Miss Art of Teaching

Change is inevitable and as teachers we need to be flexible and positive about new ideas and approaches to teaching. Teaching is a challenging job where we need to know our content and find ways to make learning fun. Lately, I have been asking students about how they feel about the subject and what we can do as a faculty to make learning more accessible to them. This has led me back to my blog and I am now sitting here thinking of new ways to deliver content: 1. Make learning more relevant. This year we have been looking at Environmental Issues and Street Art with Stage 5 (Year 9/10). However, compared to previous year, this particular cohort seem to find the projects less engaging. My faculty plans to create four shorter projects for 2020. We need to provide them with topics/issues that are more RELEVANT to them. Make them interested and CURIOUS. Give opportunities for students to generate their own research questions and search for explanations. 2. Make learning clear. Student...

Being a NSW teacher requires one to pay their Teacher Accreditation fee (aka teaching license). My first teaching gig was given to me because another temporary teacher forgot to pay her accreditation fee. This jeopardise her capacity to teach in any school or service in NSW under the Education Standards Authority. Tonight I decided to pay my $100 (tax deductible) Teacher Accreditation Fee before being penalised for forgetting. I also tick a few things off my To-Do list. This included evaluating all my tasks on the NESA eTAMS dashboard (a website built for teachers to record all professional learning). I decided to look into the final processes of my maintenance of accreditation since it is due on Feb 2019. The process has been simplified and one only needs to have a total of 100 hrs (50 NESA Registered and 50 TIPD), all courses evaluated, confirm employment details and press the submit maintenance button. On the NESA e-TAMS website, it is op...

During period 6 today, my co-worker sat in my class to observe my lesson. It is a requirement that the head teacher sits in on one of our classes and that everyone in the faculty takes turn observing one another. Feedback is then documented on BlueSky and given to the teacher verbally. This helps us to reflect and improve on our pedagogy. The lesson observation was based on my period 6 Year 11 Visual Arts class.  The focus of the lesson is based on the short documentary: Jim Carrey: I Needed Colour.  Read up this blog post to understand the lesson's content:  Lesson idea: Jim Carrey I changed a few things in the lesson. I started off the lesson by showing students a few examples of Jim Carrey's artwork without revealing the artist. Students worked in groups to write down whether they liked the artwork. We then had a class discussion and they were required to explain their choices. I then showed them the YouTube video. Afterward, we talked about how the docum...

S o yesterday I mentioned that I received my survey responses from my Year 11 Visuals Art class. Classroom survey blog post Now action needs to take place so that I can use this feedback effectively to improve on my teaching practice. I want students to be able to improve risk-taking behaviours in the classroom. Strategies that I will implement to encourage risk-taking behaviours: 1. ACKNOWLEDGE STUDENTS FOR TRYING/REMIND STUDENTS OF THEIR ABILITIES AND INTELLIGENCE: Use more praises in the classroom. Comment on effort made to put students in a growth mindset to increase learning and achievement. This will help make students more comfortable in the classroom. 2. PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK: Notice what is successful in students' artworks. This helps build a positive relationship with the student and starts the conversation off on a good note. This will then allow them to be more receptive to constructive criticism. Be specific with the feedback so students...

For today's blog entry, I decided to share a newsletter article that I compiled with teacher and students' feedback on Vivo (virtual points reward system) prizes. The school's 'Vivo' reward system works by having accounts set up for both the teacher and student. The cost of running the 'Vivo Miles' program depends on the number of students at your school. Teachers can reward students based on how well they are meeting the school's values of being a respectful, engaged and an active learner. Students can look up their virtual points and the messages that go along with it on their computer/mobile app and trade their points in for prizes of their own choice i.e. tangible prize or a teacher service prize.  To get a bit of a background about Vivo, please read the following post on: Ways to get donations/prizes Love my classes Newsletter article: A BIG thank you to all the teachers and staff who have donated their time providing these amazing Vivo T...