Thus far in this course, I have blogged directly after each session of observing. This time, I thought I would give it a little distance between observation and articulation. So, two weeks and one Spring Break later, I'm thinking back to my time at SEEC.
I would like to preface this analysis by say I only saw very brief, restricted, infrequent windows of life and learning at SEEC. The program involves many more lessons, themes, activities, hours, and years than I have been able to witness during my time there. Therefore, the following generalizations and sweeping summation of the program is admittedly very ignorant.
SEEC appears to be a program that is far more activity-based than object-based, and more play-based than creation-based. During my time there I watched different classes, one of four-year-old and one of fives. I activity observed about 20 kids and a rotating batch of instructors. I could never really decipher who was the lead teacher, the co-teachers, the assistants, or the drop-in museum educator/story teller/substitute teacher.
I am not sure is the student knew who the lead teachers are, or even if there are consistent lead teachers. Though I did notice an inconsistent lack of enforcement of safe-play. The students seemed to get away with a lot of negative behavior. On one occasion, three different kids were crying between two unrelated events. From what I could tell as I watched it all culminate, the crying students were victims to aggressiveness and light-weight bullying. But how did it escalate that far?
It seems bad behavior like bullying, gentle hitting, yelling, and supply stealing fell through the disciplinary cracks. Many teacher-figures noticed the behavior, but did not act. It seemed like each was assuming the next 'authority figure' would intervene. They didn't. Crying, flushed-faces, and pandemonium reigned. Without a clear lead teacher or authority figure, who is ultimately responsible for the welfare of the students?
On a (hopefully) related note, I did notice almost of the instructors (let's call them adults) were consistently stressed and frazzled over the three Tuesdays. My first day at SEEC the director told me the a sickness was going around, but I was surprised to see the children recover so quickly while the adults were slow-moving for weeks.
Another interesting aspect of SEEC is it's play/activity-based learning structure. I have seen similar structures in other classes and schools before, but SEEC did not seem to run as smoothly as the others. Generally, I would say SEEC is unregulated and therefore chaotic. Students are dismissed to "choices" without any instruction, that I witnessed. They were not reminded of rules before going (which became particularly disturbing during the Olympic Games activities and caused the crying hysteria).
At previous play-based sites, I saw the children selected for activities based on good behavior and how many kids could fit at each station. The instructors also avoided social problems by separating trouble students. At SEEC, one instructor said that they let the trouble students group together because "it's not like they're going to behave [well], anyway." Such reasoning makes me uncomfortable, but for all I know the staff there has already tried everything else to tame those wild children. I just do not know enough to judge.
After the pandemonium of SEEC, I am incredibly excited to go to Peabody next week. I hear the difference is like day and night. I could really use a session where there are no crying children or rug burns.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Re: Make-up Field Experience
Last week I went to WVSA to make-up the field experience I has missed the week before. For the past couple of weeks I have been working with Jude and his students. I have really enjoyed it. It is clearly a very special environment where the teacher and students know each other very well. I have been amazed by how responsible and self-directed the students are. Unfortunately, this week Jude had a family emergency so when I got there his class was canceled.
The SAIL staff was really helpful and placed me with Ms. Dorothy's class. The second and third graders were painting projects that they had started with Amanda last week. The students were really into painting. As an adult, I sometimes forget how cool it is to mix colors and watch the paints change. Working at Amidon, I have seen this same kind of wonder when the students discover they can create their own colors.
Ms. Dorothy's students did a great job painting their projects. They used a lot of different colors and patterns. You could tell that they were very invested in the project by the care they took in painting them. 2nd and 3rd graders have a lot of energy! I had come expecting to work in the fairly low-key environment of WVSA and left feeling really tired, but good, after working with two classes of kids. This was my first field experience with elementary students, so far I have just been observing adults and teens, and I am really looking forward to seeing more elementary teaching situations. This week I will be at Peabody so I think it is great that I was able to get a little taste of a different elementary classroom for comparison.
The SAIL staff was really helpful and placed me with Ms. Dorothy's class. The second and third graders were painting projects that they had started with Amanda last week. The students were really into painting. As an adult, I sometimes forget how cool it is to mix colors and watch the paints change. Working at Amidon, I have seen this same kind of wonder when the students discover they can create their own colors.
