Kelly Narowitz art educator/artist
Reflective Practitioner
Here is a collection of nine reflections, one for each of the lessons I have presented on this website. They are an example of my commitment to InTASC Standard 9. After each lesson I reflect on what went well, what could be improved upon and how the students worked with the medium and subject matter of the lesson. I take these reflections and use them to help improve my lessons for the next time. This is a cycle that leads my practice to always be improving and my lessons to be continuously refined.
The Principles & Elements of Design in 60 Seconds
I guess I didn’t realize how involved and difficult this lesson was. There is a lot of information to relay and a lot of higher thought concepts to relate to the students. Abstract art and design ideas are hard for many people to grasp, young and old. So my challenge is finding a way to get to the students to understand the visual ideas I am looking for in this project.
That is why I thought it was so important to create examples of what to do and what NOT to do. I think this was a very successful part of the lesson, showing the examples. My bad example used a little sarcasm and humor to relate my requirements and desires for this project, which I think helped draw the students in and connect them to the presentation. Asking the students to try to figure out how I made my good example I thought was a good way to get them thinking about the assignment. I probably should have pushed them for more guesses and thoughts on how I could have done my special effects.
Having multiple videos to cue up and show to the students made me a little anxious and stressed about transitioning and keeping the dialog open. Two examples and two art history examples, it is not that I think that four is too many, just using the technology while speaking flustered me. I think this led to me missing some opportunities to ask questions and make connections to the content of the lesson. I wasn’t as prepared with one of my examples as I was with the others, so next time I will make sure I outline and think through what exactly I will say with The Fall example, pointing out the principles and elements in the clip.
I think the brainstorming went well, the students were more engaged the task than I expected and it may be because most of the class in made up of seniors. I think I could have run the share out part of brainstorming a little more efficiently and effectively. The next time around I might have made them share out twice to keep them engaged. I think I should also prepare some more examples and references to utilize during the brainstorm session to connect their ideas to the principles and elements of design.
I think the lesson overall should have only taken 30 minutes for the presentation. I had originally thought it was going to take the whole class period (1 hour) but when I was getting to the end I realized I still had a lot of time. I could have stopped sooner instead of pushing for more sharing, so that the students had more time to work on current projects.
I am excited and anxious to see the finished projects of the students. It will be awhile before some of them come in because of the rotation of groups. A YouTube channel will be used to view and share each group’s final video. This lesson is ambitious but I am very excited to get the opportunity to teach it again because artistic filmmaking is my passion and it feels awesome to be able to share and pass it on to my students.
I will hopefully add more to this reflection after I see the students working on the project and some of the finished work the students submit.
What's Your Spirit Animal?
This lesson was given as a practical final for an exploratory art class made up of mostly freshmen with a few sophomores and juniors. The decision to do this took me a bit by surprise but my mentor teacher requested I give this lesson my second week in my placement. I took on the challenge, but with the quick turnaround and implementation of the lesson there are a few things I would like to change to improve it.
First, the lesson needed to be given in about a week. If I had the option I would like to have more time with the lesson so that students had more time to experiment, research and explore the technique of Zentangle and really think about their choice of a spirit animal. The reason for having the spirit animal be a part of the lesson is so that students have the opportunity to explore their own identity and learn something about themselves. Because of the short time period I was unable to foster a real exploration of this idea. There are many online quizzes and tests that might be fun to give to students to get them to start thinking about what their spirit animal might be. I would like students to research the animal a little bit and compile a list of information that they might use in their artwork. Knowing the shape of the animal’s footprint, the environment they live in, the food they eat are all things that could lead to interesting Zentangle designs.
Also, the development and practice of what a good Zentangle pattern is takes time. Frequently students see this type of artwork and think that an artists just sits down and bangs it out. I would have liked to have the opportunity to show students how much planning, practice and thought goes into every piece of art. In this adapted lesson I had students practice their designs, creating 15 different patterns and choosing their favorite 10 to apply to their final piece. In an ideal world I would like to give students some smaller practice Zentangles to get them used to the methods of creating good designs.
