Pre-thinking OutlineI have not come up a good research idea based on the data that I have on my blog. However, I try to analyze the data and sort it into different categories. It seems like I did not follow the qualitative data analysis guide because I do not have a very clear research idea in my mind first before analyzing. According to my mind map, it is clear that I have six big topics that I have interests. Well, they are really big and of course it might be beyond my capability. What if I conduct a small research idea/question instead? Such as “the comparisons between the pre-thinking and post-thinking of great teachers/great lessons?”, “How can I become a reflective teacher?”. On the other hand, honestly, I am really curious to know the differences of the educational values between the U.S. and China, but this is a pretty big topic and definitely it may need more time to search and read the literatures. I am open to accept any research ideas that I have provided in Popplet, however, could you help me think about these research ideas? Which one is appropriate? ? I think once I know my research topic/questions, it should be helpful to start to do the research! The mind map can be seen at http://popplet.com/app/#/4015255 and on the below. FormatI have two options for this summative project. First, I self-identify myself as a filmmaker, so definitely I want to create a movie with voiceover to present my research. Vision is more powerful than words - this is what I think maybe it is wrong. BUT what about the medium? the images and video clips? How can I have them? I only have data - "words". This is going to be difficult for me to create this film. Well, I thought I may use sketch books - use very simple figure drawing - describe the main ideas steps by steps - film the process of drawing, like Robinson's TED talks - the drawing synchronizes with voiceover. Pretty nice, isn't it? BUT, I am aware of my drawing skill that is limited. How could I overcome this difficulty? On the other hand, my second option is a purely written piece. I think this could be easier than the movie since it just need writing. Basically, writing should be harder than the other formats because it requires professional writing skills that I am short of. However, I am taking research course in this semester, to some degree, this project is relevant and related to the research course, so I'd like to choose writing as the final project format as well. Anyway, it depends on what kind of research topic I am going to choose. Once I figure it out, I will demonstrate why I choose this format. Final Educational Lineage Tree VideoIt is hard to remember all teachers during my educational history, while I still remember some teachers whom I am impressed by. Well, I am so surprised that there are not many negative aspects in my visual lineage when I review it again. Originally, I predicted that I would recall much negative experience about teachers because I think people prefer to remember some bad teachers. However, the result is tangible, my first grade Math teacher and eighth grade Math teacher played significant roles in my past memories of school life. . Well, I realized that they were both math teachers and furthermore realized that Math is a very difficult subject for most students.
Again, I chose to make a video to display my educational history since I think it is easier for me to create a video rather than creating a sculpture. When I was thinking about the lineage tree, my initial decision was drawing a big tree with teachers’ pictures attached. Well, it is too difficult to find those teachers’ pictures, so I then tried to draw their faces instead. Later, I thought I am not a tree yet, instead I am a sapling which means I am still growing and I need to be educated more and more. Then I used a video editing software AFTER EFFECT to create s sapling with the drawing pictures attached. I think it is challenging to draw the teachers and recall something impressive since I am not good at drawing. So I added their words which was inspiring and enlightening to me at the important moment. Time flies, and I believe that I grow up every day while I grow up faster than before since I am taking reflective teaching course. As I review my reflections ( 90 pages wow too many!), I've got many wonderful responses from peers. Based on their ideas, I add some teachers that I think have good effects on me. Certainly, I added some teachers that I shared in my reflections which were related to some readings that we've read. According to these images, some are created in my fibers class which are wet felting, while some are pictures which I could find in my photo albums. The reason why I add Carol, my former colleague at CI, is her teaching style that affected me a lot, even now I still remember her teaching philosophy. Thanks for Becky's advice, so that I can realize that Carol is also my "teacher" in my educational lineage. I should say thank you to my writing teacher Frances, a retired professor from Mizzou, who helps me grammar, edit the writing stuff. She is very patient and nice, and definitely she teaches me many rules of grammars and writings. Those are practical and useful. Last, I added my boyfriend as my teacher because he plays a vital part in my graduate life. Though he is not my real teacher in a real classroom, he is my life teacher. He helps me how to handle with the graduate study stuff which are complicated sometimes. Moreover, he is a great and patient listener who can listen to me when I complain about the life and study. Most importantly, he leads me to grow up and certainly he is an observer during my process of growing up. There is a Chinese proverb says, "it takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred to rear people" which means it takes a long time to cultivate talents. My sapling is still on the way to grow up, and I hope it can be a big tree in the future.
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1. Some reflective writing about how you THOUGHT the lesson went before viewing.
Before viewing the video that I have filmed, I think the lesson went well, even though it took me two hours in teaching (my expectation was 50 minutes). In general, I conclude that this lesson plan is worthy of putting into action. In addition, I had fun with my friends during spring break. During these two hours, we shared critical thoughts, and funny imaginations with each other. It was not merely an art lesson, however, it was an important time to get to know each other. Most importantly, I was not only an art teacher, but also a learner of life at that time. My role was transformed from a teacher to a student. I learned a lot from my friends who acted as my classroom students. Since I have previously reflected on this question last week, I briefly summarized the writing here. You can go back to my reflection 11 to read more if you are interested. (Just a friendly reminder: I am using the same video that I filmed during spring break. The lesson plan and lesson Powerpoints can be seen in reflection 11. The big idea of this lesson is IDENTITY since this lesson could be a trial run for my research idea about Asian American identity. There were three participants in this lesson action, and they are Mizzou graduate students, two of them are Ph. D students. They were taught to create mind maps by using Coggle and self-portraits by using PicsArt app.) 2. How were you ideas on what you thought happened? What you saw happen the same and/or different? What surprised you? First, I thought I could finish this lesson in 50 minutes. Obviously, it did not happen. In fact, it took me two hours to complete this lesson. The big question for me to answer is why I was so confident about the teaching time, why was I so confident that I could finish the lesson in 50 mins. After several days, I realized that it was because of the participants. They are all adults and there is NO “doubt” that I could have completed everything quickly. Please forgive me for my bias towards this question. In my reflection 11, I did not gain the answer, although I have asked myself many times. Thanks to these questions above, it allows me to review the video again and allowed me to gain the answer. I do not know if it is right or wrong, however, it is really worthy of consideration. Second, I thought the participants would feel bored when they participated in this lesson since their majors are not related to soft science. They are hard science students. This is the other reason that I thought this lesson could be done in 50 minutes, because the participants would feel tired and would signal me by clues that I should finish the lesson quickly. Well, it did not happen. I do not know whether I should be happy or sad. However, I am glad since they did not interrupt the pace of the lesson and they were very nice and patient. They seemed happy and enjoyed this lesson as is apparent when reviewing the video, because they smiled often and the “classroom” was full of laughter. Third, I have gotten so many wonderful ideas towards the concept of identity, and this experience will be very useful and practical when I conduct the research idea about Asian American identity. I’d like to share some thoughts from the participants. For example, one of my friends said that identity is a sense of self-identification even if the people around do not agree with the opinion. He believes in himself and what he himself believes in. The other one said the identity will transform into different appearances which is based on the circumstances or environments. The last said that identity is unique which means that each of us has something unique apart from others. When I heard that, I felt like my thoughts are so ordinary. When I asked them how to define themselves (it could be positive or negative), I am surprised that they all shared with me their positive sides. One of them said if people define themselves totally in a negative way, it is possible that they would have a pessimistic outlook on the whole world. I then was wondering whether one could use a subjective view point of the world as an indicator of having a positive or negative self-image. What is more, I felt like the participants are mature because they understand themselves, either in positive or in negative ways. They gave me many examples of how their families and peers describe them, and why they agree or disagree. Most importantly, they thought that identity cannot be evaluated or objectively judged because everyone in the world is independent and unique. There is a saying that says, the benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom. I then realized, spiritual maturity is a key point to understanding self-identity. It could be related to age, to intelligence, to environment. I want to summarize my conclusion which could be wrong. With the development of mental maturity, people discover themselves in depth. The reason I have thought this is because the participants are over 25 years old and they have had to adjust to a new life in the U.S. The new environment requires them to grow up and to be mature, and to get to know themselves. I asked them “do you really know yourself?” “Yes!” they said emphatically. I think this is an expression of being mature. 3. Watch again with the goals you've set for yourself in mind. How are you meeting them? What are you doing already to support them? Are there things happening that are getting in the way? Share some realizations you made about what you can change and why you believe this is important. Honestly, I did not take this excessive seriously in the beginning, and I told the participants that the goal of the class was to explore ourselves and to get to know ourselves or others. After reviewing the video, I think I have to reexamine my thoughts, goals and attitudes based on these questions above. My goals of this lesson (which can be seen in my lesson plan) are, 1. Gain insight into their own identity in the U.S.; 2. Engage in self-exploratory writing activity; 3. Explore the role of art in self-expression; 4. Create a self-portrait by using PicsArt app. According to the video, I think I almost met the goals I have set for participants and myself. First, it was obvious that participants explored their identity in the U.S. Because after watching the video released by The Museum of Modern Art named How Artists Explore Identity, I started asking several questions, such as what does identity mean, how did these artists identify themselves through art? I pushed them to really think about this word – identity. This was just a prelude to the exploration of identity. Later, I led them to play with Coggle which a website that users can create their mind maps visually without drawing. At this time, they approached the second goal, because they were engaged in this writing activity. After they were done, I asked some questions to push them think on the next level, such as “what 3 words would you choose to best describe yourself?” “Why do those words accurately describe you?” “What 3 words will you use to describe yourself 20 years from now?” etc. They then added extra words in their identity maps. I introduced the third goal by having them observe and critique some modern artists’ self-portraits which were made by digital application. They then had time to review their identity mind maps and to freely search