Week 11: Animals, Tunnels, and Observations

Monday marked one month from my last day of student teaching... and what a busy day it was!

So busy in fact that I wasn't able to snap more than three pictures. I was teaching all three high school classes and had my hands more than full.

Ceramics students were working on their twisted vessels, and finishing up paddle vases. 

Drawing students were starting to finish up their print plates for lino carving. They were also sanding the surfaces of their plates to prep for printing. 

Art survey students did not actually have art today and maaaan were they upset. Seriously. I had to take them to a play and they were all uppity about not working on their drawings. The play was really good, though.. I dunno what they were complaining about. On top of that my kids were the best behaved in the group! Not bad.

Down at the elementary school I was teaching first grade how to paint on wet paper. 
Students were given examples to look at and then I handed out sheets of paper. They wrote their names and each table was called up to the front of the room. They set their paper in the sink, which was half full of water and then sat back down for the next table's kids to come up. After all the students had their paper wetted they came back up to the front of the room in line and retrieved them. Students were supposed to cover their whole paper with paints and designs, shapes and color. The goal was to have students use all the colors their learned how to mix earlier.. lots of different results turned up across the room. I only took a couple of pictures though - wrangling kiddos really keeps you busy!

Tuesday

Ceramics students were working on twisted vessels - adding details and experimenting with process. I did not snap any pictures - time was short! I had to prepare for printmaking. 

In drawing class students were learning printmaking procedures, start to finish. One student was way ahead of the others and was able to print today, too! This student was learning the difficulty of applying the 'right' amount of ink, how to change his results, and so on. He made so many prints I actually lost count! But that is how we learn - by doing :)

Students were learning how to use the carving tools more effectively and making all kinds of awesome textures. Fur textures, bark textures, leaves... so cool!

simplified line - seriously awesome results

In art survey, students were introduced to the Stained Glass Stories project. Most of them were nowhere near ready to start, but it was a valuable way of gathering information about the abilities of my students, their pace of working, and their engagement in the lesson. We had some really good discussions during the presentation and all the students filled out their interest inventories for the stained glass project. It was fun for me to read through them during my prep time and get to know the kids a little bit better.

Back at the elementary school, the other second grade class was working on Under the Earth. If you remember this lesson, students were supposed to explore textures, patterns, and use of space through drawing underground tunnels, chambers, and so on. Lots of kids wanted to draw animals after I did my example, which was fun. It was interesting to see what animals and things they were thinking about underground. I liked this lesson. My cooperating teacher suggested more examples to get the students working. Ideas he had included x-ray drawing (cut the earth in half), real vs. imaginary spaces, ONLY lines, use of space above and below... lots of good suggestions! I also was working on voice level with this group quite a bit - reinforcing the new rule of voice level 0 during instruction. Unfortunately, I forgot to reinforce it during clean up so that got a little loud... but they worked through the whole period and were good listeners.

this one weirds me out a bit... under the graveyard.

this student came in not wanting to work on anything at ALL
and left with all these ideas

look at all the tunnels!

One half of 6th grade were weaving.. this was becoming the project of the semester. Students were taking their time making sure the weavings were tightly packed and carefully choosing colors. Today I taught them how to create rya tassels in their weavings.

teacher sample

student work

LOTS of rya tassels

interesting effect...

a little bit of everything

pretty color combination

Wednesday started off well. Ceramics students had a double work period for block day and were coming up with all kinds of cool ideas for their vases and twisted vessels. I even snapped a picture of one of the advanced students' music response projects. Unfortunately, due to the size and shape of the piece I won't be able to see it after it is glaze fired :( Timing is everything.

7th grade were working on finishing up their kaleidoscopes and starting to brainstorm for the stained glass project. I showed them lots of (maybe too many) examples and got them thinking about positive and negative space in their drawings.. more on that later.

