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.