Reflection 3:

3 Practicum experiences causing reflection for improvement in teaching practice: 

Experience 2: 

The different stages in cognitive development were made glaringly apparent to me in no uncertain terms, during an art theory lesson for year 9 during my practicum experience. Ironically, the lesson I implemented on this occasion was a dismal failure, yet on the previous day I had executed the same lesson on a different focus artist, with my year 11 class, which fully engaged students and challenged them to think critically. I had included what I considered to be all of the right “ingredients” for a successful lesson. Using a power point presentation with a lot of visuals to support concepts, I used scaffolding and modeling of concepts with discussion and questioning to clarify understanding and engage my year 9 students. Lesson content used the focus artist Canaletto to concentrate on the theoretical component of the Visual Arts Syllabus, investigating each aspect of the Conceptual Framework (B.O.S NSW, 2003, pg. 19).

Whilst my lesson preparation had been thorough, with ample resources and my enthusiasm for the content obvious, students quickly lost interest and focus, leading to distraction and eventual behaviour problems. On conclusion of the slide show, by which time I had completely lost the concentration of students, they were supplied a scaffolded work sheet to complete, based on the example I had presented on power point. Of course they had great difficulty in completing it as they had been bombarded with too much information and were completely overwhelmed. I was puzzled at how the same lesson (with a different focus artist), had been such a success with my year 11 class the day before and was such a dismal failure with my year 9 class.

Disappointed, after deliberation and discussion with my colleague teacher, I came to the conclusion that I had included too much information at once, and had not allowed students to master one aspect of the Conceptual Framework before moving on to the next (elements 6.1.1 & 6.1.5). Whilst this lesson was appropriate for year 11, whose level of cognitive development had the capacity to focus, digest and understand more complex concepts, and who had experienced more exposure to the notion of the Conceptual Framework, it was not appropriate for year 9, who required a more simplified approach, breaking information down into smaller ‘chunks’ and studying them one at a time (Atherton, 2010). 

After reflection and arriving at this conclusion, I adapted the same lesson, again using the same scaffolding, modeling, examples, discussion and questioning, however I concentrated on one aspect only of the Conceptual Framework – the World, in a subsequent lesson. This modification made all the difference, with my year 9 class engaging and responding and demonstrating their understanding, by successfully completing the assigned lesson task of describing influences of the World on the artist and artworks of Canaletto (elements 3.1.2 & 5.1.4). From this experience I have learnt that attention needs to focus on the abilities of each class and the lesson content must be adapted to work with those abilities to maximize student engagement and learning outcomes. 

References: 

Atherton, J. S. (2010). Learning and Teaching; Piaget’s developmental theory. Retrieved September 28, 2010, from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm.

Board of Studies New South Wales. (2003). Visual Arts Years 7-10 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW. 

NSW Institute of Teachers. (2009). Professional Teaching Standards. Sydney: NSW Government.

 

Franz Marc: Forest With Squirrel.

http://images.easyart.com/i/prints/rw/lg/2/5/Franz-Marc-Forest-With-Squirrel-25527.jpg