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....