Miss Art of Teaching

I've been writing blog entries to reflect on my daily teaching practice. I must admit that sometimes I forget about the readers. My intentions are not to grab views but rather to document my own journey and share my passion. Thank you if you are popping by for the first time, or returning here for another post. I want to share a few photos of the 'before' and after shots of my Visual Arts high school classroom. I teach in an extremely old demountable. It smells a bit funny. Everything is still in progress as I am always looking at new ways to improve the classroom. A reader asked if I have funding for all the furniture and stationary items in my classroom. I have been using the same furniture for years. Recently, a coworker's father closed his book contacting business and I have been going CRAZY with the free supplies. I have been contacting walls and tables with the assistance of fast finishers. My friend's work place was disposing off tissue papers, col...

I decided it was time for a new lanyard. I wanted something that was quite fun and tactile. The Smiggle lanyard is extremely colourful and the keyring is a great stress reliever. It feels nice running my fingers through the surface. I picked up a 'C' keyring as my first name starts with a C. Above: Lanyard and keyring from Smiggle. I also went pass a watch store and bought myself a cool portable clock/timer/stopwatch. I don't want to use my phone that often unless I am taking photos of students' work. This timer is awesome. It is probably designed for the kitchen as each turn, makes a click sound and adds a minute to the stopwatch. It will be used to time activities, to time how long it takes students to settle into the classroom, to add minutes to complete 'silence' when students decide to talk during inappropriate times. I also purchased a wall clock as I am missing one in the classroom. The clock has the time, the date and even the temperature :) ...

School starts tomorrow for teachers. I have already made two trips to school in the past two weeks. Each time I look like I am going camping for an extended amount of time. Bags, bags, bags and more BAGSSSSS.... In prep for school, I have done two Aldi runs during their 'Back to School' sale. I am in love with the new rose gold range (magazine holders, pencil holders and rubbish bin). From my latest Aldi trip, I also bought a 2 in 1 office cutter and a large calender desk planner. Above: I have cleaned out my desk and put in my new purchases from ALDI. Tomorrow I am doing a presentation on 'Classroom Management'. This is one of the reasons why I started my blog and how I got interested in DIY projects. Here are some pictures of how I am getting my classroom management in place and making my classroom a tiny bit more inviting. I live and breath inside an old demountable and plan to give it a more refreshed look throughout the year. Above: I wonde...

I've had an extremely busy day of running around. First stop was Aldi, then Bunnings, then Office works, then back to Aldi (to get a few more things) and finally the Reject Shop. Here are some purchases and what I plan to do with them: Above: Items for myself. I'm in love with the label maker. I've never had one and its so much fun! Top row from Aldi, bottom row from Office Works. Above: Aldi stationary as prizes. The price range was from $99c - $3.99 per item. Above: I went back to Aldi to purchase more prizes ($2.99 each) and the large pink bucket ($2.99). The clear containers are all from Reject shop. The large one cost $16 and each jar is $4 each. The paddle pop sticks are $2.50 per packet and the circle paper are also $2.50 from the Reject Shop. Above: Using my label maker. Above: Dog being tired. Above: Labeling my pencils. No more missing pencils!!!!! Above: I took the pencils from the funky pencil topper sets from Aldi as I like ...

Teachers who support teachers are SUPER AWESOME. And what amazes me is the network of teachers on Facebook who are willing to share resources without a blink of an eye. My favourite group is the 'Relief Teaching Ideas Community'. There are 30,967 members and many of them are happy to share resources, provide answers to questions and just willing to listen and help. I spent yesterday going through the 'files' section of this particular Facebook group and printed out a lot of useful resources for my Art classroom. Although most of the resources are generated for primary school setting, there is still a lot to take in as a high school teacher. I love what primary school teachers do. They use 'praises' often compared to any secondary teachers (a study was made and this was one of the findings- information gathered from my PBL workshops). Graphics are used to grab students' attention and many systems are in place to make sure routines work and students are achi...