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Celeste Roberge |
Visual Arts Lesson
Teacher Reflections by Patricia Reed
Teaching this lesson enabled me, as the art teacher, to partner effectively with a classroom colleague and to offer students a meaningful integrated learning experience. The classroom teacher and I were able to team-teach many parts of the lesson, and we were able to maintain continuity in the parts that we taught individually. The students responded well to the concept of studying art in an interdisciplinary context.
It was most imperative that the lesson began with the students seeing Wrathful Deities in person at the Portland Museum of Art. This was worth the planning it took to arrange. I have learned that students’ personal experience with original works of art is so important and I hope to bring more students to the Museum in the future. This particular class showed evidence of growth in how they look at and talk about works of art. They are also seeing how artists get inspiration from a variety of sources. I am now motivated to take the time to have more reflection and discussion with students as we explore new projects and assess both what we see and what we want to learn.
Questions about looking at Wrathful Deities were modified through paraphrasing to be understood by our third grade class. Carefully thought-out questions and building questions based on student responses proved to be the most effective way to stimulate discussion and critical thinking skills. Referring to prior activities and comparing and contrasting Wrathful Deities with other sculpture the students had studied put their current activities in a broader context. The kinetic activity where students moved and posed like the sculptural elements in Wrathful Deities helped students understand the artwork in a whole new way. The students thoroughly enjoyed Wrathful Deities, as many of them were not very experienced in looking at non-representational art.
I was able to hear more student voices through the classroom conversations, which offered a glimpse into peripheral learning that was not part of the original goals. I began to look at this learning opportunity differently and occasionally let the students steer me in a new direction. It was essential to make more room in my busy schedule to allow for more “sit down and talk” time with students to aid the formative assessment process, rather than rushing too quickly into studio production. I felt the group discussions were successful in letting children voice what they had learned, but the one-on-one conversations revealed even more of what was personally learned. If I’d had more time, I would have paired students together to discuss ideas in a more extended dialogue, each presenting their own work and having their partner respond with questions and comments. I sometimes question how genuine the student expression is when performed before a whole group. I feel pairing students makes them less uneasy and feel more supported in exploring ideas and feelings.