Elementary School Student Teaching
My very first student teaching experience was at P.S. 503 The School of Discovery, a dual language elementary school. I spent two consecutive semesters student teaching at this placement. At first I primarily observed and assisted my cooperating teacher. I helped my CT prepare materials and set up the classroom, I sat with students that needed extra support and taught some of my CTs lessons. This student teaching placement culminated with a learning segment that I designed and taught to a class of fourth graders.
The projects that my CT taught primarily centered around painting and drawing so I wanted to teach a sculpture project using clay that would challenge the students to think in the third dimension. My CT was in charge of the chess club after school so as a way of incorporating the school culture and student interests, I designed a project where students would work both collaboratively and independently to create a unique chess set centering around a theme.
Six groups of around six students began the project through brainstorming a theme and sketching designs for the chess pieces. Students then individually began making the pieces out of model magic--making sure to create unique pieces while staying true to the chosen theme. Students sectioned off the model magic to create different size pieces and made sure to create a base that would support the design so that it could be freestanding. After the pieces were constructed, students used tempera paint to finish the chess pieces. Afterwards students painted two 4x4 sheets of paper in warm and cool colors. This paper was then cut into strips and woven together to create a checkerboard pattern. Four sets of weavings were combined for each group to create a complete full size chess board.
Below I have included images of the mostly finished chess boards, along with images of the making process as well as other projects with different age groups in the school.
The projects that my CT taught primarily centered around painting and drawing so I wanted to teach a sculpture project using clay that would challenge the students to think in the third dimension. My CT was in charge of the chess club after school so as a way of incorporating the school culture and student interests, I designed a project where students would work both collaboratively and independently to create a unique chess set centering around a theme.
Six groups of around six students began the project through brainstorming a theme and sketching designs for the chess pieces. Students then individually began making the pieces out of model magic--making sure to create unique pieces while staying true to the chosen theme. Students sectioned off the model magic to create different size pieces and made sure to create a base that would support the design so that it could be freestanding. After the pieces were constructed, students used tempera paint to finish the chess pieces. Afterwards students painted two 4x4 sheets of paper in warm and cool colors. This paper was then cut into strips and woven together to create a checkerboard pattern. Four sets of weavings were combined for each group to create a complete full size chess board.
Below I have included images of the mostly finished chess boards, along with images of the making process as well as other projects with different age groups in the school.