First Grade Veterans

Just did the Advent lesson with my Firsts. Went well. They still can choose collage, painting or drawing. They're pretty much rockin' it. Here're some pictures of first grade work:

5th Grade (Entry for Dec 3)

Did a paper weaving Kente cloth lesson with my "veteran" fifth grade Choice class. They did pretty well. There were two students sitting next to each other who will not do so again. My dragon boys are all back on track and coloring and inking.

We did some "housekeeping:" 1) dispelling myths/rumors about "extra credit" for working on more than one project? I have no idea where this one came from. But I told them I keep track of what they're doing, and it's more important to stick to something and see it through rather than jump around and never finish anything. 2) Set goals for 2nd trimester. Our goal is to have 3 finished pieces for the trimester. That's one every four weeks. Not too bad, I don't think. I'm going to give them some extra incentive- we have a display case that needs filling...

I also discovered that these kids are way into weaving. Many of them chose it, and I shared a little Kente sample I made on a loom at school. I found some blueprints online for a PVC loom that I will try to make for kids to weave on... Over Christmas break, I plan to come in and "renovate" the room. Something has to be done in regards to storage of work- i.e. portfolios, and I need to chuck a bunch of stuff in order to give the kids some new choices like fibers and clay.

6th Grade Week 2

I had my first group of Choice 6ths this morning. The difference in the enthusiasm and concentration in many of these kids is amazing. I had several kids who, for pretty much the whole first trimester were more interested in talking and would actually rather sit and do nothing than try to do the assignment that we were working on. It's a different story now. Almost all the kids (there were maybe 2 today that weren't engaged to the same level as the others) were working and excited about their work. Love it.

I also found out that this is the grade where parents start freaking out over grades. The classroom teacher of this class mentioned to me that several parents had questioned her as to why their kid got a "2" in Art on the report card. First of all, "2" means that their child "Partially meets standards." How vague is that? When I began grading in this "1-4" way, I decided that a kids would have to solidly meet the standard for them to get a "3". If there was any question, it had to be a 2. It was hard sometimes to stick to that, because I like a lot of the kids. But a big thing for grades was effort. If I feel that the student was not putting in effort, that is a big deal. But I have a feeling that concern is drastically changing, at least at this level, with allowing the kids Choice.

2nd Grade Week 3

This week in 2nd, and actually most of my Choice classes, I'm continuing the "holiday" thing for looking at other cultures, etc. This week's mini lesson is Advent calendars. We looked at examples and I talked with them about the Rathaus in Germany where they paint and decorate the windows on the front of the building as an advent calendar.

I had prepped some papers with 24 doors cut in them and the kids glued a backing on, the numbered the doors and drew their pictures inside the doors. I had about 8 students choose this activity and others chose drawing or collage. There was also some exploration with colored tape. I think I'm going to have to hide the colored masking tape next week... Maybe... I don't know. I don't really have a use for it, but I'm kind of afraid that the kids will just use it all up, then I will discover something I need it for...

Here are some photos from mini lesson Kente cloth last week.

First Grade

Did a modified Kente lesson with my Choice firsts. They did pretty well with it. With the amount of difficulty the "over under" gave many seconds, I thought I would modify for firsts so we focused more on the colors and patterns and did a collage in the long skinny Kente shape. I've got to get the pics off my camera! I had a whole table of artists making extra long Kente and working together to make their patterns. Awesome.

It's been two weeks, though- maybe three?- since I've seen these kids, and it showed at clean up. maybe 5 kids fooling around and sharing and not cleaning made clean up take too long so we didn't have time to share. Which this group really likes to do- so we'll talk about that at our meeting next week. Better write myself a note....

Dec 3- Sixth Grade

(I guess I'm going to have to change the format of my posts now that I'm phasing in more classes... we'll see if this one works.)

Started Choice with one of my Waterboro 6th grades this morning. Seriously funny- they were listening sooo well when they figured out that they were going to get to choose. Went pretty well. I have a pair of boys that are already into a huge drawing of a car- similar to my 5th grade dragon group. This car group wants to paint their drawing once they're finished, though...

Next time I see them, I hope to so a quick survey see what kind of centers they'd like the best. This group also needs to make sketchbooks and I need to get them charts to keep track of their choices. So far, so good, though.

