I had a teaching nightmare last night. I wonder if this happens to anyone else. I dreamt that the new semester had started and my classroom was full of students who wouldn't listen to me. Students of years gone by who were challenging to work with were back in my room in my dream. I did not have the supplies I needed and was teaching a different class than what I had planed. Needless to say I woke up in a cold sweat.
I think a lot of these subconscious fears steam from my middle school classes last trimester. We had a lot of racial based arguing and flat out fights, name throwing and physical interactions. Thinking back to grad school, I have gotten pretty sloppy about building community in my middle school classroom. Just because I have had all the students before, doesn't mean I don't need to keep building community.
So as a I reminder to myself and ideas for others, these are some activities I have used successfully to build community/team work in my art room.
1. Calender puzzle.(I use this one for summer camp and short workshops) Take a dollar tree puzzle. Take as many photos as you have groups. Cut the photo into squares. Keep the squares with their correct counterparts. Before handing the puzzle to the students I give them a big hint. "Good artists are observers. They are like detectives. They look for clues in art to help make sense of what a work of art is trying to tell us. Don't miss any clues with this puzzle."
2. For middle school classes I have been buying murals from Art Projects for Kids. I choose more abstract ones or ones where the color choice is not as important. The students have to work together to make sure their puzzle piece matches all the other puzzle pieces that touch theirs. The kids like this and it usually takes them about 1 1/2 class periods to finish the mural. I like to do a short lesson on the artist featured to go with the mural.
3. Good old newspaper building contest. Every group gets one section of newspaper and a roll of masking tape and is challenged to build the tallest free standing tower they can.
4. Iron Artist. A variation of Iron Chef. Each group is given a box of junk and recyclables from around my house and the art room. I like to have a theme that all groups have to stay with. Things that fly, animals, vehicles...so forth. I like to give the groups two classes to make their object and a poster explaining it. Judging is done by "celebrity judges" like the vice principal and science teacher or some 2nd grade students.
My students like Iron Artist best of all, but it can get kind of crazy. Be warned
What community building activities do you do?
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Blog NAME CHANGE!
Hey all,
Just a heads up, I need to re-claim the apples love oranges name for my etsy blog that links to my etsy shop: Apples Love Oranges. I will be changing the name of the blog to how I am commonly referred to at my school by the little kids, "Mrs. Art Teacher!" Sounded better then Hey, Teacher! To which I usually respond...yes student? And the kids responds with mild annoyance, "My name is ______!" and I say yes, and my name is Mrs. Bauer not hey teacher. Anyway I hope the name change is not confusing for people.
S-
Just a heads up, I need to re-claim the apples love oranges name for my etsy blog that links to my etsy shop: Apples Love Oranges. I will be changing the name of the blog to how I am commonly referred to at my school by the little kids, "Mrs. Art Teacher!" Sounded better then Hey, Teacher! To which I usually respond...yes student? And the kids responds with mild annoyance, "My name is ______!" and I say yes, and my name is Mrs. Bauer not hey teacher. Anyway I hope the name change is not confusing for people.
S-
Monday, March 22, 2010
being replaced by technology? or did I just fire myself?!
I knew something was up when the principal came into my classroom on Friday. I've been at my school for TWO years and through two principals and neither one has ever set foot in my classroom to my knowledge (All my evaluations are done by the vice principal).
I'm with a class, bent over helping a student, when a hush descends over my classroom. If you work with kids you know that quiet is a a sign of trouble. I look up and see our principal has come into the classroom. The student I'm helping whispers to me, "Mrs. B are we in trouble?" "I don't think so," I whisper back and, like a scared crab, I scuttle over to our principal.
"How are you today," I ask the principal. "I'm good," he replies. "Did you need to speak to me or a student?" I inquire. "No, just looking around," he says. Warning bells go off in my head, but I smile, explain the project and go back to helping my students.
He stays for about 10 min, examining every inch of my room. Finally he comes over to me and says, "After school I was hopping to bend your ear about teaching keyboarding." Um...ok, I am thinking to myself, and assure him I will come by after school. What in the world he could be talking about?
Recently a group of our teachers went to a technology conference. When they came back we had a staff discussion about teaching keyboarding/typing. I commented that I felt it was a really important skill and maybe we should have a typing elective. Perhaps he wants me to teach typing?
