Coon Rapids High School - Jennifer Latuff - 9 hours
This was my last week with the students at Coon Rapids. It was very bitter sweet… I'm happy to have a placement finished, but I loved working with Ms. Latuff again, and her AP Studio Art students were great - I constantly was working with them and having great conversations. They were sad to see me go, but we made sure to take a group selfie, obviously.
I was able to see the monoprint work the drawing 3 students did last week after my lesson. Some of them were absolutely beautiful! Others were very frustrated with the process - I had two students not turn in prints, which was unfortunate. It was interesting how grading the projects gave me even more insight to what I would change about my lesson plan and demo. Some of the students really understood the material and dove right in, which really reflected in their work. In the demo, I would put a higher emphasis on craftsmanship, color mixing, and mark-making.
Coon Rapids was a great experience! I'm sad to be done… even though I taught mostly with the drawing 3 class, I built much more of a relationship with the AP Studio kids. I wanted so badly to be able to stay with them through the process of completing their concentration pieces - help them problem solve, bounce ideas off each other, and help them grow and inspire them. I told the AP class to email me through my website anytime if they needed feedback, or wanted a critique, tips, or pointers on their work.
Goodbye for now, Coon Rapids High School, its been great! A huge shout out to Jennifer Latuff as well - you rock! Keep being an awesome teacher and changing kids lives, and thank you for this opportunity! You're the best!
Perpich Center for Arts Education - Pat Benincasa - 6 hours
I got to know the students at Perpich much better this week. Pat told me that I had to go and talk with EVERY student. This intimidated me with her sculpture class, being that I am more of a 2D artist and if the student was to ask a more technical question about building something that I might not be the best of help… but I soon found out that was a ridiculous premise. Even though I don't work in the same media, I was still able to have good conversations with a lot of the students.
Talking with the painting students came a bit easier to me. These last two days have really opened my eyes about how important it is for a teacher to truly know a student. Have a relationship; be a mentor, friend, leader, and instructor all in one. Pat knows so much, and speaks about her work in such a inspiring and interesting way… she really knows how to captivate a classroom. I was a bit intimidated, I didn't want to "step on her toes" if you will, but after have great talks with the students, this became very easy, and fun! Some of the students were very intrigued by what I had to say about their work and it was easy to tell that they were genuinely grateful for my input and feedback. That felt good!
I'm so excited to be at Perpich! I'm going to learn A TON… can't wait for what's next.
I start my shadowing at the Walker Art Center next week - stay tuned!