my pets were. The younger kids always wanted to see Zippy during class. This was, however small, a bonding and connecting moment.
"Office Hours"
So many 5th grade students come to my office hours. On occasions somebody would ask for help but for the most part the kids were coming to socialize. Not only to socialize with me but they socialize with one another. My office hours have become a fun time to share stories, to talk, make art and just get silly. Recently I spent an hour Zoom with a mixture of 5th and 6th graders. We showed each other the ins-and-outs of how to use some of the virtual background features in the Zoom software. So we decided that we would all travel to somewhere different. We changed our backgrounds to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, to Stonehenge in the UK, to the pyramids of Egypt, to the Taj Mahal in India, and then we went scuba diving with fish when we figured out how to put a video in our background. The kids were literally giddy with excitement! I had a student tell me that when she watched my intro video from the beginning of the year she thought I was going to be a serious teacher and she was delighted by the fact that I was exceptionally silly. Made my day!
Google Classroom
Google classroom, the bane of my existence. I’ll never get back all the hours I spent studying for that Google Certification during the summer of 2020. Then, just when I was ready to take the test I got a message that my personal computer doesn’t meet “their” specifications. WHAT does that even mean? So I raced to a friend’s house several towns away to use her laptop just before my testing time was going to begin. Did I mention timed tests freak me out? Did I mention that I have dyslexia? Did I mention that I daydream during tests? I hear every sound, even a clock ticking! Well, that was my introduction to Google Classroom.
The next step was to create 24 G-classrooms at Dover Middle School with 600 students. Fun times! Ultimately, I’ve mastered Google Classroom. I have a ‘topic section’, ‘materials section’ and of course a ‘monthly lessons section’. If you don’t know Google Classroom, this is a huge undertaking!
October & November
My most at-risk students are the students that never come to Zoom class or have never done assignments. I’ve reached out to these students through Google Classroom email to the point of ad nauseam. I also emailed families at the end of the first quarter when progress reports we're going out. This was a huge undertaking to contact 175 families through email. This was a frustrating process for me. I come with a background in technology and was confused as to why Infinite Campus wasn't being used to generate updates for families automatically. My understanding is that Infinite Campus is a database and my experience with a database is that they're capable of being automated. Under the current circumstances it would have been a huge time saver if the database had been set up to automatically send out notices to families of students meeting certain criteria. Sending out the 175 emails in some cases puts a target on the sender. The community was in my opinion frustrated enough with the pandemic, personal challenges, struggles, and remote learning. I found that in some cases I was the recipient of the above frustrations. Feeling isolated as it was as a first-year teacher at DMS and not knowing my school community or my students was taking a toll on me. I actually woke up one morning unable to get out of bed, which has never happened to me before. I sat on the edge of my bed crying not understanding why. I'm sure it was because I was having my own challenges with isolation, family death, and taking on the brunt of some of the DMS parents' anger directed at me. I decided to call in and take a personal day. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to compartmentalize the emotions I was feeling on this day. I'm not ashamed to say that I reached out to the therapist I had when my father passed away, I had lost my job of 15 years (due to the recession), and a 15 year relationship had just ended ̶̶̶ when it rains it pours! I was feeling extremely overwhelmed and overworked (maintaining 24 Google Classrooms is a job unto itself). I needed to bounce some thoughts off of someone I trusted. I needed to figure out how to be the best teacher I could be under the circumstances. This was when I realized I was probably overcompensating for the fact that the students were not in school. My lessons were too big, my expectations were too high and something needed to give. As I mentioned in the ‘Adapting’ section above, it was at this time that I had the conversation with my students about how they felt regarding the assignments and expectations. I knew that I couldn’t maintain creating four new grade level assignments twice a month. I definitely wouldn’t be able to maintain grading this amount of work remotely. Reflection has always been one of my strong suits. My therapist helped get me back on the right track and take a deep breath. Mostly, I had to remain adaptable.
During unpredictable times it is more important than ever to create consistency. I needed to maintain consistent and predictable Google Classrooms. Once a month we had a one-week practice lesson and then we started our three-week final piece of artwork. I also stopped giving the students a Google Form as a quiz. On the day I woke up crying and couldn't make it to school I was checking my phone. One of my YouTube subscriptions sent me a message about using Nearpod. Through tears I watched the video (LOL), then I called my therapist. The Nearpod application was a game changer. Something so small made such a huge difference. Nearpod generates a report of each class's quiz grades. So, instead of going into Google Classroom and grading one quiz at a time for 600 students I was able to print off a report for each of my 24 classes. I still use the Google Form for makeup quizzes and students that want a better grade.
