My Reflection Of Learning At Saint Mary's University

Throughout my time studying at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, I have been consistently asked, “what grade do you want to teach?” This question has always left me uncomfortable because I did not have a solid stance on the matter. When pushed for an answer my response was always, “High school or elementary - I just can’t see myself teaching middle school.” My blanketed opinion was developed out of a lack of experience and interaction with learners from the middle school grades, so I felt both excited and nervous going into my clinical practicum at the Roseville Area Middle school. I was fortunate to join my host teacher, Mrs. Xiong, during two weeks in which she was teaching numerous art media and was in varying stages of the processes. The students were completing a clay unit, midway through a painting and a collage unit, and some were starting a printmaking unit. I benefited from witnessing how Xiong made transitions from unit to unit and how she balanced a timeline of these overlapping art media. The juggling act of time management for clay firing and glazing was seamlessly supported by the students’ following units of instruction. Xiong carefully planned and executed learning that allowed her students to transition from one medium to the next and in doing so, taught her students the valuable lesson of time management and planning.

As I watched this veteran teacher in the arts classroom, the myriad of methods that I have been studying in my MAT program for