Midwest+Art+Lesson+Reflection

1. What did the students learn from your lesson? How do you know they learned from your lesson? (Attach assessment tools from the lesson.) I believe that the students further learned about how the place an artist lives in will affect an their work. Before the lecture, the students brainstormed a list of descriptors of the Midwest. I think this helped the students see where the lesson was going and served as an advance organizer for the students. Examples of Regionalists and Midwest artists were shown in the power point, and I checked every few slides to make sure that the students were still understanding the content. The students did a great job working in small groups to fill out two art criticism worksheet. They wrote at least a sentence for each question I had posed to them. Their answers for the critique were good and I believe from reading them that they understand how Midwest artists are affected by the landscape, occupations, and people of our area. Their answers for #3 "What is the purpose or meaning of the artwork?" were right where I thought they would be--such as "Show how people help each other, life in the small town," "Shows hard-working farmer..." "Life in the farmland and how happy it looked." From these responses, I believe that the students grasped the same ideas that the Regionalist artists and even Midwest artists now are trying to convey.
 * Analysis of Instructional Planning and Impact on Learning**

2. What did you think about or consider when planning the lesson? (Be specific.) I thought about how familiar this art will look to the students because they live in the Midwest. I wanted to make it relate even more to their own lives by asking them questions about what they feel the Midwest is like and how their "place" influences their own art.

3. What do you think was the most effective part of the lesson? Why? I think the most effective part of my lesson was at the very end when I asked the students to give examples of their own art and why they choose the subjects that they do. Artists are almost always affected by their surroundings and society (it is actually South Dakota's 3rd Fine Art Standard!). In the same way, these student artists draw and paint what they do for a reason. We had a lively 10-15 min class discussion where everyone was able to give personal examples. I think it helped bring the whole lesson together.

4. How closely did you follow your lesson plan? If you deviated from the lesson plan, what decisions did you make during the lesson and why? I followed my lesson plan very closely. I had a few deviations though. I did not anticipate that I would have so much extra time after I finished my powerpoint presentation. Therefore, I had the students do the art critique activity twice. I did make extra copies of the critique sheet, so I was prepared for the possibility of extra time. I also deviated from my plan when I totally forgot to include a class discussion I had planned for the beginning of the lesson. With the extra time at the end I was able to hold such a discussion and in some ways I think it was better to have it at the end anyway. It ended up being my favorite part of the lesson.

5. Were the activities/materials/visuals/aids appropriate? Why? Why not? Yes, I think they were appropriate. My powerpoint could have been longer, but then the discussions would have been shortened, too. The critique worksheet that was suppose to stimulate discussion became merely a worksheet for the students to get through. I would probably do this differently. Like maybe have just questions and give time allotments for discussion of the question. That would have stretched out the critique and probably made it have more depth. The discussion of their own art was the best part of the lesson, I think. It could have maybe been made better by having the students write down a paragraph of their thoughts so they would have been more comfortable sharing their opinions.

6. What part or parts of your plan would you consider changing before teaching this lesson again? I would have liked to have found more current SD artists to include in the ppt. I would change the worksheet format as well, and try to make it more discussion-centered. Writing a paragraph of how their lives and where they live impact their art choices also would have been beneficial for the students.

7. What do you see as your teaching strengths? I think my teaching strengths are stating information in an easy to understand way and connecting with students to make them feel comfortable. I feel like I can gage if information is manageable for students, or if it will just go over their heads because it doesn't connect with their lives. I'm looking forward to the relationships I will have with my future students, so connecting with them is something that is important to me. During our discussion, I sat on a chair with the students, and I think the students were able to loosen up.

8. Identify a goal you would like to have your field-based supervisor assist you in achieving. I would like to work on the goal of questioning students so that they give answers that are deeper than just the surface. I also don't know how to ask students to give more than just "I don't know." Can I continue to press them for a better answer? What if they really don't know?