some pictures as references online. According to the fourth goal, I taught them how to use PicsArt app after introducing some examples of different artists’ works. This application is very user-friendly and of course it is much easier for me to teach it instead of Photoshop since these participants are novices of art. Finally, they composed their self-portraits by using this app. We were so absorbed in what we were doing, that were totally unaware of the passage of time. We only had one night to get together and to complete this lesson and even though I had committed to finishing this lesson in 50 minutes, we exceeded that time limit. However, if this lesson is put into action for middle/high school students, definitely, the lesson plan would have to be modified since the daily art lesson is only 1 hour. 4. Now imagine you are one of your students. (One you can see in the video, ideally one you have some familiarity with) Empathize with them as much as you can and from their perspective in first person, as best you can, write a narrative that captures how you imagine they perceived your lesson. Have them comment on how they think you feel about the content you are teaching, what are you conveying beyond the content? What distractions might they have? How is the content connecting to who they are? What are they thinking? You can have fun with this, speak in first person from their point of view. Imagine they are telling a buddy in the hall about the lesson in your room today. There is only one female in this group, I imagine myself as if I were her. We are similar in temperament and personality, positive and energetic. Here is the narrative in first person. Before this lesson, I received the email from Jenny with the attached lesson plan and the lesson Powerpoints. Actually, I did not read it carefully. The only thing expected of me was to follow her instructions playing the role of one of her students. When I arrived at her apartment, I found that there were two more persons participating in this meeting who are also my friends. It felt comfortable with these friends. Before starting, Jenny asked us to download PicsArt app. It took a long time to download PicsArt in my iPad since it operates so slowly. I felt a little nervous and asked Jenny whether I could use my iPhone instead? She preferred that I use my iPad since the screen is bigger than an iPhone. However, I did not want to waste everybody’s time. Then I was worried. When everything was set, she overviewed the lesson and shared her goals of this lesson. I understood her expectations concluding that I should not take the lesson seriously. Just have fun! When we watched the video of how artists explore identity, I felt like those artworks were beyond my skills. How could I make it? I did not know what she would teach us later and I had no idea about the self-portrait. Moreover, the video is so boring. When she asked what we thought of the video, I did not share my ideas. After watching the video, we had the brainstorm activity with which I had fun. Actually, I puzzled a while for the meaning of identity in Chinese. My friend who was seated next to me said it is self-identification (in Chinese) which makes more sense to me. I then shared some ideas that I thought were very general. I thought identity will transform into different appearances based on the circumstances or environments. It was embarrassing to be asked how others define you in positive or negative terms. I chose to share some negative ideas with them, hoping it would help them to know me better. I said, “I always get blamed by my parents, because I am always losing important things. For example, I often lose my wallet. Moreover, I do not like tidiness, my apartment is always a mess. Those ideas correctly define me.” At this point, I thought I spoke too much so I quickly summarized my ideas. I thought I was distracting other’s attention by talking about living experiences instead of focusing on the subject of identity. I could sense Jenny was checking the time and she directed everyone to consider the mind map. She asked us to explore the mind map by using Coggle which was new to me. She used her laptop to display how to use this tool, however, she did not recognize that we were using iPads. It is a different operating mode. It was weird that she did not how to use this tool in iPad. I felt like she did not prepare carefully and perhaps she is not so professional. These thoughts just pop up and fade away quickly. I then found out how to solve this problem and I taught the person next to me. Once we finished the mind maps, she continuously asked several questions. I did not focus on those questions too much, while I was impressed by the question of how I will define myself 20 years from now. This question is interesting and it gives me the potential to imagine myself in the future. I responded, I would be a good wife, good mom, and good pet owner. These roles are what I imagine myself to be in the future. I am always on this pathway to pursue these roles. After answering these questions, I was a little tired because it was about to 8:30pm. I thought I should go home early and the weather was cold. I hoped I could go home early. So I stopped Jenny and told her my hope. She then quickly taught us how to use PicsArt. I understood, she would like to talk more about PicsArt, and personally I really love this app which is user-friendly. After tutorial, we had free time to explore the self-expression through art. I went over the identity mind map, and chose some words that I cherish most. Based on these words, I started looking for appropriate pictures and designing my self-portrait. I used many tools that I learned from Jenny, however, I explored other ways in addition to what she taught. I just tested the app. When we completed the self-portraits, she had us share some of our thoughts. I thought everyone created their own identity very well, however, I still questioned why we spent so much time exploring identity since the artworks are so limited. I could sense this question offended her and I completely stopped. To sum up, I had fun with these friends, and I got to know my peers. In my opinion that was the most important benefit of participating in this class. How did it go? Well, I had so much fun with my Chinese friends. The class was not chaotic, and was full of critical thoughts, laughter, and imaginations. I did not take it seriously in the beginning, and I told them that the goal of the class was to explore ourselves and to get to know ourselves or others. Based on this point, I created a safe and comfortable environment for them. I started talking about the goal of this lesson that I mentioned earlier. I emphasized the point that art making can be a valuable tool in the development and exploration of identity. I hoped that they would conclude that they could get to know themselves through art making. Later, we watched a video talking about how artists explore identity. This video is useful and they gave it high rewards/evaluations. After watching the video, I asked them to define identity. They then shared so many wonderful thoughts that I had not thought about. Before creating the identity mind map, we had a brainstorm activity which was the most important part in this lesson. They gave me some critical thoughts that I will share later. When they completed the identity mind map, I asked some questions (those questions can be seen in Powerpoints), such as “what 3 words would you choose to best describe yourself?” “Why do those words accurately describe you?” “What 3 words will you use to describe yourself 20 years from now?” etc. I had much fun in this section since I did not know much about these participants before this class. It definitely helped me get to know them better after class. I will share what I have learned later. I think the most exciting part was the art making. I shared some art works that some artists had made, and taught them how to use PicsArt. It is nice to hear “wow, this application is so user-friendly, it is much easier than Photoshop. I never imagined that I could design my face like this way.” Haha! I had the same feeling when I was learning how to use it. Finally, I’ve included three digital self-portrait artworks which can be seen below. They then appreciated each other’s self-portraits, and shared their thoughts, why they used the metaphors, and what the artworks mean, etc. When we completed the lesson, I realized that I was out of time. I spent TWO hours teaching this lesson. Regardless of how much time I invested in this project, I felt like it was a worthy endeavor to teach the class. To sum up, absolutely, it was fun! Nothing is perfect however it was a valuable experience for all. What did you learn? The questions and the responses As I mentioned in the last reflection, I thought this lesson could be a trial run for my research idea about Asian American identity. After completing this lesson, I have had many thoughts and definitely I learned a lot through teaching this lesson. First, even though I designed the lesson to be taught in 50 minutes, it actually took me two hours to complete. If I ultimately conduct the research project, the lessons that I teach will be considered in great detail. Moreover, it should be a unit for participants to explore not just a lesson. Second, I learned many wonderful and critical thoughts from my friends. For instance, one of my friends said that identity is a sense of self-identification even if the people around do not agree with the opinion. He believes in himself and what he himself believes in. The other one said the identity will transform into different appearances which is based on the circumstances or environments. The last said that identity is unique which means that each of us has something unique apart from others. When I heard a that, I felt like my thoughts are so ordinary. When I asked them how to define themselves (it could be positive or negative), I am surprised that they all shared with me their positive sides. One of them said if people define themselves totally in a negative way, would they then be pessimistic about the world? I then was wondering whether one could use a subjective view point of the world as an indicator of having a positive or negative self-image. What is more, I felt like the participants (my Chinese friends) are mature because they understand themselves, either in positive or in negative ways. They gave me many examples of how their families and peers describe them, and why they agree or disagree. Most importantly, they thought that identity cannot be evaluated or objectively judged because everyone in the world is independent and unique. There is a saying that says, the benevolent see benevolence and the wise see wisdom. I then realized, spiritual maturity is a key point to understanding self-identity. It could be related to age, to intelligence, to environment. I want to summarize my conclusion which could be wrong. With the development of mental maturity, people discover themselves in depth. The reason I have this thought is because the participants are over 25 years old and they have had to adjust to a new life in the U.S. The new environment requires them to grow up and to be mature, and to get to know themselves. I asked them “do you really know yourself?” “Yes!” they said emphatically. I think this is an expression of being mature. Third, I have an opportunity to get better acquainted with my friends. Our lives are full of assignments and academic activities, so we do not often get together, not even to just hang out for a cup of coffee. This is true. Even though we have known each other for two years, I feel like we have not been close. However, thanks to this lesson, I have gotten many incites into how they define themselves. There is no doubt that I know them better than before. I cherish the time we spent together and I felt like we were unified as one. What would you do differently? Why it worked or not worked? I do not think I would do anything differently if I have the same opportunity to teach this lesson again with my Chinese friends, because the lesson was taught smoothly (I do not regret the time that I dedicated to this teaching) and it was well organized. It worked very well. However, it depends on the participants. If this lesson is taught to young students, I may teach it differently. Based on this experience, I think I would only do one thing differently in the future and that would be the time duration of the meeting segments. I may divide the lesson structure into several parts and meet the participants three times a week. Most importantly, I want to teach more about PicsArt. There are some wonderful tools that need to be explored. Moreover, identity is a big topic which needs more than one unit to explore. I think the activities as designed in this lesson could be improved and further developed in order for my friends and myself to enable us to explore identity more in depth. We still need more and more information, wonders, imaginations. However, at least, I worked out several parts of the lesson, and more importantly, I have gotten experience to conduct my future research. Compare and contrast with your pre-thinking. When I review the videos that I have filmed, I think the actual execution of the lesson parallels my pre-thinking. However, there are aspects which exceeded my previous imaginations. First, their views and ideas toward identity are beyond my thoughts, completely. They critically contemplated this question of identity. Certainly, they are thinking more deeply than I was previous to the lesson. I now have strong feelings and was actually a learner as well as teacher in this lesson. In one sense, I was not the teacher but one of the participants exploring this question in unison with my students. My role was transformed during the lesson. Second, I thought I could teach this lesson in 50 minutes! I was so confident! Why? Why? I told my friends that I would not extend the time. I would definitely finish the lesson in 50 minutes! When I realized that I used two hours, I felt very embarrassed and like I had failed their expectations. I was too enthusiastic and optimistic about the success of this lesson. Third, since we did explore so many wonderful thoughts about identity, there is no doubt that the artworks are full of the meanings that we have came up with. One of my friends summarized that she did not verbalize her self-description as many words as she could have. She thought that her artworks were limited to express only a small number of meanings of her self-identity because it is a visual display. Then she asked me why we spent so much time exploring identity since the artworks are so limited. At the time, I did not have a response. Now after having had time to reflect and as I am writing this reflection, I have a possible answer, I realized that art is a tool, a tool to express life. However, the most important idea is that art teaches us to know people, life, and the world from small to big. Art skills are important to learn, however, it does not require everybody to be an artist, an art teacher, or an art researcher, while it helps people perceive, understand, and appreciate all meaningful ideas which may be invisible. Art makes life, people, world meanings visible. Detailed Lesson Plan (revised) and Lesson Presentation
