Week 12 (Marzano Chapter 6 and Video Reflection 2): 4-18-15

Read and Reflect:

Reading Summary (Marzano chapter 6):

Marzano recommends that teachers watch videos of other educators teaching classes. Although, the author does stress that educators should be looking for both effective and non-successful practices during the process. After identifying those things that stood out to the educator, the teacher is asked to think about suggestions that would help to improve the lesson strategy.

Coaching colleagues are used as a means to observe and then give important feedback. Sometimes coaching colleagues meet one on one in pair groups and other times they could devise larger groups or teams. Oftentimes, a set of norms is composed to help direct goals during the gatherings/sessions.

Instructional rounds are recommended for teachers as well. The goal of this strategy is to help teachers become more self-directed and enhance individualized practices in the classroom. Teacher-observers are evaluating classrooms, but not for the sake of giving feedback to the other teacher being observed. Information documented by the evaluator is only presented given that the observed teacher requests it. After observations teachers can begin to identify and record strategies they already put into practice, strategies they saw other educators utilize, queries they now have about their own application of strategies, and fresh ideas that are beginning to form.

Reading Reflection (Marzano chapter 6):

Personally, I think it is important to watch videos of other people teaching. I plan to check out the videos that Marzano suggested as well as others. I recently watched a set of lessons being taught that I found on the TEAM.org website as the state of Tennessee developed a new teacher evaluation system. The film clips helped me to see how teachers were scored based on their performance in class. I just wish there were more resources for art educators. Most of the lessons I have seen on the internet feature core curriculum subject areas.

 I have also seen the importance of having a coaching colleague. I had a couple of mentors during the first years of teaching. Many times they were helpful in providing advice, but in a non-subjective way that seemed unthreatening to my professionalism score. Let’s face it, sometimes administrators can seem intimidating.

This year is my first year engaging in instructional rounds. It seems to be a fun way to gather up information and to reflect on practices. Though I won’t actually have the ability to travel to another visual art teacher’s classroom, I look forward to gaining more information about how others have used “tried and true” teaching strategies with the students within our school. I think I will probably visit the family and consumer class and the apparel design class first as my visual art class is a pre-requisite for those courses.

Video Refection II:

1. Pre-thinking

The kinds of changes that I’d like to see in my classroom:  I would like for students to be more actively involved as a group in class so that they can build a more collaborative relationship. They are still really focused on being “separate encapsulated egos.” I’m hoping that by opening up opportunities for students to discuss artworks as a class, this might help them to ping ideas off of one another and open the lines of communication. I’m also hoping to help students think more in-depth about artworks and guide them into practices in which they begin to look at artworks longer and more intently. Another goal would be to have them think critically about the underlying purposes behind making art. I have created a lesson that focuses on the ways symbolism can be used within a work of art to tell a story.

My “video two” was chunked into three different sections:
Introduction-(Students) Can you interpret or tell the story of an art piece?
Engagement-(Students) Interpret Holbein’s “The Ambassadors” by looking at icons and thinking about the meaning/context that could be associated with them. After compiling information we will share and discuss as a class.

Conclusion-(Students) Begin to think about symbols and icons that you could use in an art piece that might tell a story (autobiographical or biographical).

2.  After-filming Thoughts

It is the hook of the lesson that often draws the learner in. Forming a connection also takes “on the spot” action story telling. For instance, there are times when you see students drifting off so you decide to go left field and hit them with some relative account. This happened to me during my lesson. As I was talking about the importance of symbolism in Holbein’s painting titled “The Ambassadors”, I noticed that the students were fading out. Anyway, I could have kept going, but I decided to change gears. I approached them with a question “what did you do when you were snowed in?” The students began to shoot out answers and were quick to respond that they had indeed been watching television, looking at videos, eyeing the internet, etc. I then began to tell them about the ways in which paintings were a main source of entertainment of the past. I reinforced the fact that people in the 1500s had no computers or digital devices.  Explaining how paintings were (and still are) conversation pieces filled with clues, mysteries, and symbols led to my students becoming the investigators of a painting. I went from that topic into allowing them to become the detectives for the day. My inquiry to them was “Could they interpret or tell the story of the art piece?” After I had their attention, I think the discussion/talk transgressed in a relatively smooth way.

I did have a few concerns that I thought about for awhile during and after the recording of student responses. A student was describing the “Ambassadors” and said that they looked like pimps. I worried that she might be saying this just to get a reaction out of me. However, I thought it was a somewhat valid point and just responded to her comment as though she brought up a good point. A few students giggled and laughed. And then (my face a bit flushed), I quickly moved away from the topic she brought up.
Also, I had a student barge into my room because a teacher had asked them to see if I had any duct tape they could use for a school project. Again, the students got off track and this disruption made for an awkward situation. It bothered me because I felt like my classroom was engaged in a great talk and now I would have to wrestle to get their attention back. I also felt like I couldn’t say “no” to the student wanting to borrow the supplies because he has an IEP that at times causes him to not interact/react properly in rejection type situations. Not only that, given the student’s high IQ, he knows a lot about history. He interjected my discussion and began to tell all the students about the painting from a historical standpoint (he knew his facts)!

3. Reflections and Comparisons

Luckily, the students didn’t react to the "pimp" comment to the point where I couldn’t pull them back into the talk we were having. A few giggles erupted here and there, but then I brought up something new to discuss and we were back on track in having a more school appropriate conversation. What seemed like such a tense, long drawn out situation wasn’t that bad at all. After watching the video I was relieved. As a matter of fact, I feel now as though maybe I should have expanded the talk? I mean after all, the girl was using her own visual culture to interpret fine art!

Also surprising to me was the fact that the so called disruption by the “duct tape incident” wasn’t that terrible either. What felt like a lengthy issue that was taking forever to resolve was actually just an occurrence that lasted less than three minutes. Plus, I ended up using that interruption to my advantage as I segued into…”Yes, there are “facts” about art, but we are using our own interpretations to explore this artwork. A painting can tell thousands of stories depending on who is analyzing it.”

Comparing views from 1^st to 2^nd video:

1^st video:  I like for them (the students) to understand the vital importance of theme and context. I acknowledge that the elements and principles of design are important, but often find that many teachers place too much focus on formal qualities in art. In order to move towards more postmodern principles, I think we have to become engaged in the purposes behind why art is being created. It is crucial for artists (teachers and students) to become more innovative and interpretive in the underlying meanings behind visual icons. By doing this, I believe we may help students find their own artistic voice.

2^nd video:

I still think that it is beneficial for students to look for underlying meanings in art. Although, I think we have to be careful as teachers to not push too much of our own understanding onto students. If we really want students to think freely, we have to allow them to see the open-endedness of artworks. I’m working on this as sometimes my knowledge of art history urges me to reveal information about the art piece (which is not always of importance when you are interpreting works of art).

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1^st video: Time management is crucial in how a lesson/activity might be executed. It is beneficial to have all of your materials/tools ready or prepped, to balance lectures and demos, and it helps to model how artistic ideas come into fruition.

2^nd video:

Time management strategies are important in how smooth a lesson can transition. However, it is all right to stray away from the lesson sometimes. As a matter of fact, what I learned from my second video is that sometimes diverting ourselves away from the framework we have devised or imagined can lead to some eye opening discussions. Though it helps to find a balance in what types of things are taught and how they are taught, some flexibility in how quickly you move from point A to B is okay.