For my student teaching placement, I went to Edna Brewer Middle School located in Oakland, California. My mentor teacher, Lisa Perkins, operated a Discipline Based Art Education(DBAE) which emphasized on art knowledge and technique application. For introduction(Grade 6), intermediate(Grade 7), and advanced(Grade 8) classes, different curriculums were designed to foster art learning. by observing, adapting, and eventually teaching on my own, I was able to develop my own curriculum and teaching philosophy.
Interculturalism
In the contemporary world of diversity, it is essential to incorporate interculturalism into education. Growing up in both China and America brought me a unique view on how art education encourages interculturalism. For my Master’s degree of art education, I made a capstone project on the topic.
Cross disciplinary
Art as a subject matter can cross the boundaries of all disciplines. Whether to be language arts, science, history, mathematics and social studies. During my student teaching, I designed a curriculum that utilize the knowledge of engineering and mathematics to build a “Mobile” sculpture inspired by Alexander Calder. Attached is a planning worksheet of how mathematical concept applied to the “Mobile” sculpture construction.
Universal Design for Learning(UDL)
During my student teaching experience at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, CA, I encountered students from a wide range of background. I learnt that each student has a different learning style, therefore it is important to design a universal curriculum(UDL) to suit ALL students. I found that presenting the same information in different formats(image, text, video) and have them uploaded to an online platform(Google Classroom, LMS) is an effective practice. students will able to access the information whenever and however they need.
