Today I substituted for a middle school art teacher. She had six periods in a row of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and sadly no time for lunch. There are two art teachers for the middle school and they teach the 7th grade classes together. This other teacher has a student teacher with her so there were three of us in the classroom for the two periods of 7th grade students.
I met and chatted with the student teacher, "S", for the first 20 minutes or so. She seemed really nice and talked to me a bit about my day. She also said that the teacher she is working for is an interesting one and I soon found out what she meant. This teacher, we'll call her Mrs. A, would have crushed any interest I had in art if I'd been in her class. The first thing she did was shout at the students as they came in for being too loud. She shouted her instructions to them and continued to berate them for talking, threatening to keep them after school. Her voice had this ridiculous ring to it that drove me crazy. Mrs. A constantly tore apart their work and would tell students they were doing stuff wrong. It's art! You really can't do anything wrong in art class, and not every student is going to be great at shading and drawing. The kids clearly hated her. I didn't hear her give them a word of praise the entire day. I circled the room and told the kids they were doing a good job, making sure to tell the kids with really nice drawings how well they were doing. "S" was definitely right, and she said she really hates being Mrs. A's student teacher and can't wait to be finished.
I talked to "S" for a while about the curriculum of the two teachers. The only thing the kids have done so far is draw. They are given photocopies of things like animals and plants and are told to copy the pictures using drawing and shading techniques. I feel so bad for these students. The teachers don't trust them with anything that could be messy, like paints or carving tools. If all I had done for three months of school was draw I'd be bored out of my mind.
Mrs. A told me the 8th graders would be really bad. I took her words with a grain of salt and started the class off with my expectations (respect, honesty, and kindness). The students were great - I let them chat with their neighbors and almost every kid worked hard and added to his or her drawings. My second group of 8th graders was a class of English Language Learners. These kids were louder and chattier than the first class but worked on their drawings. The only class I had trouble with was a group of 6th graders who just would not be quiet. I don't mind a little chatting but the kids shouldn't talk down to their neighbors or talk about inappropriate things. So I had to move some of the students to different parts of the room. Once I gave them the option to have free time at the end of the day, if they were quiet, they shaped up and calmed down. I put three stars on the board worth 3 minutes of free time each and only had to take away half a star.
Overall it was a very interesting day. Mrs. A really should retire - she is clearly not enjoying her job and definitely not inspiring her students. I hope "S" gets a chance to student teach in a better classroom next semester. I'm saddened by the art curriculum and hope some of the students realize how awesome art is.
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