Back at the elementary school I had a double helping of 6th grade weaving... today was not a good day behavior-wise. I had a handful of students who were just... not at their best. Wandering around, yelling, being rude to fellow students, letting their work go unfinished. Many of the students stayed on task and did a really good job with their weaving designs, but these few....They were not following expectations and they were taking advantage of my friendly, patient demeanor. Not okay, 6th grade! I had to write a lot of behavioral referrals and even went to talk to the teachers. Not good... but not all days can be great, right? 

One of the hardest things to do when teaching is learning to approach a group with new eyes after they have disappointed you or upset you. And that is exactly what I had to do on this day. I had a push-in with 6th grade, meaning I was working with the whole grade level on their weaving projects in the classroom. I knew that the students I had dealt with in the previous hour would be in there, probably having already received consequences for their behavior from their teachers, expecting a clean slate to start with... I had twice as many students to work with so it was even more important to stay on task and help the students that needed it. There are a lot of behavioral issues in this group in general and I think the climate changed after the classmates came back who were in trouble because most of the students were on task and weaving away quietly, even raising their hands to ask questions. One thing my cooperating teacher pointed out is that.. I let this group get away with things. 

I set the expectations but I do not always reinforce them - like hand raising. The art room is small enough that I can get the attention of all the students - usually - and address any questions or issues that arise. In the classroom they all spread out in their work areas and tend to forget the expectations I have set.. their teachers are usually there to remind them or correct them in their behaviors. However, when I am teaching by myself I will not have that all the time so I can't get used to it.. Teacher growing pains. But like I said, we cannot grade their behavior - we can only grade their work. And they were doing some really cool things with their weaving!

Thursday was a big day for printmaking - and a block day, no less! I had students working on their prints, patiently waiting for them to be heated in the kiln and removed for carving, and many of the prints were ready for ink today, too. I quickly reviewed the printmaking procedures, supplies, process, and results and the students got right to work. They even set up their own print stations at the tables. Proud proud proud.



These are some of the advanced students' work - really coming along nicely on those.

Every day I worked with drawing on this project I reviewed safe tool use. Throughout the course of the process only a couple of students were hurt by the carving tools and that was their own carelessness. I mean... they're 9th graders. There are a lot of things to pay attention to - the sharp art making tool is not always at the forefront of their brains, unfortunately. I was pleasantly surprised by the majority of the results students were creating - and I think they were too :)

teacher sample - my snake!

This student does not have the best academic record ever.. nor the best behavioral record in the school. But when she came to art class she cranked out work that was really good. I was proud of her for persevering through the process and being aware of the dangers of the project. She and I had a couple of reminders but the majority of the time she was on task and really excited about making her work the best she could make it.

Friend of the student mentioned above.. easily distracted. Well, both of them were. The challenge with her design was encouraging the use of patterns, lines, variety, and textures. I think she did a really good job incorporating lots of different ideas and unifying them in the form of the snake. And I liked the border as well.

This student worked a long time on drawing the stag and I think his results were really effective. He still had some more carving to do, though he didn't know it yet at this point.. Today he pulled prints and we did some on the spot problem solving. His plate had been reheated so many times that it was beginning to warp in some spots and was damaged. The result was his prints appeared spotty and uneven and he was really not happy with them. I suggested he do spot treatments and put ink on the places that were left bare - which resulted in more spots that he didn't like. His end solution was to go back and do more carving in areas he wanted to change and add detail to. More on that later.

This was one of my advanced students' prints. She chose to do a hummingbird for her plate design for many personal reasons. That was one of the best things about working with the advanced students - learning what motivated them to create new work and explore new ideas. She really did a good job with this project and was patient throughout the process - which was more than half the battle!

