Student Teaching Reflection

Today was the second day teaching the Ink Blot Creations lesson at Heritage Middle School. To begin the lesson, I asked the sixth graders what it was that we had done last time we had met. After we had reintroduced the first half of the lesson, I asked the students what they thought we were going to do with these ink blots. This allowed me to determine who remembered our closing activity from the previous week and also allowed the students who were absent to know what we did and why we were drawing these various images throughout our composition. After our discussion, I then asked the students to gather around the center table for a demonstration on how the students were to create these images. For example, I shared with the class one image that I saw in the ink blot we had created together during the demo last class. With a thin marker, I drew in the face that I saw using both the negative and positive spaces in the composition. I asked for volunteers to point out what other images they saw in the ink blot and had them draw it just as I had done. I wanted the demonstration to be interactive and playful so the students knew exactly what was being asked of them and they understood there was not one correct answer but there are numerous possibilities. I felt this type of demo is unique inside the classroom and truly captured the playfulness of the project itself. After the demonstration was complete, the students traded one of their ink blot creations with a friend. This was a different way for the students to collaborate with each other about what they each saw while also creating their own individual artwork. The students spend the remainder of the class period working on the two compositions, eagerly sharing with their neighbors about their images and how these images change with a different point of view, such as rotating the paper or looking at something from a distance as opposed to a close up.

                  Although there are some areas I wish to work on, I think overall the lesson was a success. All the students participated and seemed to enjoy exploring the new materials and different ways of ‘seeing’. However, looking back, I wish I had spent more time on the demo and added details to the figure that I had seen. Wanting the students to have ample time to trade projects and create their drawings, I had only done a quick drawing in the demo to allow the students to participate in the example we were making together. Noticing that a few of the students were only drawing the outlines of what they saw, I feel the lack of details in the demo could have caused some confusion even though the teacher example was completed with detail. I feel demonstrations can be one of the hardest parts of a lesson, especially while student teaching because time is limited and as the teacher you want your students to get as much out of this experience as possible.