At the end of the day I go to see the principal with some vague ideas of how I could combine art and typing .We chat a bit and and he asks me to talk about my ideas of mixing art class and technology. The only clue I have is his earlier mention of typing class. I offer that I could teach a half typing/half art class. He frowns and tells me he thinks typing is important but something we will work on later. How else can I turn my art class into a technology class. WHAT? Who said anything about turning art class into a technology class?
I must look confused. He starts talking about the technology conference they went to and how he wants a technology program with a technology teacher. I'm nodding along, not sure what this has to do with me. I suggest I could teach a photo shop class if we got the software. He doesn't like that idea. He wants the technology classes to teach core content material (math, science) by using different types of technology. I offer that a few years ago I taught a claymation class where students animated the life cycles of a butterfly, frog or flower. He says that is getting closer, but what other technology do I know how to use. I'm grasping straws now. I took a CAD class in high school, 14 years ago... and then built my house out of foam core. We could do that if we bought the software and had the money for the foam core and materials.
Can we stop a moment here, I need to mention that I am given 72 cents per child for art supplies for the ENTIRE year. We have ONE computer lab in the school that is used for state testing most of the time. As a school we own only 2 digital cameras and the kids are not supposed to use them. I did a architecture class last spring but couldn't afford either the foam core or the exacto knives for all 25 students to build houses so we did Popsicle stick bridges instead. I have spent close to $4,000 of my own money over the last two years to fund my art program. AND my classes are mixed age 6th, 7th and 8th...all doing different core content each year.
Back to the meeting. The principal must know I'm running out of ideas because he goes in for the kill. I am informed that he has received the numbers for next year's FTE from the district. He wants to add another half time gym teacher, a foreigner language teacher for the middle school students and he wants a full time technology teacher/coordinator. We also need another 4th grade teacher for our Duel Language program. I'm doing mental math and it's not good for me. We are being given 1.11 new FTE but he is talking about 3.5 FTE. I see where this is going. I have basically just proved to him that I don't have the technology knowledge to be a technology teacher. I think I just fired or demoted myself.
This is the exact sentence I am sent to spring break with. "I'm not going to say art will be a class here next year...I'm not going to say it won't. If I keep art I'm not sure how it will look next year. Obviously it is a waste of FTE to have an art teacher teaching something that is not art. I'll let you know if the next two weeks what your role here next year might look like."
I'm speechless. How did I go from being asked about teaching typing to being told I may not have a job in two weeks. I feel like the Principal tricked me with the premise of the conversation. I'm also hurt that I have put in countless hours and personal resources over the last two years to build an art program at my school with no recognition in return. He has never even observed my classroom to see what I have to offer. How will he fund this technology program? This is the second school I have been at that has gotten rid of their art program in favor of other classes. Maybe I'm waisting my time trying to teach art and need to go find another carer.
I will just have to wait over the next two weeks to see what my future holds.
I'm with a class, bent over helping a student, when a hush descends over my classroom. If you work with kids you know that quiet is a a sign of trouble. I look up and see our principal has come into the classroom. The student I'm helping whispers to me, "Mrs. B are we in trouble?" "I don't think so," I whisper back and, like a scared crab, I scuttle over to our principal.
"How are you today," I ask the principal. "I'm good," he replies. "Did you need to speak to me or a student?" I inquire. "No, just looking around," he says. Warning bells go off in my head, but I smile, explain the project and go back to helping my students.
He stays for about 10 min, examining every inch of my room. Finally he comes over to me and says, "After school I was hopping to bend your ear about teaching keyboarding." Um...ok, I am thinking to myself, and assure him I will come by after school. What in the world he could be talking about?
Recently a group of our teachers went to a technology conference. When they came back we had a staff discussion about teaching keyboarding/typing. I commented that I felt it was a really important skill and maybe we should have a typing elective. Perhaps he wants me to teach typing?
At the end of the day I go to see the principal with some vague ideas of how I could combine art and typing .We chat a bit and and he asks me to talk about my ideas of mixing art class and technology. The only clue I have is his earlier mention of typing class. I offer that I could teach a half typing/half art class. He frowns and tells me he thinks typing is important but something we will work on later. How else can I turn my art class into a technology class. WHAT? Who said anything about turning art class into a technology class?
