(no subject)
Thomas Chapman
Observation/ Interview Paper
10/29/09
For my observation/Interview paper I visited Sue Dowling (404-226-1617), an art Education teacher at Garrett Middle School in Austell, Georgia (5235 Austell Powder Springs Rd). I scheduled to visit with Sue Dowling and sit in on two of her classes on Oct 23rd, 2009, the first class beginning at 10:30am. I had much trouble finding the school; I had never been to Austell and once there, found that Map Quest directions couldn’t be trusted. Because Sue’s phone was not on I ended up having to stop and many gas stations and ask many people if they knew where Garrett Middle School was. I was somewhat surprised to find that hardly anyone knew about the school’s existence let alone its whereabouts, but after being directed to the local high school I was able to obtain directions from the school employees. Upon reaching Garrett Middle School I was ten minutes late and had trouble finding the front office of the school. In fact, I ended up being let in through a side door by a teacher who after seeing my papers led me to Mrs. Dowling’s class. Garrett Middle School seemed quite small and average, and the teacher who let me in explained that the school was somewhat old, having been there for about thirty years.
Upon entering Mrs. Dowling’s class I was immediately astonished. I had never seen a classroom, let alone an art class room that was the size of Mrs. Dowling’s. There were seven large tables where the students were seated, and accessories in the classroom which included a DVD and VHS projector, a Mac Computer, and furnishings on top of the cabinets that circled the room of famous Artists’ works. Immediately on the wall to my right was a board which Mrs. Dowling used to display her own students’ works, and there was an island of cabinets with a sink towards the opposite wall. In the far right corner of the room was a door leading to an office and a couch, where Mrs. Dowling had her work and planning station set up. In the far left corner of the room was another desk Mrs. Dowling used with her personal laptop set up to the projector. When I entered the classroom there was a movie playing on the projector while the students worked on an assignment. Mrs. Dowling came out of her office in the top right corner of the room and greeted me with a smile. We sat down at a work table where no students were sitting and she began to explain to me her lesson plan for the day. The day before Mrs. Dowling had taken her students on a field trip to a local theater where there had also been an exhibition of local artists’ work which included many students from local schools. Because Garrett Middle School qualified as a Title One School, the 85 students she taught need only fill out an application for free admission and transportation to several places used for field trips. The school provides the bus system for transportation, but they need only send the bill to their destination where the school is then reimbursed. She explained that Title One is also responsible for federally funded breakfast/lunch for students at risk or transients. She explained that the field trip was a great success, that she had almost no problems with student behavior and as a reward put on a movie for class on Friday. While watching the movie the student’s were working on making pictures of there names using different kinds of lines, i.e. straight, squiggly, bubble letters, etc. They were then required to color them using water resistant crayons and after that were supposed to apply water colors. Some of the students were loud with talking but others seemed to be solely focused on the assignment at hand and I hardly noticed any student watching the film. Because I was ten minutes late I had just missed the demonstration, and Mrs. Dowling explained to me that demonstrating the daily objectives/goals was the most important part.
Mrs. Dowling explained that her classes consisted of an opening- demonstration/explanations of daily objectives, work- the students attempt to complete the project on their own while Mrs. Dowling would circle the room evaluating progress and offering suggestions, and closing- in which Mrs. Dowling would collect completed projects and affirm the daily objectives once more and offer insight into the daily objectives of the next class period. She explained that she creates and writes out her lesson plans for each day and keeps them in a three ring binder to be assessed later by a school official. Mrs. Dowling explained that schools are now America’s choice, or standards based schools in which teachers are not only responsible for their daily lesson plans, but are also evaluated on them as well. She said that Standards was new this year, and that each class session is required to have an Essential Question. She said that each grade level has Curriculum Standards and that at the end of each year they are evaluated through GAPS/SAX, which is the Georgia Assessment of Performance on School Standards. I asked Mrs. Dowling how long she had been working at Garrett Middle School, how she liked it and what she did before, and she explained that she had been teaching for about five years, the last three being at Garrett and before that she was a teaching assistant at an elementary school. She explained that she much preferred this job and she was currently working on her masters.
When I asked her about the makeup of her classes, Mrs. Dowling explained that her average class size was around 25-27 students and that she had six classes per week, mostly boys, with an average of only about nine Special Education students. When I asked her about her changes in lesson plans for these students she explained that it is hard for her to make adjustments before class for the students, because you never really know what the student is capable of accomplishing. Mrs. Dowling explained that she makes adjustments for these students as necessary, but the adjustments usually occur during class and not before. Many of her special education students are accompanied by a school worker who helps them with their daily routines. She explained that one of her Special Education students is accompanied by five school workers and that change in lesson plans are almost always made for this particular student.
