Collaborative Decision Making & Problem Solving
Like the mixed media collage my students created, the mixed media lesson was combined from a hodge-podge of ideas from fellow art instructors and past lessons taught by my cooperating teacher. Before I consulted with other instructors, my objectives for the students’ mixed media collage did not go very far beyond collecting a variety of media resources and arranging them to fit the students’ desired composition. After discussing with my cooperating teacher and other art instructors how to improve the criteria for this project, my learning objectives became more comprehensive:
Main Idea: Students will create expressive artworks that demonstrate a sense of purpose and understanding of the relationship among various forms, materials, techniques, and subject matters. Mixed media collage is the type of project that requires equal parts organization and technical skill.
Objectives: Students will create a unified artwork that uses three or more mediums, includes at least three collage elements (one of which is hand-drawn), features one assembled human figure, and incorporates one found object.
Engaging Student Families and Local Environments
Because this project required students to collect a multitude of objects from their own environments (homes, communities, family, etc.), this provided students with the opportunity to illustrate their personal lives within the confines of the project criteria. This also allowed students and myself the opportunity to engage with their family members and friends in search of ideal resources. The found object, for instance, could be a candy wrapper–or it could be a letter written by an old ancestor. The search for appropriate media even led one of my students to frequent several garage sales with his family. They found and brought to school a cabinet of curiosities that were then shared with the rest of the class.
Encouraging Feedback
As this was my first project within a high school setting, I was practically starving for approval.
Is this project worthwhile? Are the students engaged? Are the learning objectives communicated and executed properly?
After consulting with my teacher about these questions, her main concern was that I needed to redirect more off-task behavior (as this would affect the project’s pacing) and make sure to have full student attention before launching into content explanations.
To remedy these issues, I began to practice scanning the room for students who needed redirecting as well as students who needed help. I also began using a small microphone to first gain student attention before setting it aside and projecting my voice for the rest of the lesson. Although redirecting student behavior is a skill that will take more experience to master, I (and my cooperating teacher) was very satisfied with my ability to gain and hold student attention after that discussion.
Professional Development
My knowledge of the professional code of ethics can be read from my compliance with district policy (See Behavioral Reflection under Section II). My professional development thus far consists of attending staff meetings and accompanying my cooperating teacher(s) to their own professional development summits.
For the mixed media project, I also consulted several websites that discuss proper collage techniques as well as ideas for incorporating unlikely media. A few are listed below: