I think that anytime that I participate and create any large and gratifying lesson like BRAINY my magnetism to and overall NEED to be a teacher grows and is validated. This experience with BRAINY was no different, the feeling of successfully teaching and learning from mistakes is so exciting and gratifying. I feel like I really found the thing that I need to do, teach.
One of my favorite experiences that came from testing out our videos at Lopez Middle School, was talking and interacting with this special needs kiddo. I have no biases towards students with special needs not being engaged or being less abled in the sense of learning, and I felt that strength off mine kind of shone when interacting with this kiddo. There was a moment when I asked him a question, I think i it was "what can you identify in this picture", and I wasn't getting a response. My brain immediately made this switch, and I realized that I should restate the question in simpler way. I quickly asked, "What can you see in this picture" and he quickly engaged and answered. This may seem small to some people, but it is really important to my teacher philosophy that I never give up on a student, and to see that I made this connection with the kiddo was exciting. It also was really gratifying to look up after this little interaction and see this kiddo's actual art teacher give me this nod of approval.
Learning about the Interpretive Strategies was really helpful in beginning to understand what a museum tour would even look like in the first place, considering this is something that I have never done. The biggest aid that came with this understanding was in designing relatable and exciting open ended question to use during the virtual tour.
I think that the biggest difference between a virtual tour and an in-person tour s is that In person tours are easier to engage in or notice engagement in. I noticed even when we tested our questions, it was easier to talk to and relate with students in a more "real-life" situation. It feels like having a conversation is really artificial during a virtual tour. I kind of felt like Dora the Explorer with they way I asked question and received no answer, and then proceeded to continue as if the students are answering me.
Also, my group chose to talk about Mauro Giaconi, and his pieces would've felt incredibly different to see in person due to their overall size. However, it is important to keep in mind that even without the restraints of Covid-19, that wouldn't be possible because they are just that big and unconventional. My favorite part of designing the virtual tours was testing my groups questions with real in-person 4th graders. It was very validating and honestly fun to talk to the students about the art work in person and see our question really engage them. I wish that I could've gotten to do more of this, but then I don't think it would count as a video lesson anymore. Speaking of the challenges of video lesson making, It was really strange to teach a art activity and not get to see if they understood the video or if (without mine and my partner's help in person). I would love to see if the students who only got to watch the videos put it together and what their art activity came out looking like.
I came into this project with kind of a fear of virtual teaching. I do not like seeing and hearing myself talk, however, I felt that feeling decrease throughout the making and editing of the videos. If need be, I definitely will feel way more comfortable teaching a video lesson in the future. However, in the future, I think that I could improve my speaking on video and overall presence. I feel like I didn't really connect with my viewers in the form of my tone of voice or eye contact. I may be reading into that a little too much because I still feel weird not "actually" talking to students, but that is a part of what I could improve upon. I need to put myself into more scenario where I teach a video lesson so that I build that comfortability.
[above] This student was made our art activity our own. He was really inspired by our explanation of abstraction, therefore, he played with that concept and really enjoyed using the materials we provided. His art teacher told us the next week that he has been raving about abstraction and has only been using abstract styles since!
[above] This student chose a clock that was in the room for his object. He followed our instruction and used the charcoal to create abstract shapes inspired by the clock and then abstracting it further with the use of the knead-able eraser. He leaned towards the simplify side of abstraction and the piece came out really successfully.
My Reflective Art Piece:
This represents how I grew from the feeling of getting no engagement from a video lesson. I grew out of the "Dora the Explorer" feeling that made video lessons feel unnatural to me. I think I have found a more successful way to bring the feeling of connection and relatability through this process of video making, this is represented by the video tape and growth of plants coming from it.
I can confidently say that, despite this not being my favorite lesson I've done, I still felt that sense of gratification and validation that I MUST BE AN ART EDUCATOR!!
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