While talking with Mrs. Dowling her students were busy at work. Most of the students were quiet and busy, except for a table with three boys in the back of the room. Throughout our conversation Mrs. Dowling would have to pause to speak with one particular boy several times, giving him warnings for what would happen if he continued to be a disruption. After the third time the boy understood and discontinued his classroom interruptions. Towards the end of our conversation Mrs. Dowling looked at her watch, got up and turned off the movie, addressed the class about what would need to be finished during the next class session, and invited me to accompany her as she escorted her students to their next class. I found this fairly odd, because as I remembered middle school, the students were dismissed by a bell and were expected to make it to the next period on their own. I pointed this out and Mrs. Dowling explained that it used to be that way at Garrett Middle School, but it was soon discovered that the students needed adult supervision at most all times. I was very surprised by this and walked with Mrs. Dowling as she gave me a tour of the school.
When I asked Mrs. Dowling about her philosophy of teaching she explained that believed strongly in Progressivism and Existentialism and thought that firm instruction based on both these ideas yielded a healthy curiosity in her students. After sitting in on the second class session I found it hard to pick these ideas out of her teaching. I fully understood her concept of her teaching philosophy yet found it hard to view these ideas in an everyday art class. Perhaps it was the Friday I decided to visit or the lesson plan I witnessed in particular, but I was concerned about how to fully demonstrate these ideas through mediocre tasks such as illustrating one’s names using lines. I definitely believed in Mrs. Dowling’s philosophies and I could tell that her students respected her, whether they were rowdy or not. I was very impressed by Mrs. Dowling’s teaching and the respect and understanding she achieved out of her students.
Visiting Mrs. Dowling’s classroom brought all of the Education 2110 lectures to life, and it was very fascinating to witness what we discuss in class first hand. The reality is present, and while many teachers have grandiose ideas of making school a better place, it is also very apparent that they are held back by everyday interactions with their students. So much time, energy, and effort are used to discipline students or deal with their mal behaviors that instruction suffers at the time that is exhausted. At the beginning of Chapter four in the Sadker/Zittleman book there is an example of handing out books to students and the rules, rituals, and routines that make teacher’s lesson plans suffer. This was very apparent in my school visit, but it seemed like it might be even worse in classrooms where creating simple art projects are not the focus.
After talking with Mrs. Dowling it was clear how much school funding plays a role in everyday teaching life, and that Mrs. Dowling had been extremely lucky with the recourses available to her classroom. She had inherited the Mac computer for her classroom from another that had no further use for it, and she had a state of the art projector for DVDs and VHs installed after about a years worth of asking. Mrs. Dowling also showed me some of the storage areas of her classroom where she keeps classroom supplies and explained that most of the supplies were bought by her out of her own personal wallet. It was very interesting to visit a Title One School where most of the students need financial help and where about 80% of them qualify for free/reduced lunch and breakfast. Field trips cost no money because the school needs only fill out an application that states they are qualified for Title One financial help.
After walking around the school it was apparent to me where Garrett Middle School’s yearly funding goes. The school had an orchestral section to their band with cellos and violins abundant on top of their horn, percussion, and wood instrument sections. I had no idea that middle school-ers could even play a cello bigger than them but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was available. The gym facility was nothing special and could definitely use some funding, while the cafeteria was very small as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the school offered Drama class and even had a stage with auditorium seating for class and performances. When I asked Mrs. Dowling about it she explained that the school took its drama program very seriously and that it fed into Pebble Brook- a school that is apparently well known for its outstanding Drama Curriculum.
Garrett Middle School was predominantly a minority Middle School, and while visiting I was made aware of only three white students. Like any middle school, the students already had established social groups, and students who were notoriously known for misbehaving. While I was not introduced to the school’s food alternatives, it was nice to witness the possibilities made possible by Title One. The way Mrs. Dowling explained it to me she made it seem like a godsend and I could definitely appreciate what was there on behalf of Title One.
The whole experience made me question what other schools are like, and it made me wonder what the difference between a Title One School and a school that does not qualify really looks like. I was also made curious about the availabilities of teaching jobs in the state of Georgia. Mrs. Dowling seemed like she had a very nice job teaching art class with many recourses available to her, but it made me wonder how many art education jobs are really available. If Mrs. Dowling is the art teacher at Garrett Middle School, and each school only needs one art teacher, then job recourses must be limited. In the high school I attended there were two art teachers, so this leads me to hope that job availability will always be necessary. After visiting Mrs. Dowling at Garrett Middle School I became very excited about the job I am one day trying to achieve. Though the everyday instruction of growing up children disables the direct instruction of philosophies of education we hold so dear, it does not seem like a completely futile objective. Sue Dowling had been teaching for five years and seemed comfortable in her school setting, and I wonder how long it takes for teachers to become extremely efficient at the ideas they wish to accomplish with their classes.
