Miss Art of Teaching

Since joining the different teaching Facebook groups, I am more aware of the types of resources that teachers use across the continent. Art Prof seems to be a great resource for Visual Arts teacher in America. It is a free online educational platform for Visual Arts people.  I plan on sharing this video with my senior Year 11 class during my Period 5 lesson on Wednesday. The video is directed at students as it helps explain why art critique is important. I want to show this video AFTER I spend a lesson focused on rebuilding relationships with students and learning to let go of my control (when appropriate) to let students hold ownership of their artmaking.  I have been using the 'Remind' app with my Year 11 class and it never occurred to me that I can use it during class time. Remind is a free app that allows teachers and students to communicate without exposing any phone numbers or private information. I use it to send whole class announcements or provide one on one f...

My head teacher came into my Year 11 Senior class today to do an observation lesson. I also asked my co-worker who wanted to do a peer observation to come in at the same time. The purpose of the observations is to allow them to give me feedback on my teaching practice and for them to see the level of engagement in the classroom. At my school, every teacher must do an observation and also have someone seated in their class to provide feedback. I spent a quarter of the lesson going through the hamburger analogy. I adapted this from a shared resource on the 'Relief Teaching Ideas Community' Facebook group. I improved on this resource by using words from my own marking criteria and by picking out desirable and non-desirable behaviours exhibited from my students during the first 9 weeks of the term. After the hamburger analogy, I went through the requirements of HSC Visual Arts. I wanted students to understand why the preliminary program and assessment tasks were designed in a...

I love the fact that I am presenting more in front of larger groups of people. It is training me to become more comfortable inside my introvert shell.  Above: Prepping for today's Year 7 meeting This year I am teaching Year 11 Visual Arts students. I rewrote the program and assessment tasks. The first unit requires them to make five artworks based on one sentimental object. Last lesson, they had trouble thinking of what was sentimental in their life. I brought in my own box of memories to help students understand what makes an object sentimental. I was able to capture the attention of all my students. It was exciting for them to see what kind of objects was being taken out of the box. I took this opportunity explain how a strong concept/narrative holds the attention of the audience. It was also a fantastic way for students to learn more about me and to see that I am more than just a teacher - I am a human being with emotions just like them! Above: Box decorated fr...