Ms. Dorothy's students did a great job painting their projects. They used a lot of different colors and patterns. You could tell that they were very invested in the project by the care they took in painting them. 2nd and 3rd graders have a lot of energy! I had come expecting to work in the fairly low-key environment of WVSA and left feeling really tired, but good, after working with two classes of kids. This was my first field experience with elementary students, so far I have just been observing adults and teens, and I am really looking forward to seeing more elementary teaching situations. This week I will be at Peabody so I think it is great that I was able to get a little taste of a different elementary classroom for comparison.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
4th time the charm at JCC
This is the 4th time I went to the JCC to observe ( I had to do an extra to make up for a class I will be missing). I am finding that it is harder and harder to stay away, I really like these people! In fact, I missed going last week and the students were upset so I got a great welcome this time.
The project this week was making a Seder Plate for Passover (for those who don't know, Passover is a holiday coming up in about 3 weeks. We hold a ceremony/dinner for the first two nights called a Seder. At the Seder, we have symbolic foods which we display on a plate to use for the story telling. Hence, a Seder plate is a popular craft idea for students).
They way we made it was really neat if smelly. Each student was given a paper plate (actually, two together to hold up more) and we mixed up this plaster stuff. It was like paper mache meets fiber glass in texture and was lumpy and gross. We then helped them smear it on the plate and tried to get them to coat it evenly across the surface. Once that was done, we used our fingers to scoop out 6 holes from the plaster, one hole for every symbolic food that they will put on the plate. It should dry and next week they will paint them.
It worked out alright, though most people needed help with getting the surface smooth. And they really couldn't get their minds around getting 6 evenly spaced holes that were bigger than a finger print (although one guy had the cutest idea! He made his holes into a smiley face :) The upside of this was it took relatively little fine motor skills so everyone could participate with a bit of help.
We had 30 minutes left so we took the ceramics they made 2 weeks ago and painted them. I was actually shocked by something that happened. Usually when the students paint something it will all be one color and it will be the color that was put in front of them randomly. Rarely is there a student who will request a color and do more than one. Well there is one gentleman who in the past basically just sat there. When we made the ceramic bowls, his lump of clay remained untouched until someone noticed it at the end. Well his bowl was painted beautifully! He used at least four colors, asking for more. And it wasn't just splattered and gobbed on but very deliberately done. I was shocked and said so, complimenting him on it. Moral of the story: Never decide what a person can or can not do, they might just surprise you.
One nice thing happened, they offered my the lead teaching position for this program for next year. The woman who does it now was promoted to director and she asked if I could do it. I told her I don't know what my plans are for next year yet but if I can I would. Second moral of the story: It is VERY GOOD to make connections now. You never know when it could be beneficial.
The project this week was making a Seder Plate for Passover (for those who don't know, Passover is a holiday coming up in about 3 weeks. We hold a ceremony/dinner for the first two nights called a Seder. At the Seder, we have symbolic foods which we display on a plate to use for the story telling. Hence, a Seder plate is a popular craft idea for students).
They way we made it was really neat if smelly. Each student was given a paper plate (actually, two together to hold up more) and we mixed up this plaster stuff. It was like paper mache meets fiber glass in texture and was lumpy and gross. We then helped them smear it on the plate and tried to get them to coat it evenly across the surface. Once that was done, we used our fingers to scoop out 6 holes from the plaster, one hole for every symbolic food that they will put on the plate. It should dry and next week they will paint them.
It worked out alright, though most people needed help with getting the surface smooth. And they really couldn't get their minds around getting 6 evenly spaced holes that were bigger than a finger print (although one guy had the cutest idea! He made his holes into a smiley face :) The upside of this was it took relatively little fine motor skills so everyone could participate with a bit of help.
We had 30 minutes left so we took the ceramics they made 2 weeks ago and painted them. I was actually shocked by something that happened. Usually when the students paint something it will all be one color and it will be the color that was put in front of them randomly. Rarely is there a student who will request a color and do more than one. Well there is one gentleman who in the past basically just sat there. When we made the ceramic bowls, his lump of clay remained untouched until someone noticed it at the end. Well his bowl was painted beautifully! He used at least four colors, asking for more. And it wasn't just splattered and gobbed on but very deliberately done. I was shocked and said so, complimenting him on it. Moral of the story: Never decide what a person can or can not do, they might just surprise you.
One nice thing happened, they offered my the lead teaching position for this program for next year. The woman who does it now was promoted to director and she asked if I could do it. I told her I don't know what my plans are for next year yet but if I can I would. Second moral of the story: It is VERY GOOD to make connections now. You never know when it could be beneficial.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
SAIL, Second visit.