Observation/ Interview Paper
10/29/09
For my observation/Interview paper I visited Sue Dowling (404-226-1617), an art Education teacher at Garrett Middle School in Austell, Georgia (5235 Austell Powder Springs Rd). I scheduled to visit with Sue Dowling and sit in on two of her classes on Oct 23rd, 2009, the first class beginning at 10:30am. I had much trouble finding the school; I had never been to Austell and once there, found that Map Quest directions couldn’t be trusted. Because Sue’s phone was not on I ended up having to stop and many gas stations and ask many people if they knew where Garrett Middle School was. I was somewhat surprised to find that hardly anyone knew about the school’s existence let alone its whereabouts, but after being directed to the local high school I was able to obtain directions from the school employees. Upon reaching Garrett Middle School I was ten minutes late and had trouble finding the front office of the school. In fact, I ended up being let in through a side door by a teacher who after seeing my papers led me to Mrs. Dowling’s class. Garrett Middle School seemed quite small and average, and the teacher who let me in explained that the school was somewhat old, having been there for about thirty years.
Upon entering Mrs. Dowling’s class I was immediately astonished. I had never seen a classroom, let alone an art class room that was the size of Mrs. Dowling’s. There were seven large tables where the students were seated, and accessories in the classroom which included a DVD and VHS projector, a Mac Computer, and furnishings on top of the cabinets that circled the room of famous Artists’ works. Immediately on the wall to my right was a board which Mrs. Dowling used to display her own students’ works, and there was an island of cabinets with a sink towards the opposite wall. In the far right corner of the room was a door leading to an office and a couch, where Mrs. Dowling had her work and planning station set up. In the far left corner of the room was another desk Mrs. Dowling used with her personal laptop set up to the projector. When I entered the classroom there was a movie playing on the projector while the students worked on an assignment. Mrs. Dowling came out of her office in the top right corner of the room and greeted me with a smile. We sat down at a work table where no students were sitting and she began to explain to me her lesson plan for the day. The day before Mrs. Dowling had taken her students on a field trip to a local theater where there had also been an exhibition of local artists’ work which included many students from local schools. Because Garrett Middle School qualified as a Title One School, the 85 students she taught need only fill out an application for free admission and transportation to several places used for field trips. The school provides the bus system for transportation, but they need only send the bill to their destination where the school is then reimbursed. She explained that Title One is also responsible for federally funded breakfast/lunch for students at risk or transients. She explained that the field trip was a great success, that she had almost no problems with student behavior and as a reward put on a movie for class on Friday. While watching the movie the student’s were working on making pictures of there names using different kinds of lines, i.e. straight, squiggly, bubble letters, etc. They were then required to color them using water resistant crayons and after that were supposed to apply water colors. Some of the students were loud with talking but others seemed to be solely focused on the assignment at hand and I hardly noticed any student watching the film. Because I was ten minutes late I had just missed the demonstration, and Mrs. Dowling explained to me that demonstrating the daily objectives/goals was the most important part.
Mrs. Dowling explained that her classes consisted of an opening- demonstration/explanations of daily objectives, work- the students attempt to complete the project on their own while Mrs. Dowling would circle the room evaluating progress and offering suggestions, and closing- in which Mrs. Dowling would collect completed projects and affirm the daily objectives once more and offer insight into the daily objectives of the next class period. She explained that she creates and writes out her lesson plans for each day and keeps them in a three ring binder to be assessed later by a school official. Mrs. Dowling explained that schools are now America’s choice, or standards based schools in which teachers are not only responsible for their daily lesson plans, but are also evaluated on them as well. She said that Standards was new this year, and that each class session is required to have an Essential Question. She said that each grade level has Curriculum Standards and that at the end of each year they are evaluated through GAPS/SAX, which is the Georgia Assessment of Performance on School Standards. I asked Mrs. Dowling how long she had been working at Garrett Middle School, how she liked it and what she did before, and she explained that she had been teaching for about five years, the last three being at Garrett and before that she was a teaching assistant at an elementary school. She explained that she much preferred this job and she was currently working on her masters.
When I asked her about the makeup of her classes, Mrs. Dowling explained that her average class size was around 25-27 students and that she had six classes per week, mostly boys, with an average of only about nine Special Education students. When I asked her about her changes in lesson plans for these students she explained that it is hard for her to make adjustments before class for the students, because you never really know what the student is capable of accomplishing. Mrs. Dowling explained that she makes adjustments for these students as necessary, but the adjustments usually occur during class and not before. Many of her special education students are accompanied by a school worker who helps them with their daily routines. She explained that one of her Special Education students is accompanied by five school workers and that change in lesson plans are almost always made for this particular student.
