I was pleased to hear that after fifteen years of teaching at one school, Mrs. O has never gotten comfortable with her curriculum. She takes risks with her lessons and it seems to keep students interested. And as she said, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't but its important that she does them. I hope to never get comfortable or complacent with the way that I'm teaching because there can always be a way to make things more interesting for the students. It doesn't seem like she is ever bored with her job.
Part of why her curriculum seems so inviting is because she often lets the students decide what they want to work on. When asked if the students put forth more effort on a project if they came up with it, she said they absolutely do. This allows students to take ownership of their own learning and art making which I think is an important thing to bring to my own teaching.
The main thing that I took away from Mrs. O's presentation was that you need to ask yourself, "what do they (the students) need right NOW?" She emphasized that you can plan and prepare all you want for a lesson, but you need to be ready to change and adapt at the last minute. I think this will be extremely important to keep in mind for when I begin my student teaching. Having a back up plan, even if it's a vague outline, is beneficial.
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