On a classroom management note, this was my first experience really working with high school freshmen. I found the experience shall we say vexing. It seems to be a pattern that the youngest students in a school are the ones who will constantly test the boundaries and rules of what they can get away with. These freshmen were no exception. During the week I had these students my mentor teacher was out of the classroom on a school trip and the only backup I had was a substitute that was not very helpful.
I learned a lot and I think I grew a lot from the experience. Being new in the classroom made me shy and reluctant to dole out discipline and this was a mistake. I needed to be more of a leader and set my expectations and keep to them. I think with every moment that I have like this, where afterwords I kick myself for not being the authority or standing up for my expectations, I gain confidence and determination to be stronger the next time.
Overall, I think the lesson went well and the students created some really good work in the end. I did have some students who refused to take the assignment seriously and/or engage in the work. It was interesting however, when their grades came back, what they thought of their own work and engagement level. When one student contested his grade my mentor teacher and I gathered his work, his work packet and several examples of work from grades that ranged from C to A+ so that we could clearly show why he was rewarded a C-. It was not something I was expecting to deal with but I learned a lot on how to document and protect myself when things like this happen.
A Vessel Inspired by Nature
The students responded well and worked really hard on this lesson. For the most part the work was in the high B and A range as far as grading goes. I have given them a grade before firing to give credit to the work they have put in so far. Even professionals occasionally have things that go awry in the kiln, so in order to acknowledge and give credit to the work they have already done the students have self-evaluated and I have assessed and graded their work so far. This grade will be combined with a post fire grade, each is 100 pts.
I think the students responded well to this project because the requirements were pretty loose. It gave them freedom to choose things that interested them. Not that many of them choose really unique things, in fact many of them took ideas from my presentation. I think it is just the fact that I am not standing there telling them what they have to do. They feel like they have choice and that is important for teens.
I also think that they worked more diligently because clay is not something they get to use often or for an extended period of time. This project gave them a week and a half with it, which to me is not that long either. So, maybe, it feels like a special privilege and so they take it more seriously. Also, mediums such as painting and colored pencil are easy to set down and come back to without repercussions. With clay if the students miss or slack off for a day their piece could be ruined. A few students discovered this with this project, and were frustrated by it. I helped them resolve their issues with over drying and not having enough time by helping them simplify their idea or gave them techniques to speed along the process.
I did this project with two classes and I know my delivery and practices got better with each one I did. The first class is much smaller than the second class, so it was a good one to test things out in, by the time I presented the lesson a second time I had identified my problem areas and kept in mind how I could fix them as I proceeded.
Overall, when giving presentations I need to keep a better eye on the time. I find it difficult when trying to push the students to interact and speak up, make sure I’m hitting all the points I want to and emphasize the artistic goals. It is a lot to keep track of all at once. But like most things with teaching, as I am learning, I will get better the more I do it.
The lesson itself was well organized, students seemed to have enough time to complete the tasks required, and they were all enthusiastic about it. I found the toughest part to be the singular students who were uninspired by the project and/or struggled to come up with ideas. I suppose it is an issue I struggle with overall in the High School level. Some students just refuse to be inspired. I feel like encouragement and positivity help a lot, but some just are too negative to embrace the project.
There is only one student with specific special needs in these two classes. She only really likes to be helped if she asks. She is pretty self-sufficient and her issues are more centered around social interaction than classwork. Otherwise I am going around the class and checking to see what specific issues the students are running into.
I’d like to bring in more Principles and Elements of Design into the project. I could do this by discussing what sort of shapes exists in nature, as well as what kind of textures. Is nature usually perfectly balanced or can things be asymmetrical? Adding these kinds of things to my presentation will help ground it in the foundations of art.
A Salute To MY Favorite Thing
This lesson went well. After working with these students for a few weeks I am starting to see better results in their work. I believe this stems from my effort to build connections with each of them. With this group of students it can take longer to build connections because they’re much more guarded than the average student. People come and go in their life all the time and not all of them express their care or make an effort to connect with these students.