While talking with Mrs. Dowling her students were busy at work. Most of the students were quiet and busy, except for a table with three boys in the back of the room. Throughout our conversation Mrs. Dowling would have to pause to speak with one particular boy several times, giving him warnings for what would happen if he continued to be a disruption. After the third time the boy understood and discontinued his classroom interruptions. Towards the end of our conversation Mrs. Dowling looked at her watch, got up and turned off the movie, addressed the class about what would need to be finished during the next class session, and invited me to accompany her as she escorted her students to their next class. I found this fairly odd, because as I remembered middle school, the students were dismissed by a bell and were expected to make it to the next period on their own. I pointed this out and Mrs. Dowling explained that it used to be that way at Garrett Middle School, but it was soon discovered that the students needed adult supervision at most all times. I was very surprised by this and walked with Mrs. Dowling as she gave me a tour of the school.
When I asked Mrs. Dowling about her philosophy of teaching she explained that believed strongly in Progressivism and Existentialism and thought that firm instruction based on both these ideas yielded a healthy curiosity in her students. After sitting in on the second class session I found it hard to pick these ideas out of her teaching. I fully understood her concept of her teaching philosophy yet found it hard to view these ideas in an everyday art class. Perhaps it was the Friday I decided to visit or the lesson plan I witnessed in particular, but I was concerned about how to fully demonstrate these ideas through mediocre tasks such as illustrating one’s names using lines. I definitely believed in Mrs. Dowling’s philosophies and I could tell that her students respected her, whether they were rowdy or not. I was very impressed by Mrs. Dowling’s teaching and the respect and understanding she achieved out of her students.
Visiting Mrs. Dowling’s classroom brought all of the Education 2110 lectures to life, and it was very fascinating to witness what we discuss in class first hand. The reality is present, and while many teachers have grandiose ideas of making school a better place, it is also very apparent that they are held back by everyday interactions with their students. So much time, energy, and effort are used to discipline students or deal with their mal behaviors that instruction suffers at the time that is exhausted. At the beginning of Chapter four in the Sadker/Zittleman book there is an example of handing out books to students and the rules, rituals, and routines that make teacher’s lesson plans suffer. This was very apparent in my school visit, but it seemed like it might be even worse in classrooms where creating simple art projects are not the focus.
After talking with Mrs. Dowling it was clear how much school funding plays a role in everyday teaching life, and that Mrs. Dowling had been extremely lucky with the recourses available to her classroom. She had inherited the Mac computer for her classroom from another that had no further use for it, and she had a state of the art projector for DVDs and VHs installed after about a years worth of asking. Mrs. Dowling also showed me some of the storage areas of her classroom where she keeps classroom supplies and explained that most of the supplies were bought by her out of her own personal wallet. It was very interesting to visit a Title One School where most of the students need financial help and where about 80% of them qualify for free/reduced lunch and breakfast. Field trips cost no money because the school needs only fill out an application that states they are qualified for Title One financial help.
After walking around the school it was apparent to me where Garrett Middle School’s yearly funding goes. The school had an orchestral section to their band with cellos and violins abundant on top of their horn, percussion, and wood instrument sections. I had no idea that middle school-ers could even play a cello bigger than them but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was available. The gym facility was nothing special and could definitely use some funding, while the cafeteria was very small as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the school offered Drama class and even had a stage with auditorium seating for class and performances. When I asked Mrs. Dowling about it she explained that the school took its drama program very seriously and that it fed into Pebble Brook- a school that is apparently well known for its outstanding Drama Curriculum.
Garrett Middle School was predominantly a minority Middle School, and while visiting I was made aware of only three white students. Like any middle school, the students already had established social groups, and students who were notoriously known for misbehaving. While I was not introduced to the school’s food alternatives, it was nice to witness the possibilities made possible by Title One. The way Mrs. Dowling explained it to me she made it seem like a godsend and I could definitely appreciate what was there on behalf of Title One.
The whole experience made me question what other schools are like, and it made me wonder what the difference between a Title One School and a school that does not qualify really looks like. I was also made curious about the availabilities of teaching jobs in the state of Georgia. Mrs. Dowling seemed like she had a very nice job teaching art class with many recourses available to her, but it made me wonder how many art education jobs are really available. If Mrs. Dowling is the art teacher at Garrett Middle School, and each school only needs one art teacher, then job recourses must be limited. In the high school I attended there were two art teachers, so this leads me to hope that job availability will always be necessary. After visiting Mrs. Dowling at Garrett Middle School I became very excited about the job I am one day trying to achieve. Though the everyday instruction of growing up children disables the direct instruction of philosophies of education we hold so dear, it does not seem like a completely futile objective. Sue Dowling had been teaching for five years and seemed comfortable in her school setting, and I wonder how long it takes for teachers to become extremely efficient at the ideas they wish to accomplish with their classes.