Participants' Mind MapsParticipants' Digital Self-Portraits1. Read & Reflect on Chapter 3 of Teaching as if Life Matters As Dr. Unrath states many times in class, “it is all about questions.” I do believe that life is all about questions. However, we seem to go to school for answers instead of questions. Personally speaking, in my educational history, I have seldom asked good questions. My purpose is to seek the answers and to get higher scores. That is why Hart stated that “Schools do not lack answers, they lack depth. Depth is associated more with asking good questions than with having all the answers (Hart, 2003)”. Well, I think I have changed as I have gotten more and more involved in graduate courses, because instructors push me to persist in asking questions and living with questions,I should be curious about everything. This reminds me of my preschool students who are learning Chinese with me, and the kids always ask me questions, and sometimes I do not know how to respond. It is so embarrassing. I am met with this situation many times, but I do not know how to deal with it, so finally I always try to avoid their curiousness or try to distract their attentions. I felt guilty when I read Chapter 3 of Teaching as if Life Matters. “The reminder to teachers to see young people’s questions as invitation to dialogue rather than as threats to our authority or opportunities to demonstrate our intelligence. The truth is that embedded in most questions is a whole world of ideas.” (Hart, 2004) I think I have to change my teaching strategies, at least, I should trust and enjoy the curiosity of my preschool students. The six explorations of cultivating a love of questions are very enticing. Why? Because I am anxious to experiment and practice the love of questions in a classroom and to experience the outcome. As a pre-service teacher, I have so many questions in my mind which I never put into action. It is all about imaginations. As I read the six explorations, I have a strong desire to practice those strategies and to see what’s going on. I have asked myself which explorations I would like to try first. Absolutely, it would be exploration 1 Questions to Create Community. The example mentioned in the book is a good start for teachers to get to know their new students in the first day or first week of class. The teacher could pass put slips of paper and invite each person to create a question for the class by completing the open-ended sentence: HOW MANY OF YOU……? When they are done, students drop the papers into a hat. The hat then goes around, and each student picks a slip and reads the question on it. Students could raise their hands if they agree with the questions. After that, the teacher can chime in with the follow-up questions. I agree with the author’s statement that “their questions are receiving attention and the responses are teaching them things about the other people in the room as well as themselves. As this occurs, barriers begin to ease and apprehension and longlines tend to dissolve.” Actually, I have the same feeling when my questions receive the professors’ attention. Once I realize this, I must consider my teaching strategies in pre-school again. In addition, personally, I would love to try exploration 2 Observation as the Foundation for Questions with my friends. Why? Because using this strategy is very appropriate to include my fellow graduate students as participants. And why is it appropriate for graduate students? Because the strategy FIFTY QUESTIONS is complicated if it is implemented in young children since they do not have sufficient vocabulary or the knowledge base to use in this context. As the author states, “Once students have produced some examples of clear questions, they consider how their questions could be answered.” This could be their independent research projects. So I believe this strategy is applicable for graduate students. To sum up, I feel like those explorations are useful and I definitely would practice them in future classes. 2. Descriptive Narrative about the Lesson A. Why do I pick “identity” as the big idea in this lesson? In fact, I did not have any idea about this lesson. However, when I met Dr. Unrath, we talked about the identity of being Asian American. Dr. Unrath suggested that I could conduct a research by using Artography methodology. When I thought about this lesson plan again, I came up with an idea to use this “identity” as the big idea. It could be interesting and enlightening for international graduate students to explore their identities in the U.S. Certainly, this could be my first step to explore and test my research idea, it definitely could give some useful information if I really decide to conduct this research. Moreover, I want to put this lesson into action during spring break, and I could have a group of graduate students (my friends) acting as my students in the class. This seems like a perfect plan for me. B. Why do I think it is important for international graduate students to explore their own identities? Well, I asked this question to myself when I got enrolled in the graduate school in August 2016. Actually, my mind was full of different images. I was confused about my identity. I felt lost when I wanted to identify myself. It was so difficult for me to define myself as a human, a graduate student, a daughter, a girlfriend, a photographer, or a filmmaker. As an international student in the U.S, it is really significant to know what I am, who I am, what I value most. I should know myself so that I can know the life on campus and life in the U.S. better. Once I realized this, I was curious to know how other international students identify themselves and what they value most. If I were to teach a small group of international students art, this could be a meaningful opportunity to get to know ourselves. This is a living inquiry that artography values. C. Why do I have them watch a video released by The Museum of Modern Art named How Artists Explore Identity/Modern Art & Ideas? I will invite some international graduate students to be the participants in the class, however, most of them do not have much art experience in their lives. At this point, I was wondering how to share some basic knowledge with them in the shortest period of time. I think watching a video could get their attention and also give them some basic ideas. This would be a good kick start for them to explore the idea of identity. Most importantly, watching a video could be a relaxing time for them to relieve stress since they do not know each other very well. I want to create a safe, happy, relaxed environment for them. HAVE FUN WITH IT! D. Why do I have students create “identity” mind map? I think most international graduate students have not thought about this idea of “identity” since our lives are full of assignments and deadlines. We care much about the academy, even if we have not focused on our own identities. If I want to teach this idea, how could I help them think about it in depth? Actually, I want to use the strategy that the author mentions in the book named Teaching as if Life Matters. FIFTY QUESITONS is a strategy that helps students to build up questions. I think this strategy is useful for these graduate students to explore the idea of identity, however, the period of the class is less than one hour. Obviously, we do not have much time to complete this activity. What kind of activities could we play, so that they would gain some insight into their own identities. When I looked back at my previous course assignments, I found an activity that Livek asked us to do – Mind Map. I think this could be an important tool to help them really reflect on their identities. I would give them time to finalize their thoughts and then ask them some questions to promote and develop their thinking. These ideas would be a benefit for the process of making art. E. Why do I have students appreciate some artists’ self-portraits by using technology? Before starting to make self-portraits, even though they have some ideas in mind, they might have no idea how to make it happen by making artworks. At this point, having students observe and evaluate some artists’ self-portraits will give them some meaningful references. Based on these references, they might be inspired with some new ideas. F. Why do I have students learn how to use PicsArt instead of Photoshop? I have taught PicsArt in Tiger Artists program in Fall 2016, and based on this experience, I feel comfortable to teach this lesson if I teach PicsArt again. Moreover, these international graduate students do not have any experience with using Photoshop, so it might be hard for them to learn it. Most importantly, we have less than one hour to explore the idea of identity. Time is limited. In addition, it is much easier to learn PicsArt app. Because of those reasons, I decided to teach PicsArt instead of Photoshop. PEER RESPONSE Hi Alison, I am impressed that you share so many essential questions? How do you come up with those questions about the lesson plan? Actually, I have problems when I design the essential questions. I think "display" is a good topic for your students to explore since they will have an art show. In the part of "What will student do", you mentioned that you would have students discussion. I was wondering that will it work that you have students watch some inspiring art videos talking about the big idea - display? In addition, your mentioned Gude and Douglas's approach, is it talking about the choices? I read the Powerpoints that they shared about the ideas of choices in NAEA conference in 2017. By the way, I strongly agree with your statement "it is on the students to explore their own understandings and develop their own truths to these dynamic questions." I feel like sometimes we do not need care much about the answers while focus on the questions. Because questions promote people to really think about them? Most importantly, it is an adventure for us to explore those questions. It may be very difficult to gain the answer, however, we are on the way to explore, like Abba Felix, giving opportunity for students to explore the world. The questions are prerequisites. Hello Zach, wow, how wonderful the big idea is! I have not thought about "Pandora box" which can be a big idea that students can explore. It is really amazing to consider what it is inside. This is definitely potential to wonder everything in the world and broaden students' horizon. On the other hand, I was wondering whether we could share some "dark" side in the class? Since I do not have much experience teaching art, I do not know how to teach something in the shadow part. I just read Becky's response, and she states that Gude" talked about how it’s the “darker” things that seem to inspire more creativity. She phrased it as how it’s much more fun to talk about the worst party you’ve ever been to as opposed to the best. " Is it possible to talk about that? I am just curious about it. By the way, you summary of readings is so good, I can parallel my sense with your ideas. Also, I found something that I did not notice. Lesson plan is attached in the below. ![]()
Consider the word “teacher”. We, as does the public, have many ideas surrounding this title. What comes to mind when you think of this word? Imagine dropping the title “teacher”. What lies beyond the title? Really think about this.
