Mock Interview Question

Mock Interview Question - from an Administrator of a school district.

"If I am a student in your art class, what can I expect to see or do on the first day?"

My answer geared toward a secondary learning environment:

If you were a student in my class, on the first day I would first introduce myself and give a little personal information as well as information about the class I am teaching. I would question the students on their expectations for the class and what they hope to learn over the course of the year. I would want the students to get to know each other by introducing themselves. The students would engage in a sketching activity geared to show me where they are at in their drawing skills. The last fifteen minutes of class would be used for introducing the first official lesson plan, to allow the students to leave with the urge to find inspirations and ideas for the assignment.


The assignment would be something like the this lesson plan I wrote about in a curriculum map last semester:

My Journey to Art Education

Although I have an About Me section on this blog, I haven't quite shared the journey I have taken to where I am today in my college career as an Art Education major. 

I came into UW-Stout as an undecided major with a Graphic Design intent. This intent allowed me to take the art courses that I needed while still being "undecided". I was advised to apply for the Art Education program after a semester of college. After Art Education 108, Introduction to Art Education, I began to realize that I had passions in my life that I had yet to discover. Although I have always had a passion for art and creating, I uncovered a hidden passion for working with others, especially young people. I realized that I was being pointed in a direction to teach others how creativity can positively influence one's life.

I am determined to inspire young people to find their personalities, ambitions and dreams through art. As a teacher, I know that I will be able to positively influence lives by broadening young minds and shaping productive citizens of society. 

An "About Me" Wordle, from www.wordle.net

I will be student teaching next spring, and cannot wait to see where I am located during that experience. I am on track to graduate in just one year and am getting very anxious to see where life will take me! I have dreams of obtaining my masters degree, teaching in Alaska, coaching a varsity volleyball team, owning my own studio and gallery, and selling my professional and handmade arts. 

No matter which direction I am pointed to, my ultimate goal is to pass on the knowledge that I have about the arts, sports, faith, and life to others. I aspire to be an inspiration to my students, friends, colleagues and family. I will one day be a successful teacher, artist, coach, wife, and mother. I cannot wait to see where God takes me, but until then, I’ll be taking it each day at a time, constantly striving for happiness.

Until I can truly pursue these dreams full time, I'll be in Art Education 308, and blogging about the entire experience! 

Art Education 308

Last semester I spent over fifteen hours in an elementary school working with Ms. M. This semester, I have a new class that will allow me to work with a new teacher in a secondary education environment. I am so happy to be continuing this blog from my Art Education 208 class into my Art Education 308 class. This class encompasses everything related to teaching in an art classroom, and prepares us for student teaching! I plan to be student teaching in the spring of 2013, and have already submitted my application for my Benchmark II interview and student teaching placement! All of my new posts will include my new experiences as an art education student, and an observer in the art education classroom. I can't wait to get into the classroom and have some hands-on experience with the students again.

The End..... For now.

Last week Friday was my last day of observation at the elementary school. I thought I was going to visit on Tuesday, but Ms. M would be out of class and it worked out better for me to stay at Stout to catch up on homework for the week.

Overall this experience was great. I had an amazing time working with the children, keeping this blog up to date, and learning all that I could during the process. I will definitely be blogging about my next art observation experiences and student teaching! This blog has really helped me reflect on what I learned each day as well as documented my journey from beginning to end. This is just the end of Art Education 208.... Next semester is Art Education 308, which is worth DOUBLE the credit load. Needless to say, a month break will be just what I need before continuing my art education journey! I will be updating this blog again in a month, so stay with me!

Thank you to all of my followers and readers, I hope you enjoyed my posts as much as I enjoyed posting them. There will be more to come, and until then you can keep up with my blog, Project Jubilation, as I spend all winter preparing for an arts and craft fair in my hometown this summer! I need to build inventory to sell bags, paintings and other things at the fair. It should be fun!

Merry Christmas!

The Last Friday

As the semester is coming to a close, today was my last day observing at the elementary school on a Friday. I am visiting Ms. M on Tuesday for my final day of observation. It was exciting to know that this class is coming to a close, but I will miss the classes we worked with each week!

Once again we Ms. M was gone to an appointment, so Mrs. Williams was subbing again. It is always so fun to talk with her during the prep hour because she was a student at UW Stout and is always interested in our classes, how school is going, and which professors are still around.