Behavior problems:
In a class with so many kids I guess is difficult to keep up with the working plan when some of them have behavior problems and attempt to bring the whole class attention over to him or her instead the planned activity. What is the right thing to do in this case? Is the kid trying to tell us something that is upsetting him or her from school or home? Is it a game of power between the kid and the teacher?
I am thinking about this because in my second visit to SAIL the teacher had a situation with one of the kids in her second class. We they arrived two kids tried to sit on the same chair in one of the tables and the teacher separated them and said: please move away from the chair and sit in another one. One of the kids moved away and sat in another chair but the other kid involved in the conflict ran outside the class. The teacher continued introducing the activity to the class when the kid came back, got two flashlights, and was reflecting the light over the class matter. It was bothering some of the kids in the class and the teacher asked the kids not to allow him to spoil their time of learning new things and put attention on the activity. Ms Dorothy called another teacher through the phone to come to pick that kid up. Five minutes after the teacher came and took him with her out of the class.
At the end of class, I asked Ms Dorothy about this situation and we discussed the methodology that in general the school applies. Personally, I think the situation was well managed by the teacher but I still think that it has to be a better solution to be applied in similar situation. Because, this one only recovered the control in the class but it did not allowed the kid to communicate the real issue behind this miss behavior. As a result, he could not get over his personal problem or profit from the class.
In a class with so many kids I guess is difficult to keep up with the working plan when some of them have behavior problems and attempt to bring the whole class attention over to him or her instead the planned activity. What is the right thing to do in this case? Is the kid trying to tell us something that is upsetting him or her from school or home? Is it a game of power between the kid and the teacher?
I am thinking about this because in my second visit to SAIL the teacher had a situation with one of the kids in her second class. We they arrived two kids tried to sit on the same chair in one of the tables and the teacher separated them and said: please move away from the chair and sit in another one. One of the kids moved away and sat in another chair but the other kid involved in the conflict ran outside the class. The teacher continued introducing the activity to the class when the kid came back, got two flashlights, and was reflecting the light over the class matter. It was bothering some of the kids in the class and the teacher asked the kids not to allow him to spoil their time of learning new things and put attention on the activity. Ms Dorothy called another teacher through the phone to come to pick that kid up. Five minutes after the teacher came and took him with her out of the class.
At the end of class, I asked Ms Dorothy about this situation and we discussed the methodology that in general the school applies. Personally, I think the situation was well managed by the teacher but I still think that it has to be a better solution to be applied in similar situation. Because, this one only recovered the control in the class but it did not allowed the kid to communicate the real issue behind this miss behavior. As a result, he could not get over his personal problem or profit from the class.
SAIL first visit
The School for ARTs in Learning (SAIL) is a K-7 public charter school.
According to their web site: “SAIL works to address the needs of students with learning differences by providing creative learning environments” We have developed a specialized curriculum using the arts to help children learn in ways that match their learning styles, paying special attention to individual learning styles and specific need. Our focus is on developing the whole child, intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially.”
The class had about 12 kids, between 7-9 years old; the ethnicity background was 95% African-American 5% Latin-American. The first thing that caught my attention was the setting where the class was taking place. It was in a basement with artificial light, no windows and no very bright color in the walls. There were a couple of shelves and tables against the walls to story the art supplies. There were also three different size tables to accommodate the kids (small 4 kids, medium, 6 kids and large 8 kids) in the middle of the room. I did not ask the teacher about the reason for the different sizes of the tables but I think that it might have some relationship to social behavior, sense of belonging to a group within a group. I guess it is part of human nature and it is something that is part of us from kindergarten until the end of our life.
As soon as I arrived at the class, I introduced myself to the teacher Ms. Dorothy she was very nice and polite. After welcoming me, she introduced me to the activity: Collage.I was preparing to participate in the activity and one of the four girls of the group at the small table invited me to work with them. I sat and started to cut pieces of magazines and fabrics to create my collage as an excuse to know the kids better and observe their behavior.
They were working and talking about different subjects (TV shows, the images that they selected for the collage, Michelle Obama, etc) we talked about our collage projects and they showed a clear interest in making me feel good and part of the group. It was remarkable the way that they communicated with each other, sharing the material and personal space in the table. For instance to ask for a scissors they said: “excuses are you using this scissors? May I take it?” “Thank you”. A couple minutes after a kid from another table came and took something from the table with out asking and one of the girls said: “this is not nice, you have to ask for things” and the girls next to her said: “yes, she is right. Apologize and you can have it“. I was amazed for this kind of reaction and the sense of self-managed individuals and in the group.