2nd grade week one/two

I started another class on choice last week. This class has got to be one of my favorite classes- it's a second grade class and at the beginning of the year, I was a little scared they would be a little crazy- but their teacher is amazing, and the kids are awesome. They are very creative and supportive and just wow.

Anyway-

They've had drawing and painting open for two weeks now. The first week, I explained what they would be working on, and they basically got to it. I had given them sketchbooks a week or two ago, and they were ready. When I had them for week two, yesterday, I did a mini lesson on Kwanzaa and Kente cloth. Their teacher had told me that she looks at holidays around the world during the month of December, and I pulled some ideas, ran them by her and we actually coordinated really well. For our mini lesson, we looked at pictures of Kente cloth, talked about Kwanzaa and the colors. I have a little sample of Kente cloth that I made in one of my weaving classes in undergrad that I shared with them. We made paper warps- I had one student who started weaving on his own during week one, so he was my helper with the demo and helping other kids who had a hard time with the "over, under" thing during studio time.

We will also be looking at advent calendars for the UK, poinsettas for Mexico and gingerbread people/chains for Germany

week eleven.

Firsts:
Opened Painting to firsts again this week, so we did a mini-review lesson on taking care of our painting materials. They did well. I reminded them that this was their chance to show me that they are responsible with their materials and will take care of them to have the choice to continue to use them. We looked at the counter when we started, and they did a very good job of cleaning up at the end. I still had a couple students who I had individual meetings with and we got that finished up. Even with painting opened again, there were a few students who still chose drawing and collage.

Fifths:
Fifths were a little hectic this week. Many students were working on what they needed to be doing, but there was one student in particular who did not have a plan when he came in, and tried to get in on other people’s projects. I had the feeling that those people didn’t really want him to be helping, but couldn’t find a polite way to tell him that. He was a catalyst all class for disrupting others, until I directly told him he had one minute to find something to do or he would be leaving the studio.

My flag making group was getting a little frustrated because a stripe on their flag accidentally got painted the wrong color. I hope next time I see them, I can talk with them about how those are the juicy bits. Where you can see the artist’s hand. Where there is the human touch. If I wanted a perfect flag, I could just go buy one. The one that is made is much more special.
For our mini lesson, we talked about landscaped and foreground, middle ground and background. I explained how I often see students leaving a large blank space in the middle of their paper, and what should actually happen there- what does that look like? I need to talk with firsts about finishing work and "Artist Statements" which they will dictate to me at first, but ultimately, I'd like to have them be able to write one sentence about their work on their own.

Other: I hope to talk with some of my fifth grade students today about helping me explain choice to the second grade class that I will be beginning choice with next week. I have a few more group lessons planned, but after that, I will gradually be phasing in choice. I have discovered that I need to be keeping track of the younger students’ choices, because they don’t really understand the chart thing. As I start to phase in the other grades, I think I will keep track of K-2, and have 3-6 track their own.

week ten.

firsts:
Another pretty good class. Still meeting individually with students about their work. The firsts are hilarious. Some of them can just go on and on with the story of what's going on in their work. One student has started drawing characters. He seems to be really into the idea of "cops and robbers," and it's amazing. He's got names and everything for the characters. I'll have to post a pic when I get home- I don't have my USB here right now...

We talked about texture today and I added the texture plates to the drawing materials they are allowed to access. There are some plates that I haven't put out before because they are rubbing plates of famous paintings and I was like, I don't want the kids to just rub them then color them, but one girl was using an "American Gothic" plate and she had moved it around multiple times, and it looked great! I had two kids make books of their rubbings, too.

fifths:
pretty good again. One of the boys in the dragon group was having a hard time focusing today. (Sometimes I wonder if I just had more room if they would naturally spread themselves out more and I could avoid a TON of squabbling...) The boys are still working on their huge flag,and it's coming along nicely..

I have a few girls who just aren't that into it... I have been contemplating making a fibers center for a while. I will need to come in at night or over a weekend to set everything up, but I'm hoping it might catch some of these kiddos. They all are still clamoring for clay.... argh. I guess they just have no idea what a mess it is.... I'm dreading it. But I now they love it, so it will happen.... just have to figure out HOW!

week nine.

whoops... slacking again on the update.... sorry.

Still meeting individually with all the students in both classes. Got a couple more weeks of this.