I think we have explored "teaching self" in the past several weeks, and I'd like to connect with my thoughts in previous reflections, because I think "teaching self" and "teacher" are the same to some extent. Sometimes they are different depending on the aspects. However, there is no doubt that teacher is a job in the broad sense, and I plan on earning a living in the future by teaching so being a teacher is indeed a job for me. Moreover, when it comes to my perception of “teacher” my mind is full of images of several teachers who influenced me greatly in my education history. I believe teachers are instrumental in changing students for the better as well as contributing to the betterment of human beings as a whole. The images of teachers are amazing in my mind, because teachers have the power to change humans and help humans establish the values of the world. On the other hand, for some people, teachers are symbols of authority. As I started reading the new book Teaching as if Life Matters in chapter 5, I realized that when we talk about teachers, we naturally think of students. At this point, teachers and students are considered in different groups, even opposite groups. I realized that I have dualistic thinking. Today's media permeates into all aspects of a human's life. Obviously, I followed the trend to divide everything by labels. As the author claims, "label (teacher and student) might restrict the understanding of life's work". “Not only do labels limit how we see others, they can profoundly affect how we see ourselves.” Once I learned “teacher” as titled by me in previous thinking, I realized that I need to drop the title. Teachers, basically, are humans. They are the same as students. They have emotions, and they have rights to do what they want. Absolutely, they have the right to choose acceptance or rejection. Teachers, secondly, are learners. They might be undergraduate students or graduate students. Definitely, they are seekers coming to schools to get knowledge. They are the same as the students who they teach. Teachers, thirdly, are workers. They work for schools and get paid. Because of this relationship, teachers have to take responsibility for schools, and especially for students. Finally, teachers may be parents. The way they treat their students may be paralleled with the way they treat their kids. When I drop the title, my imagination is filled with possibilities. There is not a clear boundary line between teacher and student. Suddenly, I realize that teachers and students are ONE. They should not be separated. Contemplate deeply the idea of truth speaking. Reflect on your classrooms (whether you are currently a student or a teacher) and your relationships with your students, each other, and your teachers... How and where is truth speaking present? How does it happen? What does it feel like? What does it do? As far as I am concerned, it is very difficult for students, even for teachers to speak truthfully, especially in modern society. As the author states, “Truth-speaking is particularly difficult because we have been conditioned – in our families, through the media, and in our schools – to believe that we must dilute our personal truth in order to be accepted by others.” Naturally for me, I dare not to speak truth no matter who I am, as a teacher or as a student. It is risk-taking. As a teacher, I dare not to speak the truth because sometimes it may hurt a student’s emotion or dignity. As a student, I dare not to truth speak because I am afraid of being blamed and criticized. In my case, as a graduate student, I dare not to express my feeling too much in the classroom because I don't want to affect the flow of the classroom activities or affect my classmates. I still remember the time that one of my instructors asked me how I felt during the class break. She told me she could sense how tired I was. At that time, I did not speak truthfully. I responded “I am pretty good, just a little sleepy.” It was surprising that I got an email from this instructor after the class, and she shared her observations and thoughts about me and my efforts in the class. And of course she encouraged me and offered her help in my needs to complete the assignment. I could sense how she cared about me and I felt warm and touched. It made me believe that she is trustworthy and I replied to her to tell her how I felt in the class and why I had those feelings. I confess that this class is challenging for me. I need more time to read the articles. Later on, based on this situation, the relationship – truth - between this instructor and me has been established. Because I trust her, I tell her what I think from my heart not from my head. I dare to speak truth with this instructor because she is reliable and I trust her. Thinking back through all the reading and reflecting to date, compose a personal classroom mission statement. Something you could put up in your room. After you come up with this statement, share it on your blog and talk (truth speak) a little bit about how you arrived at this statement. Classroom statement: This is a pure safe place to gain knowledge and personal growth in our class. We will use our individual efforts and teamwork to create a classroom environment where every student is accepted, challenged, inspired and encouraged to be creative. We will do this by treating each other with respect, compassion, understanding, and by sharing great ideas. “Pure safe classroom” occurred to me when I was considering the classroom statement. As a student, I feel insecure in the classroom, because I am afraid of being judged. I understand the importance of critical thinking, however, this is my emotional and personal experience. Maybe I have a bias at this point even though I know some people would be in opposition to me. No matter how people judge this statement, I still add “pure safe” first in my classroom statement. Actually, this classroom statement presents something related to my personal experience. As a student, I put every effort into my study, so I hope teachers can take student individual effort into account. Additionally, I enjoy cooperatively working together with classmates. Moreover, I really care about every student’s ideas, thoughts, and wonders. Students are learning to appreciate and respect each other’s comments. The classroom is full of harmony, thinking, wondering, learning, and student improvement. Reflect on some ways your consciousness about teaching has expanded since the start of this course and how does this relate to your goals? Do your goals need tweaking at this point? Restate them here (as they were or as they now are). In the beginning, my thoughts of teaching were based on my superficial understanding of what teaching means. However, as time passes, I am gradually maturing and growing in my understanding of teaching through this course. I think I can divide “teaching” into several aspects. In a broad sense, the topic of “what a good teacher is”, and based on this question, I am presently exploring what and how to be a good teacher. There are some qualities for being a good teacher, such as passion for teaching, love for kids, etc. Basically, at this point, I have been examining myself to determine whether or not I have the qualities to be a good teacher. Later on, I explored the reflective teaching ideas. “Reflective teaching” is a specific idea in a narrow sense. It is related to teaching traditions, teaching itself, teacher’s personal experience, motivation, etc. Those ideas are more in detail, and focused on teachers themselves and the teaching environment. Based on those wonderful ideas presented in articles and books that I have read, I created my goals in recent past weeks. I used Palmer Parker’s idea and Marzono’s strategies to create my goals in the following. A. Create an environment which promotes conceptual thinking I want to create a classroom which is full of thinking, learning and students’ improvement. I believe that the classroom is a pure safe place to gain knowledge. It may involve objectivism, and sometimes subjectivism. However, students at least experience different aspects of the world around them. Strategies: I prefer to use strategies to promote these processes, for example, inspiring and enlightening students by leading them to think about the world independently instead of giving them the answers directly like Abba Felix did. I would use Marzano’s teaching scale strategies that I did not use in my previous classroom, for example, ask students to examine information for errors or informal fallacies such as faulty logic, attack, weak reference, and misinformation. B: Develop methods to make learning visible. Every student is encouraged to make their thinking and learning visible. Strategies: I would use some strategies that I learned from Livek’s course which are SEE-THINK-WONDER, THINK-PUZZLE-EXPLORE, and HEADLINES. The attached file is the introduction to these strategies that make thinking/learning visible. As I read the new book this week, I have gotten so many thought-provoking ideas, such as “truth-speaking”, “speaking WE instead of I”, “drop the labels”, “cultivating classroom kinship”. Time is passing and yet, I do not rush ahead to begin my teaching? No, there is more that I must be presented with if I teach as if life matters. In fact, people are relating to each other. This is what life does; it relates. If I am looking at the classroom with “new eyes”, I can see an opportunity to nurture a community grounded in mutual respect. Simply to say, learning to get along with each other, no matter our apparent differences, is at the heart of teaching as if life matters. Based on those ideas, I want to add one more goal in my statement. C: We Are One in the classroom (Teachers + Students = ONE) Strategies: As the author introduces in her book, I'd like to use several methods that she has mentioned. 1. Leaning to speak WE instead of I; 2. Drop the labels that are labeled by me, drop as many as possible; 3. Create environments that generate truth-listening and truth-speaking; 4. Make shared agreements with students. As the author suggests, “where a teacher joins with students to co-create a statement of purpose and intention, is emblematic of what it means to teach as life matters” PEER RESPONSE Hi Melissa, your article is full of meaningful ideas and deep reflection. Most importantly, you are truth-speaking, aren't you? In fact, I had same feelings with you when I was learning Math. I attended many after-school program to get math better, however, it wasn’t in effect. Until I met my high school math teacher, Mr. Jee, whose teaching style is like Abba Felix. After graduating from high school, I helped several students who had trouble with Math. I could understand their feelings and anxiety. Now, my cousin has the same problem and she is blamed by my aunt every other day. My cousin also told me she is afraid of asking math teacher’s questions because the teacher feels reluctant and impatient. As you mentioned in your article, “I guess this further proves that teachers need to make relationships with their students so that they can feel comfortable enough to approach and ask for help and also so that the teacher can notice differences with their students and offer help when needed.” I strongly agree with you. Hi Kayla, your article has some thought-provoking ideas. I am interested in the topic you mentioned “the successful students”, this is really significant topic since most educators stress on “student from hell”. Who cares about “the successful students”? I have been thinking of this idea for several years when I started teaching Chinese. I have a bold guess. I was wondering why public education more emphasize on “student from hell”, and it might be that the public education is assigned to offer fair education to everyone and to make sure everyone has an opportunity to get educated. On the other hand, the society is reluctant to talk about elite education, if it is focus on elite education, people would think this is an unfair society without justice. I think this might explain why most educators focus on “student from hell” instead of “the successful student”. Before beginning to work on this portrait, I had to consider, first of all, what materials to use. This time, I wanted to use materials that I had not previously used even though by doing so I would add to the challenge of the project. I searched for some references online and I was enthused about some images that used buttons or beads to create the portraits. I had an idea, why not try using egg shells? The egg shell is very fragile and crispy, and of course it is a metaphor even though I finally colored the egg shells. Once I had this idea, I had to think about the face. I am aware of my limited drawing and painting skills, so how could I create a face like a real painting? While I was considering this idea, I saw a cyanotype artwork hanging on the wall in my study room. A thought occurred to me, why not try cyanotype again to create my face to resemble a painting? Cyanotype is a very interesting process, and it is a non-silver process. It produces a permanent blue and white image based on iron salts. Most importantly, the cyanotype image looks like a painting. Then I had to consider how to relate the face to what empowers me as a teacher. As a teacher (I am initially a human being), from that point on it becomes very complicated in the context of real teaching situations. I might have dual simultaneous attitudes. In order to include these attitudes in the portrait, half of my face could be serious and half could be happy. However, I did not think this idea would express my emotions adequately, so I wanted to add text which could enhance the statement that I was trying to make. I always keep in the forefront of my mind that education can truly change students’ lives, so I wanted to add the slogan “change is possible”. My peers asked me, “Do you really think that change is possible?” I responded that I may not be able to influence change in the education system , however, I can change myself as a teacher, even change my teaching methods, and finally change the surroundings at least in small ways. This is what I believe. When the decisions were finalized as to which ideas to use, I started actual work on the project. Unfortunately, I faced some technical problems and some time conflicts. Creating the Cyanotype image, requires abundant sunshine and precise time periods of waiting to allow the processes and reactions to complete. I had registered as a volunteer in the T/F film fest 2017, so I had multiple time restraints which was very frustrating trying to complete the first process. I realized my future students might encounter this situation as well. Ultimately, I changed my schedule to the night shift so that I could work on this project in daytime. Once I finished the Cyanotype process, collage was my second step. The two cyanotype images were cut into two parts, and I then combined the two together. When I first surveyed the collage, it was very monotonous. It needed something else to make it more meaningful and appropriate. “Angle’s Wings” came up as an idea. Once the first layer was placed and secured, I started adding the egg shell on the images. I then encountered a new problem, if I added the egg shell on the image, the original images disappeared. Moreover, it was difficult to glue the egg shell down on to the images. Luckily, I had anticipated this problem and had different colors of egg shells, so I could distinguish different parts. When I completed the egg shell section, I realized that my face was very ugly and distorted and definitely the resulting image was not satisfactory. In order to rectify the end result, I added color on the egg shell to distinguish the facial features so that the viewers would view this work to be a portrait. Coloring was a way to solve this problem, however, in addition, a black line needed to be added to express the contour of the face. When I completed this artwork, I realized that my face is smiling. This was not my original intention. The two different attitudes –sad and happy- were intended to be portrayed by “one lip down and one lip up”. I used egg shell to cover my face, actually this is a metaphor meaning that I wear a mask when I am teaching. And moreover, this mask is a happy face, for no matter who I meet, I am always happy. However, internally behind the mask I may have different thoughts, ideas, and emotions. Why do I hide my real and most inner thoughts? Why do I finally make a happy face? When I look at my eyes, one is up and one is down a little bit. They are not horizontal. Yes, sometimes as a teacher, you are subjective, even biased. It is difficult to be always objective towards teaching, students, and schools. Even though my face is happy, I cannot hide the feeling through the eyes, because eyes are the windows of the soul. Wow after analyzing my thought processes both conscious and subconscious while creating this art work, I am amazed at so many perceptions and metaphors occurring. The act of reflecting is very interesting.
