1. What did you do? What positive contributions did you make?

As the assistant art teacher at Lowell, I wasnt necessarily able to do any teaching due

to behavior problems present in every class. Despite this, by managing the materials, as in

sharpening pencils, making sure each crayon box had sufficient crayons, and sharpening colored

pencils, as well as organizing other supplies and the room in general, I was able to help out Ms.

Shean, who sees 200 students everyday. Being the busy lady she is, she frequently stayed late

after school to do extra things for her students without pay, and by organizing things and such,

she didnt have to do as much and was able to leave earlier in some cases, so in this way I was

able to help out a caring and diligent yet overworked teacher. When I would catch kids doing

things such as breaking and throwing crayons or fighting while Ms. Shean wasnt looking, I

would immediately take action, so I was like an extra pair of eyes in the classroom. This reduced

chances of innocent students getting unnecessarily hurt, which is great, and also saved us time

spent on picking up crayons after class. Since I rearranged the materials, tables and such in

between classes while Ms. Shean was outside waiting for the next class, it saved her time and

effort as well.

2. What did you learn from this project? How did your project draw on and

develop academic skills and knowledge?

I learned a few tips and tricks about teaching and art, and about some necessary skills for

teaching. Ms. Shean showed me her daily lesson plans and apparently teachers need to have

them ready everyday in case the principal wants to check it for whatever reason. I learned about

the term eloped, which means that a student left the classroom without permission, and

unfortunately this term was frequently used during my time there. It makes your life easier if you

have some type of organizational system to store papers for each class so that its easily
accessible, and this way if the schedule gets changed, itll still be easy to locate the correct

papers. Being organized makes a huge difference in teaching.

I wasnt quite aware of the importance of being needlessly clear and repeating

instructions and/or directions and despite doing so, many kids forgot or disregarded them

anyway. At least if the teacher continues to repeat them eventually everyone will be doing the

same thing but if instructions are lackluster, itll take longer to accomplish what needs to be

done. Teaching isnt something that you can study how to do and I had little knowledge of it

before, but I think its something that you have to observe and actually do. Because of this

project I was learning so many things about teaching and education, and I also became much

more appreciative of learning as a result of what I saw with the kids at Lowell. Its so unfortunate

that so many kids are throwing away their opportunity to receive a free education.

In regards to art, a few years ago Ms. Shean tested her students and found out that only

22% of her students knew the primary colors. At a teachers meeting, someone suggested

showing videos, and so she gave it a try. The result was astonishing. After she showed the videos,

about 70% of her students now knew the primary colors. Studies show that many people are

visual learners, and this little study plays into that. Its interesting because before watching the

videos she put on for her students, I actually didnt know my primary colors either, and I wonder

how many high schoolers or middle schoolers actually know their primary colors.

3. Who were the individuals who most impacted your experience? How?

As my mentor it isnt surprising that Ms. Shean directly impacted my experience the most

because we talked about things that I wouldve never realized on my own, things that got me

thinking about the importance of education and the current state of our education system. She
also went out of her way to give me as much advice and point out as many things as possible

about teaching, art, and life in general as she could, and I am extremely appreciative for that.

Besides Ms. Shean, the students at Lowell also taught me a lot, although indirectly.

Almost every class was a mess and so many kids were just asking for a suspension (literally in

some cases), and yet they are rarely suspended. I was appalled at the cursing, violence, and

blatant bullying, and I was shocked to see so many kids with intellectual disabilities and the lack

of preventative measures. I was also surprised at how dominant yet largely ineffective STS

(School Therapeutic Services) was at Lowell. As Ms. Shean said, Lowell isnt even the worst

elementary school in our district, and yet the state of the school is a complete and utter mess.

Clearly our schools need reform and I would have never known had I not volunteered at Lowell.

4. Describe some of your conversations or interviews with staff and / or clients.

Rather the conversations we had about art, what resonated with me most were the

conversations we had about education. Every time we had an especially difficult class (which

was at least two to three times a day), it would lead to us talking about everything wrong about

it, from the students to the parents to the principal. Ms. Shean said that at another school where

kids werent constantly acting up and fighting, she wouldve had me co-teach with her, but

unfortunately, teachers barely even get to teach at Lowell and essentially theyre just babysitting

them. The students are not getting the education they need and the fact that teachers are leaving

left and right doesnt help the case either.

And its no surprise that theyre leaving, because there are kids that threaten to hurt or kill

teachers, and unfortunately, teachers and students do get hurt. In fact, one kid threatened Ms.

Shean three times, saying that she would push her down the stairs, and the same kid slammed

Ms. Sheans arm into the door and she had to get a cast for it. Shes had a chair thrown at her as
well, and another teacher was sent to the ER because a kid threw a crayon into their eye. The sad

reality is that the school tends to hire inexperienced, young teachers because usually schools

require 3-5 years of experience, and after they fulfill those three years, they leave. The students

are left without a teacher and the class gets even more chaotic and out of control as a result.

5. What type of community service did you perform and how did it impact your

overall project?

As I stated before, I was the assistant art teacher at Lowell, and it drastically changed the

direction of my project. Initially, I expected to present a very positive message about art and

teaching but now I realize the dire state of many of our schools. Of course Ive heard about those

underperforming schools where violence is an everyday occurrence but seeing this in an

elementary school, its no wonder why there are schools that are underperforming. How can

teachers teach when they are too busy restraining kids and reprimanding them? And students will

simply continue to fall behind as they grow older so now the high rate of high school dropouts is

self-explanatory. Although I was able to appreciate art on my own time outside of school, at

Lowell, art was one of the last things on my mind.

6. How did your project have a positive impact on the community and how

were recipients affected?

Frankly, I wasnt able to have a positive impact on the community as a whole because the

school needs reform on every level, from the students themselves, to the parents, teachers, and

even the administration itself, as in the principal. If Ms. Shean can barely even teach art, how

could I be expected to co-teach with her? Although I wasnt able to impact the students, I was

able to help out Ms. Shean in many ways and hopefully taken on a bit of her workload. I think it
definitely benefitted her to be able to talk to someone else about the struggles of teaching in

these conditions.