The class was about to end and it got a little loud and the kids were moving from table to table, some of the kids were completely disengaged with the activity wondering around. The teacher raised her voice and made noises with her hands that the kids responded in the same way in order to take the class under control. At the same time another teacher in the class helped to keep the order. Nevertheless, it was difficult to make these kids, finish the activity, clean up and get ready to go back to the next class in an organized way.
After my first visit finished, I was thinking about the differences between SAIL and Peabody. I concluded, that there are important factors that cannot be overlooked in order to make a fair judgment. The differences in the two programs are based on the needs of the learning group and the community focusing on the use art to achieve different goals. However, settings (classroom with natural light and windows/ basement), programs requirements(individual project development / learning social behavior and self-control), size of the class (4/13) and student’s background (middle class / social disadvantages) are very important characteristics to put under consideration in order to seriously evaluate the pros and cons of any art program and reach a positive and constructive conclusion.
According to their web site: “SAIL works to address the needs of students with learning differences by providing creative learning environments” We have developed a specialized curriculum using the arts to help children learn in ways that match their learning styles, paying special attention to individual learning styles and specific need. Our focus is on developing the whole child, intellectually, emotionally, physically, and socially.”
The class had about 12 kids, between 7-9 years old; the ethnicity background was 95% African-American 5% Latin-American. The first thing that caught my attention was the setting where the class was taking place. It was in a basement with artificial light, no windows and no very bright color in the walls. There were a couple of shelves and tables against the walls to story the art supplies. There were also three different size tables to accommodate the kids (small 4 kids, medium, 6 kids and large 8 kids) in the middle of the room. I did not ask the teacher about the reason for the different sizes of the tables but I think that it might have some relationship to social behavior, sense of belonging to a group within a group. I guess it is part of human nature and it is something that is part of us from kindergarten until the end of our life.
As soon as I arrived at the class, I introduced myself to the teacher Ms. Dorothy she was very nice and polite. After welcoming me, she introduced me to the activity: Collage.I was preparing to participate in the activity and one of the four girls of the group at the small table invited me to work with them. I sat and started to cut pieces of magazines and fabrics to create my collage as an excuse to know the kids better and observe their behavior.
They were working and talking about different subjects (TV shows, the images that they selected for the collage, Michelle Obama, etc) we talked about our collage projects and they showed a clear interest in making me feel good and part of the group. It was remarkable the way that they communicated with each other, sharing the material and personal space in the table. For instance to ask for a scissors they said: “excuses are you using this scissors? May I take it?” “Thank you”. A couple minutes after a kid from another table came and took something from the table with out asking and one of the girls said: “this is not nice, you have to ask for things” and the girls next to her said: “yes, she is right. Apologize and you can have it“. I was amazed for this kind of reaction and the sense of self-managed individuals and in the group.
The class was about to end and it got a little loud and the kids were moving from table to table, some of the kids were completely disengaged with the activity wondering around. The teacher raised her voice and made noises with her hands that the kids responded in the same way in order to take the class under control. At the same time another teacher in the class helped to keep the order. Nevertheless, it was difficult to make these kids, finish the activity, clean up and get ready to go back to the next class in an organized way.
After my first visit finished, I was thinking about the differences between SAIL and Peabody. I concluded, that there are important factors that cannot be overlooked in order to make a fair judgment. The differences in the two programs are based on the needs of the learning group and the community focusing on the use art to achieve different goals. However, settings (classroom with natural light and windows/ basement), programs requirements(individual project development / learning social behavior and self-control), size of the class (4/13) and student’s background (middle class / social disadvantages) are very important characteristics to put under consideration in order to seriously evaluate the pros and cons of any art program and reach a positive and constructive conclusion.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Last week @ SAIL
Sorry, this post is so late, I thought I had published it to the blog but turns out I just saved it as a draft. Apologies !
This past week at SAIL was a little different. Amanda (second year MAT) taught the class as part of her thesis project. It was really interesting seeing how different a class could in relation to a different instructor.
Amanda stopped the class at the door and let them know first that this week would be different. She let them know that they were to come in and sit on the floor to listen to a story which would introduce the day's activity. She asked them to be quiet as they come in. The students came in and sat themselves on the floor as Hernan, Ingrid, Mrs. Dorothy, and I sat in the background and watched. Storytime began. Amanda used a very intersting book I have never seen called "Salvador Dali and the Path to Dreams" The book spoke of Dali as a kid who had all these crazy dreams and later when he grew up he painted the images he saw in his dreams. The book was beautifully illustrated. The illustration showed all kinds of people, places, and objects that were imaginary and extraordinary.
