DOMAIN II: Creating a Positive and Productive Classroom Environment.
Proficiency II.1. You establish a classroom climate that emphasizes collaboration and supportive interactions, respect for diversity and individual differences in students.
To show that I establish a classroom climate that emphasizes collaboration and supportive interactions as well as respect for diversity and individual differences among students I have included a lesson plan on sustainability taught to middle school students on a field trip to the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve. This lesson plan incorporates both Art and Physical Ed. TEKS and asks students to work collaboratively in groups to design and create a model town where access to resources affects their designs. Each student included a building or area of the town that related to them (a soccer field, an art studio, a video game store, a library, etc.) and the group worked together to synthesize their different designs of an ideal town.
II.2. You create learning activities that are active and communicate your enthusiasm for learning.
To show that I create learning activities that are active and communicate my enthusiasm for learning I have included photos of a clay project I taught to a chapter of the Boys and Girls Club in East Austin with non-profit Mobile Art Program. I was really excited about this project for two reasons: one because it was with clay which is my medium of choice and, two, because the students donated their pieces to senior citizens in East Austin assisted living to brighten up their day. I really enjoyed teaching the students something that would help them give back to their community and my enthusiasm was evident in both the lesson and how well their final products showed up.
II.3. You consistently and effectively convey high expectations for students.
To show that I consistently and effectively convey high expectations for students I have included reflections from high school Art 1 students during a unit I taught on experimental drawing. Students were asked to reflect after each new exercise, examples of these exercises include drawing an object from touch while blindfolded, drawing with their non-dominant hand, or drawing with their pencil in their mouth. These reflections show that I have high expectations for students and that they both struggled and saw the value in the exercises they did in class that pushed the boundaries of the current definition of drawing.
II.4. You create a safe, nurturing and inclusive classroom.
To show that I create a safe, nurturing, and inclusive classroom I have included an e-mail exchange between a high school Art 1 student and myself. The e-mail shows that the student feels she built confidence and tried new techniques in my class which is the result of a nurturing classroom. I had initially contacted her because her assignment wasn't showing up as it should online but she took the opportunity to not only respond to the assignment but also to thank me for the lessons I taught as part of an experimental drawing unit.
II.5. You effectively manage student behavior and create an organized and productive learning environment.
To show that I effectively manage student behavior and create an organized and productive learning environment I have included a page from a slide presentation I used in a high school Art 1 class. Students were asked to do their assignments on a single GoogleDoc that would be updated after each class for homework. Students were coming to me confused about which particular assignment we were on as a class so I created a page like this for each day. At the beginning of class, I would go over the assignments that they should have already completed for homework and also explained what their homework would be for that day. I then asked students if they had any questions about where we were at to make sure that we were all on the same page. I also invited students to write down the information or take a photo of the slide with their phones to help them stay organized and productive.