Reflection on Landscape Lesson
This week was interesting, starting with finding the doors locked when we arrived. I actually managed to stay pretty calm, because luckily we did not have that much setup to do. Once we got into the building, we set up the room, and had everything ready by the time the kids arrived.
The kids came in and I don’t know if it was because of the weather or
what, but they were wired. They came in and started working in their sketchbooks,
and drawing on their tee shirts. I gave them a little longer time to work
in their books, because I wanted them to take a little more time with them,
and I felt like they have been rushed with them over the past couple weeks.
After that I had them put their books away we had a very good discussion about
environment. I asked them to list different things in their environment, and
the first thing said was trees, which was very appropriate, because that is
what we were starting with making. They also listed things like dogs, cats,
dirt, houses, cars and grass. At this time, because they had calmed down a
little, I also introduced Cézanne to them. They kids loved looking
at the different pieces I brought in. They wanted to look at all of them close
up.
After we finished up with that, I introduced the tree project, which some
of the kids were a little unsure about in the beginning, but in the end, they
all had a lot of fun making the trees. The trees challenged the kids to work
a little harder, some were frustrated by putting the peanuts onto the wire,
but after a little help from the teachers, they got the hang of it, and really
enjoyed the process of making them. When they finished putting all the peanuts
on, they then went outside with Susan to spray paint them, they also liked
this part of the process because it allowed them to personalize them a little
more depending on how much paint went on the tree. They had to paint in shifts,
so while they were waiting they finished up their billboards from Susan’s
first class.
After they all were back inside and done with their trees, I introduced the
next project, this is when things really started to get a lot harder. I explained
the torn construction paper project, and made sure all the kids questions
were answered, but while seven of the kids were really into working on the
project, three of the kids were not, and were just wild. They were just being
obnoxious. They were trying to annoy everyone on purpose. They were singing
the “annoying song” and just not at all trying to do the project.
At first I tried to ignore the singing hoping it would stop, but it was obviously
bothering the other kids as well. Therefore, I asked them to stop singing,
and talked with them about how they should never want to annoy someone on
purpose. The singing stopped for a little bit, but they were still not on
task, and then Michelle went and turned out the lights, and talked to them.
I think that it was good that it came from someone else too. It seems like
some of the kids don’t think of us as real teachers, and think the class
is just a place to get out all their energy before the parents come back.
Another thing about this project, was that it might have been a little to
involved for some of the kids, because of the kids that were giving us problems,
2 of them were kids that were moved up from the 7 year old class, so that
could partly be my fault in not preparing adequately for my age level.
The kids who were working and trying hard on their pieces made beautiful pictures
of their environment. One girl even made the plum trees in her back yard.
So, I think that for the kids who understood the project and really tried
it was successful. I think that this would be a perfect lesson for kids about
nine, I felt like it was a little to advanced for some of them.
Time wise everything worked out pretty well, I was a little nervous that they
wouldn’t have enough time, but all but two of the kids finished their
torn paper pieces, and I sent paper home with them. I sent home their fish
murals with them, and they were very excited about that, and we also sent
home the superheroes they made with Susan. The kids were very excited to show
their parents what they did, and the things they had been making. I think
that this is a good point to move into Michelle’s architecture lesson.
I feel like with our Saturday class we started out to lenient, because the
kids were good, and now they are just trying to push us to see how far they
can go. While this is frustrating, it is also very good experience for the
future. All in all I think the class went well, for the most part the kids
enjoyed the activities, and we had a lot more dialogue and questioning that
we have had in the past, but as I have stated there were problems that I realize
I need to figure out how I’m going to handle in the future.