KATIE KUTZ
Artist/ Student/ Art Educator
Journal 1 #stressed
In my first two weeks of student teaching I have had the opportunity to experience a lot.. I have also had some stresses from my family come up as well. The second day of the semester schools were closed for a snow day. My cooperating teacher showed and explained to me what a specials teacher role is on a shortened virtual learning day. The next week I got sick and was anxiously awaiting a negative COVID test in order to return. One of the days that I was not in the building due to being sick, I still attended a virtual meeting for Hawk Air which is this incredible program the school does every year. My first Friday of student teaching, which would be my second actual day with students I taught my first lesson. It went pretty good I thought. After I was sick I taught my second lesson that Thursday to class that I had just met that day. It went okay. That Following Friday, my cooperating teacher was out of the building and I was subbing on my own for the first time. It went better that expected. This whole time my son is sick at home and unable to attend daycare adding a lot of stress to my plate. On top of trying to learn 300 kids names as fast as I can. Overall, a lot has happened in this first two weeks. It has all been a great experience and I am glad that I have had all the opportunity that I have had so quickly.
Journal 2 #energy #closure # management
# Energy
Something that I feel that I need to work on in my teaching is my energy level. This is especially true when I'm not confident in my lesson.
#Closure
Closure is another thing that I am working on. At the end of class I get so caught up in the clean up and the talking and I struggle to get students attention long enough to say something meaningful. I would love for students to do more reflective activities but it is not something that they are accustomed to doing.
#Management
Classroom management is something that I am continuously trying to work on. We have some pretty tough classes that even seasoned teachers are struggling with. I think I need to go over my expectations with students again. I struggle with the waiting for students to stop talking because multiple times in different experiences, students just keep talking and never stop and I'm not sure how to handle that.
Journal 3 #Duality
How do you see your position from being a student to a student teacher?
I don’t feel like I had a difficult time switching from being a student to a student teacher. Perhaps it is because I started at my elementary placement. I have worked in elementary schools for years so being in a position of authority in that setting wasn’t anything new to me. It also really helped that I reached out to my mentor teacher in the fall and set up a few meetings with her and time to come and observe. So by the time my student teaching had started I was already familiar with the environment.
How do you shift between teaching and learning in your student teaching?
I don’t switch between teaching and learning. I am always doing both. When I am teaching a lesson I am learning from my students and when I'm not teaching I am learning from my mentor and teaching her new things as well.
How do you make your teacher presence evidently in the classroom?
Confidence. I conduct myself in a professional manner and with confidence. I dress appropriately and think of myself as a teacher that belongs at the school. Kids can pick up on you not feeling confident and sure of yourself and if you feel out of place they will treat you as such. I do my best to fully take on the role of teacher and it helps.
Journal 4 #Lists
How would you define efficient time management?
Efficient time management to me means that I am utilizing my time in the best possible way. I always make a list of things that need to be done. This helps me keep track of everything so that I don’t forget what I need to do. It also helps me plan out when I’m going to do certain things. There are some things that can be done at home, such as lesson planning and preparing PowerPoint. When I get to work, I make sure that things that need to be done are things that I have to be there for such as material prep.
How can efficient time management help your teaching and students' learning?
Efficient time management in my opinion helps your sanity and keeps you organized. You won't be scrambling at the last minute or trying to prepare material or information when your students are waiting for you. Also I don’t want to waste my students' time with things that are not relevant or time waiting because I am not prepared. Ensuring efficient time management helps your students to get the most out of their time in your class.
How do you manage your time so that you can create a balance for all parties in your life?
I have a lot going on in my life, so time management is absolutely essential. I spend a lot of my time planning and multitasking. I always know that I have my kid when I'm not at work. So I make plans for the things I need to do such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping around his schedule. These things only change slightly which helps a lot. Then I know that I have the time that he is asleep to get all my work done. These times don’t change much either which also really helps. I always write a list of things that I need to get done for work, and things that I need to get done around the house. My husband works a lot and has strange hours, so whenever he is home I try and make sure that I spend time with him. I can always stay up late working, family time comes first. I honestly feel like there is an art to time management.
Did you learn any tricks to improve your time management from any resources?
To be honest, I feel like I have really good time management skills, but I didn’t exactly learn them from anywhere. When I worked in a restaurant that is where I got to practice my time management skills since everything was on a time limit. Other than that I just like to do a lot of things and hate not having time for them so I do everything in my power to make time for everything I want to do and everyone I want to spend time with. I always have my priorities though and do my best to keep them straight so if I do run out of time I get done the things that are most important. Also lists, they really help.
Journal 5 #Learning
Why professional development is important for be/coming an educator?
