"Hanging" Projects

This was a week of Day 2’s of art projects across the grade levels. My goal was to have these projects finished this week in order to start something new next week, or at least after the holiday break. That didn’t seem to work so well. I began to think about “hanging” assignments and whether to move on when students aren’t completely finished, or to give them time to finish as a whole. When classes meet only once a week, it’s hard to just keep going on a project week after week especially if other students finish early. My CT talked to me about this and said she usually has a lot of “hanging” projects just so the students get as many projects for their trimester as possible. I just have issues with students never finishing assignments. How do you grade students on unfinished work? This is a challenge for me to think more about.

I’ve also been challenged with classroom management for projects that finish earlier than expected and finding things early finishers can work on until class ends. One thing is to give jobs to students who are done, but there are only so many jobs to give, especially when students are still using supplies at their table. I found that most students love “free draw” and giving them the option to grab paper and draw whatever their hearts desire excites them. The other is “choice time” where they can grab building toys or puzzles to work on at tables. But managing this is difficult because once students see one student who is drawing or having “choice time”, all of them start to say they are done with their project just so they can join in. I need to work on stating my expectations from the start of class and repeating those expectations more.

Brighten Someone's Day

I woke up one morning just not feeling the day to come. Nothing in particular happened, it was just "one of those days". Well, I came into school for the morning and a parent with her two kids (my students) stopped me in the hallway. She wanted to compliment how great the 1st grade paintings and collage environments turned out. (They were left along the wall on the floor to dry by the art room). Just this little compliment made my day and changed my mood. I really love when that happens.

This is a lesson to go along with Giraffe's Can't Dance by Giles Andreae. They first draw giraffes that they watercolor, then create the background of the moon and stars, followed by the foreground of leaves and vines. Finished artwork images to come!

Elementary Displays

Over the past couple weeks, I have been doing different weaving lessons with 2nd-5th grades. The 2nd did paper weaving where they designed their own strips in unique ways. The 3rd graders did some weaving and unweaving using burlap. The 4th graders did warm and cool color watercolor weavings with stamping. The 5th graders did cardboard loom weavings with yarn. Here is the display of samples from 2nd-4th grades.

With the Ex. Ed. classes, we looked at Owl stories and images and made owl puppets using torn paper and cut shapes.

100% and Management

This week was my first week taking over 100% of the classes at the elementary school. It has been busy, but manageable. Teaching all the classes, I see my lessons evolving as I teach them over and over to different classes of the same grade. I take note of what works with my lessons and adapt them. Different classes have different paces and attitudes and that really dictates how I run my lessons. With some classes I can add elements to, with other I have to cut. I think that this week I have truly learned about being flexible with my lessons. This week I had two lessons that I have had to really change and adapt to and I had to be more impromptu in teaching them. This all happened because of suggestions from my CT to try, and I was willing to trust her advice and see if it would work. It did all work out and I proved to myself that I could do it and follow through with it successfully.

6th graders started their trimester this week and I was able to see how to welcome new classes and go over rules of the art room and safety procedures. Middle schoolers have a completely different attitude about them and I realized how different my teacher voice gets around the different grade levels. With 6th graders I have to let them know I’m business and get them “re-trained” for art room behaviors and routines. I’ve realized my management issues are the worst with Kindergarten and 1st graders, as well as 6th graders. The grades in between seem to police themselves more and follow directions. Overall, with my most difficult classes, it involves a lot of repeating and holding the students accountable for their actions. This is a challenge I will be working on throughout this student teaching experience. I am taking any suggestions my CT gives me for ways to get students attention, but I haven’t found one that works 100% of the time.

Taking on 75%

This week I took on 75% of classes at the elementary school which is about 3 classes a day. It has been a good ease in by taking on a couple more classes each week. The students are getting familiar with me and taking good direction. However, my Kindergartners have been my biggest challenge. I have been able to keep them engaged in my lessons no problem. I begin by reading them a story and capturing their interest which works well. But come 30 minutes into the class period when it's time for cleanup, the students have issues in listening and following directions. My CT has referred to that as "mob mentality" which I completely agree with. I realize that I have to make sure that I give clear expectations and hold them accountable for their behavior. I also need to make sure I repeat myself more often because at that age level, they need that. My lesson this week got adjusted and modified. I had planned a clay owl lesson for K4 and K5, but my CT recommended I have a "Play Clay" day so that the students have time to feel what it's like to poke, pinch, and pull clay. With the modeling clay, they would not keep anything that they make. Instead, my owl lesson would be pushed back to next week. The hopes with having a "Play Clay" day is that the students will respect the white clay more when they get it. This also engages higher level thinking because they will be able to tell me what's similar and different with the two types of clay.

My other challenge this week was leading the majority of Ex. Ed. classes on Friday that consist of CD and Autistic students. I designed a lesson creating Owl Puppets out of brown or white paper bags and torn scrap paper. The students used glue sticks to glue on a variety of paper scraps to create feathers on the belly and back of their owl. Most students loved the project. It was a project that they could do at their own pace. Prepping was my biggest issue because I didn't know how much paper the students would go through. The Ex. Ed. classes are the most difficult to coral because everyone's developmental level is so different. There are around 8 students per class, but tending to each student individually is a challenge. Each class was different. For a couple, I knew I had their attention to lead with reading a story. With others, I put out the Owl books and let them look for themselves. I also had postcards out on the tables of images of owls that they really enjoyed. When I brought out beaks, wings, and eyes for the students to add to their owl, they really pushed to finish the project so they could play with their owls and make them "fly".

Surviving my 2nd week in Elementary

This week I am finally getting into the swing of things with the elementary art classes. The transitions between classes are going smoother and I’m able to get one class’s materials put away and switch materials out for the next class more efficiently in the short time. It’s definitely all about getting into a routine with what needs to get done. It’s very different from the high school because there are a lot more students to account materials for so the system set in place needs to work. In this setting, everything is color coded and it seems to work well. Also, there always has to be some flexibility because each class is so different, even if they’re the same grade level. Lessons need to be tweaked depending on the pace or attitude of the classes.

I had the opportunity to attend a PBIS (Professional Behavior and Instructional Strategies) meeting regarding the walk through the school had at the beginning of the week. PBIS is a new national program that is being piloted at schools around the city. It involves having the students know and understand the rules of the school which are to “Be Safe. Be Responsible. Be Respectful.” Each classroom can individualize these rules to fit the needs of the room. From the meeting, I gathered that there was lots of room for improvement regarding this program, but it was understood how the faculty was going to go ahead and improve upon what they are doing.

School politics played a big role this week with the start of the Recall Petitions. My CT is very involved with this and I was able to see how something like this affects a school as a whole. From what I understood, many of the faculty members were becoming very divided over this. It didn’t affect the students in any way because all conversations regarding this were held in private. However, many teachers were in and out of the art room talking with my CT about it. It was interesting to hear about how much time she puts outside of school to support what she believes.

Ceramics Slab Constructed Abstract Self-Portrait

Here are some samples of the Abstract Self Portrait Pieces. The students were to choose an abstract word to describe themselves and portray it using the Elements and Principles.

"Music/Motion"

"Blooming"

"Conservative"

"Fluid"

Watercolor Landscapes

The Art Fundamentals students used reference images of landscapes to map out and build up their watercolor from lightest tones to darker tones.

Finished Self Portrait Heads

So, in an effort to get all the heads graded by the time I was finished at this placement, I had to have the students "hustle buns" to get them finished in my last week. Now, even though I had presented this lesson 3 weeks prior, many had not started until this last week. Despite the whining and complaining, they made it work. Here's some of the results.

In-Progress "Emerging Identity" Ceramic Self Portrait Heads

This lesson began with inspiration from the YouTube video I had posted in an early entry. The students used the same techniques starting with a clay cylinder and pushing out their facial features from inside the cylinder to create a head. They used pictures of themselves as reference, along with mirrors, and handouts on proportion to create a life-size head of themselves.

The Colored Pencil Animals on Display

Here's the display I put together with the Colored Pencil Animals.

The Last Week Teaching High School

It was my final week of teaching at the high school and I can't help but reflect on my experiences these past nine weeks. The music playing in the background has been the soundtrack of my time here. My CT has been such a great mentor and made my experience as well rounded as I could have hoped for. I've seen strengths in myself emerge more so than they ever had before. I have become more assertive in enforcing rules and holding students accountable for their actions. I've found my "teacher voice" and truly understood how to use it. I don't have to be loud and theatrical if that's not me (although this can help). Most of all, I learned to be myself. I may be more quiet in nature, but this can work for me. The few times I've had to raise my voice, the students fell quiet and truly listened. Then they even started "policing" each other to behave.

In the art program here, I learned of some important things to have the kids walking away knowing. Perceptual awareness. Choice. Deductive Reasoning. Self Sufficiency. These are all qualities to help build the students as a "whole". I've built good relationships with the students and they really started putting their trust in me which was a good feeling. When I respected them, they (generally) respected me back .

High school wasn't nearly as scary as I had originally anticipated and it's a great feeling knowing that I'm capable of teaching it. Even with classes I was unsure about (Fibers, Photo), I was able to learn so I could, in turn, teach the students the basics. I now have the confidence that I can do this. And my CT has become such a great resource that I know I can always come back to her if I ever need help.

Halfway done with student teaching! On to elementary school! Can you believe that this is making me nervous now?

Board Meeting and Art Educator Conference

The WAEA board meeting and conference was an interesting experience. I was able to travel with my CT up to Eau Claire for both. Wednesday night was the board meeting and my CT is the representative of private schools. We came late so I missed the introductions of everyone, but I was able to catch up with what was going on. I began to gather where everyone was coming from and what they represented. They overviewed topics of discussion and then broke up into small committee groups. In these committee groups they decided what topics needed motions to bring up to the whole board. In our committee we discussed the IDEAS Exchange, which I thought was a very helpful event for educators. In these exchanges, a person would bring one lesson of their own to present with enough copies for others. You would be able to take away a copy of everyone else’s lessons and start to build a collection of others. The other topic was on the grant monies the Association has to give to teachers who write grants for programs for their classrooms. Our discussion was about how to promote these grant opportunities for their members because most of the board members did not even know these monies existed.

The conference the next day was an interesting experience. The space seemed a bit small for what it could’ve been. I found out the University pulled out in May and the State Theater was the only place in the city to accommodate it for when it was to be held. Because of this, there were less vendors, schools, and selling artists at the conference, which to me, was disappointing because of everything I had heard about past conferences. It was a bit unorganized for where and when workshops were to take place. Times were misprinted in the programs and things were not posted effectively for the changes. There was a lot of confusion and frustration.

It was fun talking with the vendors and hearing about their products. The keynote speaker we saw was Ben Schumaker of the “Memory Project”. It was interesting to hear his experience creating the project at UW Madison and how much it has grown. He gave several ideas of how to incorporate the project in different kinds of classrooms such as different grade levels and different medias.

One of the workshops I went to was one about “Wandering Wisconsin” and women from Kohler Arts explained how to incorporate Wisconsin art landmarks into lessons. I was familiar with some of these artists already but it was nice to obtain lesson ideas.

Another workshop I went to was “Creativity Books” which was basically just a talk on using books for professional growth as well as books for personal use. She presented interesting books and gave us an extensive book list that I will find useful.

I helped Jodi with her bookbinding workshop. The teachers in the session found the project useful and told her afterwards how many ideas they got in how to incorporate the book/sketchbook into lessons. Each person in the session was able to walk away with their own hardcover sketchbook.

The last thing we did was a self-guided sculpture tour. The pieces on the walk were so diverse and unique. The artists were from all over the country. From the tour, we also found some cute little boutiques and shops, some of which also had art in them. We also discovered the member show in one of the shops.

Overall, the conference went well for my first time experiencing it. However, from what I heard from other teachers, it did not give back to its members as much as it could have.

MIAD Field Trip

The MIAD field trip was a huge success. The students were so enthralled with all the artwork on display. They loved the work all throughout the hallways and asked our guide (the admissions counselor) great questions. He happened to be a 2010 MIAD Drawing graduate and he actually remembered my thesis show from a few years before him. This tour also happened to be his first high school tour and he was impressed how well behaved and interested our students were in everything. He emphasized observational drawing which is something that I had wished had been more instilled in me when I was in high school. He overviewed MIAD's program and how the students can begin to build their portfolios for review. It was very informative and helpful.

Then my CT and myself released the students to the Third Ward. Many of the students went to galleries that were on their maps along with little boutiques and shops. We were surprised to hear they actually DID try to see galleries, because, let's be honest, they're high schoolers we were setting loose. We had no issue with the city bus or anyone being late coming back to our meeting place. The students kept talking about the art and how much fun it was to see everything. It was definitely successful and I think the students were able to take away some good ideas for their own artwork and looking into different types of schools they can attend after high school.

Bringing in a Visiting Artist

Last week, I was able to bring in a visiting artist, also a friend of mine, who does abstract painting and also graphic character design, and some video game design. He shared his portfolio with the AP Studio students, discussing his process and the importance of continuing to create art no matter what. He shared how he was able to network with other artists via blog forums online that could be helpful to the students. Networking and networking early on is important!

