Chandon Hammersmith

Narrative & Topic Rationale

The specific students I will be teaching, 2nd quarter, range from
grades 9-12. This class is 2D art and the students have enrolled
voluntarily. When I teach, I will be targeting all students directly,
nothing tailored towards a specific grade. Majority of the class is made
up of freshman, then sophomores, juniors, and fewest seniors. There
are about three seniors total.
The developmental stages of the students are all different. For
example, there is a freshman girl who has been practicing art all her
life; she can proficiently use appropriate techniques and processes
without needing detailed instruction. On the other hand there is a
senior who has not been enrolled in an art class since sixth grade. He
is enthusiastic and excited to learn but he is unfamiliar and unaware of
all techniques, materials, and also processes, which means he will
probably acquire extra help and assistance. There is also a student
with an aid consistently in the classroom. This student is verbal but
does not say or participate too often. When given the option, he
chooses to work individually and keeps to himself and completes the
required task.
The context of learning ranges, depending on the student and
the needs of each single student. Some students will acquire more
attention and instruction while others will complete required objectives
without any assistance. It is important to learn and understand each
individual and unique need of each student. So far, nothing has stood
out that requires completely different instruction or assignment; all of
the students seem to be interpreting everything differently but
effectively. One student obtains an IEP that has an aid at all times. This
student needs differentiation in some instruction depending on the
task. Most differentiation is geared towards fine motor skills. The
students seem to have a mutual interest in traveling, exploring, and
going on adventures. Knowing this I can incorporate traveling into
future lesson plans to ensure students are engaged and persistent
throughout each lesson.
The students are expected to listen to the teacher during
introduction of class, introduction of projects, during demonstrations,
and also during any other required times. I, the teacher, will walk
around and ask questions during student work time. Inquiry questions
facilitate creative thinking and problem solving, so the more interaction
between the teacher and student while working the better. Students
will also interact with each other while working, to gain multiple
perspectives on a similar situation or project. The students will form an
efficient working and creating community by getting to know one
another. Students are expected to respect whoever is talking, whether
that is the teacher or a specific student. Students are also expected to

address specific guidelines for each project, and also clean up after
themselves each day.
This physical environment focuses on two-dimensional art (Fig 2).
There is a large section of the room that is devoted to supplies and
materials, which is very necessary for creating art. The class is
organized in tables, which is efficient for an art room due to the idea of
thought sharing and in progress critiques. There is a large bookshelf
with stacks of magazines, which are useful for college projects and also
paper cutting projects. Like every classroom there is a smart board and
teachers desk at the front of the room. One whole wall is dedicated to
artwork display, for critiques and finished work. The whole back wall is
dedicated to storing materials and organizing supplies (Fig. 1).
The classroom demographics consist of 33 students altogether,
made up of 20 males and 13 females. Sixty percent of the class is
Caucasian. The rest of the class includes students of two or more
races. The diversity of the class is low; majority of the students were
born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado. The range of students who
acquire special accommodations is also very low. Only one student
requires an IEP and has a paraprofessional in the classroom at all
times.
The class atmosphere and culture is positive. On the second day
of class, the students interviewed each other and presented what they
learned to the class. Here they discovered many interests and
similarities about each other, which affected their seating arrangement
choice on day three. Since the room is adequately organized in
addition to plenty resources available, problems with student
engagement will be low which means I will be better equipped and
prepared for future lessons to come.
The students will be focusing on 2D drawing throughout the
entire class. The students will first complete a drawing of a student in
their class with no other given instruction. Next, students will get
lessons and instruction in contour line drawing through
demonstrations. The students will participate in many exercises and
warm-ups to get them comfortable with drawing. Students will then
complete the same pre-assessment activity as a post-assessment, to
determine the growth of student learning. The first pre-assessment
shows me what the students know about drawing and also how
advanced they are when it comes to 2D portraiture drawings. This
topic is necessary to teach now in order for students to further develop
their drawing and 2D art making skills.
The students have been completing assignments that have been
building up to this unit. The students practiced collages, values, and
also compositions. The first drawing the students completed showed
me what I had to focus on when teaching drawing. The student work
showed that the students needed work on proportions, compositions,
and line work. The students already know how to draw shapes and

invent characteristics when it comes to drawing human figures, and

from now on they will focus on realism.
Figure 1

Figure 2