PEER RESPONSE
Amy: Hi Amy, I love your portrait very much. I am impressed by your writing words and initially I did not recognize them. My first thought was that your portrait is made by sand. I do not know whether you are familiar with sand painting? However, your portrait looks like a sand painting. You mentioned that you used a stippling effect to the portrait because you did not want to take away the writing. What a smart idea. Actually, I got the same problem like you but I did not deal with it, instead I colored it in solid, because it has a new meaning. To some extend, my portrait is similar to yours. However, I like yours most and I would like to play your process in the future project. Becky: WOW!!!!!!!!! How meaningful your portrait is. I enjoy reading your process of making art and how you solved the problem as well as how you made choices. I am inspired from your three elements of your face. Honesty, I had some idea but I did not know how to express it since my painting skill is not good enough. However, I was wondering whether I could use Photoshop to create the same style like painting. In addition, I think your process of making this portrait could be a art lesson, because it is a creative art process, and a teaching process as well. If I were as a student being taught with the lesson, I could know how I start, and what I need to do. By the way, I really agree with your mom's idea, "what I needed instead were my students hands, smiles, and hugs because these are the things that make me so happy". 1. Summarize the readings
A. Olivia Gude: Postmodern Principles: 7+7? As the art education moves into the 21st Century, the bland and formal principles of Art Education have been changed. Although, the elements and principles of design were considered as “universal and foundational”, they were never “the universal and timeless descriptors they claimed to be”. Olivia Gude provided an example, “big seven (elements) + seven (principles)” to describe her thought that those elements and principles are not enough for today’s children. In Dr. Unrath and Ms. Mudd’s paper, they thought today’s children are “technologically driven”. Just as this era is changing, the principles of art education should be changed as well. So Olivia Gude demonstrated that it was time to formulate principles for art education, such as Appropriation, Juxtaposition, Recontextualization, Layering, Interaction of Text & Image, Gazing, and Representing’. Then she continued to think about the curriculum of art education in the 21st Century. She recognized that investigating the big questions are significant in art education. Like Rethinking Art in Curriculum says, a good idea is most important and functions as the starting point when we as, art teachers, think about our curriculum. Olivia Gude “provided a framework that teachers can use as an outline of meaningful experiences that should be included in a curriculum that engages and empowers today’s students.” For me, her thoughts give me the overall picture that I can use in future teaching. However, I would like to compare these principles with China’s art education. The goal of art education in China focuses on art perception and appreciation, expression and creation, reflection and evaluation, communication and collaboration. But we don’t have a specific system that defines these principles. I do not know how art teachers teach today’s students, however, when I was a freshman in high school, I just studied art for 2 semesters. We did not have “big ideas” or “big questions investigation”. That’s why I am surprised that we can teach art by using defined principles, because I did not experience this or was not aware of the use of predefined principles when I was a young student. B. Olivia Gude: Art Education for Democratic Life This article focuses on the relationship between art education and democratic life and how art education helps people develop their perception and understanding of democracy. Gude provides an example that describes young students and adults exploring the relationship between themselves and life. She believes that art is a powerful tool and medium that helps people to recognize the self, others, the society, and the world. As she states in the article, “through artworks, students absorb the perceptions of others – situated in other times and places, embodied in other races, genders, ages, classes, and abilities.” What is more, Gude claims that “democracy requires that difference be perceived not as an assault on selfhood, but as an invitation to be a fuller, more open self incorporating the sensations and experiences of others into one’s own perceptions of the world and into one’s contributions to collective decision making”. This reminds me of the slogan in China, “let a hundred of flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend” which is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and sciences. Furthermore, Gude suggests that we need to create the curriculum of quality art education that centers on learning about and utilizing strategies to produce individual and cultural meaning, meaningful culture. As she states, “people who have participated in quality arts education experiences identify the importance of free expression for themselves and for others. They recognize that values and visions, cannot endure unless they are continuously seen, examined, challenged and re-envisioned within individual and collective life.” By the way, I feel like the research in which Gude has students and adults do artworks in the spiral workshop is an a/r/tography research. C. Olivia Gude: Playing, Creativity, Possibility This article provides an outline about what creativity is and how to create a condition that produces creativity. In the beginning, Gude asks a question that puzzles me a lot, why is it so difficult for teachers to create conditions that support the emergence of creative behavior and surprising images? And I want to know how teachers resolve this problem, especially art teachers? Because I know the significance of creativity in the process of art making. Gude provides three acts that might support the emergence of the creativity in the classroom, including anxiety, resistance, and cultivating creativity. There are so many thoughts centering on anxiety and whether it affects creativity or not. Well, most people believe that appropriate anxiety can stimulate infinite creativity. I do not know if this statement is correct or not, however, Gude believes that “a teacher’s awareness of why students might feel discomfort in engaging in artistic processes can be a powerful tool for allaying hidden anxieties and for then using dialogue to collaboratively construct a safe space for incipient creative urges to be nurtured, rather than being denied and smothered.” Moreover, she introduces a book titled On Becoming a Person, and the author of this book described two major conditions that foster creativity-psychological safety and psychological freedom. This author identifies three components that cultivate psychological safety, “1) accepting unconditionally the worth of an individual 2) providing a climate in which external evaluation is absent, and 3) understanding empathically.” Gude recognized the importance of providing a safe place that promotes artistic exploration. This reminds me of Dr. Unrath and Ms. Roupp’s words. They report that the classroom they create is a safe place for research. They are not judgmental of the students. The fear of answering questions or giving comments is dispelled. Furthermore, the author of On Becoming a Person described three characteristics of constructively creative people. “1) The ability of play, 2) openness to experience, and 3) an inner locus of evaluation.” All in all, teachers should understand that anxiety is a necessary component of a truly creative experience, and incipient creativity should be fostered but not be denied and inhibited. Most importantly, it is important to create a climate in which the individual’s experience is valued and understood, a climate in which the individual is not judged for how well he/she meets a pre-determined model of process or product. D. Olivia Gude: New School Art Styles: The Project of Art Education Gude introduces a book titled The School Art Styles: a Functional Analysis which argues that “these school art styles did not actually create possibilities for free expression for youth, but instead served the symbolic purpose of representing to others that there were opportunities for creativity and free play in an otherwise regimented school system.” The author of this book concluded that many art activities in school do not actually support creative self-expression. So, Gude provides a new aspect in the thinking about school art styles. She cites Efland’s article that provides three strategic goals for curriculum that authentically engage students. “1) The use of discipline – centered inquiry, 2) the construction of knowledge, and 3) teaching and learning that make connections beyond school.” Moreover, Gude thinks that “new school art styles can develop the skill as a means of artmaking based in particular methodologies of experiencing, producing, making meaning, and interpreting.” She continuously introduces several values in choosing and constructing curriculum, such as engaging in authentic artistic processes over making facsimiles, utilizing skills, forms, and vocabulary in authentic context over de-contextualized exercises and recipes, and investigating over symbolization. Based on this article, it is time to set up new school art styles and art teachers should create an art education that supports students in utilizing practices as a means by which to experience, investigate, and make their own meanings. 2. Where/when do you notice “discomfort” when you are teaching or think about future teaching? (What are you imagining, share a little about this) I am confused about this question, and can I divide this question into two parts, including students’ “discomfort” and teachers’ “discomfort”? As a teacher, I might feel uncomfortable when I am teaching a new project, or a new medium with which I am not very familiar with. Certainly, the climate of the classroom can affect me, so if the classroom is in a mess, the discomfort comes up. In this situation, I think my students would have same feelings as I do when they encounter new situations that they are not familiar with, they feel unsafe. They might be struggling with a new project, because they have no ideas or inspirations. They need help and ask questions more and more, and even though as their teacher, I would love to help, sometimes, the situation is beyond my control. At that time, students and I may run into a frustrating situation. 3. What do you think accounts for the discomfort? I prefer to interpret “discomfort” to equal “anxiety” in the classroom? Because I am confused about these two words which show up in Gude’s articles many times, but I can not distinguish between the meanings of these two words. To some extent, I think “discomfort” is the same as “anxiety”. Based on my perception, first, the discomfort comes from a situation that students do not have ideas when they encounter a new project, or a new medium to explore. Second, students are afraid of being judged negatively especially being judged by teachers. Third, students are frightened of receiving a bad score. Fourth, the creative environment is inhibited. 4. What (if anything) inhibits your creative development and innovative teaching? (Think internally (ideas, habits of mind etc), the obvious things like schedules most of us are stuck with, but sometimes internally we have perceptions we can let go of which opens us to new possibilities. Think about Cindy Foley’s messages.) There are so many factors that could potentially affect my creative development and innovative teaching, such as my mental habits, the classroom environment, students’ attitude towards to the class, the administrators, and the policies in school. First, in fact, I am influenced easily by students’ attitude, and the classroom environment. I can envision how terrible it might be if in a future class I was confronted with a class of students with negative attitudes towards me which would make me question my relationship towards the class, the school, and education. Second, the teaching methods affect the teaching effect. If the method is not appropriate, finally it would have a bad effect on innovative teaching. As Gude states, “the primary objective of a creativity curriculum ought to be developing the capacity of students to instinctively respond to situations with playful creative behaviors. This objective should not be undermined by simultaneously attempting to teach other skills that will inhibit the free flow of ideas”. Third, if the administrators support my teaching, including my ideas, the curriculums, and creativity, I would feel more secure in trying and testing new ideas. Most importantly, it is teacher attitudes that affect the creative development and innovative teaching. Even though the surroundings do not support the teachers, or it is difficult to change the environment, teachers alter their own thinking and support themselves by autosuggestion. Autosuggestion is a powerful force in developing enthusiasm. PEER RESPONSE Amy: Hi Amy, I always love to read your article. Very clearly! Sometimes, I could parallel with what you mentioned. Because I usually omit something important. What I found interesting is your wonder whether students would be distracted because of electronic devices in the art classroom. I think it could be a research topic. Well, in Tiger Artist Program, we used a way to make sure students all engaged in the class. We call the way "apple's up". When teachers say this verbal sign, students do not touch the devices. I think you may try this way and see what the result is. Becky: Hi Becky, I have some feeling with you when I am teaching Chinese at kindergarten. Actually, I feel uncomfortable to be judged especially when students are asked to express what they learned in my class. Likewise, students are also afraid of being judged by teachers, even parents. Based on your last paragraph, I am also curious about what Gude’s ideas would actually look like in an elementary classroom, and is it possible to creatively teach language with art? My future goal is teaching language and art together. What I learned from Gude would be examples when I am teaching language and art. 1. What is something you take away from each of these three talks? I have just now been made aware of the Ted Talk s that are related to many of the articles that we have been reading. First, Ken