Students expect one major lesson each month, including a practice, and one Nearpod quiz monthly that we take together during class. Constantly modifying and being adaptable during this remote learning has become my mantra. The quiz consists of five new vocabulary words. Students are allowed to look at the lesson’s Google slideshow and ask me questions when taking the quiz. I often stressed that I don't believe in memorizing things; that didn’t work for me as a child. I've never understood why you would memorize something for one day and forget it the next week. I believe in looking, reading, and actually doing in order to learn. I had had some students ask me, “but isn't this cheating Ms. Bird?” As long as my students understand the material it isn’t cheating, it’s learning by doing.
Standards and Objectives
During this time of remote learning I have placed a lot emphasis on seven Elements of Art: line, shape, texture, form, space, color and value. These standards, along with creating a visual story in every piece of art are the overarching lesson objectives. The visual story: the who, what, where, when, and how. I find that many of my students are still struggling with the concept of ‘story’. They often think I want them to write a story instead of telling it visually. At the end of every Zoom I allow the students 15 to 20 minutes to work on their artwork either on or off the Zoom. That’s their choice, but they must use this time for art. They don’t have to spend any extra time on their art lesson after school unless they choose to. I have stressed that they are responsible for using their class time wisely. If they choose to get off the zoom they are still technically in art class. Since we work on the 3-week assignment for three classes that would be 45 minutes to an hour on each final art project monthly. The expectation is that they will complete the objectives that are presented in several places in their Google art classroom.
Ask Students for feedback:
During this last semester I plan on sending the students a Google Form questionnaire.
- What do you like about art class so far?
- What do you not like about art class so far?
- What would you like to change about art class?
- How could I improve the class for you?
I feel that there is still room for more Improvement and who better to ask than my students. Hopefully, I'll gain some great insight, as well as students' respect and deeper personal connections.
Educator End of Year Reflection
Dover Middle School
June 2021
During the first semester I was constantly adapting to change and the second semester would be no different. With students back in the classroom they could no longer hide behind a camera that wasn’t turned on. So, for many of the students I was sort of meeting them for the first time. But even that isn’t quite accurate since now they were able to hide behind their masks. Even during recess when students can take a mask break many of them chose to keep their masks on. One of the biggest art assignments this year was to create a Google Drawings self-portrait. Students would trace over a photo of themselves using the Google Drawings tools. In Google Drawings students use the Chromebook camera to take a photo of themselves to work from. I encouraged students to take their masks off for a brief moment to take their photo. I was amazed at how many students chose to keep their masks on and in some cases even put their hoodies on. I allowed this since it was their self-portrait and their artist expression.
One of my biggest challenges when students returned to in-class learning was to get them caught up on their many missing assignments. It became apparent that Related Arts wasn’t high on many students' to-do-list during the second semester. Students seemed to be divided into two groups. One group of students found art to be a positive escape, but the other group of students seemed to find art an added burden since they were so far behind in many of their core subjects. During a normal year my hope is that every student enjoys art class, learns new skills, learns the elements of art and the principles of design. This was anything but a normal year!
It’s my understanding that all students will move to the next grade and that no student will be held back this year. It doesn’t seem apparent that students are aware of this. I started to notice some students starting to panic because they’re so behind in their art assignments. I obviously couldn't tell them not to worry that you’ll be moving ahead and not held back because of their grades. At the same time I didn't want them to feel like a failure. I also knew there was no way these students were going to get caught up. In some cases students were missing all of their second semester assignments. So again I adapt! I informed students that they could combine assignments. For example, if they hadn’t done the Creating Animal assignment they could add an animal in their Landscape assignment. For every assignment they combined they wouldn’t get full credit. The highest grade would be a B and they would still need to include the assignment objectives. In a few cases students create their Google Drawings self-portrait with a landscape and animal in the artwork. They completed three assignments in one. They were working, motivated, able to get caught up, and had a sense of accomplishment. I also created FIVE extra credit assignments and added this to Infinite Campus. If students don’t do the extra credit it won’t affect their grade but if they do it might just bring their grade up enough no to fail. Two weeks ago I added one more extra credit assignment. Mentoring! If a friend is struggling with Google Drawings a student that is accomplished in the program can get full extra credit for helping a friend. I’ve emphasized showing, not doing. This was very helpful for a few students in Ms. Paige’s homeroom class. A student was failing and then combined three lessons into his Google Drawings. Before he had done this he started to cry during my office hours. He was so behind and overwhelmed. Not only did he get caught up but he became very confident in Google Drawings. He offered to mentor a friend during class who is also very behind. The friend was actually being a smart-ass with the mentor friend. The mentor friend told him to stop! He said, “I need this extra credit and you’re ruining this for me”. The friend looked ashamed and apologized. Then they got down to business!