I must look confused. He starts talking about the technology conference they went to and how he wants a technology program with a technology teacher. I'm nodding along, not sure what this has to do with me. I suggest I could teach a photo shop class if we got the software. He doesn't like that idea. He wants the technology classes to teach core content material (math, science) by using different types of technology. I offer that a few years ago I taught a claymation class where students animated the life cycles of a butterfly, frog or flower. He says that is getting closer, but what other technology do I know how to use. I'm grasping straws now. I took a CAD class in high school, 14 years ago... and then built my house out of foam core. We could do that if we bought the software and had the money for the foam core and materials.
Can we stop a moment here, I need to mention that I am given 72 cents per child for art supplies for the ENTIRE year. We have ONE computer lab in the school that is used for state testing most of the time. As a school we own only 2 digital cameras and the kids are not supposed to use them. I did a architecture class last spring but couldn't afford either the foam core or the exacto knives for all 25 students to build houses so we did Popsicle stick bridges instead. I have spent close to $4,000 of my own money over the last two years to fund my art program. AND my classes are mixed age 6th, 7th and 8th...all doing different core content each year.
Back to the meeting. The principal must know I'm running out of ideas because he goes in for the kill. I am informed that he has received the numbers for next year's FTE from the district. He wants to add another half time gym teacher, a foreigner language teacher for the middle school students and he wants a full time technology teacher/coordinator. We also need another 4th grade teacher for our Duel Language program. I'm doing mental math and it's not good for me. We are being given 1.11 new FTE but he is talking about 3.5 FTE. I see where this is going. I have basically just proved to him that I don't have the technology knowledge to be a technology teacher. I think I just fired or demoted myself.
This is the exact sentence I am sent to spring break with. "I'm not going to say art will be a class here next year...I'm not going to say it won't. If I keep art I'm not sure how it will look next year. Obviously it is a waste of FTE to have an art teacher teaching something that is not art. I'll let you know if the next two weeks what your role here next year might look like."
I'm speechless. How did I go from being asked about teaching typing to being told I may not have a job in two weeks. I feel like the Principal tricked me with the premise of the conversation. I'm also hurt that I have put in countless hours and personal resources over the last two years to build an art program at my school with no recognition in return. He has never even observed my classroom to see what I have to offer. How will he fund this technology program? This is the second school I have been at that has gotten rid of their art program in favor of other classes. Maybe I'm waisting my time trying to teach art and need to go find another carer.
I will just have to wait over the next two weeks to see what my future holds.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
5th grade Koru paintings
I found this lesson last December when looking for Australian/New Zealand art projects. I saw photos of these on the homepage of an elementary school in New Zealand and while there were no lesson plans I really thought they were beautiful. (In the year sense the original author of this lesson has put the project on kinder art here is her lesson) The label said they were Koru paintings. What the heck is a Koru I though. It turn out it is the Maori word for a baby fern, which represents new life and rebirth. Anyway I did my version of this on large 12"x14" paper and lead my students though a guided drawing of the Koru using the idea of parallel lines. ( I had my students do a small practice drawing first and look at photos of baby ferns). My 5th grade students had no problem with the DRAWING part. I had them draw some double lines inside their basic shapes to make the layers of design. Then I had students choose two to three colors plus white tempera paint. Students carefully painted in their drawings. The next class the students went over the pencil lines with black paint. I love how these turned out. In the photos these are accompanied by 4th grade dot paintings of aboriginal symbols.
kinder quilts
Back in early February we did a quilt unit with all grades. These were the kinder pattern quilts. I this project I had the students really focus on spacial skills. Each student was given a "puzzle" board which was a black line template for the quilt square. I then put all the puzzle pieces down and they had to "build" their puzzle. Students had to match the correct color to the color word marked on the puzzle. They also had to keep manipulating the shape pieces till they matched the puzzle board. I did pre cut all the shapes for this project because I wanted the students to focus on word matching and spacial skills. I also made sure to only use colors where the words had been taught already in their classroom. Finally I had a cheat sheet on the board that had the color word and = sign and a rectangle of paper in the color that matched. I think this would be a good lesson for early ELL learners who are working on color and shape words.
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