"Effective urban educators are Reflective Practitioners who can accurately assess themselves and develop plans for improvement."
It is important, as an educator, to take time to reflect on what you teach; successes as well as moments that could be improved. Small adjustments can be made throughout the day, as you move from one class to the next. Larger adjustments can be made when you reflect on the day, week, or unit altogether. I believe it is important to use both these smaller and larger reflections and adjustments to authentically self-assess as you teach, so that you have a good sense of your strengths and growth opportunities as a teacher. Below is an example of my reflection after the first day of teaching a new lesson - a lesson that will most likely span a few class periods, and works on skills that will be incorporated into larger projects. I’ve also included a video clip of part of that first day’s lesson.
Reflection - 12-Hue Color Wheel - 5th Grade - Bates Elementary
Overall, I felt that student engagement and response was absolutely amazing in this lesson - far better than I had even hoped. I had planned to ask questions throughout the block, and students’ responses to these questions were above expectations. In addition, before moving onto the next phase of the lesson, I had students who were already making educated guesses as to what was coming next— in a way that stemmed from curiosity, rather than impatience. When I rewatched the video, I saw this happening in ways that I hadn’t noticed in class as well. The table closest to the camera stayed far more engaged and on track than I remember them being in previous projects, even when neither I nor another teacher were near them. That, as well as the genuine interest and problem solving I saw taking place was the most rewarding experience.
There were a few students who mixed up the ordering of either the primary or secondary colors, which made it impossible for their color wheel to be accurate. This could have been a combination of lack of attention and of my instructions not being clear enough for their understanding. Either way, I would address this in future lessons, and perhaps make a note of these students in particular, and check on them more often in the future. I would definitely work on making my directions easier to understand, so that the few students who struggled with the assignment would succeed more. I feel that I did an alright job circulating throughout the room, but I would work to be even more diligent about that. There were a lot of vocabulary words that were associated with this lesson, and I think it would be beneficial to include them in some written way, such as writing them on the board, or having an additional handout with terms and definitions, in order to reinforce the concepts. Between speaking the words out loud and writing them down for students to read, I would be providing various ways for the students to let the terms sink in.
I over-planned for this lesson, and in fact, it will need to finish taking place over a few more class periods, so not all objectives have been met yet. However, based on what the students got through, and the success thus far, I do believe the students will hit the outcomes over the next few class periods. I would count their almost-finished color wheel worksheets as evidence that they are on track to meet objectives. This lesson helped me gauge where these students were at with their color theory and more detail-oriented skills. After completing this lesson, I know better what they can handle as far as detail tools (colored pencils) and blending 12+ hues. Future lessons will include objectives that use and further challenge these skills.
Something that became very apparent to me during this placement was the lack of diversity and cultural competency within the school in general. The student population, while not incredibly diverse, is far much more so than the staff and teachers. For this last assignment, and throughout the semester, I tried to work in as much representation as I could into mine and my mentor teacher’s lessons. The second part of this lesson plan on color theory and blending focuses on using the colors within the wheel to blend accurate skin tones, so that the students can represent themselves in their own art. It is so important for kids, especially those from marginalized communities, to see themselves represented in positive ways. It can happen on TV, in movies, and in sports, but it can also happen in art— both art that they make, and that they view. The first project that they would have been applying these color blending skills to was that of their own personalized nutcrackers. Since nutcrackers are European in origin, there might have been a solid case made to keep the nutcracker’s skin tones homogenous (read: white). I wanted to make sure the students knew they had options here. My mentor teacher was supportive, and overall, I think this experience has given me the experience and confidence to take stands - probably more meaningful than this one - in the future.