Now I have my little jokes with each of them and I have identified different strategies that work with each student. The techniques I use to get them to work, focus and adjust their behavior are all based on my interactions with them. These techniques could have only been developed through experience with each student.
The lesson had about five different steps to it. At first this made me nervous. These students have exhibited difficulties focusing on projects that take a long time. At four whole days this project is the longest I have seen them stay invested in something. I think this is partly due to me building connections but I also think an important part of it is that the lesson is about the student. They are more invested in this project because they are doing it partly for themselves not just fulfilling requirements for someone else.
I think a lot of what these students do all day is follow orders. It is nice to give them an opportunity to do something for themselves to make themselves proud. The results of this project speak to how important it is to give them these opportunities.
How To Tell A Story
This lesson went pretty well. These students are a challenge because they all work at different levels and speeds, yet each of them needs individual attention. I am lucky in that I usually have two parapros working with me to help me support the students. If I were on my own I am not sure this lesson (or any other lesson I would give them) would be as successful.
I think the key to this lesson being well received by the students was that they got to tell their own story. A lot of what they do gives them little freedom to express themselves and who they are. This project allowed them to connect to the things they liked and cared about. A student who is obsessed with the weather created a comic strip about a tornado. Another student, who is usually the least engaged student in the class, created a comic strip about planes and boats. This taught me something about him that I did not know before, he is very into planes, trains and boats. Now I have some information I can use to connect with him on other projects.
The most difficult part doing projects with these students is getting them to focus on the details and take their time. They work very diligently and finish all the tasks you ask them to do. However, it is a struggle to get them to take it seriously or put real effort into their work. I do have one student who takes each assignment VERY seriously and is very focused on finishing every detail of his work. This is great, but also provides another challenge. He is usually two or three days behind all the other students.
So with these students specifically developing projects is a balancing act. What will capture their interest so that they are invested in the final product? What will take them time to complete but is also within their skill level? I think this project hit the mark pretty well. The three panels is enough of a challenge to fill that takes most students a little more time. Going through proper artistic procedures, like sketching things out before doing a final product, also helps. It teaches them that artists work at making art, that they don’t just slap things together. They take their time and think things through.
In the future I could make other adaptations for this lesson. Like giving students who work faster more panels, or a longer story to tell. Or giving slower students one or two panels to work in. Colored pencil can be hard for some students who lack fine motor function, so instead we could work with larger markers or crayons. However, even though these students aren’t going to become fine artists, I do not want to deprive them of working with the best materials I can give them. I feel like sometimes because they are “special” students we don’t give them the best tools, or mediums. I’m not sure why, because I believe all they need is the proper direction on how to use them and they will get along just fine.
These students cannot value their work, or themselves, if we do not treat their work with as much importance as we do with everyone else. I think it is an unspoken difference that affects them in a profound way.
Texture, Color and the World Around Us.
I did not get to present this lesson in the way I wanted to. I did not get to have the students cut out their leaves and therefore the leaves were never organized by tree and added to the ceiling to decorate the classroom. I am frustrated by this, but I must work within the opportunities I have been given by my mentor teacher.
I got some really interesting and beautiful work through this lesson. I think the children had some motor function issues doing the rubbings, but overall they used color well and filled in their shapes in really fun ways. There is a great variety in the quality of the texture rubbings and this leads me to say that they were not all successful because of the differences in motor function development.
I find that this deficit does not upset me, this project is not really about mastering the technique. It is about introducing the idea of observation as well as giving them an opportunity to be hands on with nature. That being said if I were to do this lesson again I might insert a day where we practice doing texture rubbings around the classroom. More practice might teach them that a specific amount of pressure is needed to create a good texture rubbing.
They did really well identifying fall colors and using only those colors. What I did not anticipate was the speed with which they filled up a leaf. Many students ended up doing all four leaves in one day. All of them did more than one in one day. I am not really sure how to overcome this problem. I am not even really sure this is a problem at all. I think what I should do next time is take more time for instruction and practice and not rush through it. Giving extra time to practicing texture rubbings would probably help overall.
