Reflection #4 Education 466

Malea Vitt & Katrina Cronin

Entry #4

October 8th, 2021

Experience Narrative:

Friday was our fourth and last day of Service Learning teaching at Lopez Elementary. We taught our rotation Week 2 class, which has 20 students in total. We did have several students present that had been absent for our first lesson meaning we had to get them caught up on what the assignment was and how we wanted them to accomplish it. We focused on the idea of composition and how the placement of items could indicate meaning within art as well. One issue we ran into was keeping the kids on target, especially those who were absent. Some kids also brought in fidget items to class and were more interested in using those items than drawing so keeping them on task and helping them stay motivated one on one was crucial. The insight I gained from this is that it is easy to know which students may need more guidance than others but it can be difficult to help these students without feeling like you are not helping other students who need less help. Or while you are helping one student another student is finishing up the task so making sure everyone is doing their job and moving on if they don’t need help is also important. I also had some students come to me with conflicts they were having during their group activities, some of them asked to move tables because they did not work well with their peers or felt like they were not being heard and so we talked it out and were able to help each other and complete the activity.

What Worked Well / Interpretation/Content Meaning:

The group activity went very well, there were some minor hiccups with table groups but this group was very thoughtful in placement and this idea of narrative, not only did they compose their pieces but their pieces told stories about places and things outside the class which was a great connection to their portrait activity. They were comfortable asking questions and coming to me with questions or issues they were having which made me feel like I was finally building a strong connection with them. They were very vocal about their decisions within the group and in their artwork and were able to tell us why they placed things the way they did. Overall I think it was scaffolding very well into their project because it helped them communicate about placement more thoughtfully. I think continuing to talk and build those connections would help them continue to be strong composers in art, and having them think through those things out loud can help them understand their artistic decisions more and they would be more confident sharing those decisions without fear of “being wrong” or “judged’.

What Did Not Work / Personal Significance:

Some students did not enjoy working with groups as they had their own artistic vision or they were uncomfortable with who they were working with. I had several conversations with students who asked to move tables and groups during this activity, we had one on one discussions on why they wanted to move and where they wanted to move to, I made them all pinky promise me they would do their work and contribute if they were moved and they all did. I think allowing students to make these small choices or self-advocate is an important skill to have and so allowing them to collaborate with people whom they are more comfortable with as long as they continue to do the work is doable. I also think that given this issue several kids had with collaborating could be benefitted from larger collaborative assignments, so everyone feels more comfortable with each other. Activities that involve movement, or preassessment activities that require the students to talk and move around could allow them to build stronger connections at least in the Art room that allows them to feel comfortable working together on different projects and activities. The moral of the story is that I think there is room for these students to grow and learn from each other, and by having them interact with each other even more in a creative way, I believe that they can learn to communicate and work together better.

Future Actions: In the future, I will try to remind students of their learning target throughout the lesson process to keep them engaged and on task. Either by writing it on the board or having the state what it is so they know if they are hitting what they need to or learning what they are supposed to. This will hopefully allow them to be more engaged in the lesson and allow them to focus on connecting and building the skills that the lesson is targeting. My goal for these students is that they stay on task and feel more comfortable and confident discussing their artistic decisions with me, their classmates, and their table groups.