2/14/14

First Practicum Day for 308:

Today was the first day for my practicum experience this semester and I absolutely loved it. I was a little nervous about being in an elementary school, but I actually really enjoyed my time. My cooperating teaching, Ms. K., was very inviting, comforting, and relaxed, however, she was incredibly busy. She teaches nine sections of students every single day. 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, a computer class, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade. Most of these classes were 20 to 25 students. Each class consisted of generally one and a half classes as far as where they come from in their normal classrooms.

I was very impressed with the behavior of the students in the classes. There were really no major behavioral problems or safety problems. Students were allowed to talk while doing artwork, but had to keep quiet during the actual lesson or while Ms. K. was talking. The entire school had a 1-3 scale on voice level. Three is outside voices, 2 is inside voices, and 1 is silent.

 on Third grade read part of Faith Ringold's, Tar Beach, and then Ms. K. explained the project of a story quilt, and the students brainstormed two sentences on the back of the project to help them prepare for their next art class. Second grade learned about Clause Oldenburg, and his pop art food. The students began making pop art sandwiches of their choice, using a black construction paper background and different colors construction paper for each piece of the sandwich. 1st graders worked on amazing Eric Carle inspired animals. Ms. K. and I walked around the classroom handing out two layers of paint for the students to make patterns with and then later cut out into their chosen animal. 5th grade took a quiz on the elements of art and what the definitions were after she did a quick review at the beginning of class. The class continued to work on their 20 logo designs using color, their name and/or interests. In the afternoon we repeated this same crazy schedule backwards.