Miss Art of Teaching

Time is flying... I will be saying goodbye to my first Senior Year 12 class in a few months timeframe. I am now on a count down with my Year 12 students. They have 4 days until their 30% Body of Work and Visual Arts Process Diary is due for marking. This is an in school progress mark which is combined with their earlier 20% practical progress mark. The final 50% of their mark will come NESA (NSW Education Standards). It has definitely been a journey of mixed feeling. We are all exhausted both emotionally and physically. It has been difficult to get them to stay motivated. I will need to work on developing a stricter timeframe, provide more examples of Band 6 artworks and learn how to provide criticisim that does not deflate their self-esteem. Teaching my first senior class has definitely been an eye opener. Students are used to be given direction at every step from Year 7-10, with the freedom to choose their own concept and materials it can be quite stressing. Some may not be ...

I am quite pleased with the purchase of my sparkling brand new whiteboard from Daiso. It is an awesome little monthly schedule calender. They even reposted my picture on Instagram. At 8am today I had my Work Health and Safety workshop on how to use a fire extinguisher. I actually need to buy one for my own house! I had Year 7 classes from Period 1-3 and most of them are finishing off their oil pastel drawings. Some are starting the painting process. Here are a few photos: At recess, I went to visit my Deputy Princpal to talk about cabin organisation for the Year 8 camp. Careful consideration must be given to how groups are form to minimise discipline issues and conflict. My first break from teaching Year 7 (don't get me wrong, I love them!) was during Period 4. I took my Year 9/10 combined class to the darkroom. I have not been in the darkroom for about two years now. Need to brush up my skills and reorganise the room. There n...

What I am doing?.... A few weeks ago we had a guest speaker coming in to the school to talk about our teacher well being. He recommended that we name our to-do list as the ta-da list. This means crossing off the completed job, waving your arms around and do a little happy dance. I have been working my way through my list. Not much of a dancer so you will not see me wiggling around after every task. I have logically categorised my workload: marking, work samples, reports, program submissions, Year 8 camp organisation, Positive Behaviour for Learning team planning.... This year I have all my theory work uploaded onto Google Classroom for grades 7-12. It makes life so much easier for the student and for the teacher. This virtual classroom allows students to ask questions, submit tasks and for teachers to mark and send back the feedback. I no longer have to take piles of papers home to mark and drain the ink from my pen. My Year 7 students are making print making, drawing and paint...

I've been really enjoying my time teaching Year 7 students. They seem to be much settle this year and love my classroom systems. My rules are pretty consistent: 1. Line up in two lines. 2. Place bags at the back of the room. 3. Sit down and look at the classroom jobs chart. 4. Students who are assign to taking out Visual Arts Process Diaries get up to pass out the journals. 5. Classroom helpers take out the laminated photographs, white pencils, posca markers and oil crayons. 6. Start work. 7. Classroom timer (another student job) reminds class to pack up 5 mins before the bell. 8. Resources are returned back to the right location by the helpers. They have only recently earn the priviledge of listening to music during class time. I even brought in my bluetooth speakers to play songs for students who prefer to listen to my songs. Photos from this morning (besides the one with the fly):

I've been collecting toilet rolls since early June! I recently asked my Year 8 helpers to cut all the toilet paper rolls into smaller pieces. Today, I set a new challenge for my Year 6 students (I see them once a week). They were asked to build anything with the pieces. Some spent the period planning and prepping, others got straight into gluing. They will have one more lesson to make their design. The best group will win a prize.

Today my Year 11 students submitted their Body of Work for marking. I wanted them to focus on 'presenting' their artworks. I purposely booked the meeting room as my classroom is too busy with a lack of wall space. Students were encouraged to move their artworks into the meeting room at the start of recess. A lot of students spent an entire period setting up their artworks and getting their Visual Arts Process Diary ready for marking. I spent another two periods marking with a co-worker. Discussions were formed and we talked about how I can support my students through to the HSC. Marks still need to be finalised and I plan to spend my weekend writing constructive feedback. Here are a few photos from today:

Here are some progress photos. I am having a lot of fun with my classes: Year 7: Cyberpunk mask unit. Students are learning how to create masks using plaster bandage and found objects. They can use a variety of materials to give their masks a unique quality that carries a Steampunk or Cyberpunk feel. Year 9/10 Elective Art: Students are having a blast creating stencils based on a social issue. Some are exploring war, politics, environment, crime and mental state. They will be spray painting their designs on an old furniture piece. Students are invited to decorate the surface before spray painting.  Year 11: Students are continuing their body of work. Every week we are studying two artists to prepare them for their Yearly Examination. I enjoy getting my students to work together in groups before sharing answers to the whole class. Rock project: On the side, I am organising a rock p...