Robinson’s ideas are so critical and thought-provoking. It reveals the present state of public education and it is time to take action to change the educational paradigms. I now realize that a degree does not guarantee a job, and that children are being educated in batches along factory lines. Evidently educators are getting their children through the system by anesthetizing them. It is difficult for me to face these realities. This reminds me of the four traditions of education, because they are similar to each other. Teachers should wake students up instead of making them into robots. Moreover, I am shocked because of the study of original and creative thinking. When children get older, the percentage of genius level of critical thinking is decreasing. Why? Because they have become educated! They are taught that there is one text book answer for all questions, and they are taught not to look, not to copy because that is cheating. This situation is what Palmer Parker talks about in his book, namely that collaboration is cheating. However, Robinson states that “we have to recognize most great learning happens in groups.” Recently, I listened to a graphic novelist named Rick Ross’s lecture, he strongly encourages students to use references whenever available, and that they do not need to recreate something new. I can sense that our teachers are changing as well. Second, I saw an admirable and creative teacher -Abba Felix from Diana’s talk. She is definitely one of the teachers like Abba Felix, because she recounted the story of challenging her students with an authentic experience of presenting a problem to them with no instructions on what or how to deal with it. Diana gave students a free space to explore the world by themselves. Moreover, she provided a wonderful example of how to teach sensitive topics in the American classroom. It is difficult to teach an art class which is portraying race, or racism, because it is a very sensitive topic in today’s America. I want to share a recent experience when I was teaching Chinese language. It was the beginning class and all students and my co-teacher watched a video talking about China and Chinese people. At the end of the video, the narrator said, “Chinese people, with yellow skin and black eyes, sincerely welcome you to China”. After that a black student asked me why Chinese people described themselves with “yellow skin”. I did not know how to respond to this student. After the class my co-teacher who is a black person was kind and reminded me that race is a subtle issue among the Americans. If I am directed to teach this kind of art interpretation, I should say I am worried about the reaction of students. But all students should know that stereotypes seriously affect American people when they interpret visual images, especially the stereotype of African Americans. As Terry Barrett says, “the black male, even with hair picked and adorned with a necktie, will never outride the connotations of the images with which he has been identified.” However, Diana gave a useful example when she was teaching about the topic of genocide. She asked students to identify someone in their own life or stories that they could identify who had experienced this topic in some way and to make a movie to portray the story. Diana asked students to put their own voice over it, and asked them to speak for themselves. This is a valuable way to empower students voice. I could sense Diana respected her students, and of course she listened to each student. These ideas are claimed in Reflective Teaching. Furthermore, she demonstrated that failure is part of the learning process and failure is instructional in the process as well. Right or Wrong answer, I was taught by this way for over 10 years in the Chinese Educational System. I was afraid of being asked questions, and I was scared to answer questions in case I was wrong. Even now, I still feel worried to risk saying something wrong in the classroom. I think I am being educated as one of the students that Robinson describes in the talk. My divergent/critical thinking is declining. Finally, I feel like there is some hope because some people are taking action to improve the public school system. I should not be pessimistic, and instead be steadfast in my beliefs and extend a positive attitude towards the educational system. 2. Post the video to Notebowl discussion board with a comment about its emphasis and its connection with your own thinking Backgound Information about the speaker Linda Cliatt-Wayman Linda Cliatt-Wayman grew up in poverty in North Philadelphia, where she experienced firsthand the injustice being perpetrated against poor students in their education. She has dedicated her career and her life to ending that injustice, working within Philadelphia's fractured public-school system. She spent 20 years as a special-ed teacher before becoming a principal, leading two low-performing urban high schools to success with improved test scores and increased college admissions among students. Now at Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion High School, Wayman and her team are once again proving what is possible for low-income children. Test scores have improved every year since Wayman took over, and the school was removed from the federal Persistently Dangerous Schools List for the first time in five years. Comment Linda's speech is inspiring and encouraging. I could sense her strong feeling that education can truly change students' lives. I admire her, not only about her attitude towards education and students, but also her practice and actions that produced marked improvement in the Strawberry Mansion High School students. That's so impressive. She used three slogans that had been paramount in their quest for change. The first is "if you are going to lead, LEAD". She believes that what happens in a school and what does not happen in a school is up to the principals. She took actions to change the school, including the establishment of a faculty of excellent teachers to tackle the small things and big stuff. She made the impossible possible. The second slogan is "So What, Now What" "Now what are we gonna do about it?" She did not accept any excuses for not succeeding in her actions to improve students' learning and test scores. The third slogan is "If nobody told you they loved you today, you remember I do, and I always will". I could sense how she loved her students. As I was watching this speech, I felt very emotional. I completely understand the problems that students have, emotional, financial, etc. She stated that she believes in students' possibilities unconditionally. When she looked at students, she could only see the positive possibilities of what they could become in the future because she identifies as one of them. As you read the background information about Linda, It is obvious that she is influenced by her own personal history and that has led her to realize the power of education. This is an excellent example that displays how teachers' personal experiences affect their teaching. Moreover, she provided a practical example which gives encouragement to students. She used audio broadcasting to address her students every day. She reminded them of the core values of focus, tradition, excellence, integrity and perseverance, and she reminded them every day how education can truly change their lives. And she ended every announcement the same: if nobody told you they loved you today, you remember I do, and I always will. I could sense that she is a valuable teacher and principal, and I could sense that she teaches and manages with intense emotion. All of the information that has been provided about her is related to the ideas of the book titled Reflective Teaching. Based on her experiences, I can see that the four traditions of education which include the progressive tradition, the conservative tradition, the social justice tradition and the spiritual-contemplate tradition are vividly exhibited in the experiences of the Strawberry Mansion High School. Furthermore, everything that I read in the book is illuminated and enhanced by Linda's experiences and examples. "WE DO NOT REALLY SEE THROUGH OUR EYES OR HEAR THROUGH OUR EARS, BUT THROUGH OUR BELIEFS" "PUT OUT BELIEF ON HOLD AND TO LISTEN TO OHTERS" I believe Linda perfectly displayed these thoughts. 3 Documentation Video Reflection
How does your artistic process echo your what you imagine your teaching process to be? How is understanding the artist process valuable when planning lessons? How is the “creative process” present both in teaching and in making art? Explain As I mentioned in week 5 reflection, my art making process was following the way we (Beth, Grace, and I) taught in Tiger Artist Program last semester. I think it is a very practical way to make collage in this way (as you could see in the documentation video) because we already did it in the real classroom. If I have opportunities to teach how to make a collage in my future class, I would base my teaching on my artistic process. Firstly, I would let students know the meanings of image, because different juxtapositions have different meanings. They would be given the time to manipulate 6 images, later they would examine and critique the collages that every student has made. Secondly, with the BIG IDEA in mind and they would search for the images by using magazines and newspapers. Thirdly, they would divide the images into three groups, including the background images, the middle layer images, and the front layer images. Fourthly, overlap and overlay the images, then takes a picture so that they could remember what the collage looks like. Finally, use the picture to layout the images and glue them down. Based on these two experiences of creating collages, I think I would do a better job of teaching in the future. Actually, when I plan lessons, I usually fill out the lesson plan forms first. However, it is significant to experience the topics/big ideas before teaching. In Tiger Artist Program that we taught last semester, I experienced the whole teaching process which is like what I mentioned earlier. We decided the big idea and filled out the lesson plans, certainly, we made the artworks as well. We knew which parts of the process were important for students to understand, moreover, we knew how to organize the class according to the artistic process. Importantly, we faced some difficulties during the artist process, but we knew how to avoid these problem areas before teaching. I believe that using the artist process as a bases for planning lessons will help teachers teach well in the real situations. Obviously, there were a few modifications during the artist process, however, I do not think it is a creative process. I’d prefer to say this is an experienced process. If the artist makes something creative while making art, I think the artist should probably design a warm-up for students to taste the process and then teach them how to make art. I did not see the “creative process” when I was making art, so I could not explain clearly about how to present it in both teaching and making art. I believe, however, if I have some creative ideas during making art, I definitely would create a warm-up for students to practice, so that they would have some background information in mind which would help them explore the topics/big ideas. PEER RESPONSE Zach: We were educated in over 16 years, but we do not learn how to make money correctly, how to buy a house correctly, how to buy a car correctly, how to spend money, and how to find a good partner, etc. People learned too much useless "knowledge", and people believed and trusted in such called "truth", so they are hardworking but still earn less money. Most people gradually become house slaves. They do not know how to "seduce" to the excellent boys and girls, Or they date many many times but still do not find a good partner, or they finally entered the marriage but soon lost the feeling of happiness ... so, even if they are in young age, they have to start to learn really useful s things. So, they really have to get themselves early to understand: how can they let their children no longer continue to live like their "lives". I think Ken Robinson's two talks are related to each other. We need recognize the reason why the public education system established and how did it work in the 19th century. It could be easy to find out why today's education system cannot be suitable. Andrea: I am curious why you say, "we have a whole population out there doesn't know it's own history and thus, we really repeat it as we don't know any better. " Can I interpret that because we do not know what we should learn and how to learn better (especially about the world) so we just follow the education trend? I have same feelings with you that "many brilliant people who think they are not". We have a saying in China that "There are three hundred and sixty trades, and every trade has its master." which means everybody could be his/her own master. However, why do brilliant people who think they are not?" I love your note about Tim Brown's talk. I just recognized that he mentioned that the adult is less creative than kids which is related to Ken Robison's talk that when children get older, the percentage of genius level of critical thinking is decreasing. I believe that is a truth and how could we keep creative when we are getting old? Alison: Teaching one child at a time, we do not care how the number is small, but to see them completely complete the education process, this is the most important. I strongly with this idea. Second, education is not how good our infrastructure is, rather is teaching. Teaching content is most important. Third, students in slums have potential to be better than privileged students. This talk is simple, but I could see a strong educator who believes that the education could change a student. Her intentions and mission are powerful. By the way, I want to point out the same situation in China, especially some poor villages, there are several HOPE SCHOOLS which are like Shukla's school. They have same missions and intentions. And the students do well in the class and later on they find good jobs and change their lives. "American children take their free education for granted"? Why do children in different countries value education differently? I think it might be the cultural value system which is different in different country. Currently, I want to do a research about how families in USA and China value Education/Art? 1. Which tradition (from the reading) do you most identify with? Explain why you think this is? How does it show up in your thinking about teaching?
Chapter 5 talks about four traditions of education, the progressive tradition, the conservative tradition, the social justice tradition and the spiritual-contemplative tradition. I cannot pick one that I identify most with, because each of the traditions is very meaningful and worthy to contemplate. The authors state so many significant and critical thoughts, and I felt like I was in complete agreement when I was reading. Actually, as a pre-service teacher and being a student for over 20 years, certainly, I do recognize these four traditions in my educational journey, especially the progressive tradition and the conservative tradition. As the author claims, the progressive tradition focuses on the child, and the goal is “to create powerful and meaningful connections between the student and the curriculum”. I think those teachers in my educational history were all hoping to create meaningful learning opportunities for students. However, I was wondering whether their methods or approaches were effective? I believe every teacher wants to help every student, but the truth is that the memorization and forced repetition dominates the time in the classroom. This raises the question, how do teachers achieve those meaningful connections between students and curriculum? As the author describes, “the bridge to these connections is a deep respect for and recognition of what is important and makes sense to kids”. I recalled my educational history again, and tried to remember a teacher who utilized this method I recognized that many of my teachers, whether in middle school, high school, or even in college listened to me and respected me. Like Paley (1986/2007) demonstrates, “when we are curious about a child’s words and our response to those words, the child feels respected.” Her insight sends a message to teachers inspiring teachers to listen to students in order to help them achieve their goals. Furthermore, teachers should encourage students to realize that their ideas are important and give them the space for raising and answering their questions based on their interests. Consequently, because of the interest, the ability, and the self-confidence, the students are able proceed on their learning journey by themselves (Eleanor Duckworth, 1987). I believe these thoughts are useful and practical, however, do teachers think about the realities? The author illustrates an example of a difficult experience of a teacher named Emilie. She wrote that “most mornings she found herself walking into her classroom ready to engage in a battle, not learning.” BATTLE, this word came up again when I connected the ideas of Palmer Parker. He shared a similar thought, namely, that the conventional classroom is not a place of collaboration, or a place of inquiry, but a place of of competition. Obviously, there is a gap between progressive hope and pragmatic realities. Another tradition – the conservative tradition places emphasis on knowledge and skill acquisition. What impresses me most is Hirsch’s critical view that the public schools have not fulfilled the promise of equal educational opportunity. This is a very quintessential and a vital thought which causes me to compare the educational systems of the United States and China. Frankly, I do not know whether the public school system in the United States fulfills the promise of equal educational opportunity, however, at least, in China, I believe that most of students have the equal opportunity to be educated. I will explain my idea in detail later when discussing the “Matthew effect” (the rich get richer while the poor become poorer) in the educational system in the United States because the realities in China seem different, even opposite. I have read an article titled How Kids Learn Resilience, the author asserts that “low-income children can be harder to educate than children from more-comfortable backgrounds” in the U.S. However, it is opposite in China. It is safe to say, most low-income Chinese students are better behaved and hardworking than those students who come from better-off families and usually teachers in China may pay more attention to educate better-off students who are badly-behaved. It is very interesting that most schools (not including colleges and universities) in China set up rewards to students for enrolling in order to recruit excellent students to enhance, the reputation of these schools. Since the rewards are so attractive, most of the poor students in China are more hardworking. They believe that only through knowledge will they have a better, more successful future. However, according to Roland Fryer’s reward system, it was to “increase the time that low-income students spent on math homework, and to improve their scores on standardized math tests”. Unfortunately, this incentive program had no effect. Why do these situations take place differently between China and America? In China, the College Entrance Examination (like SAT/ACT in United States) is the most significant way that underprivileged students can change their fates. This exam is very difficult but is very fair and equal to every student. No matter how much the educators and philosophers criticize this exam, it still works better and better. I do not think the Matthew Effect has effect in China. If you could share with me some facts or experiences about the conservative tradition in United States, that would be great for me to have some background information. 2. Describe how you envision your teaching self? Where does this vision come from? A job? This is my first thought when I read this question without reading Chapter 5&6. Actually, I plan on making a living by teaching in the future, so at least teaching is a job for me. Well, after reading the chapter 6, the author claims that “‘teaching as work’ perspective entails minimal connection to a teaching self”. I then just realized that I viewed teaching simplistically. In previous reflections, I emphasized the importance of teachers, because I do believe education has great effect on humans and I believe teachers are instrumental in changing students for the better as well as contributing to the betterment of human beings as a whole. If I change the subject of “teacher” into “teaching”, that also makes sense. Teaching is powerful to change humans and it is a tool to help humans establish the values of the world. As I mentioned in week 4 reflection, I described a math teacher that helped and influenced a low-level student and finally this student was accepted by the top university in China. Due to this teacher’s attitude and effort, he affected many students and most of them currently are PhD students or are having distinguished careers. This is an outstanding example to display the envisioning of the teaching self. As Palmer Parker (1998/2007) states, “knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject”. This math teacher definitely knew and understood students very well. According to the author’s view, teaching is a component of both the professional and vocational orientations. In fact, I have no idea about teaching as a profession or as a vocation, but I would like to point out several profound thoughts that the author claims. She introduces the inner landscape of a teacher’s life – intellectual, emotional, and spiritual, and I believe the teaching is related to these three aspects, because “good teaching comes in all sorts of forms and engages in all types of practices”. Thanks to reading this chapter, it makes me deeply rethink the teaching self and consider how much and what kind of self-investment I could make to teaching. I really like Lisa’s idea, “we do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs”, moreover, “put out beliefs on hold and listen to others”. These two sentences are very strong, inspiring and thought-provoking which provide a vital way to approach the meaning of the teaching self. 3. As you view your own process of art making which you film during the creating of your metaphorical classroom, do you notice process’s emerging that align with any of the tradition discussed in the reading? Explain As I view my own video clips many times, actually, I did not notice the process’s emerging that aligned with the four traditions discussed in the reading. Well, when I paused and pondered which images (my faces) should be used in the middle – there were two choices which were a happy face and a ponderous face – I did not know which one to use. Finally, I chose the happy face because I thought that when I was daydreaming about my future classroom, it should be full of imagination and happiness. Later on, I was pondering again what my future students would like. Maybe some of them are quite well-behaved and some of them are not? It reminded me of the nightmare of teaching Chinese at SMS. That class was full of pain and frustration. Based on these points, I was wondering whether these contents are related to the spiritual-contemplate tradition which “points to something ineffable and frightening that lies deeply within each human being and transcends the human experience. It is a spiritual realm”. I have no idea. However, no matter how painfull my teaching experience, I still love kids, and my collage – my future classroom – is full of happiness and learning. Can I believe that this is relevant to the idea “the painful process of learning to love”? Palmer states, “not to release the tension, but to live the contradictions, fully and painfully aware of the poles which our lives are stretched. As we do so, we will be plunged into paradox, at the center of which we will find transcendence and new life.” Well, I do not know whether I did as Palmer said, however, I do believe I am maturing during the teaching journey, and that’s my collage is positive and optimistic. 4. How do you think your own artistic process informs or will inform how you teach? Describe what you noticed about HOW you learn and process when creating artwork. Last semester I taught how to make a collage in Tiger Artist Program, and my own artistic process followed the way we (Beth, Grace and I) taught last semester. Since it was a practical process, I made this collage much faster than by using the other materials. Based on my process, firstly, I chose the collage as the medium because it could contain many ideas in one page. Secondly, I pondered the ideas, including teaching style, teaching value, teacher’s role, students, and environment. With some key words in mind, then I started searching for images online. Thirdly, I thought carefully about the background layer, the middle layer and the front layer, I then started to cut, manipulate, and overlap the images. Finally, I glued them down. In the process, I tried to make them clear so that the viewers could easily perceive and follow my thoughts and ideas. I think the art making process is sometimes complicated while if the teachers demonstrate and illustrate the procedures step by step, the students will quickly get the points and follow with you. I feel like I am a good model to follow because I could create the collage in a step by step fashion as I was taught step by step. PEER RESPONSE Kayla Hi Kayla, I always enjoy reading your blog posts, because they are full of your real, personal experiences that I do not face since I am a currently full time student. You stated that you had one year working in an office, and after that you went back for teaching. I think life is always full of decisions. And these decisions help us figure out what we want. You love teaching because it is your own vocation. I may not understand the phrase "teaching as the vocation" completely, however based on your example, I feel like I've got some information about it. I feel like the teaching as the vocation as you stated is a sense of mission, no matter how much the teacher getting paid, it pushes them to do. I felt like your example of "failure is the part of the success" is related to Diana TED Talk how to learn through the failure. She claimed that allowing kids to fail is as the part of the learning process. Well, my teachers in China always say