1. Practicum: Fraction Fish By: Janessa Pope

2. Context  Edith Bowen Laboratory School  Mrs. Kyriopoulos’s 5 th grade class  Classroom was set up in six groups of about 4- 5 desks each.  Strong art school – STEAM  Have art mentors, art teachers, movement teachers, P.E. specialists and media specialists.  They are affiliated with the USU Caine College of the Arts  Mrs. K does buy-in to the visual arts. She was excited to have me come teach and even asked for my lesson plan.

3. Objectives  The objectives for this lesson were:  During preparation for this activity, students will learn how to cut a whole circle in order to visually represent different fractions.  Before beginning their art, students will listen to instructions carefully in order to complete their creatures correctly.  While creating their fish, students will understand that they are creating abstract, geometric creatures.  After completing this activity, students will be able to multiply fractions of different denominators to create a single fraction.  I chose to teach this art lesson with these objectives because they correlated with Mrs. K’s current curriculum.

4. Fraction Fish  Directions:  Must make at least two creatures with at least three different colors in common.  Try to fill the whole page with art.  Have your math checked by either Mrs. Pope or one of the other teachers.  Be creative! Since our creatures are geometric, they will not look exactly like a fish you could see everyday.  Mrs. K’s direction: neatness counts.

5. Theory Vs. Practice  Theory:  Nervous but prepared  Take about 15-20 minutes to explain the assignment  Student’s will follow along and cut the circles with me  Project: 25-30 minutes  Student’s would fly through the math: 5 minutes  Clean up work stations: 5 minutes  Finish with awesome and creative creatures!  It would be extremely hard to distinguish between high, middle and low art work.

6. Theory Vs. Practice  Practice:  Nervous and mostly prepared  Explanation of assignment: 15 minutes  While cutting circles, some students followed along, others quickly flew through cutting and started working.  Project: 10-40 minutes  The math for some was very easy while others struggled  Student’s cleaned as they went so we didn’t need to take cleaning time, however, many students still weren’t done with the projects after the hour.  Finished with awesome and creative artwork!  Easier than I thought to grade.

7. Student Work: Low

8. Student Work: Medium

9. Student Work: High

10. Art Exhibit  Mrs. K only has one bulletin board for her class to display work, so I was only able to use one side of the board.  I used push pins to hang up the art. If I had a chance, I would probably change to double sided tape or something similar.

11. Reflection  What I Learned:  It was a lot of fun and I connected well with the students.  It can be hard to hold students attention.  Art brings out creativity and joy in each student.  I really enjoy teaching.  What I would change:  I would bring paper for the table and nameplates.  I would have attention grabbers ready to focus the students.  I would attempt to keep things to a tighter schedule – stopping 5-10 minutes before the hour for finishing touches and clean-up if needed.