My goals for next year are pretty simple. It’s my hope that I can conduct art classes where students can touch and share supplies. Painting, printmaking, clay, silk-screening, collage etc.! Most of the assignments this year were designed for safety in a pandemic. I hope to see maskless faces next year and work on at least two assignments a month. My goal is to finally get to know my students, make art and have some FUN!
Dover Middle School
June 2021
During the first semester I was constantly adapting to change and the second semester would be no different. With students back in the classroom they could no longer hide behind a camera that wasn’t turned on. So, for many of the students I was sort of meeting them for the first time. But even that isn’t quite accurate since now they were able to hide behind their masks. Even during recess when students can take a mask break many of them chose to keep their masks on. One of the biggest art assignments this year was to create a Google Drawings self-portrait. Students would trace over a photo of themselves using the Google Drawings tools. In Google Drawings students use the Chromebook camera to take a photo of themselves to work from. I encouraged students to take their masks off for a brief moment to take their photo. I was amazed at how many students chose to keep their masks on and in some cases even put their hoodies on. I allowed this since it was their self-portrait and their artist expression.
One of my biggest challenges when students returned to in-class learning was to get them caught up on their many missing assignments. It became apparent that Related Arts wasn’t high on many students' to-do-list during the second semester. Students seemed to be divided into two groups. One group of students found art to be a positive escape, but the other group of students seemed to find art an added burden since they were so far behind in many of their core subjects. During a normal year my hope is that every student enjoys art class, learns new skills, learns the elements of art and the principles of design. This was anything but a normal year!
It’s my understanding that all students will move to the next grade and that no student will be held back this year. It doesn’t seem apparent that students are aware of this. I started to notice some students starting to panic because they’re so behind in their art assignments. I obviously couldn't tell them not to worry that you’ll be moving ahead and not held back because of their grades. At the same time I didn't want them to feel like a failure. I also knew there was no way these students were going to get caught up. In some cases students were missing all of their second semester assignments. So again I adapt! I informed students that they could combine assignments. For example, if they hadn’t done the Creating Animal assignment they could add an animal in their Landscape assignment. For every assignment they combined they wouldn’t get full credit. The highest grade would be a B and they would still need to include the assignment objectives. In a few cases students create their Google Drawings self-portrait with a landscape and animal in the artwork. They completed three assignments in one. They were working, motivated, able to get caught up, and had a sense of accomplishment. I also created FIVE extra credit assignments and added this to Infinite Campus. If students don’t do the extra credit it won’t affect their grade but if they do it might just bring their grade up enough no to fail. Two weeks ago I added one more extra credit assignment. Mentoring! If a friend is struggling with Google Drawings a student that is accomplished in the program can get full extra credit for helping a friend. I’ve emphasized showing, not doing. This was very helpful for a few students in Ms. Paige’s homeroom class. A student was failing and then combined three lessons into his Google Drawings. Before he had done this he started to cry during my office hours. He was so behind and overwhelmed. Not only did he get caught up but he became very confident in Google Drawings. He offered to mentor a friend during class who is also very behind. The friend was actually being a smart-ass with the mentor friend. The mentor friend told him to stop! He said, “I need this extra credit and you’re ruining this for me”. The friend looked ashamed and apologized. Then they got down to business!
My goals for next year are pretty simple. It’s my hope that I can conduct art classes where students can touch and share supplies. Painting, printmaking, clay, silk-screening, collage etc.! Most of the assignments this year were designed for safety in a pandemic. I hope to see maskless faces next year and work on at least two assignments a month. My goal is to finally get to know my students, make art and have some FUN!
Notes
Online Art Room:
- Know 1/3 of students
- Connecting since we are all working from home: pets, space, my artwork, my studio
- First year teacher x 2
- Art club to help connect
- Color club to help connect: email Katie
- Changed from 2 lessons and quizzes a month to 1 each
- Struggles to connect with students. 8th grade most difficult and self conscious being on camera
- Constantly reflecting and changing up approach
- SEL. Safe space. Moments of joy.
- Frustrations. No feedback on students that are chronically absent and don't do lessons. Have put an extensive list together, but I don't get updates. Should "I" continue to run down these students? Is there something bigger going on and the information hasn't been passed down to me?
Online Art Room:
