preview

Mrs. Tracey Fortune's Art Case Study

Better Essays
Open Document

Located in Lakewood, Washington, I had the opportunity to visit several times with Mrs. Tracey Fortune’s art classes at Lakes High School. Walking through the main office, I was welcomed by the administration and several students. In the main office to the right was a large display case. The case was a display area for the several art classes that is offered to the students of Lakes High school. Walking through the corridor, the atmosphere is bright and airy. The school was rebuilt several years ago and still looked as if the doors were open that morning for the first time. The main corridor lead me to several sets of doors leading to Mrs. Tracey Fortune’s art room.
Walking through the glass door, I knew that I was in the correct area. To …show more content…

Fortune mantra is, “Work Like an ARTIST and Do things the ‘Lakes Way.” I asked her to explain this. A stands for Act responsibly. R stands for Respectful. T is for Try your best. I is for Imagination and creativity. S is for See, think, talk and create like an artist. T is for Team player. The spelling of this is Artist. This is what she wants all her students to be. One of her goals is to have the students that feel they are artist after taking her ceramics class. By the end of the semester their minds are changed about themselves being an artist. I have found Mrs. Fortune to be an energetic teacher that encourages her students to pursue more art classes. After researching Washington visual arts standards and comparing them to California, I have found that Washington standards are the same as the National Visual Arts standards. I did find some similarities to Mrs. Fortune’s teaching style and the California Visual Arts Standards. In all of her classes the students keep a journal with all vocabulary and notes for assignments. This is a excellent example of Strand 1: Artistic Perception. Aesthetic valuing, stand 4 of the California Visual Arts Standards, is what Mrs. Fortune uses when her students projects are finished. She has her students complete a self-assessment form that needs to be turned in with each project. This form requires the students to use the vocabulary words that they have learned from the assignment to explain about the project created. On the other …show more content…

I wanted to know if the culture around her helped in the classroom. She told me that the parent’s participation was not where the school wanted. Mrs. Fortune said “the majority of the parents of the students of the school are at poverty level or lower.” I asked her if there was anything she could change about art education what would it be? “Seeing that the school student’s population is 60% at or below poverty level, stop the student fees. But on the other hand the schools that do not charge a fee do not have supplies.” What is the most frustrating thing about teaching? “The thing frustrates me most is students that do nothing and parents don’t care. My classes are easy to pass. There is not homework. If they do the work and they can at least get a passing grade.” I have noticed that teachers choose their classes on the medium to which they are familiar with. I asked if she works with ceramics outside of the classroom. “The reason why I teach ceramic is that the teacher before taught it. All the equipment was here and all the schools I worked at had the class. There was two art teaching positions openings, ceramics and glass works. The other applicant wanted the glass works classes. And I have already worked with ceramics.” I asked her if the school tells her what subjects of art to teach. Mrs. Fortune said “we are able to give the school a wish list and we might get what we asked for.

Get Access