Roma+Soni

Hello, my name is Roma Soni. This is my fourth year of teaching at the American International School-Riyadh, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Prior to this I have taught Art in the Universal American School of Kuwait for four years. This year I am teaching grades 6, 7 and 8, Visual Art. Until last year I was teaching grades 10, 11 and 12, too. Our school size increased this year so my schedule is full with Middle School students. My HS 'After School Activity Club' is called 'Colorful Creators'. I have the pleasure of holding the position of an Assistant Examiner for the IB. I am passionate about my subject and my students in school. My husband is a banker and I have a daughter in grade 9 and a daughter in grade 11 in the school. That's a bit about me. I am glad to have the opportunity to get to know you better as we progress through the course.My goal in this course would be to better understand the relationship of curriculum, instruction and assessment so I could aim towards providing them with meaningful learning experiences. This according to me should be able to motivate them towards gaining understanding, optimize their understanding of the subject, assist them gain satisfaction for the efforts they put in, which in turn will facilitate me being a better educator.
 * __ Journal #1 __** 

 **__ Journal #2 __**  // Knowledge // // Alive //  According to the author, David Perkins, we need to strike a balance between exposing learners to knowledge and, teaching diverse skills to handle it well. This he terms as Knowledge Arts. In other words, as for knowledge, the awareness of creating it; to, communicating with it; to, organizing it; and finally learners acting on it, in simple or complex ways, by making visible thinking routines, is 'knowledge arts'. The author grades schools quite low in the above categories. He recommends that we enliven teaching and learning through knowledge arts by making thinking routines and by teaching for understanding. I agree with the author totally. Being an art teacher, I am fortunate enough to be constantly part of a 'knowledge art' experience. In my art room, student learning is totally project based, 'hands on' and differentiated. The students are exposed to 'real' situations and this helps them being excited, involved, challenged and committed. I personally enjoy the experience along with the students. According to Perkins, the curriculum designers should be able to help the teacher specify, what skills of inquiry, strategies of communication, methods of organization, and ranges of application they are striving to develop in students; how they are spending time on it and how they are exciting students' interest; and providing serious guidance. In other words the second curriculum is to educate for today and tomorrow: or it is not just about gaining knowledge but also about knowing how to use it in the future.   // Preparing for Today and Tomorrow //  Eisner's view to prepare students for 'today and tomorrow' is essentially to enable them to deal effectively with the present. Eisner asks us to provide students with an Education process that is meaningful, challenging, interesting and intellectually demanding and includes diversity to add richness to our culture. His aims, in his words are, to teach students: That the practices of deliberation and judgment go hand in hand. To be able to critically examine, explore and explicate for 'today'. Meaningful literacy so students can recreate and re-create Collaborative tasks to be able to work as a community and Service towards the community through individual or group achievement These aims if respected enough will help us better prepare our students for an easier tomorrow. In my experience there are various factors that give rise to the 'preparatory' and 'hoop jumping' conception of education. When education provided is not 'real life' or project based or not as meaningful to the students, and is passed on to them, or, when there is not enough challenge to involve or excite the learner so he/she develops the ability to face different situations, we are not preparing/educating them for the present and the future. The motivation should not be the grades but the education that prepares them. For me as an Art teacher it is just about natural and meaningful to focus on Eisner's aims in my present day teaching situation. My class activities or studio projects whether individual or collaborative, relate to the ideas, emotions and research (various sources) of individual students and real life situations. The projects are differentiated and challenging thus motivating students to create putting in their best. Of course there is always space and scope to do more and better, which keeping Eisner's aims in mind, would be easier to follow through with.



**__ Journal #3 __**  According to the constructivist theory, learning seems to be at its PEAK when it is involving, active and enjoyable. Usage of thinking and understanding skills are the basis of constructivism. Perceptive understanding rather than ingesting knowledge is important for learning to occur. This learning involves the construction of organizing principles by students which they can apply and transfer from one learning situation to another. Since students are the key participants in the process of intuitive exploring and assessing their own learning, according to constructivism, they take responsibility for shaping their own learning curve. Creative opportunities, such as project learning helps students save knowledge as well as transmit it to 'real life' situations. In addition, according to the constructivist theory, such learning activities help students be inquisitive and curious and take these ideas, feelings and research over to solve their natural curiosity of the World. Constructivism leads students towards healthier survival. This type of collaborative learning prepares students to be able to exchange ideas, 'deal with' and yet communicate in a socially acceptable manner.

Even though the benefits of constructivism outweigh other methods of teaching, I believe educators need to be cautious of certain constraints in this method. It is a known fact that many children in our world do not have the advantage to obtain an education based on the constructivist theory. These children lack the comfort of having parents who are either dedicated to them or have the funds to provide for them, either, exceptional educators or the resources required for this kind of learning. This restricts the learning to be applicable to the 'privileged few'. Constructivism is based on collaborative learning in which sometimes students who do not have a 'loud enough' voice to express themselves might not be heard and only the voices or ideas of the dominant ones are heard. Individual 'say' might go unheard in these situations. Ongoing assessment through individual expression and reflection should take place either via demonstration of techniques, use of rubrics, and response through journal writing, email or graphic organizers, like inspiration. Educators need to facilitate individual participation and the use of differentiation strategies to promote learning. Sometimes while following the principles of constructivism, educators work towards 'a classroom without walls'. They could loose track of the standards to be met and the goals to be achieved. The fine line between the teacher-student responsibilities might just get fuzzy and not enough learning would take place. Educators need to be careful about regulating the balance between student ownership and teacher responsibility. The order and structure of the class will still need to be maintained and in a constructivist manner. 

