Sara E. Thomas
There are a variety of strategies I use to convey information to my students. Because HSC has such a diverse population I try to teach every lesson to every type of learner: auditory, visual and kinesthetic. There are a variety of ways that I present material in order to reach each of these different types of learners.
When students enter the classroom there is always a "do now" up on the board for them to begin when they enter class. The "do now" takes anywhere from three to five minutes. This is a strategy that is employed school wide, so it provides a sense of consistency for students. The "do now" can be any variety of exercises. Some common "do nows" are having students react to a piece of artwork, reviewing the material from the previous day, practicing a specific technique, etc. The "do now" is created as a lead in to the lesson. It is a chance for the students to get focused once they enter the classroom and a wonderful way to check their knowledge of the material. Depending on the "do now" answers may be discussed in class, collected and graded or corrected by peers.
After the "do now" is completed as a class we will review the information covered in the previous class. This allows students who were absent to get a brief overview of what they missed, while giving me a way to gauge the students' retention of material covered previously. This review usually takes the form of me asking questions and students volunteering to answer. I use the information from the previous lesson to segue into the new information or techniques, this way students can easily connect the knowledge that they are building on. Once I have introduced the new material one of two things follows. I either do a demonstration to explain what they will be doing for the class period, or if they have already learned the techniques I show them an exemplar I have created and ask them to walk me through what steps I would go through to create it. This way they gain a verbal understanding of what they should be doing.
If a new skill is extremely difficult we will have a guided practice. This means that I will hand out supplies and then we will complete a step-by-step process all together, with students following my directions. This is only necessary for skills where attention to detail is vital. I try to let students figure out their own way to solve problems as often as possible.
While students are working I use a variety of strategies to monitor their progress. I am constantly walking around the room looking at what students are doing and asking them questions about what they are working on. If they have a question about how to do something my first response is always, "What do you think you should do?" I find that my students are programmed to immediately ask for the answers instead of trying to solve problems for themselves. Therefore, when they have questions I try to have them answer their own questions, or look to their peers for help.
One of my favorite ways of monitoring student progress is going through their work and writing them one "Post It" note. I find this to be extremely successful for a number of reasons. The sticky notes are easily removed from the artwork. They give me an opportunity to praise something the student has done well, and also to articulate what their next step should be. This is critical. Every student works at a different pace and by being able to respond to their artwork one on one in this format is extremely helpful. This way when they first get their artwork back they already have an idea what their next step in the process should be.
While I think that it is important for me to track the students progress, I also think it is important for them to see each other's progress. I find that the students are each other's best critics. If part of a drawing does not look correct they will be quick to offer a suggestion. I try to train them to be specific and to also offer suggestions if they are going to comment on a peer's artwork. Towards the end of each project I also have students fill out a peer critique form. This allows a new set of eyes, besides mine, to look at their artwork and respond.
Lastly, and most importantly, students must fill out a self-evaluation to hand in with every project. Their self-evaluation is a rubric identical to the one which I fill out to determine their grade. This way students see exactly how they will be graded, and are given the opportunity to change anything they feel would help improve their drawing based on the rubric. Students are usually their own worst critics and do not give themselves enough credit for the work that they do accomplish. I find the self-evaluation helpful so that I have an idea of how they think they are progressing.