Here is the thank you card that the AP students signed for him!

Visual Journals

Here are some past weeks of visual journals I have finally gotten around to scanning in.

My Finished Batik

I finally had the opportunity to finish my own batik design. Here are the results!

After I created my design, I transferred it to brown craft paper.

Then I waxed out my design on the craft paper, dyed it, ironed out the wax, and this is the final product!

This is my piece in front of the lights.

Messy, but I love it! They are stylized ribcages so the splattering of red gives it a gorey, bloody feel.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was my first experience with parents in the school setting. I was able to join my CT for the conference blocks that went from 2-5pm and 6-8pm. All the teachers were set up in the cafeteria or community room where parents were able to sit and chat with their children's teachers.

The conferences were steady and started off on a good note. It was nice to see the parents that care and support the program. They tell us how much their children love art and our classes. However, a few parents in, we had a conference that just escalated in a horrible direction. This parent was accusing my CT and myself of not teaching their son and expecting him to have natural talent in order to pass the class. She was putting words in my CT's mouth and twisting everything that we tried to explain to her about our expectations, objectives, the classroom routines, etc. What it came down to was that her son did not turn in a journal assignment which resulted in a zero in the grade book bring his grade from a B to a C+. She kept going on about how ridiculous the arts are and how she wouldn't care if they got cut. She said she wasn't going to let ART lower her son's GPA and therefore lose his scholarship to the school. My teacher stuck to her guns and told her that we would look into the grade, but if he did not turn it in, it was going to stay a zero because that is her policy. This did not make this parent happy and she demanded a meeting with administration.

I believe that my teacher handled it well. She apologized for any misunderstandings about what the class is about, etc. even though the parent chose not to listen. It frustrated me immensely, but I did not interject much because I did not want to upset her more. But, it was truly an experience worth being a part of. My CT told me that in her 6 years, that was the worst conference she has ever had. She immediately gave a heads up to the vice principal and principal and they fully supported my CT and how she handled it.

The rest of the evening was nothing but supportive parents and positive experiences. It was a pleasure meeting the parents that attended and hearing about how much they love art class and art club. Hearing how positive of an experience the students are having is wonderful and we know that we are doing it right.

Taking Over Even More Classes

This week I officially took over 4 out of the 5 classes I'll be responsible for before the conclusion of my 9 weeks at the high school. The classes I have are two sections of Art Fundamentals, Ceramics, and Photo. I imagined it would be much more stressful, but since I know the students well, it was a fairly easy transition for myself and the students.

My biggest transition was taking over both Art Fundamentals classes because they are the largest classes and also the classes that require the most guidance. I introduced watercolor to their classes and they were very responsive. Most were very enthralled with my demonstration and very eager to get started. I still have some chatty students that do not pay complete attention during my demos that I need to address when I first notice it. I find myself ignoring them, especially if I notice the rest of the class is ignoring them as well. I'm working on my waiting time for them to give me their complete attention, but feel the need to keep going and not waste any time. I have also noticed that the more used to me they get, the more they are beginning to push the envelope. But I noticed that I am putting a stop to the behavior sooner than later by calling them out on it and holding them accountable for their actions. When I put rules in place, the students are beginning to police each other more and classroom management becomes much easier and orderly.

Photo is also a bit difficult because I think the students know that I am not 100% confident in f-stop times and time intervals for prints. I take to heart "If you don't have it, fake it" in regards to having confidence about things and that is exactly what I've been trying to do in this class. The practice is definitely helping me, and I feel I have a handle on how to run a basic photography class.

Ceramics took off with their clay portraits project that I introduced on Monday. Many were excited to get started, but many were also leery about getting their self portrait to look like themselves. I just told them to try their best and many are jumping right in.

With all the new lessons being presented this week, I took the opportunity to have the journal quote for the week be "It is better to plunge into the unknown than to try to make sure of everything" by Gerald Lescanbeault. I found the quote online and felt it was perfect to have the students reflect on that, knowing that they are starting new things and that it's okay to take risks and try even if they're unsure. I feel it's something everyone can live by. Overall, it was a great week and I only have 3 weeks left! Next week, I will be attending a WAEA board meeting as well as the WAEA conference. It should be a fun filled weekend!

Video Inspiration

Art Fundamentals Colored Pencil Animals

This week, the Art Fundamentals finished up their first project with me. Here are some of the results.