Thursday being a block day meant that we had prep for the other half of our high school classes. One thing I have learned - prep time is the best time. I got so much done and felt way more ready to tackle the rest of my day. Mr. Keller and I would also use prep time to put together our lesson plans for the next week and discuss project ideas - and also to reflect on what went well with projects in other classes or throughout the day. In addition to prep time I volunteered to go to the elementary school early and sit with the 6th graders who had, apparently, lost their recess because of their behaviors. When I got to the school the kids were waiting for me outside the door - I'm sorry! Ms. Kanak had to heat up food for sustenance. They all walked in and immediately got to work on their weaving and talking. So much talking. I realized pretty quickly that these were the students who needed the most attention... and that's exactly why they had acted up in the first place! They weren't all 100% on the weaving project and so when they weren't receiving answers or help quickly enough they began to act up for attention. Children are really funny sometimes.. this kids were all working hard on their weavings and when they had the immediate attention of the teacher there were no behavioral issues at all. In fact, they were all very chatty and friendly and focused. Just goes to show.. you can't judge a hyper kid by their ability to drive you crazy - sometimes they're just confused.

In 3rd grade students were learning - or rather relearning - painting procedures. Every year starting in  kindergarten students learn painting procedures, start to finish. The only variety in plans is the application of the skills - each grade does different projects.
This lesson was... admittedly, a bit disorganized. I had a lot of things to remember and I was dealing with behaviors, too. The usual. One thing I forgot to do was hand out blotters outside of class - something that cuts out a lot of the chaos of trying to set up the tables for painting. Students are lined up outside of the classroom and receive a square of paper towel that they have to fold and put in front of the water bucket for washing brushes. I also forgot to remind the students not to touch ANYTHING until I said so. Oops... they weren't fingerpainting or anything, but they were definitely messing with the materials. And this group was real chatty, too, which made it tricky to keep them focused. However, their results for color mixing were really good and they definitely understood the process. Start with the lighter primary color.. add one dot of another color and so on.. really good results! Unfortunately this group did not get to create a painting of a garden or sunset, but they learned how to clean brushes, keep their paints clean, store paintings.. it was a pretty okay painting day for this class. I made lots of notes on what could have gone better and took them with me to reflect.

Friday was an observation day for my university supervisor/professor to come in and watch me work. Allll throughout the week I had been telling the students that Friday was the day! They had to be on their best behavior and so forth.. I wasn't worried. Even when they joked about telling my teacher awful things. I knew they wouldn't.

Ceramics students were working on all the things. They were actually a little upset they didn't get to meet my professor and talk to him. My professor didn't arrive until during drawing class and students were up to their eyeballs in printmaking supplies and work. The majority of this post will be copied and pasted from my observation notes and reflections so if it's a little redundant I apologize :)
  I was expanding upon the linoleum printmaking lesson students were working on. I have quite a bit of experience in printmaking techniques from my college courses and personal interest. I had created linoleum plates in high school as a student and I wanted to see how students would handle the materials and process. Mr. Keller and I had the budget approved to purchase lino cutting tools and then we salvaged what linoleum was left at the other school to use for printmaking. One of the big problems we were having was the pliability of the linoleum - it had to be over 20 years old and untouched from storage. Mr. Keller devised a way to reactivate the particles - setting the plates in the ceramic kiln on a low temperature cycle. In effect, we both learned a new way to use the kiln for artmaking and solved the problem of having to buy new lino.Though in the future I will purchase new because the instructional and work time lost while waiting for plates to heat was not ideal. Objectives are always clearly written on the board and I also post expectations for the project on the SMARTboard for students to reference. I provide lots of examples to inspire students and encourage them to research the process and artists in the media before they start their drawings/designs. Students complete self assessments at the end of their projects which are then responded to by myself or Mr. Keller.

A handful of the students in this class exhibit negative behaviors in their other classes or outside of school but in this class they are fairly well behaved. I do not want to use specific names, but it is evident that these students are engaged in the lessons presented to them and their results show that. Students who give other teachers issues with discipline and conduct are careful and diligent workers in art class. I like being in the position of positively motivating students to stay on task and encouraging them to experiment and take risks with their art. There was one interference made in terms of student behavior and it concerned students talking too much and working too little. This was a group of students who have rearranged themselves to be able to talk more and I reminded them of the goals for the day vs. their personal social time. This issue has since been addressed and by holding students accountable for their work each day they know what they should be accomplishing at any given time. I think that the process of heating and reheating the linoleum cut into valuable work time, but students stayed on task and kept their personal conversations to a manageable level. Their carvings were coming along nicely and showed each student's personal style and interest - I really enjoy this project.