Firsts:
Firsts continued to have collage and drawing. I have one student who has been working on the same piece for like 3 weeks. Pretty impressive for a self motivated first grader. Some students began to construct paper hats and other body wear- bracelets, etc. This became ind of an issue because they get really excited about it, and since I haven't "officially" introduced paper construction, some of the kids just get it, and others don't. I think I will hopefully talk more about paper construction next time, and issues may be resolved.

Fifths:
Fifths have been continually late for the past at least 3 weeks. I spoke with their classroom teacher, and she said she gives them ten minutes to get their stuff ready to go home. (They pretty much leave directly from Art). I think this is more than enough time, and it's ridiculous that they've been late so much. I need to arrange to go and speak with them in their room. Aside from the lateness, everything went okay. Not as beautiful as last week, but pretty good- I have the boys still working on their huge dragon (which looks better every time) and the boys working on their huge flag- also doing well.

One student I spoke to individually said how she wants to "learn how to be an artist." I thought that was the cutest thing. I tried to get her to be more specific. I guess her older brother is quite good at drawing, so she looks up to him. I told her that what we do is what artists do, and talked with her about what she wants to learn to draw- she's into the idea of stylized flames (like on cars) and figure drawing.


Overall, I really like this choice thing. I have a few more lessons planned with students in other classes, then I hope to be phasing in choice. I have already talked with most 6th grades about it. They were listening very intently- probably the most quiet and listening they've done in a while... ;)

week eight

oh my god. best day ever.

firsts:
Firsts had Collage and Drawing open. We didn't introduce any new tools or materials, but instead talked about drawing from observation. I have animal models and shape models. I demonstrated drawing from observation using a model of a turtle. I had the students watch me carefully and tell me how much time I was looking at the turtle and how much time I was looking at the paper. They told me it was about even, maybe a little more at the turtle. We talked about using eyes carefully to see the details.

During class, I met individually with several students and had them share with me the title of their work, tell me about it and talked about what else they would like to do in class. Clay is a big thing.

Here's some work:
"The Ocean"


"The Great Sky"


"Chasing the Cat"


The kids were great. I was meeting, and the rest of them were working and helping each other. There was no squabbling over materials. Students were sharing and asking each other questions. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! We *may* try opening painting again next week.


Fifths:
Fifths had Drawing, Painting, and we opened Collage today. I briefly talked with them about how I needed to meet individually with them, we talked about what was available in Collage, and they got started.

The kids were great. I had a table full of girls making beautiful collages, my group of three boys still working on their HUGE dragon drawing- and sticking with it! I was so worried that they would either abandon it or get into fights, but they are AMAZING. I hope hope hope that they stick it out and have a great drawing. I had one boy working on his own drawings from a "How to Draw" type book. A table of students working on mostly drawing, but sharing and asking opinions a lot. Two more boys are working on a collaborative project of making a huge American flag. I showed them Jasper Johns' "Flag" and they started preparing their paper together today. (I'm particularly excited about one of these boys because at the beginning, he was so "I don't know what to do." Now he's just overflowing with ideas.)

From meeting with these kids, I gathered, again, that they are excited for clay. Maybe in a couple weeks... argh. This is such a small space, I have no idea where I will put stuff for storage. Talking with this group one on one is so informative for me, because I learn so much about what their work means to them. After talking with a couple, we talked about how the stories behind the work are important information for artist statements.

Next week, I'm going to have one student demo how to make a paper chain, like paper dolls, and intro some new tools to the Collage Center.


SO PSYCHED. This is how teaching art should be. :D

week seven

First:
We continued on the collage station this week. I introduced two new sets of tools- “Silly Scissors” (the kind that make scalloped or zig zagged edges when you cut) and large punches that punch shapes. Many students were very excited about these tools. There are limited numbers of these tools available as well, and this was a problem at times, even though we talked about sharing at our meeting. Next week, perhaps I should have some students demonstrate how they ask for tools and share.
There were several students who continued working on the collage that they had started last week, which I praised them for. All students seem to really like collage, and many of them also use drawing media to work into their collages.

