Miss Art of Teaching

I love when teachers share ideas! A teacher friend commented on one of my Instagram posts (missartofteaching) about a cool online planner that she uses daily. She introduced me to 'Planboard' (free teacher online planner) where you can set up your timetable and then attach lesson plans, worksheets, and outcomes to each lesson.  It also syncs to Google Drive making it convenient. You can work on it from the computer or download an app for Iphones and Andriods. It took a while to set up, but I can see the benefits of using this online planner. I can edit my notes, select my standards and view my lesson attachments all under my fingertips. You can literally plan lessons anywhere and everything is in one place! I'll be using it to record class discussions and attach photos. A few examples:

I've been away from my blog for about 9 months. A quick overview of the past 9 months: 1. Invitation to be an admin for the Art Teachers Australia Facebook page. 2. Got engaged. 3. Purchased a house and moved out. 4. Appointed as the Positive Behaviour for Learning Coordinator at my school. Why I am back: 1. To be more proactive. 2. Exchange and share ideas about teaching pedagogy. 3. Implement classroom and school-wide systems. 4. Encouragement from people:

Two weeks ago, I set a new challenge for myself. Every Sunday night, I pull out 5 outfits. This prepares me for the morning and keeps my wardrobe looking tidy. Double win! Outfit 1: Outfit 2: Outfit 3: Outfit 4: Outfit 5:

I have been teaching since mid 2012. I started off teaching casually and gained longer blocks in the Home Economics Faculty and the Creative and Performing Arts faculty. I have taught every single subject through my casual days. I valued these experiences as it allowed me to be flexible, work with different teachers and bond with students in a short period of time. Some days it was challenging and other days it was quite rewarding.  Fast forward to 2017, I am now a permanent Visual Arts teacher. I am also trained in Technological and Applied Studies area but my heart has always been set to become an art teacher. Late last year, I was asked to prepare a workshop on 'Classroom Management' for Term 1 school development day. While researching through the school holidays, I became interested in everything related to my teaching practice. I started considering how the 'look' of the classroom can influence the way students engage with the classroom content. I looked at teac...

My weekend has been quite busy. I've only slowed down today. On Friday night, I went out with some close friends and we celebrated that I am finally permanent after being five years on the contract. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant in the city called 'Fratelli Fresh'. I didn't manage to take any photos as the food was too delicious and I was preoccupied with the experience. Yesterday, I went to the Etsy handmade markets to support local artists and designers. I managed to purchase a number of handmade jewellery along with my high school friends. I have this fascination to expand my art teacher jewellery collection. We stopped for brunch around 12:30pm at the 'Lord Gladstone Hotel'. I was pretty much starving at that point. The food was very satisfying. Afterwards, we headed to the Archibald Prize and the Wynne and Sulman exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Here are some of my favourite artworks: ...

I am dedicating this post to my best buddy/ ex-co-worker /mentor. On Tuesday, I drove up to visit my retired art teacher friend and spent a day catching up and talking about art. I also squeezed in the time to help her start a blog!  We taught together and share a class for two years before she left. She was the reason why my 'wellbeing' and passion for teaching just SHOT right up. This lady never stops exploring and my respect for her as a teacher and as a human being exceeds every living breath. A little snippet about herself: " Hello, everybody...I am a retired high school Visual Arts teacher with 30 years of teaching experience. I am currently teaching visual arts to primary school students. My head is always filled with ideas that I want to share on this blog. I love experimenting with art materials and making a mess. In my spare time, I love to make handmade journals, love to quilt and anything DIY." Her blog link: The Art Lady Above: The A...

Every year I try to make it to 'The Finders Keepers' market. The vibe is great and there is always a range of unique handmade goodies. The market features over 200 independent art and design stalls. The market sells a range of handmade pieces by amazing makers from Sydney. This year the 10th anniversary event was set at The Cutaway, Barangaroo Reserve.  Being an Art teacher, I love seeing what unique products independent labels are producing. At the same time, the products might be an inspiration for a new unit of work in ceramics, painting, jewellery design etc. I love walking around Barangaroo. Everything looks great! Except, I did not check the weather forecast and my shoes were flooded from the million little puddles. I also had to run to the nearest shop just to buy an umbrella!  I probably spent an hour walking around. My heart was set on buying 'earrings'. After cutting off my long hair, I realise that I was lacking some funky earrings. I ...

This week, I have avoided taking work home. This is probably the 'procrastinate' period. I tend to always do this before going on full auto-pilot mode (except I do focus on the material at hand)  Above: How I imagine myself when I go on auto-pilot mode. Over here in Australia, it is Week 3 of Term 2. Here is my to-do list in order of importance: 1) Art Teacher role: Get Year 11 'Portraits' resources printed as textbooks for senior students. 2) Art Teacher role: Finish marking three late Year 7 Case Study assignments and one late Year 10 Case Study assignment.  3) Art Teacher role: Finish marking three class set of Year 7 Self-Portraits.  4) Art Teacher role: Start three class set of Year 7 Visual Arts reports, one class set of Year 7 Technology Mandatory reports and one class set of Year 9/10 Visual Arts reports. 5) Year 7 Adviser role: Prepare Week 5 Tuesday PowerPoint and resources on 'Study Skills' and '7 Habits of Highly Ef...

My Stage 5 class (Year 9/10 combined class): I love giving students a topic and then the freedom to choose their own technique and material selection. It is encouraging to see students take ownership of their work while I sit back as a mentor. I love how they are so focused and willing to help each other.  This was not my favourite class at the start of this year as there was a bit of a tension with a small group of people who was not ready to have me as their new art teacher. They had a real connection with their previous teacher. After a while, they started to enjoy my teaching style and me being my true self.  Now all the lessons are seriously SUPER fun. I LOVE this class to bits. My tips for building relationships with students: 1. Be honest about how you feel. I reminded that particular group of students it was not healthy to constantly compare my teaching practice and personality with their previous art teacher.  2. Show them that you genuinely care about...