Placement Visit #3

The school I have been at for the last few weeks has been a great experience so far. The first two weeks I was placed with the art teacher, who unfortunately only had one third grade class all morning, BUT it was great to discuss aspects of teaching with her and to see how she prepared for her classes. Because she only gets to meet with them once a week for 40 minutes, she has to be very organized and get everything all laid out for them so as to maximize the amount they can get done in one class period. It was also great to see all the ideas and lessons she had done over the years. It got me very excited about having my own class one day and creating lessons of my own.

This past week, I was assigned to a different teacher, but the same group of students, in order to fill my morning up rather than just helping out with the art teacher's prep. Unfortunately they were busy with testing, so the school had me go to the computer lab to see one of the projects that class was working on. It was a project dealing with child labor, and I thought it was absolutely a great way to introduce such a heavy topic. The students had dressed up as old fashioned workers and took pictures outside on the school grounds (the school has a garden and other areas that made for great pictures). The computer teacher, along with the third grade teacher, then edited the pictures to make them look old (sepia). Meanwhile the students wrote a script to go along with whatever child labor job they were assigned, and recorded it on the computer with the help of the teacher. The students were coming down to the computer room the day I was there to record their scripts. I was very impressed with what they had written and how well they were able to put themselves in the shoes of children from the old days. Eventually they will create a slide-show type movie with the students voices playing, and I believe they are going to present it somewhere or at a meeting or something. I look forward to seeing the finished project.

I then went to the art class to observe and hep out. Afterward I met with the principal. Talking with her was great. We discussed her recent trip to India, and how the art class has been doing projects to incorporate Indian culture and art ito their own work. I think it is great that the school promotes different cultures and strives to teach the students about those other cultures around the world. Especially as the world we live in grows smaller and more connected to eachother, understanding other cultures is extremely important. She also told me she believes the art teacher at that school is one of the best she has seen in her entire career, which got me even more looking forward to my placement at that school for the coming months.