On reflection my most valuable experiences at Stout have always been my practicum.  This experience at the elementary level is no different.  As a student I always have an idea of what I want my classroom to look, how I want it to operate and what I would do if certain difficult situations arise.  Actually being in a classroom and seeing how another teacher operates their classroom helps me to define these ideas. Even more importantly I get to see what happens when I try some of teaching techniques on a classroom full of students. It is often said that artists are visual learners I have to disagree while I learn by seeing I learn more by doing, by putting pencil to paper, hands to clay, and paint to canvas.  Learning to teach is no different for me.  I can talk and theorize about how to teach, but actually seeing how a child responds and making adjustments as I go is what really helps me to develop.  To actually be able to see what kind of projects are appropriate for different grade levels.  To know how students struggle to master skills and ways to make it easier for them to understand a concept.  These are things that can really only be learned by working with kids.

I also received a ton of valuable lesson plan ideas, inspiration for how to create a better anticipatory set and procedures to help me better manage my classroom.  Mrs. A often used artist to inspire her lessons such as Monet's water lilies, Klee's cat and bird or Klimt's the cradle.  She also was very animated when introducing a project during a lesson on the scream she actually did scream for the students.  I don't know that I will get that into my teaching, but the students were held in her spell as she told stories about the artist and art work that served as inspiration for the the students.  She also had procedures in place for clean up and for how the students were to line up as they left. I think that the students need to be reminded to take turns and to walk to their tables, but in general the students were well behaved.

The only thing that I wish I had seen included in the class a little more than it was is an introduction to aesthetics and art criticism.  I think that this would be pretty hard at the fist grade level, but at least the students could be asked to talk about what they had made.  the colors they chose or the people and animals they included in their work. I think by 5th and 6th grade the students could be expected to describe what they did and how they would change it if they could start over again.  In general I want my students to practice talking about art.

I wish I had more practicum experiences.  I wish I could try teaching my brown bear lesson again with a better plan in mind for clean up and more of a focus on helping the students to understand textures.  I'm excited to student teach and put all that I've learned in this experience into action.  I'm also excited to see what more teaching holds for me.