As an educator it is important to never stop learning. Things are constantly changing, newer better practices and ideas are being developed all the time. I think it would be arrogant to go to school to become a teacher and assume that you are done learning, and know everything and that you don’t need to learn anything new. Part of being an educator is fostering a love of learning and how to be a lifelong learner. Modeling that behavior is one of the best ways to teach that to your students, and part of that is professional development.
Reflect on some professional development events, practices, readings, books, etc., including but not limited to art relevant professional development, that you have attended or read during your student teaching.
A lot of my professional development has been through learning new art practices. In elementary school I had to learn about temper paint (liquid and cakes), I had never used tempera paint before. I spent time experimenting with it and also my mentor teacher taught me a lot about storage of the paint and how not to make the entire building smell like rotten eggs. I am currently in the process of learning about acrylic paint so that I can teach my high school students about how to use it. I am trying to learn more about all different types of mediums because my students are interested in them and I want to be able to teach them and make those materials available to them. Other professional development comes from attending meetings and talking with my mentor teacher about how to handle certain issues, and the best way to go about differentiation with specific students. I love talking to other educators about what works for them and what doesn’t and why, so that I can make some educated decisions about how I want to run my own classroom.
Journal 6 #Enhanced
What perspectives/strategies/practices did you learn from the first placement that revised/enhanced/transformed your previous perspectives or assumptions about teaching and learning?
I learned a lot about classroom management during my first placement. One of the biggest skills I learned was wait time. My first placement had a lot of behavioral issues. I am glad for the experience because I had never had much experience with classroom management before. I always understood that aspect of teaching, but learning classroom management skills such as wait time enhanced my view of what is necessary things to consider when teaching.
What changes have you made or adjusted to adapt to the new placement?
My new placement hardly has any behavioral issues. Classroom management is very relaxed in this school. At the elementary school I had to always be “on” every time I turned around a student was doing something they weren’t supposed to, there were so many behavioral plans in place I spent the majority of class keeping an eye on specific kids. At the high school I have been able to relax a bit more, I still have to keep an eye on every student but now it’s making sure they aren’t playing video games or trying to duck out a few minutes early. I have the time to sit down and talk and connect with students more.
Journal 7 #Experience
What are the important elements to create a predictable, caring, and positive learning environment?
The important elements needed for creating a predictable, caring, and positive learning environment are routines, expectations, and relationships. Routines and expectations create a reliable and predictable learning environment. Developing positive relationships shows students that they are cared about and are in a safe place. A positive learning environment comes from having respect for students and teaching students respect for others. Routines, expectations, and relationships will all help to create that positive and safe learning environment.
What strategies are helpful for you to respect diversity?
Since I follow choice based learning, my students have the opportunity to explore their own ideas. This allows a lot of room for personal voice. I foster that voice by providing resources that represent a vast range of people from different cultures and backgrounds. Every time I show artists, I make sure that I always have at least one person that is not white, and is not a male. If I have a student in my class who I am aware of their background, I try to find artists from their culture. For example, I currently have a student who is from India and is happy to share that and all his experiences. I try to find artists from India to have that representation. I also try to ask him questions and be aware of different holidays and traditions occurring. He has appreciated it and is more than happy to share about his culture.
Please look back at all your reflective journal entries.
-What type of self-growth did you observe through reflexive practices?
From doing the reflective journal entries I found that they help me to remember things and to consider certain things a lot more than if not. For example, talking about time management and professional development, These prompts helped me to really think about how I do those. Looking back through all my entries it’s great to see how far I’ve come in such a short time. When I started student teaching I felt like I had no clue what I was doing and even though there are still some things that I feel a bit lost on, for the most part I feel ready to start my job come fall.
-What type of reflective practices, activities, or methods did you apply to assist your students' art learning in your teaching? Did they work well or could be improved with some adjustments (how)? State two examples (either work well or didn't work well. Or one for both!).
Once reflective practice that I have actually come to really like is doing a ticket out the door. I tell students about it at the beginning of class and then put the questions up at the end. This was how I had students reflect on their in-progress critique. It was a mutually beneficial activity because students answered if the critique was helpful for them and why, and then they answered how they will take their peers' feedback and apply it to their artwork. This is a quick reflection that students don’t seem to mind doing and usually give thoughtful responses to. A larger reflective practice that we are doing are short answer questions students will complete after their assessment project. We will be doing these at the end of the week so I'm not entirely sure how well it will go, but I have a feeling it will be more beneficial for myself to understand their project than for them. I have been thinking about doing an in-progress reflection in the future. I plan on giving my students the rubric for their project next class, so I may have them do a quick write about how well they feel they have met the criteria for their project. I may also go and do a quick conference with students throughout class rather than having them write their thoughts down.