Objectives for the project were written clearly on the board and also provided on the SMARTboard. Examples were available to students and they were also encouraged to research artists and media techniques. Students spent time exploring the tools and practicing with cutting and carving before working into their plates. I try to encourage as much independent learning as possible in all the classes I teach - I want students to be in control of their learning outcomes and results. I want them to feel ownership of their work and not like I am asking them to create a cookie cutter project. Questioning and displaying work helps in this process. I held an informal critique of prints so students could see what their peers were working on. This was also a way for students to problem solve any issues they may have been having with their own printing processes. They had the opportunity to give feedback to their peers and make notes on similar design aspects.

Time management with printmaking - needs some work. I tend to get really excited about the work students are doing and overestimated their ability to clean up the work space in time. However, I think my solution to hold a critique was a good way to use the time needed to finish cleaning up and storing work. Students were engaged in the discussion and enjoyed being able to ask questions about process and techniques. Some of them expressed interest in trying lino carving as well. As stated before, I think I would incorporate more student input into the assessment criteria and rubrics. I think, instruction-wise, both lessons in the classes went well. Students knew what was expected of them and accomplished many goals throughout both periods.

The observation continued into Art Survey and it was perfect! The great thing about this class being directly after drawing is that I can connect the two together. I ran out of time to clean up - time management problem soon to be solved - so I kept the drawing students' work out on the table for the art survey kids to look at. They were super interested in what they were doing so we took some time to discuss the printmaking process, start to finish. We also talked about which prints were "good" and which prints needed improvements and why. We had a really good question and answer session about the prints and why some had more or less ink, how to do spot checking on under-inked or mistake areas on plates, and just general comments on the work. I also made the connection between the use of positive and negative space in their prints vs. the stencils they were creating for their stained glass projects. I think that stuck because a lot of them started redesigning and reformatting their stencils to better fit the requirements of the project and the use of positive and negative space relationships.

this is my favorite - all the smells at thanksgiving!

This group of students is highly HIGHLY social and talkative - not something I want to entirely discourage, but I had already moved their seats once to try and encourage more productivity and good choices. I feel like I have the best rapport and handle on behavior with this class. I established my behavioral expectations framed around the school's rules as well as my expectations for art making on day one and I think the students are highly receptive to that. I give them the option to solve their own problems, through the Love and Logic philosophy, and most of them choose to stay on task and redirect their attention accordingly. I attribute this to the content of the lessons - they are making art they want to make, that they care about, and are interested in creating. Student behaviors are generally isolated to one or two individuals and are often solved quickly. Students know that we are providing them with a participation and effort grade for each class meeting and their grades reflect their productivity and what they have accomplished during a class meeting. 

student with special needs - she wanted to make a flag design

Legend of Zelda, anyone?

This student had lost a couple of her pets and wanted to create a tribute piece..
more on that later

One thing I have observed since teaching this lesson a second time is that students are working much faster than the first time I taught this particular project. I am working through why that is because I have not changed the process at all, but it is interesting to see the results, the complexity of designs, and the amount of effort put into the work.

At the elementary school students were working on part two of Under the Earth. The goal for the day was to add patterns, details, line, and textures. Some of these were really awesome! Some of the students just wanted to add animals and buildings and things. Either way, the results were good and I think this group of students understood the expectations of the assignment. They were also fairly well behaved and listened carefully to instructions before getting to work. Perfect.

This student wanted to create both underwater and underground spaces! So fun - their goal was to add lots of textures and line patterns - this student had started behind their classmates so they were working to catch up to the rest of the class. I think they did a good job with their details - but they definitely needed more patterns and textures. 

This student was CRAZY about her details and line patterns. So cool. She really understood the goals of the assignment and was completely engaged in the lesson. She didn't want to stop working when it was time to clean up!

More coming soon... have a bell and a kitty!

Ms. Kanak