**__ Journal #4 __** According to Brandt, powerful human learning depends on certain factors. The first one being, that what students learn is, what is personally meaningful to them. In my experience, while working with students on a lesson on 'buildings and architecture', I noticed that students picked buildings that were personally meaningful to them. They either related to their home country or culture or interests. This motivated them to work enthusiastically and construct artistically as well.

I agree with Brandt when he mentions that learning occurs only when it is challenging and when learners accept the challenge. As we worked on the lesson, 'buildings and architecture', I asked the students to make a 'shade and tint' sketch, a silhouette, a print and a art piece using mixed media for their favorite building. Given that the project was challenging, (involving a range of skills) and that they were able to express their learning in different ways, they accepted it gladly, as a challenge.

It is very important that the lesson be developmentally appropriate. If it were too easy or too difficult the students would get bored or give up. For example with the lesson, 'buildings and architecture', only the older age group could use the technique of Chinese - paper cut, to express the idea of 3 - dimension for their buildings. At the same time the younger ones learnt very basic skills to represent 'light and shade', to articulate 3-dimension in their buildings.

The students had an option of beginning their work with any of the projects mentioned above. They related to the 'buildings and architecture' that were of optimal interest to them. Once the first part of the project was complete it would relate and lead them to the next piece of work. This allowed them to be in control of their work and yet help them learn through the construction work.

To be able to make the building sketch, students use their background knowledge, of the basic elements of art; line, value, shape, form, space and texture to incorporate light and shade. They produced further using their background knowledge as the foundation of their creation.

They work in collaboration with partners, building and learning, as they pull together their social skills to 'negotiate', lead and follow and to take decisions together.

In art constant feedback from peers and teacher relating to the ongoing 'process to product' experience helps students craft better and differently.

As the learning is project based, exploring with media, techniques and processes helps students acquire and implement new strategies. Project work imitates a 'real life' situation. It thus provides the feeling of positive recognition and the warmth and comfort to generate more.

Positive class climate definitely leads to constructive growth and learning. This occurs when the projects include differentiation (are individually meaningful), are challenging and every student is involved.

I find my present teaching assignment very viable for these conditions to be prevalent and for learning to occur. Art projects are 'hands on', 'real life', and demanding and direct students towards cross-curricular learning. In school we are expected to teach to the concepts in the curriculum but we have the freedom to plan and design our lessons. This helps us adapt to the needs of individual students and achieve better results. Assessment in my class is ongoing, the process being as much fun as the product. 

**__ Journal # 5 __** <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Justify the claim that the best lesson and unit designs are “backwards.” <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">The Backward approach to curricular design helps an educator, think like an assessor about the evidence of learning. It not only helps us spell out our learning outcomes but also facilitates us to provide the experiences so our students can find clear direction. Articulation of required objectives, important performances, and teaching-learning experiences lead to better student learning, which is the purpose of this approach. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Planned goals and related purposeful activities do not result in backward design, until and unless we have our assessments chalked out prior to planning our 'favorite' learning activity. In other words experiences are decided only after the ‘understanding’ goal is worked out. As quoted 'teaching is a means to an end', meaning, clear goals help educators plan and work in a purposeful manner in following the 3 stages: <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">In the first stage, as educators we must identify, what enduring understandings/big ideas, skills and knowledge can be transferred to new contexts that the students need to know. This will help us work towards these 'desired results'. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">In the second stage, a range of assessment methods, including performance tasks that provide good evidence of students enduring understanding need to be planned. Self and peer assessments are good guidelines of measuring design standards. This will help us understand students' attainment of learning. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">In the third stage, with identified results and proper proof of understanding, engaging and effective learning activities need to be finalized. These will help us direct students towards recognized outcomes that they can later build upon or transfer to another situation.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Connecting with pages 114 and 115 of Understanding by design, by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins, we find that mature understanding attained by students is found to be characterized by certain behaviors. These behaviors clearly distinguish understanding from knowing and doing what they are studying. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Understanding is not merely a knowledge of facts but knowledge of 'why and how'. We need to go beyond the facts given to make inferences, connect, organize and associate and then weave them into enlightening and purposeful patterns. My art students would research the symbols in ancient art, make meaningful conclusions, connect various ancient cultures, and then organize and associate them to create a consequential artwork, as an understanding behavior. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lasting understanding helps students make connections in learning, by using it, adapting it and customizing it. Understanding is a context dependant skill which would help in successfully accomplishing tasks or doing, but using tact in different situations. Students in my art room would research ancient wall art, learn about the symbolism and techniques used and then adapt them to express their own ideas and feelings through their own work, as an understanding behavior. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">An understanding is an assumption, not an actuality. It is an insight reached in intellectual fields through inquest. This may be different from common sense or conventional wisdom or knowledge. When students research a certain topic or theme, the understanding they gain is individual. An understanding of byzantine art by students may stimulate their religious values, their skills or their knowledge of art history/culture. And this can motivate them to further create their individual work through understanding. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Knowledge of when and how to use our skills, guided by strategic principles is an understanding behavior. Understanding justifies the use of the skill and facilitates the student to expand the use in new circumstances. On learning about the tools, techniques and processes about an ancient art form, students can apply and integrate them in a contemporary art situation using understanding. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Understanding is an overview reached after an investigation. It is the enlightenment reached at the end of the study of a topic. Knowledge of the topic would be similar but the understanding may be different for different people. An example of this would be, on learning about ceramic art, students understanding may lead them towards creating ceramics or glazing/firing raw clay artifacts. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Thus students being able to apply knowing and doing to ‘real life situations’ results in understanding behavior.
 * __ Journal # 6 __**