Three weeks ago I started working at Washington High School in Fremont with Todd Elkin. In this initial stage, I have been observing how Todd sets up his classroom and implements projects– basically, his teaching process. I am getting to know the students more and more as I discuss their work with them individually and help guide them both in problem-solving and building technique. It took me a moment to wrap my head around what it’s like to be in high school again. Indeed, a switch from Creative Arts Charter School (K-8) in San Francisco that I’ve been working at these past two years with Leslie Keir. I’ve totally become attached to my old site and miss them, but I’m also really looking forward to get to know and work with the Washington HS community.
Todd & I brainstormed on some key focus goals for me this semester in my teaching practice:
*Scaffolding learning (in general)
*Teaching about the understanding of visual language/ becoming visually literate
*Successful implementation of Teaching for Understanding and Studio Habits of Mind teaching frameworks
*Writing lesson plans
*Classroom management
It used to be- and kind of still is a little -awkward for me looking particularly young & working with high school students because, well, I look like I could go to the high school I work at! However, there are also positive aspects to being a young teacher/mentor, in that I find students can relate to me openly. Students have been asking me about what college is like, art school specifically, and about working in the arts (for example, a student asked me today: is it difficult to make a living as an artist?). Well, I’m happy to be someone they can freely ask questions and I hope I’m being helpful.
Also, I do appreciate this blog form of documentation– it's a good tool to represent our process and make our learning visible. Looking forward to share teaching & learning experiences with all of you.
Cheers to a wonderful rest of the semester… Good Luck with midterms!
And as our dear Sonia writes,
In Peace
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1 comment:
Hi Manon,
It sounds like your experience working at Washington High School with Todd will be quite a learning experience. I completely know what you mean about the awkwardness of working with students who you are not much older than. I've had very similar experiences. It can sometimes be difficult to be seen as a teacher or an authority figure but at the same time you are positioned well to serve as a role model and mentor. I think it is great that the students are asking you about college and art school specifically. If this is something that many of the students are interested in learning about, it may be a good idea to think about bringing a panel of CCA students into their classroom to answer their questions about college and art school. just an idea. Let's talk more about this.
oh, and thank you for posting a photo! See you on Sat.
Rebecca
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