A brief self-introduction.

Hello, I was born and raised in small town Iowa. I’m married to a wonderful husband and have a stepdaughter. My family means the world to me. I graduated from the University of Iowa with a Art Education Degree and a BFA in printmaking. I always knew that I wanted to be an artist, from a very young age 1st grade to be exact. When kids were playing house I was the famous artist who lived in France. I remember wanting a beret because all artists lived in France and wore a beret. So I thought. My dad worked in a factory and he brought home rolls of paper and I would draw and color for hours going thru rolls of paper. My mom was so amazing and put my work up all over the house. I always loved learning about different types of art. My family was always buying me different art materials to experiment with. I had amazing teachers who helped me push myself to be a better person and artist. I knew then that I could be an artist but teaching art was what I was meant to do.

Thursday is my last day

I knew that this day would be difficult but I didn’t know how hard it would really be. I walked in to the classroom after frosting 75 cupcakes this morning and sitting there on my desk is a gift from my wonderful cooperating teacher. She had taken a group photo of me and one of my classes, and put it in a frame and had the students sign it. She also gave me the book “The Dot” I can’t remember the author off the top of my head but it’s a must have for any art teacher. This followed by a wonderful card, I was almost in tears.

I head down for morning breakfast duty and two sisters had brought me a potted plant with a cute card that said that they’re going to miss me. Another student wrote me such a wonderful letter, saying she was going to miss me and hoped that my high school students were nice to me. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it all day without a tear. But throughout the day and tons of hugs and I miss you I made it through the day. The only way I could pull off some of my students from hugging me to death was to promise that I would come back to sub in their classroom.

I will definitely miss the kids. Things will be different starting on Monday, no more “Hello, Mrs. Mass” a hundred times a day, knowing the students names, knowing the schedule and lessons. I’m excited and nervous all at the same time to start High School, I thought that High School was the age that I wanted to teach but maybe it’s not. I will enjoy being able to do more in depth, hands on projects with the students.

So far I’ve enjoyed teaching elementary students, but I would still like to teach secondary students.

I never thought of myself as an elementary art teacher, but I have a new appreciation for the elementary arts. I really enjoy working with the younger students. The projects seem so simple, but the students always seem to enjoy almost any project you do with them. I’m always on my feet running around answering questions, making sure directions are being followed and looking at their masterpieces. After this experience I could see myself as an elementary art teacher, but I still want to teach in the secondary classroom.

Saying goodby to your first placement

I gained a lot of experience and respect for elementary teachers, not just art, but all subjects. When students are having a bad day at least in specials I only have them for 40 min and then you get to change to a whole new group. When you’re the classroom teacher you have those kids the whole day and it can be very stressful. I never realized how busy some art teachers are during the day until I had my student teaching experience. When your classes are coming in as the other class is leaving it’s extremely important to be very organized and well prepared. Especially, when some classes are behind in some subjects, because there’s; fieldtrips, spirit rally’s and other functions. This isn’t my strongest point but I feel that I have gained some organizational skills that will be very valuable to my career when I start teaching. I have also learned a lot of techniques to keep kids on task.

I wasn’t very excited to start my student teaching in the elementary; I never wanted to teach elementary art so I didn’t feel that it was going to be the best experience. I was rather scared to teach kindergarten and first grade. BUT I will say after starting to teach I loved the elementary kids. For the most part the students still enjoy class and they always say hello in the hallways. They are so happy and carefree. I wasn’t for sure how much of some lessons students would get but they are such little sponges and retain a lot of information.

Now that time is getting closer an I have told the students that I will be leaving soon the students give me the puppy dog face and tell me they don’t want me to leave. The constant question asked is when are you coming back? Will you be back on (date) for my birthday? It makes me sad to think that my time is running out with them. I have gotten so close to some of the students that its going to be really hard to say goodbye.

What are some resources you can turn to for support in lesson planning ideas? people, places, websites?

Some places that I turn to for support when coming up with lesson plans would be other Art teachers or experiences I have had in the art classroom. I still remember the great art projects that I did in school. I took those ideas and made new lesson plans from them. I have gotten a lot of great ideas from my current cooperating teacher that I will definitely use in my classroom. I love seeing what other teachers are doing in their classroom there always full of inspiration and knowledge. My cooperating teacher has drawers full of lessons that she’s done with each grade. I like to read a book to the younger kids before a lesson, so I have also found inspiration in children’s books.

I think that the internet is chalk full of ideas to use. I have listed a few websites that I use to help share the knowledge. I also like to read other art teachers blogs. There’s not usually lesson plans but there are pictures of some great artwork. I like to take a simple idea and Google it and see what other people have done with the same idea in their classroom.
• www.teachkidsart.blogspot.com
• www.deepspacesparkle.blogspot.com
• www.princetonol.com
• www.crayola.com
• Dickblick.com
• www.hitentertainment.com/artattack/menu

There are lots of good books out there for ideas. My teacher has a vast assortment of books sitting on her shelves that I look at for inspiration. Here are just a few of the books that I have taken some lesson plans from.
• Dynamic Art Projects for Children by Denise M Logan
• Art Fun 69 exciting, original and easy to make projects kids will love to do.
• A Survival Guide for the elementary art teacher

Today the students got it...

This sounds like a silly comment but today I started a new project with my students. We’re starting a printmaking project and that’s my major so I was really excited to show them the stuff that I have done. This week I have tried to not yell as much to get their attention and just stay quiet till they quiet down. So in the middle of my demonstration for the fifth grade class there were the typical two boys who are always chatting and not listening. So I just stopped and waited, then half the students started yelling at the other two to be quiet because they wanted to see my stuff. I didn’t have to say a word. There was also a student who is usually pretty chatty in my classroom and one of the boys who was chatting tried to talk to him and he just said dude I want to see this talk to me later. I just had such a good moment hearing that. Did they act that good for the rest of the class, not really but they were better then they usually are.

i believe a succssful teacher is primarily a matter of....

someone who is passionate about what the teach and patience. I think that a teacher who is passionate about what they teach will radiate that on their students. If you love what you do your students will sense that and want to know more about what you’re teaching. I think to be successful you also need to have a lot of patience. Lessons may work with some students but others it won’t and you need to have patience with students who don’t always follow directions or are rowdy. I think it’s important to try to keep your cool and they will appreciate this. If you blow up from being stressed out you show your students a bad side of you. Chances are they’re not going to be as excited to come back to learn.