Praxis Folio

Question 1: Why is teaching my content or area of focus important to what I believe about teaching? How do I see these beliefs aligning with my teaching practices? I teach art and with teaching art there are certain processes that need to happen. I believe in the full experience of art. From the beginning of art history, observing to researching, creating, critiquing and then artist statement. I believe there can be an appreciation for every single to step and every step needs to be taken to get the full experience. I try to have this process in place as much as possible when giving my students an artistic experience. Question 2: How is my understanding of content concepts guiding me in making needed changes in my teaching practices in the area of my content or area of focus? I needed to reflect on my current practices and look at what I felt needed more attention. I am going to focus more on art history, critiquing, reflection/artist statement and technology. I have also looked at what classes should be added to our department to better our kids towards college and career readiness. Question 3: How am I coming to connect the depth of understanding and application needed in the learning process of each student? How am I changing my content or area of focus delivery to account for the cognitive processes of my students, engaging them in solving real life problems for building knowledge? I am encouraging my students to make mistakes and try something new. I know it can be scary, but when they find that they can do more than they thought it is very rewarding for them and I. I love see them think outside of the box and use their creativity. With critiquing it requires the students to do the analysis and critical thinking that they can use in any situation. I take the students learning process step by step with them. I give them rubrics so they know their expectation up front and can use that rubric as a check off list and self assessment sheet. This is all training them to be self reliant and sufficient. Question 4: How can the gifts, backgrounds, and interests of each person in the classroom community be used to help one another learn and make my content or area of focus understandable and meaningful in their lives In art I give the students partial choice in their subject matter of their work. This way they can tailor it to their specific interests. Students then converse about each others work and interests creating deeper knowledge and thinking.