Experiences and Strengths

I plan on utilizing this blog to detail progress, tools, and strategies I pick up regarding art education. Leading up until this point my teaching experiences have been limited. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in Children’s Art Club here at Stout, as well as participate in some group teaching exercises, but it’s still not a large sample size so it’s difficult to say exactly where my strengths and weaknesses might lie. I feel confidant within areas of art criticism, and leading discussions around a classic or modern work of art, and certainly look forward to trying to get students to participate in a discussion like this in the future. What I found difficult up until now is managing my time, and actually keeping track of how much time each part of the lesson is taking. I have to pay so much attention to the basic nuts and bolts of teaching at the moment (keeping track of kids behavior, names, and maintaining my professional affect) that it becomes difficult to keep eye on the clock. In the past I have had class go short, and missed the critical time when students would ordinarily share their work, and this is something I’d like to avoid in the future.