Cass Junior High

At Cass Junior High I had the opportunity to work with Matthew Etherington and embrace the warm and welcoming school climate. I developed and enacted a curricula for seven different art education classes infused with visual culture, fine art, and technology. These classes include Illustration (7th and 8th grade), Digital Media (6th grade), Virtual Worlds (7th grade), Visual Culture (7th grade) , Painting (6th grade), Visual Culture (7th and 8th grade), and Art Foundations (5th grade). My most memorable experiences at Cass Junior High were spent in the classroom teaching children how to use divergent thinking skills and metacognition to become critical thinkers that aim for mastery.

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Throughout the curricula, students gained knowledge about arts role in social advocacy and acted on high morals through the creation of art as well as the communication and collaboration with peers. In addition to my experience teaching in the classroom at Cass Junior High I learned and implemented the use of various technological platforms, assessed students, and helped foster a strong school culture and climate. An essential skill I learned was how to use Google Classroom and PowerSchool. These tools allowed me to directly communicate with students and update their grades in real time. The school used standards-based grading for summative assessment. I was previously very familiar with standards-based grading; however, at Cass Junior High I was able to create and enact assessments aligned with the state standards using this method of assessment to understand how the implementation of standards-based grading influences the students motivation. I was able to apply my skills about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to nurture student’s excitement to learn.

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My strength during my experience at Cass Junior High was being able to foster a strong school culture and climate. I would stand at the front of the building to greet students in the morning, attended board meetings, led art club, visited sporting events, watched scholastic bowl compete, volunteered at the Valentine’s day dance, judged and attended the Darien's Women Art Show hosted by Cass Junior High as well as collaborated with parents, other teachers, the guidance counselor, and principal. Within the classroom, I promoted the benefits of social and emotional learning (SEL) weekly by engaging students in a Mindfulness Jenga activity where students reflected on their life and shared with others. I was jovial watching students faces light up with excitement every Monday as they were eager to participate in the activity.

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Teaching at Cass Junior High was a wonderful learning experience where I was grateful to gain flexibility in my teaching style and confidently use my knowledge and skills to help students become insightful artists who can impact and contribute to a democratic society. Being a part of a warm, nurturing and empathic school allowed my personal values to flourish among the students, parents, and additional members of Cass’s staff and faculty.