that failure is the mother of the success. "Learning has to include an amount of failure because failure is instructional in the process" Diana demonstrated which is inspiring and thought-provoking. And you example certainly is connected with hers which display to us your teaching attitudes and methods. Jenna (coming soon) I prefer to first reflect on what I read in Chapter 3 and 4, since my reflection is related to the answer of the question “what motivates your impulse to teach”. To begin, it is obvious that teachers are affected by their personal experiences, knowledge and values. Liston shared her experiences. For example, she was taught the value of inquiry, and this value influenced her when she was teaching. I had similar thoughts regarding my remembrances of the time when I was teaching Chinese in kindergarten. I frequently used the words, “good”, “great” in Chinese, repeating these praises many times in the class, because my elementary school teachers used those words often. Certainly, I was encouraged by those words and I believed my students would feel the same way that I felt receiving this positive reinforcement. Continuously, even now I use some strategies which are related to or have personally experienced in my past even though sometimes they do not work perfectly. As the author states, “although firsthand experience in schools is critical to the education of teachers, not all experience is necessarily beneficial”. I definitely agree with that. When I was teaching in middle school, I used the same curriculum in different classes in the same grade. Some classes worked well, unfortunately, some worked badly. When I encountered different out-of-the ordinary situations, I realized that I should appropriately correct the curriculum to be more appropriate for the given situation rather than continuously using the curriculum which according to my personal experience had worked in the past. However, I believe that if personal experiences are used appropriately, they can improve teachers’ management skills. Absolutely, my motivation of being a teacher is primarily related to my personal experiences. When I was young in school, I recognized the power of a teacher and how he/she can change students’ lives and attitudes, because I witnessed a math teacher helping and influencing a low-level student and finally seeing this student accepted by Tsing Hua University which is the top university in China. How amazing it was. Due to this teacher’s attitude and effort, he affected many students and most of them currently are PhD students or having distinguished careers. Although I was not taught by him, his attitudes and actions towards students had a great effect on me. I believe that every student has his/her own particular attribute which if recognized and encouraged to grow will permit that student to excel. Good teachers can most definitely extract and help develop these potentials which all students possess. I realized the power of teachers and concluded that I wanted to be a teacher. Even though my undergraduate major program was not education, I was a volunteer summer teacher in a suburb of Shanghai. When it comes to the transmitted knowledge, I recall my experiences working with my co-teacher at middle school, and my colleague named Carol as well. Actually, before teaching Chinese, we did receive some training to prepare us to teach. Some professional teachers shared their experiences and strategies that we could use in the classrooms, and it provided many opportunities for novice teachers to share their teaching problems so that the professional teachers could help them find solutions. In fact, I learned a lot from Carol who is one of the Chinese teachers in the institute. In previous reflections, I have shared several situations that I encountered. It was Carol that helped me resolve the problems and gave me many suggestions. Moreover, I had some opportunities to observe her classes and I always took notes and asked her how to organize the class using her methods. For example, when I was teaching the last lesson of Chinese language, I just distributed question sheets for the students to complete. Compared to Carol’s summary, my method was very boring. Carol did the summary in another way, she created a map which was a Chinese learning journey for students (all that they had learned during the Chinese session). Students played a game while at the same time reviewed their Chinese language class. Later on, I used this map and conducted students in playing games. Consequently, the effect was good. As the author says, “teachers can use external knowledge as schemata that can help them grasp in descriptive and explanatory ways certain aspects of their work that were previously inaccessible”. My motivation secondly of being a teacher is that I want to be a better person and make a contribution to my world. I think the world is so complicated and schools are the greatest place to work. Maybe I am biased because I have benefited so much from many teachers and instructors, including teaching skills, teaching strategies, and management. I am maturing in this journey and there is no doubt that I am a better person than before. I recognized that teaching does not only help students but also helps teachers. “Teachers and students are all learners”. I am learning how to be a better teacher, as well as a better learner. I am curious to know exactly what are the values of teachers. I think most teachers know the difference between good and bad. As we know, values significantly influence teachers, as the author claims, “the value affect how we (teachers) interpret and react to our experiences and how we look at and examine transmitted knowledge and, as a result, affect how we teach and interact with students and colleagues”. I strongly agree with the author’s idea. Due to my personal experiences and knowledge transmitted to me from my colleagues, my values are established and fermented. I think I am progressing along the path of cultivating myself to become an effective and reflective teacher. I cherish my students, teachers, and colleagues, moreover, my values are sincere in regards to teaching including treating students equally, and having positive attitudes towards life, believing in the power of education, etc. Obviously, my values propel me to become a successful teacher. I believe education has great effect on humans and I believe teachers are instrumental in changing students for the better as well as contributing to the betterment of human beings as a whole. In chapter 4, the author introduces the teachers’ understanding and emotions as well as the use of metaphors and images. When I read this chapter, I smiled, because I definitely teach with my emotions. However, I do not know how to judge which emotions contribute in a positive way or those that have a negative effect. As the author asserts, “these emotional and cognitive responses come from the teacher’s experiences, background knowledge, and values, and their everyday enactment can affect the teacher’s professional and personal identity”. As I mentioned in previous reflections that when I faced a frustrated situation, my emotions permitted me to have a positive attitude towards students even though I could not handle the disastrous situation. I am a straightforward and energetic human, so I seldom give up even if my rationality is telling me that giving up would be the reasonable action. Additionally, I love kids, students, people and I love teaching Chinese language and art. All these emotions fill my mind and motivate me to teach and become a better teacher. I know the world can be a cruel and unfair place and I am aware that most teachers are not rewarded with monetary rewards but the satisfaction of knowing you have made a contribution to the world can compensate for low salaries. I can not say that every teacher is emotionally suited to be a good teacher, but I believe most teachers are encouraged and motivated by their emotions – passions, love, and sincerity, as I am. Visual Metaphor![]() I had no idea when I was reading the art-making guidelines. I spent two days thinking about what kinds of materials I would use, so that I could express all my thoughts visually, including the values of teaching, my role in the classroom, students’ emotions and reactions in the classroom, and the classroom environment. At first, I thought I could use photography to illustrate examples of the dynamics occurring in the actual classroom. I then would use photoshop to overlay the layers and decrease the image clarity to make a metaphorical statement describing my ideal classroom and the interactions occurring within that classroom. These were my first thoughts on creating a Visual metaphor. However, I preferred to use materials other than the mediums that I have so often used in the past, namely video and photography. I kept asking myself during these days, “which materials can I use?” Ultimately, as I was going to sleep, an idea finally occurred to me, why not choose collage? It is certainly not a problem for me to visualize my future classroom. Moreover, I taught how to make a collage last semester in the Tiger Artist Course, so I know how to make a collage step by step. I decided that Collage would be an awesome medium to display my thoughts visually and metaphorically. Because of this idea, I started looking for some pictures online. Actually, before searching, I had some key words in my mind, such as positive teaching, crazy teacher, etc. Additionally, I used my personal pictures as well, because it would be easy to see my attitudes towards teaching and to students from my facial expressions. As I was starting to create this project I made some alterations of the original plan. (These were discussed in detail in the video.) I do not exactly understand the concept of the metaphor, however, I used subtlety to express my ideas. For instance, the clock portrays the importance of the class time frame and the organization of the class. In addition, some text on the bottom left like “help”, portrays the reality that I definitely needed help in my first year of teaching and at times I was very frustrated. I did not use many metaphors in the collage but the ones that I used are all very clear to the viewers. This collage is meaningful to me, because I really want to compare my hopes and ambitions with the reality of my first year teaching. By the way, I am little confused about my collage, did I achieve the goal of creating a visual metaphor? PEER RESPONSE Hi Becky, I have same feeling with you. Actually my students motivate me to be a good teacher. I doubted myself before when I was a co-teacher in the classroom, however, I could not handle with the classroom problems. However, I received so many cards from my sweet students which encouraged me a lot. Moreover, I led a group of high school students to China for summer camp, and I learned a lot from them meanwhile this was a good opportunity to know my students. At that time, they also encouraged me to be a teacher instead of a filmmaker. Your metaphor is so awesome! I just recognized that my metaphor is clear and it is real classroom. I think I may need make artwork again. By the way, I love your idea that the classroom could be ocean, and there is a Chinese saying goes “knowledge is boundless which is like ocean”. It is very appropriate describing knowledge as well as the classroom. Hi Melissa, I always love your reflection, and I enjoy your translation of the Chapter 3 & 4. It makes me think deeply about the articles. Well, I also love your comment "I believe we are put on this earth to heal, to learn, and to help others. " I have the same feeling with you. Seemingly, it is emotional and soft, however, it will make difference since we are taking action to do it. Also, I really LOVE your painting. Wonderful metaphor! In China, turtle is a propitious symbol. I can see your painting that the turtle is carrying many students, it remind me of Chinese literature teacher in my high school continuously worked until 65 years old. NEVER too late to teach. |