One thing that I have noticed as a theme in my high school
classroom observations is the importance of individual instruction and good class
management. My teacher, Mr. Jones*, has
a wonderful relationship with his students despite his quiet, slow, hands-off
demeanor. One of the first things I was
surprised by in his classroom was that he did not even have to tell the
students what to do, or where to begin.
Instead he had a number of assignments the students needed to work on
written up on the chalk board for students to see, and they understood that
they had to work their way down the list.
The students always walked in, signed in on the attendance sheet, got
their work, and got started. Mr. Jones
described each of these little assignments on the list as a “learning target”
with a “summative assessment.”
Consequently, they were exercises that built upon the skills of the previous
exercises until the students were skilled enough to complete a larger
artwork. Mr. Jones would only
occasionally remind the whole class of when things were due, and he would
always call students up individually to grade and critique their work. This allowed students to work with very few
interruptions, with flexible deadlines, and with chances to improve their work.
Mr. Jones was a huge proponent for this individual
attention, and he carried it over to his instruction as well. About half way through my observations the
class shifted to a new project based in clay sculpting. The students were asked to first complete three
drawings of visual textures and four drawings of unique non-traditional vases
before reporting to Mr. Jones for instruction in how to work the clay. Their goal was to first produce a textured
tile followed by a vase or bowl. The
teacher told me that with so many special needs students in the classroom, and
with so many students at so many different skill levels, individual instruction
was the only way he could ensure that the class knew how to work the clay
properly. He explained that he had
taught the same lesson in a lecture and demonstration style to the entire class
in the past, and that many students had not understood, wasted clay, and
produced poor work. His new technique
was to take time with each student at a table in the back of the room and show
them how to use a wire cutter to slice clay, a rolling pin to create a slab,
and a knife and ruler to cut out a tile.
After that he would send the student to work on their own at their
table. He used the same approach when
teaching students how to create slab vases or bowls. As a result all of the students’ work came
out looking well crafted, and they seemed to understand every one of the steps
involved in the process.
Below are a few examples of the work
Students completed as part of this project:
This approach is interesting to me because it is contrary to
most of the teaching instruction I have received in school. Most of my teachers urge me to develop
lecture-based lessons to give to the entire class. Perhaps the risk of leaving the class unattended
while individually instructing students is too great for them. However, Mr. Jones’ method seems effective –
so long as the class is managed well enough.
This is a technique that I can take into my teaching career because it
does work so well, and because it teaches students to be more autonomous,
something that I value.
*Names appearing in this blog entry have been changed to
protect the privacy of the school and individuals mentioned.
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