Miss Art of Teaching

The rock painting stall was a success! I ran the stall during Multicultural day. The purpose of the stall was to get as many rocks painted for the school decorative rock pathway. There was a huge turnout from the school community. We had students, teachers, staff and parents/carers joining in.  To prepare for the day, I... 1. Asked for donations from Flower Power and Bunnings. They donated rocks and a can of natural sealer (to protect the paint from rain, hail and shine!) 2. Sought funding to purchase permanent markers, posca markers and paint. 3. Asked Year 7-10 students in my classes to wash, dry and paint a based layer using exterior house paint. 4. Sorted out the rocks by colour. 5. Made teacher samples and asked every student in my class to make a few designs. 6. Advertised about the rock painting stall on the school Facebook, school newsletter, on assembly, Year 7 meeting and through word of mouth. 7. Asked Year 7 students to help make promotional posters and instru...

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...

So I went crazy today! I started using my Thinc Product voice amplifier. I purchased it on sale during the weekend for $109 Aud including postage (Rrp is $185). I used it in my classroom from Period 1 till Period 6. This includes 3 x Year 7 classes, 1 x 9/10 Elective Art class and 1 x Year 11 class.  It was great to use the voice amplifier. It made giving out instructions and demonstrations easier. I even sang and dance around. Some students loved it, some thought it was hilarious and a few begged me to stop singing. It made teaching so much more fun. Wearing this made me feel like I'm Britney Spears, a flight attendant and a belief that I can generally be anything!

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...

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...

How do you protect your teacher's voice? Here are a few strategies that I use in my classroom: NOISE CARDS I designed this system to encourage my classes to monitor their noise level. Every time the class gets noisy, I flip a letter. They need to be quiet for a set amount of time depending on the penalty that is shown behind the card (E:1 min, S: 2 mins, I: 4 mins, O: 8 mins and N:16 mins). You can carry out the penalty during class time and since the first few cards carry only a few minutes weight, it should not slow down your lesson.  I find that I can utilise the 'quiet' period to give out instructions or to give a demonstration. Students usually start monitoring their noise level when a few cards have been flipped. I have shared this system with a few teachers, and some of them warn students about detentions if the letters 'N' and 'O' are left on the board. If all five letters remain unflipped then students will receive 5 Vivos (whole school virtu...

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...