Fifth:
Fifths were 10 minutes late for class because apparently, they could not line up in their classroom without talking. I was also being observed in this class by my principal. We did some quick housekeeping stuff and then talked about finishing work- How do you know when work is done? What do you do if you’re not sure? etc. I showed them where finishing stuff was and the folder where things go. We talked about artist statements and how they should fill them out. Then they got to work.
There was some disagreement about the two new drawing books that I introduced to the room, because, obviously, only a few students can use them at a time. I had some good solutions to this problem, and some of the more disagreeable students didn’t have good solutions. A group of boys decided to work on a collaborative drawing all using the same piece of paper and inspiration from the book. One boy is bad a sharing and got in an argument with a group of girls about the book he wanted to use. argh. I had put sticky notes in the books and asked the kids to mark what they wanted and I would make copies. Of course, even though I explained this, I had to remind them because of this group that started fighting.

Two other boys returned to the action paintings they had done a few classes ago, and put them all together as their plan had been before. They decided they wanted to begin making an American flag next week in the same way- using many pieces of paper and putting them together. One of the boys stayed after his class had left to tell me about it and how he is excited for it. :)
Not sure what my principal is going to say about the whole thing, but we’ll see soon enough, I’m sure....

Other:
The first trimester is going to end in four more classes for these students. I need to begin meeting with them about their work next week. If my goal is to meet with four students each class, then I will have a good idea of what’s going on for grading by the close of grades.

Week Six.

First: Firsts still do not have the choice to paint. I opened collage to them this week. I told them that there are many tools in the collage center, but we will learn about them a few at a time. This week, we concentrated on shapes, using just a few colors of paper, and gluing. The work time in class was wonderful. All the students were quiet and concentrating. Even the one student in that class who is constantly rowdy and disruptive was completely engrossed in his work the entire time. Clean up was still a problem, though. They cannot stop working on their art! Which isn’t a bed thing, except that they need to follow directions. I have a few students who consistently finish and follow directions, but a few who keep working. So, because clean up was still a problem, we will not be reopening painting next week.

Fifth: I talked briefly with the fifths about wanting to open the choice of collage and paper construction to them, explaining that due to space, we would have to stop action painting for the classes as long as they wanted to do collage. They were eager for that choice, so next week, we will introduce collage. My mini lesson was on drawing dragons- we talked about beginning with the skeleton and filling it out with simple shapes. I had some copies of “drawing dragons” step by step that I handed to students who wanted to use them. It was amazing. I sat and worked with my drawing students for most of the class. The group of boys who has been consistently rowdy and loud sat quietly concentrating for the entire class drawing their dragons- which look AMAZING!!!

While I was sitting with the students, they told me how much they liked doing art this way- they focused on having the choice. They said they didn’t like it when everyone has to do the same thing.

I think with this group, next week, it will be beneficial to introduce the “Finishing Station.” I think some of them are beginning to settle down and realize that they will continue to be able to choose, so we should be able to begin to reflect.

Week Five.

First: We needed to hand back work. The pile was getting too big. Many students had not put names on their papers, so this was difficult. Also, the vast majority of students wanted to bring their work home. I’m having a hard time with getting them to understand that I need to see the work. Students had a few minutes of drawing, and I encouraged them to work on something that they had already begun. Many did, but several had a hard time with this idea, and wanted to begin something new.

Fifth: We talked about the need to work as a team, move bodies around to keep everyone happy- i.e. no action painting at a table where someone is trying to draw. My action painting group tried out a new set up with kraft paper on the floor and their paintings over that. This worked out much better. There was still a lot of clean up- but I’m learning that I can count on this group to clean up their stuff. The tables where students were drawing and painting were content because there was no splattering on their work.

Week Four.

First Grade:
Since Firsts weren't allowed to paint today because of horrendous clean up last week, we did a five minute pastel lesson. We looked at Van Gogh's landscapes and I demo'd how to mix colors with your finger and make marks that were like the brush marks in Van Gogh's paintings. They got messy. I was trying to push them a little more today to fill in their whole page and not worry about "messing up."

Fifth Grade:
We had a student switch classes in 5th, so this was her first day doing Choice. I asked the other students to explain it to her, they did a pretty good job. Then we talked about what they did last week; "splatter paint." We watched a couple video clips of Jackson Pollock and talked about whether it was art or not. I told them that I would like us to start using the language "action painting" for this type of work and that, weather permitting, we may do a larger scale action painting next week. Then I let them get to work. There's a group of boys that get really crazy while doing the painting, and while I'm glad they're excited, they need to work on getting along. That's something their classroom teacher says is a problem for them usually, anyway, though. Next week, I think we're going to talk about the "I'm not the center of the universe." It's funny, the other fifths do not have as hard a time getting along... oh well....



