Miss Art of Teaching

I am quite pleased with the purchase of my sparkling brand new whiteboard from Daiso. It is an awesome little monthly schedule calender. They even reposted my picture on Instagram. At 8am today I had my Work Health and Safety workshop on how to use a fire extinguisher. I actually need to buy one for my own house! I had Year 7 classes from Period 1-3 and most of them are finishing off their oil pastel drawings. Some are starting the painting process. Here are a few photos: At recess, I went to visit my Deputy Princpal to talk about cabin organisation for the Year 8 camp. Careful consideration must be given to how groups are form to minimise discipline issues and conflict. My first break from teaching Year 7 (don't get me wrong, I love them!) was during Period 4. I took my Year 9/10 combined class to the darkroom. I have not been in the darkroom for about two years now. Need to brush up my skills and reorganise the room. There n...

If you follow me on Instagram (missartofteaching), you will notice that I've been enjoying a crafty weekend. I've purchased a few pair of shoes from Kmart. They are great canvases for painting! I also purchased 15 x modelling clay to make polymer clay jewellery. I'm so heavily invested that I even purchased a portable oven for this new hobby. I also purchased a lot of fabric during Lincraft's 40% off sale and made a few hair bands.

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...

Wow... time flies! It is already the LAST day of Term 2. Students were eager to 'paint' and help in my classroom. I had more than half the class stay back during lunch to paint my classroom. Some students did smaller jobs, like decorating the classroom fans with contact and I even had two students who made me a personal speaker! I LOVE it. The speaker is made from an empty can of Pringle and two paper cups. Check out the photos below. Now...it is time to enjoy the two weeks holidays! I will be trying to balance work with leisure time. First activity tonight is having a family dinner at a dumpling house before heading to the drive-through cinema with my partner and Shih Tzu.

I finally made it to 2017 Art Express exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW). I have been encouraging my Year 11 Visual Arts students to make time to visit the exhibition during the school holidays. They are starting a unit on Portraits and the AGNSW exhibition stocks many outstanding student artworks with the same theme. Perfect inspiration for them! It has been hard to make time to visit the art gallery as I have been swamped with marking or with hiking experiences. I almost thought I would miss the exhibition today as I was literally stuck at Pitt Street Apple Store for more than four hours (new phone, backing up storage, transferring contacts etc.) The nightmare of waiting for icloud to back up, resetting Apple ID and Itunes ID and the list just goes on. I am thankful for the extremely patient staff at Apple. Information about Art Express from the Art Gallery of NSW and Official Art Express website: The Art Express is an annual series of exhibitions of exem...