My students need a document camera. It is very difficult with my large class sizes to demonstrate techniques or show examples so that every student can see.
It is my first year teaching. Most of my students don't yet see the importance of art and visual communication in their lives. The culture that they come from, the majority are from Yemen, does not value it as much as we do in western cultures where it is even being cut in schools.
My students are lively, personable and learning a second language.
Some are only beginning to learn English, so for them, especially, and all the students visual art classes can be less stressful for them because there are many visual examples of not only the assignments but the vocabulary they will hear and learn to use.
My school is a Title 1 school in Michigan where the budget is not high and the teachers and students work very hard. There are added challenges to learning that we face with the majority of the students being of low socioeconomic status and ELLs. Any help and access to technology that we can procure to improve our chances of helping our students succeed is invaluable.
My Project
This will be used to not only help in ease of lesson presentation for me. Instead of having my back to the students or being stuck behind my desk to show presentations from the computer, I can be facing the students and gauge their interest, understanding of and engagement in the projects and materials. This will help to ensure learning, appropriate levels of difficulty and better comprehension. I will also be able to demonstrate my own artistic skills which is important for the students to see in action.
By having a more responsive teacher and therefore a more engaging lesson the students will spend more time doing and learning and less time being held back by the struggles that they face.
In observing my examples, they can see that I am capable and competent too. They will respect my opinions and the things that I tell them more if they can see this. Hopefully, this will lead to them respecting art as a valid way of learning about the world and a way to be successful in it as well.
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