Willingdon Elementary
Ages taught: grades 2-6
Teaching grades 2-6 at this school was an opportunity for me to experience the crossovers between teaching art and science. I was able to work alongside a science teacher and incorporate art into her science lessons, offering the students an enriched, cross curricular learning experience. For example, for their recycling unit, I was able to work with the classroom teacher to craft a lesson in paper making using pulp from recycled paper. Taking things a creative step further, students were able to dye their paper by adding coloured tissue paper to their pulp mixtures. Their lesson on recycling turned into a very unique lesson in fibres.
Teaching grades 2-6 at this school was an opportunity for me to experience the crossovers between teaching art and science. I was able to work alongside a science teacher and incorporate art into her science lessons, offering the students an enriched, cross curricular learning experience. For example, for their recycling unit, I was able to work with the classroom teacher to craft a lesson in paper making using pulp from recycled paper. Taking things a creative step further, students were able to dye their paper by adding coloured tissue paper to their pulp mixtures. Their lesson on recycling turned into a very unique lesson in fibres.
Orchardview Montessori
Ages taught: 14 months-4 years
The opportunity to work at a Montessori school for a summer largely influenced who I am as a teacher. Although I do not strictly teach by Montessori principles, the experience challenged me to do more research on teaching approaches like Montessori and Reggio styles and helped me grow a fond appreciation for child-centered approaches to teaching which I now implement in my own teaching. This site also taught me about the capabilities of very young children, I continuously underestimated the toddlers at this location in their art-making abilities, and they consistently proved me wrong. While these learners may not be able to complete long, technique-based tasks, they can still express themselves through the production of their artworks. Another factor I observed with this group is that insecurity has not yet influenced their art making. These learners do not fear mistakes or strive for perfection, which enables them to fully immerse themselves in materials and processes. This opened a lot of doors in terms of lesson planning.
The opportunity to work at a Montessori school for a summer largely influenced who I am as a teacher. Although I do not strictly teach by Montessori principles, the experience challenged me to do more research on teaching approaches like Montessori and Reggio styles and helped me grow a fond appreciation for child-centered approaches to teaching which I now implement in my own teaching. This site also taught me about the capabilities of very young children, I continuously underestimated the toddlers at this location in their art-making abilities, and they consistently proved me wrong. While these learners may not be able to complete long, technique-based tasks, they can still express themselves through the production of their artworks. Another factor I observed with this group is that insecurity has not yet influenced their art making. These learners do not fear mistakes or strive for perfection, which enables them to fully immerse themselves in materials and processes. This opened a lot of doors in terms of lesson planning.
Our Lady of Pompei
Ages taught: Kindergarten-grade 1
This site offered me the unique opportunity to immerse myself in community art education, while still working in a public school setting. Unlike my time teaching toddlers, I had to realize that these Kindergartners were beginning to feel the pressures of perfection. They cared more about their final product than their process, and often wanted to throw out pieces they felt that they had not been successful with. This, as well as the fact that these children are part of a digital generation where everything happens quickly, were very large challenges for me as a teacher. I was eventually able to plan lessons for this group that, while still short enough to maintain their attention, did challenge their focus in ways technology did not. One example of this was planning a lesson that required children to be outdoors for half of the lesson in order to give their busy minds a break.
I was also challenged by the vast array of diverse learners in this class, and was able to grow as a teacher by developing different strategies to enable each child to succeed. I began to structure my lessons in a way that was adaptable for the many ways this group learned, keeping in mind that some children needed more attention than others, while some preferred to work independently. I was largely encouraged and influenced by the words of Ignacio Estrada throughout this experience:
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”
This site offered me the unique opportunity to immerse myself in community art education, while still working in a public school setting. Unlike my time teaching toddlers, I had to realize that these Kindergartners were beginning to feel the pressures of perfection. They cared more about their final product than their process, and often wanted to throw out pieces they felt that they had not been successful with. This, as well as the fact that these children are part of a digital generation where everything happens quickly, were very large challenges for me as a teacher. I was eventually able to plan lessons for this group that, while still short enough to maintain their attention, did challenge their focus in ways technology did not. One example of this was planning a lesson that required children to be outdoors for half of the lesson in order to give their busy minds a break.
I was also challenged by the vast array of diverse learners in this class, and was able to grow as a teacher by developing different strategies to enable each child to succeed. I began to structure my lessons in a way that was adaptable for the many ways this group learned, keeping in mind that some children needed more attention than others, while some preferred to work independently. I was largely encouraged and influenced by the words of Ignacio Estrada throughout this experience:
“If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn.”