Miss Art of Teaching

Since joining the different teaching Facebook groups, I am more aware of the types of resources that teachers use across the continent. Art Prof seems to be a great resource for Visual Arts teacher in America. It is a free online educational platform for Visual Arts people.  I plan on sharing this video with my senior Year 11 class during my Period 5 lesson on Wednesday. The video is directed at students as it helps explain why art critique is important. I want to show this video AFTER I spend a lesson focused on rebuilding relationships with students and learning to let go of my control (when appropriate) to let students hold ownership of their artmaking.  I have been using the 'Remind' app with my Year 11 class and it never occurred to me that I can use it during class time. Remind is a free app that allows teachers and students to communicate without exposing any phone numbers or private information. I use it to send whole class announcements or provide one on one f...

Today, I gave back all the exams, art essays and practical art making results for my senior class. I went through how I marked each section and I made sure the class knew it was cross checked by my co-worker. Most of the marks were very similar between two teachers. When there were 1-4 marks differences, we averaged the mark so that the student could get a fair grade. I also stapled the marking criteria and teacher sample (made by myself) to each section of the exam. I also gave them verbal tips on how to answer questions and other ways to improve on their responses. I kept reminding them that HARD WORK PAYS OFF. A hard worker can always do better than a naturally talented or 'genius' student. This is because a talented student or a genius student can still be lazy and not produce high quality work. One MUST invest enough time and effort to do well.  Students were reminded to start work earlier and to COMMIT and show passion. They are not to leave things till the la...

Drum rolls...  Welcome to TERM 2! I wanted to look a bit professional today so I went for 'navy' colours. The outfit might give you an illusion that I am wearing a dress but I am wearing a $15 Tommy Hilfiger sleeveless blouse top and a $50 high waisted pair of pants. I have been avoiding the pants for a while as it gives me a fuller figure and it is uncomfortably tight on the top. Probably not the ideal outfit to wear when I need to sit through more than 5 hours of teacher development information sessions. Above: Outfit of the day and photos of my Shih Tzu. It was so hard to walk out the door today! For our morning session, we had a guest speaker (Paul Hewitt) come in from the NSW Education Standards Association (NESA) to talk about 'Stronger HSC Standards' (a credential awarded to secondary students who successfully complete senior high school level studies). He went through 7 new focuses. I was interested on the minimum literacy and numeracy sta...

I always procrastinate for a day before I can focus and start work. I probably had too much fun during the Easter long weekend and my mind was crying for another day of rest. I ended up cleaning and started stealing things from home to bring to work. I always do this! It doesn't help that I am an Art teacher and I want to be able to provide students with as many resources as possible. Since I am the rewards advocator at my school, I also try to find prizes around the house to donate to the school. This is on top of asking for monetary or merchandise prizes from the local community. During the holidays, I have been using the 'Remind' mobile app to send inspirational photos to my Year 11 Senior students. Remind is a great app for me to communicate to my students. They are also able to ask questions and get feedback about how they are going with their 'Portraits' unit. I have asked them to have an idea ready by Week 1 of Term 2. We have roughly 15 weeks ...

All my students are getting ready for the assessment period. Senior students have their half-yearly examination in the next two weeks. My junior students also need to submit their art case study assignment soon. During this busy period, there are always students who can benefit from the extra help. I usually book the learning centre if students need one on one assistance. The learning centre is where students can go during class time to complete assignments with the assistance of support teachers. Last year I made a 'Homework Centre' poster using the website Canva. I shared this poster on the school Facebook page to remind everyone about this free service. It is useful for students who may not have computers or wifi at home. I also verbally recommend this to students who may want extra help with homework and assignments. There is always a classroom teacher and a few Year 12 Student Leaders available to help students. Often the Year 12 students have experience in completi...

I was introduced to 'Remind' while chatting to a coworker about cool phone apps to use in my everyday teaching. I value having informal conversations with coworkers as they help drive my passion and provide tips/feedback to improve my teaching practice. Plus it's great for my wellbeing. Remind has been a life saver for my students. I often send out reminders to students. Being an Art teacher, I like to share photos for inspiration and to give one on one feedback to students. It has made communication easier. 70% of public schools in U.S use Remind. I'm not sure what our stats are in Australia. It will be interesting to know how many Australian teachers use this app. My favourite apps for teaching include: Remind, Pinterest, Canva, Scannable and Charades for games. You can download Remind on both Iphones and Andriod phones. Once downloaded you can create a class. I have only asked my Senior Year 11 students to download the app. Once downloaded, they need th...