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 ...

At the start of every year, we are asked to think of 3 objectives. Evidence of achieving the objectives must be uploaded to a website. My objectives for this year include: 1. Promote CAPA faculty and celebrate students' achievements This includes: -Working with students, staff and the local community to create artworks that represent the school. -Create artworks that promote the CAPA faculty, -Display artworks to celebrate student's achievements.  -Share Facebook posts and newsletter articles to acknowledge the efforts made by students. 2. Lead the Positive Behaviour for Learning Team This includes: -Growing, embedding and sustaining PBL at the school. -Strengthen and maintain links between the school and the wider community. -Network with other PBL schools to discuss systems and approaches. -Look for PBL training for myself and other staff members. -Defining Expectations -Teaching Behaviour Expectations -Strategies in place to ...

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):

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:

I love going on Facebook and Instagram for teaching ideas. A recent video that has received a lot of attention (1.5 million views) is Jim Carrey's 6-minute documentary based on his thought processes when painting. Jim Carrey: I Needed Colour The exciting part about this video is the different reactions received. Some have congratulated him on his new direction such as IndieWire's article  Jim Carrey is now an amazing painter and his art documentary is going viral  while others, including The Guardian   Jim Carrey's art is yet more proof that Hollywood stars should avoid the canvas  has criticised him, calling his art "shallow" and "pretentious". I plan to show this video to my Year 11 students on Thursday period 6. Being the last period of the day, a video should help spice things up and keep them awake. The majority of the students will know this Canadian star. He is famous for starring in movies such as Dumb and Dumber, The Mask and has e...

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...