PHASE III
HIGH SCHOOL PRACTICUM
Overview:
I took EDUC450 the Fall semester of 2023, and was placed to do my practicum at Rocky Mountain High School, located in Fort Collins, CO. Dr. Karen Rowe, a faculty member of CSU's School of Education, facilitated the course and our placements within the school, in collaboration with Larissa Schendel (ELA Department Head at RMHS).
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Rocky Mountain High School is renowned for its vibrant student engagement, dedicated teachers, and positive student community. Notably, the school operates on a quarterly schedule, with students attending four classes daily, each lasting for a quarter. My practicum involved observing and collaborating with Missy Wolf in an Intro to 3D Art course during the first quarter and working with Erin Loy in a combined Pottery 2/Pottery 3 course during the second quarter. In Erin's class, I facilitated a project introduction that encouraged students to create ceramic sculptures exploring humor, satire, and figures of speech in art.
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In the recitation part of EDUC450, the course delved into topics such as implementing equitable grading practices, utilizing resources for student engagement, effective classroom management, and integrating other subjects into the curriculum.
Standard 1:Demonstrates mastery of and pedagogical expertise in content
Interdisciplinary teaching lesson
reasoning:
This lesson plan aligns with the Standard 1, as it not only showcases my own understanding and expertise in my content area of art, but it also exemplifies my efforts to integrate other subjects into a collaborative curriculum- in this case the curriculum connects to Math, ELA, and History subjects.
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Although I am developing proficiency in pedagogical expertise, I recognize the need to further enhance interdisciplinary teaching in my approach.
Resume
reasoning:
My resume highlights my pedagogical expertise and strengths as an educator, demonstrated through various practicums and teaching experiences.
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This artifact also exemplifies my room to grow as I will continue to work on both professional development, and the development of my artistry- which affects my content mastery.
Standard 2: Establishes a safe, inclusive and respectable learning environment for a diverse population of students
classroom syllabus
Classroom Narrative
reasoning:
This syllabus is designed to foster an inclusive and respectful learning environment, reflecting my classroom policies and the collaborative nature of our art studio. It promotes accessibility through equitable grading, empowers students by emphasizing their voice in defining respect, encourages ownership using inclusive language ("our" and "we"), and offers assistance in obtaining a sketchbook if needed.
Drawing from my own experiences with classroom accessibility challenges, I am committed to upholding these standards for a more engaging and impactful learning experience.
reasoning:
By reflecting on the elements that comprise and affect the classroom I was in, this document shows my understanding of what makes an inclusive and respectable learning space- per this standard.
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As I develop my own classroom, keeping diversity, equity, and inclusion on my mind will be crucial to furthering my proficiency in this standard.
Standard 3: Plans and delivers effective instruction and creates an environment that facilitates learning for students
Making Thinking visible mini-lesson
reasoning:
In this mini-lesson, I taught my peers how to utilize the Making Thinking Visible technique, "Zoom-In". This mini-lesson was engaging as I utilized a humorous work from art history to show how the technique works. My peers understood how to effectively use this technique after a 10-minute presentation on it.
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I am developing proficiency in Standard 3 as I was able to create and teach this lesson effectively per the anecdotal data of peers understanding and enjoying the idea.
CEP LESSON PLAN
reasoning:
This lesson plan aligns with Standard 3, as I utilized this lesson to introduce a new project in the Pottery 2/3 class. Within this lesson I engaged students in the introduction of an art project that connects the literary devices of satire and figures of speech to visual language, supplying students with a variety of clay techniques to create work with, and through referring to Funk Art movement artists as examples of work that works with humor, satire, and figures of speech in art.
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While I did know how to describe the expectations for the assignment and employed pedagogical choices in a group brainstorm, I acknowledge a need for improvement in my care to familiarize myself with specific artists mentioned in the slideshow, indicating a developmental stage toward proficiency in this category.
Standard 4: Demonstrates professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection and leadership
CEP LESSON PLAN
reasoning:
This lesson plan also meets Standard 4, as after teaching the lesson, I did a reflection based on feedback from Erin Loy.
This helps develop a habit of reflection within my professional practices, which will lead to further growth.
Interdisciplinary teaching lesson
reasoning:
The reflection created after this lesson also demonstrates an understand of the importance of reflection. I think the value in reviewing the work you did and looking at how you can improve is compounded when that reflection is applied to group work, such as this project.
This reflection helps me develop proficiency in my professional development habits.
Conclusion:
This course has enhanced my comprehension of student-teacher relationships, equitable grading, lesson-planning, and classroom management. It has broadened my professional toolkit, providing valuable resources and ideas for my semester in student teaching and even my future classroom.
To enhance my teaching skills, I recognize the need to improve the timeliness of my written work. In the upcoming semester, while focusing on student teaching, I plan to allocate dedicated time for timely completion of reflections and other written tasks.