The first grade students were very noisy today as they glued painted snowflakes to a background. The first graders are decorating for their winter assembly, so they folded and cut paper snowflakes out for decoration. To make them even more beautiful, they painted the snowflakes while they were taped to a white sheet of paper. The white sheet of paper absorbed paint where the negative space of the snowflake was. It created a positive and a negative relationship between the snowflake and the paper. The students were in the process of gluing the snowflake and the paper onto a background, which completed the project. The first graders did a good job of gluing, but I forget that they are still learning how to use their tactile skills to hold scissors and the glue bottles! I will miss them! They taught me a lot about developmental stages throughout the semester!

The sixth graders were the most well behaved I have seen them all semester! While working on clay slabs for "Me" boxes that they will carve and paint with symbols about themselves, they were quiet, courteous and willing to learn how to do everything the right way. Because clay is a medium that the students don't work with very often, I think they were concerned with how to do it right. When they draw, work with scissors or paint, they must feel like it is "easy" or that they know exactly how it works. I really enjoyed working with the clay because the students were so willing to listen!

The fifth grade class was spent reviewing our gourd project, finishing the scratching technique and working on a different name project. The students responded well to the gourd project, despite the problems we had with it! The gourds deflated TWICE after some students painted them! It was crazy to think that the project could go so awry! In the end, the students seemed to have positive feedback about the project, which made it worthwhile. I don't think I would ever do the project again! My partner and I designed the project around gourds that Ms. M had on hand (She didn't know what to do with them!).

When the students would finish early, they would start on the weekly creativity challenge or free draw. The best way to end the day was to get a sincere "Thank you Ms. W for visiting us each week" from the most polite fifth grader ever, and an "I love you" heart from a first grade student. I would say I love them too!

Multicultural Lesson Planning

Ms. M answered her fourth and final question for my observation class: How do you incorporate other cultures into your lesson plans? Ms. M had a hard time with this question. She found that she likes to theme her sections in art class. She went through the jungle and outer space this fall already. She told my partner and I that she doesn't incorporate other cultures as much as she does artists. Ms. M likes to emphasize artists and movements rather than specific multicultural lesson plans. Art itself reflects the culture it was created in, but isn't often taught as a "multicultural" emphasis. Ms. M said that she doesn't think her curriculum is lacking because of it. The one way that she does incorporate a true cultural plan is when the first graders are traveling around the world in their general education curriculum. She often works with the teachers to do a project that incorporates her colleague's completion of a trip around the globe. A few weeks ago they were in Canada and the children couldn't stop saying "Eh?" at the end of every sentence.

The first graders travel each continent throughout the entire year, which is a school-wide curriculum for all first graders. It allows Ms. M to pick and choose which place she would like to use for her inspiration and which artist she can emphasize. For example, she could emphasize Pablo Picasso for Spain, and has done Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera for Mexico.

In the future, I think I would like to plan a trip around the world with my students that would encompass the entire semester. I like the idea of emphasizing a specific artist from one country, or to travel in a time line around the world and start with ancient cave art and move on from there. I am excited to work with more teachers and hear the way that they incorporate other cultures into their lesson plans.


Even if it isn't multicultural, I did want to share this awesome way of incorporating artists and art history into a curriculum! This creative art teacher did an amazing job!

Deflated Gourds

Yesterday my partner and I visited our 5th grade class in the middle of the week to finish the last day of the lesson plan. It was a BIG surprise when we saw that half of the gourds we were working with had deflated like balloons! Half of the gourds turned out as planned, so part of the class spent the day re-painting the surface of their gourds and adding texture while the other half carved away their symbols and shapes on the surface. It was a huge disappointment when the students saw their gourds that they had painted with such care. However, those who didn't like the color combination or the way the paint had covered the gourd were able to change their design to something they liked better. Some students were able to use the carving and reductive line technique very effectively while others were having more trouble. The reductive lines really depended on the thickness of the paint on the gourd as well. The thinner the paint was on the gourd, the easier it was to carve away. The thicker the paint was, the more the paint would peel off of the surface rather than just be scratched away.

One of the girls wanted to add stars to her design, but her paint was on so thick that they would turn out like blobs instead. The paint would peel away wherever her lines overlapped. She had to switch her design to more simple forms and lines rather than the intricate stars she was hoping for! She was a good sport, even though she had to switch.

I can't wait to post more about our lesson plan and some clips of us teaching. I have some fun pictures that I can't upload for a while due to my camera having troubles. I will update and post again soon to give you the full picture of what we did with our fifth graders!