Bullying

The week was crazy with homecoming spirit days and celebrations. When it seems everyone is having a good time and is in good spirits, something happens that brings to your attention a big issue.

Friday afternoon, after Field Day where the students partake in fun and games, the powder puff game, and a pep assembly, a student came to the art room looking ready to burst into tears. She had forgotten her artwork before she left school and had to turn back to get it so she could work on it over the weekend. This seemed to be the breaking point of her day. When my CT asked what was wrong, the student burst into tears explaining why she has hated this high school since freshman year and that the past four years she's just been dealing with the torture on a day to day basis, hating having to wake up and do it again each day. Other students verbally harass her and pick on her for no reason. They blame her for the loss of sports games and pick on her for what she wears. This girl is by no means "unpopular", either. She is on sports teams and is very involved with the school. My entire time at this high school for my student teaching, I never pinned her as hating every minute of school. She is hardworking and mature in every situation. She puts on a front that everything is okay. Me and my CT knew something was up when she seemed to get more and more flustered in her days and stressed out. We ended up talking with this student for 2 hours. She needed to get out her feelings and emotions. She said no one else in the school knew and whenever she tried to tell the guidance counselor things that go on, her comments gets looked over.

I felt for this girl. I knew that this happens in every high school on a daily basis. She isn't the only victim and unfortunately many never come forward to tell anyone about their issues. We expressed how glad we were that this girl was coming forward. My CT told the student about the anti-bullying program she is trying to kickstart and that this event makes her want to push to head it even more. Students are not being held accountable for their actions, even when it is in front of teachers and faculty. This student's biggest complaint was that there were teachers present that day to see another girl harass her by yelling at her and saying that SHE lost the powder puff game for the Seniors in front of the team and in front of the stands. Not one teacher took the other girl aside to reprimand her for her rude behavior. There definitely needs to be more done in the schools and students and teachers need to be held accountable for what is going on. To teachers, it may seem like a small argument that students can solve on their own, but it may be a bigger problem that eats away at the victim until it becomes too big for the student to carry anymore.

Eco Batik

This week, the Fibers class had the opportunity to visit Eco Batik for a workshop on how to batik. We were able to see the owner, Jennifer's, shop and studio for her batik and illustration work. The girls had 2 hours to talk with Jennifer about their design and begin waxing it out. A couple students even had time to begin the dying process. The students gained a better understanding of batik and felt confident in bringing their designs back to the classroom to finish the waxing and dying process.

My First Bisque Firing: SUCCESS!

This is what the kiln looked like after I loaded it up with their coil pieces...

And this is after the firing was complete!

Realizations as I Take on More Classes

This week I took over one of the Art Fundamentals classes in a lesson on using colored pencils to create texture of an animal. I introduced/reviewed the color wheel with the students and I had so many hands up (and not the same ones every time!) to answer questions about primary, secondary, and complimentary colors. They were really receptive to my lesson. I wrote on the board, explained, and showed them a color wheel. I had them copy the information in their sketchbook to be able to use it as reference while they work on blending and layering colors. I had them get out of their seats to come up and take a closer look at student examples. I feel I had plenty of variety in my instruction for this lesson and it was effective.

I based the lesson on a lesson my CT presents because I really like how each of her lessons builds on the skills the students have been learning in all their projects. This particular lesson they are able to choose an animal to draw using their skills of mapping out their compositions on the page and seeing and applying value to the page to create an illusion of 3D and depth. I made sure to create a sample piece to demonstrate the methods they would use and one that I would also keep building on to show them how to achieve "texture" and "saturated tone". I kept my demonstration short this time to allow them to explore the media more. In regards to my Ceramics lesson from last week, I felt that by giving the students a more thorough demo, I am seeing that they are making their slab pieces exactly like I showed them, instead of manipulating the clay in a more creative way. I don't want to limit their exploration, but I do want to give them enough of a demo to work off and understand what they need to do.

I believe it's a good practice to have an in-progress piece to use for the students to see and understand the process. I also did this for Ceramics. I believe it's only fair to the students for myself to have worked on the projects I am expecting them to take part in. I also need to start collecting and making samples now so I can use them in the future for examples to show classes.

Fibers Class Finished Coil Baskets

These are a couple of the student's finished coil baskets.

Fibers Class Dyed Scarves

Photo Texture Assignment

I took the students outside to take a roll of photographs for their texture project.