Student Teacher-Guest Blog

I had the most wonderful semester with my student teacher-Laura. Whenever you have a student teacher come into your classroom it can be a bit unsettling to give up those classroom reins to someone else.  Well, this time there was no reason for worry!  Laura did a phenomenol job. She was dynamic in the classroom, organized (more than me most of the time), and just an all around great addition to our program. She ROCKS!!!!  So, that being said, I'd like to give Laura an opportunity to share with you one of her many success stories while student teaching with me here at BDHS.....

My time at BDHS included teaching Introductory Drawing and Painting, Introductory Fibers, and Beyond & Advanced Digital Photography.  Going in to the placement, I was confident that I could teach drawing, painting, and fibers, as these were all strengths of mine in my coursework and personal artwork.  My confidence was a bit wobbly, shall we say, as I prepared to teach digital photography.  Fortunately, I had recently taken a Digital Art class to update my Photoshop knowledge (hadn’t touched it in over a decade – eek!) and borrowed a quality digital camera to refine my photography skills.  Teaching this class turned out to be a great opportunity for me to grow as a teacher and artist. 

One particular project that was fun to see progress was a copyright-free photo contest for middle and high school students called Image Ideas.  The Ideas website is sponsored by the UW-Extension to “provide Wisconsin educators with teacher-reviewed, standards-aligned lessons, interactive tools, video, high-quality digital images, & other resources for use in curriculum development and classroom instruction.”   As I introduced this project to my students, I tried to impress upon them that they needed to do their homework and understand what their client – the Ideas website – wanted from them as photographers.   I required them to investigate the website to see what photos were already available and consider what types of subject matter teachers would be interested in using.

Silo by E. Dean                                              Contest Submission

Each student was to submit five photos with at least one having a Wisconsin-focused theme.  I encouraged them to revisit locations, refine images in Photoshop (without overdoing it), and revise their selections as they progressed toward the deadline.  This was a great opportunity for student growth as they attempted to take and select photographs that would not only be high quality, but highly useful for their client as well.  After we dropped the envelope of CDs in the mail, they eagerly awaited the results.  I think I got questions daily for at least a week! 

Columbus Restaurant by T. Simon              Contest Submission

The ImageIde@s team would be awarding only two firsts and two seconds in the high school category, so we knew the competition would be intense.  I was thrilled to open the webpage of contest results to find that we had a second place winner!  It was exciting to share with the class that Emily Gibson’s photo of jellyfish at the Shedd Aquarium had earned her a new iPod Nano.  It was great to see the smile on her face as this quiet, talented student got a round of applause from her classmates.



Jellies by E. Gibson                                                                                                   2nd Place Winner

This was one of many successful projects and satisfying moments this semester.  I thoroughly enjoyed teaching at BDHS and am amazed at what our students can accomplish.  I could not have asked for a better experience in student teaching!