How have you grown as a teacher from this experience so far (skills, understanding, or knowledge gained) (lesson planning, classroom management, demonstrations, etc…)?
Through both of my experiences including Canvas Fridays and Mosaic Sundays, I feel that I have grown so much already as a future art educator.
What I have learned through Canvas Fridays is better time management when teaching a painting. I have improved greatly on creating a painting that takes exactly 2 hours; nothing more or less. Teaching this class helps me understand the importance of time management and it is a great skill to have because it can be used in everyday life. Throughout teaching this class, I have also learned some helpful skills that improve the class such as, playing music when the families are painting so it isn’t so quiet. Also I learned that doing ice breakers helps me as a teacher and other students get to know each other.
Mosaic Sundays has really helped me improve my classroom management skills. Working with younger children can be difficult at times because they don’t always do what they are expected to do. Throughout teaching Mosaic Sundays, it has shown me more ways to deal with children who don’t want to do what they are told. I feel that it is important to have a well-managed classroom because it betters self-awareness, mental focus, and makes a better learning environment for all students. As a student teaching this class and having no previous background with mosaic tiles before, I can say that I have learned so much already from teaching this class. I now know how to work with mosaic tiles and the process of creating a mural with them and also teaching it to the students.
What new understandings do you have about children/education/your role in the classroom?
Throughout teaching both Canvas Fridays and also Mosaic Sundays, I have been given the chance to better understand my role as an educator. It is my role to inform, teach, manage, and share my knowledge with my students. It is interesting to teach both of these classes because some of the same children from mosaic Sundays also attend canvas Fridays so as a teacher, I get the chance to see how students work in not only different settings, but also with different classmates. I think it is important to see how students want to learn can be influenced by their parent, classmates, and teacher. As a teacher, it is important to really get to know your students because I have now seen that students can change based on who they interact with, and also the different settings that they are in.
Has this experience made you more confident as a teacher? What made you happy about teaching this semester? Are you finding joy in this experience? (describe/explain)
Through both of these internships, it has made me become more confident as a future educator because of what I have learned throughout these internships. While teaching for these internships, the thing that I enjoyed the most was seeing the excitement that the students expressed when they had to do projects like painting, or make a mosaic mural. I also really enjoyed teaching because it has helped me grow as a future art educator. Throughout these internships, it has confirmed even more than before with how much I want to be an art educator.