The materials for the activity were already set and laid out on the center of each table. When the story ended she explained this to the kids and explained they would be making their own imaginary people, places, or things out of these materials and Model Magic Clay (this stuff is great and comes in different colors, never had seen it before myself). The kids were called on to go to a table of their choosing based on who was sitting quietly.
Amanda did a great job keeping the kids in the story as she told it. She asked the questions, let them ask theirs and was good about recognizing kids with their hands up and not acting up. She kept the kids engaged in the story this way. Kids who spoke out of turn or were going "oo OO !" as they waved their hand were told something like "I only call on friends who raise their hands quietly" by Amanda, and then she moved on to a student who did just that. After once or twice this got the misbehaving kids to behave. I thought this was a good way to keep the kids in check, by not really reacting in a big way to their ruckus making but just recognizing it as unacceptable behavior and moving on, showing no emotion or much of a reaction at all.
The project was a good one for the kids who seemed to really enjoy it. They worked well with their hands and as far as I could tell had friendly conversation as they worked.
One thing I was surprised with was the glue gun. There were two glue guns available for the kids. When the two kids at my table needed to use the glue gun I went with them to the station to help. I was surprised that for the most part though the kids were allowed to use it without supervision. I am not sure if Amanda planned this or not, maybe it just got a little crazy with all the kids who wanted to use the glue gun and she wasn't able to control them from getting up and going to use it ? Or maybe she intended for them to get up and use it by themselves ?
If they were my kids at home, the same age, I wouldn't let them use it by themselves. And the one time I let a kid use it themselves while just watching, my hand got burned!
All in all my time at SAIL was an informative one. Also as I already noted, it was interesting to see a different instructor with the same class. Time to see what post-spring break has in store for us!
Pictures of some of the kids pieces from the last class (sorry, not the greatest photographer)
Peabody Esteem and Perserverance
I am going to reflect on the role of art education in promoting self-esteem and perserverance. To some extent I will repeat what I said in Tuesday's meeting. I hope, however, that at some point someone will provide Maryanne with a more critical perspective on the Peabody or the Reggio Amelia system, nothing is perfect. (and VSA has had its share of criticism-from me as well as others)
Several of the students in Ms. Mclean class have developmental issues. Several students have or will repeat Kindergarten for second and third times, some have visual issues, some have processing issues. (This relates to the brains ability to translate information. i.e. copy from a board, verbalize answers, etc.) For these students, having the chance to succeed in non-academic ways is a way for students to feel a sense of pride and self-worth. This is not a new idea, but it is a significant argument for art education. Even when students do thrive academically, the art room is a place where individual difference and talents can be celebrated. This is particularly important when working with adolescents.
Self-esteem is a hugely significant feeling for a human being to own. Without it, a felt sense of joy, and/or material success is impossible. As an art educator, in my conceptual teaching world, there are real opportunities to identify and to reach students who need support in this way.
Perserverance is something that Ms. Mclean takes pride in teaching her students. She said that when the children first come to her classroom, the work is hard, they give up more easily, and they will ask her to finish. By the time they get mid way through Kindergarten, students show more determination. The students learn to take risks, to trust in their own ability to meet a challenge (esteem building), and they develop resolve that will serve them in pursuits much further than the art room. Again, not new ideas, but valuable things to keep in the back of the mind.
Several of the students in Ms. Mclean class have developmental issues. Several students have or will repeat Kindergarten for second and third times, some have visual issues, some have processing issues. (This relates to the brains ability to translate information. i.e. copy from a board, verbalize answers, etc.) For these students, having the chance to succeed in non-academic ways is a way for students to feel a sense of pride and self-worth. This is not a new idea, but it is a significant argument for art education. Even when students do thrive academically, the art room is a place where individual difference and talents can be celebrated. This is particularly important when working with adolescents.
Self-esteem is a hugely significant feeling for a human being to own. Without it, a felt sense of joy, and/or material success is impossible. As an art educator, in my conceptual teaching world, there are real opportunities to identify and to reach students who need support in this way.
Perserverance is something that Ms. Mclean takes pride in teaching her students. She said that when the children first come to her classroom, the work is hard, they give up more easily, and they will ask her to finish. By the time they get mid way through Kindergarten, students show more determination. The students learn to take risks, to trust in their own ability to meet a challenge (esteem building), and they develop resolve that will serve them in pursuits much further than the art room. Again, not new ideas, but valuable things to keep in the back of the mind.
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