The students were excited and seemed to connect to the lesson well. They answered questions enthusiastically and enjoyed the texture rubbings. I think it was a challenge for them to do the texture rubbings so they worked extra hard. I think they also enjoyed having the freedom to do some self-expression with their colors and rubbings. I would love to do this lesson again and be able to finish it and follow through on my ideas of decorating the classroom. I think the practice of motor function skills with the texture rubbings and use of scissors is very important and will help them in the long run.
Kandinsky, Tints & Shades, and The Art of the Line
All in all I think this lesson went well. The problem area was really in the application of the paint. I do not know if the students, who are approximately eight years old, just do not have the motor skills yet built to work with the paint as we expected them to. I might have them use markers to color inside the different shapes and have them work with analogous colors instead of tints and shades to overcome this obstacle. I also could just give them more time to practice with paint. In order to give them time to practice I would have to insert a day in the lesson where they get to paint in shapes that have already been made for them.
During this day they could practice mixing and applying paint, then we could debrief and discuss what difficulties they might be having so that I can formulate ways to assist them during the creation of their final piece.
Also, I noticed many students would become enthralled with the process of mixing their tints and shades. This would lead to them mixing multiple tints and shades without painting them on to their paper. Perhaps we could have a day for mixing and store their mixed tints and shades in small cups until they are ready to paint. This could get costly and difficult but it is something worth trying as it might mean that more students get finished with their work. Students might also have better craftsmanship if they worked this way.
The last thing I might try is to use more lines to create smaller shapes. A big issues that the students were having was that they never mixed enough of their tint or shade to fill in the large spaces on the paper. Originally, Ms. Morton and I thought that it would be easier for the students to paint larger spaces because they are in the process of building their fine motor skills. But after going through the lesson, I think a slightly smaller space would be better for them to work with. I might add one or two more lines to divide up the space.
The real benefit of this lesson is that the kids get to glimpse the magic of art and painting. They love mixing paint because it all seems so wonderous to them, and that is truly fun to watch. I might even adapt this lesson for older students and work in some
science cross curriculum so that they understand what happens when paint is mixed.
A Lesson in Following Instructions
I designed this lesson to be used with a small group from our fourth grade class. There are only twelve students with three teachers in this session. These kids are not part of the fourth grade choir, so to stem the feelings of missing out I wanted to give them a special treat for some of their lessons.
I thought that origami would be a great way to teach the students how to better listen to directions and follow teacher instruction. While the students were all very excited to do these origami lessons it was still amazingly difficult to get them to focus and listen to directions. Even with three teachers there they all wanted individual instruction instead of focusing on the directions that were given to everyone at the same time.
Two out of three class periods in which we did origami we ended up completing our origami creatures, but the last and most difficult creature, the crane, we did not get to finish because the students could not focus on the guided instruction given by my to everyone. Ms. Morton and Ms. Justice were aiding me in answering questions and showing students what to do but it was just not enough.
Even when kids did the steps right they constantly wanted attention for doing a good job, which took my attention away from those who really needed it. Also, the constant insecurity of their ability to complete the steps successfully made it difficult to move the lesson forward. Even when students got the steps right they felt unsure in what they were doing, so one of the teachers would have to stop and reassure them that they were doing it right.
Initially, I thought that this lesson would be a great way to teach classroom rules and desired art room behavior at the beginning of the year. But with all the struggles I had just teaching these lessons to twelve kids I’m not sure it would be successful in a regular size classroom.
I have thought that maybe modifying it to a game that is similar to Simon Says might work better to achieve my goals in teaching students to listen to directions. If I did an origami lesson in this manner I would not tell them what they were making and would not give them an instructional handout (both of which I did do for these lessons). I simply would tell them step-by-step what to do, like Simon Says. Then those who do not follow directions would be taken out of them game and unable to complete their origami.
This method would reinforce the fact that in the art room it is paramount to follow directions, and those who do not follow directions miss out on amazing opportunities. Maybe I should call it Ms. Narowitz Says.