Anyway- I think next week we'll be opening Collage/Paper Construction Center, so we'll have that option, so I've got to get on getting that set up. The fifths want to make some kind of hats or something that their teacher was telling me about, so Paper Construction would be a good place for that.

I also ordered clay yesterday. So that will be in the works, too....

week three.

First Grade:
My five minute demo was showing them resist with a white crayon on white paper and doing a wash with tempera paint. I showed them the "white" piece of paper (that I had already drawn a design on), and then washed over it. One student said that I was magic. I told them I would show them how to use magic, too.
I have one student in class who is very much "I can't draw." Which bums me out because he's only in first grade. So I worked with him a lot. Unfortunately, while I was working with him, other students discovered mixing the paints.... which would be fine, except that it made clean up that much more difficult. They had done such a good job last week, I may have let my guard down a little. But there was way too much chatting and fooling around. No painting next week for firsts.


Fifth Grade:
We talked about painting from the back to the front and "wet on dry" painting. Then they were off. I don't know what it was- must have been something in the air today, but both classes wanted to splatter their paint off the end of their brushes. Which wouldn't be a huge issue for me, except this group really needs to work on the whole "teamwork" thing... man. Lots of "he did it, not me's" and whiney voices. Not okay. It's a good thing they did a good job cleaning up. Next week we will talk about Pollock. For sure.

weeks one and two.

So... I didn't post last week. "So far- off to a bad start." I will do better, especially because I'm getting really excited.

Week One:
First Graders- Drawing Station. I basically opened the station and told them about their choices. I didn't want to talk a lot more to do a five minute mini lesson (I think I'm going to start calling that FMML) because I didn't want to take up their art time. They had a hard time understanding the chart to record what they were doing. I got a lot of "Can I try again?"s and "Can I do another drawing?"s. To which I emphatically responded "YES!" with a big smile and nod.

Fifth Graders- Drawing Station: Talked a little more with the 5ths about what we are doing in Art and why. They were psyched that they were the "special" class that gets to do something different right now. This is a chatty bunch with no concept of "inside voices." There was a lot of drawing going on.

Both groups had a hard time with clean up- too much fooling around.

Week Two
This was yesterday, so I will go into more detail...

First Graders- Opened Painting Station.
They did very well. There was one point in class where it was eerily quiet, and all students were contentedly working away. When their teacher came to pick them up, I learned that they were having a particularly difficult day... One student in class decided that he was going to draw and paint on the same paper. I told him this was called "mixed media."

Fifth Graders- Opened Painting Station.
Pretty smooth. The kids did a good job deciding taking care of their materials. I have yet to see anyone go into any particular depth in any project, but I think this is probably the hardest thing about this style of art- getting them to commit... I had one student who didn't want to draw or paint, so I talked with him and asked him about what his favorite thing in art was last year. We talked about coil building and he made plans to build a set of coil vessels.



Now I've got to order some clay....

it starts.

I recently began a new teaching job in MSAD 57 in southern Maine. This year, I have made the switch from teaching high school age students to teaching grades K-6. I spend three mornings per week teaching 5th and 6th grade at Waterboro Elementary and the rest of my week teaching K-6 at Lyman Elementary.

Recently, one of my administrators told me about a different style of teaching Art known as "TAB Choice," or Teaching for Artistic Behavior. After researching on the internet for a good number of hours, I am very excited about the possibilities of this teaching and learning style for my classroom. In a TAB Choice Art class, the students are the artists. The teacher does not come up with specific assignments for the students to complete, instead, they are in control of the subject matter and choice of materials and medium of their work, just as professional artists are. The teacher provides instruction for a brief 5-10 minute period at the beginning of class to introduce a new material center, or to demonstrate a different technique using materials the students are already familiar with. After the instruction, the students may choose to use the new materials or technique and practice that that day, or work on something else. Students are responsible for the care and cleanliness of their studio and know that the consequences of not caring for the materials are the loss of the privilege of using them the following week.

I am going to begin using TAB Choice with a 1st grade and a 5th grade class beginning this coming week. This will give me the chance to figure out what works well for me and my students and iron out all the kinks. The experimental classes will last through the first trimester, at which point, I will evaluate the pros and cons of the method and make a decision of whether it would be educationally valuable to use this method with all of my classes.