Miss Art of Teaching

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...

I am a huge believer on rewarding students and I try my best to get donations rolling into our school system. Over the past two years, I have been speaking to local businesses in person, sending out emails, letters and even asking for donations from the school community (via school Facebook and email). Sometimes we get monetary donations, other times we get tangible prizes. I try to be creative as well and ask if teachers are willing to provide services such as baking a cake, wearing a onesie, being a note taker.... If you want to know more about the different prizes, please remember to check out my links at the bottom of this blog post. This is the letter that I have been sending out to local companies: Dear I’d like to introduce myself, and outline the purpose of this letter. My name is Miss Kwan, and I am a High School Teacher at X High School. We are seeking funds to keep our school online rewards system running. Alternatively, you can provide merchandise to be placed i...

During Tuesday afternoon, Year 6 students from our local primary school come over for some taster subjects in Visual Arts, Languages, Computers and Science. I really enjoy having the students over, as they are very eager to make art. We are starting the 'What Lifts You' mural. The finished mural will be taken back to the primary school as a display. Materials needed: -Photocopied feather template on A4 colour paper. I made 200 copies as I will have three class rotations. -Class set of instructions to make feather designs. I also laminated a copy and left it on the white board. -Class set of pencils. -Class set of posca pens (arcylic paint in a marker). -Class set of scissors. Inspiration from: I also tried something new. Every time a student was good they received a slip to put their name on it. They could have multiple slips. Students would then take their slip and put it into the class jar. At the end of the lesson, I draw our two prizes (one ...

I always procrastinate for a day before I can focus and start work. I probably had too much fun during the Easter long weekend and my mind was crying for another day of rest. I ended up cleaning and started stealing things from home to bring to work. I always do this! It doesn't help that I am an Art teacher and I want to be able to provide students with as many resources as possible. Since I am the rewards advocator at my school, I also try to find prizes around the house to donate to the school. This is on top of asking for monetary or merchandise prizes from the local community. During the holidays, I have been using the 'Remind' mobile app to send inspirational photos to my Year 11 Senior students. Remind is a great app for me to communicate to my students. They are also able to ask questions and get feedback about how they are going with their 'Portraits' unit. I have asked them to have an idea ready by Week 1 of Term 2. We have roughly 15 weeks ...

I have a friend who I love to bits. She is my mentor and the kindest soul on this planet. When she used to work with me, I would often wonder to myself...'What did I do to deserve such a genuine friend/coworker in my life?' She has truly lifted my wellbeing up from being at the rock bottom to becoming a passionate and hardworking teacher (mirroring her work ethics). Although she has now retired from her job after 24 years of service to the Department of Education, she still thinks of the students every day. She has made me a 'To do' journal and another handful of handmade letter sets and journals for students as 'reward prizes'. Above: My lovely journal. Above: Handmade letter sets. Each bundle contains 3 original designs. Above: More handmade journals. Every page is carefully put together. It is a scrapbook heaven. She prints each image herself. At times the artworks are designed and painted by this talented woman, other times she sea...

I've had a really good week with my classes. I enjoyed knowing my students more and being able to teach my content with little disturbance. I hoped they enjoyed their time in the art classroom. Throughout this week I focused on understanding the ALARM matrix, getting out my Year 11 theory assessment task, making my students aware of their time management and productivity during class time, assisting Year 7 with their self-portrait drawings and decorating my classroom. During the week I also focused on looking for more prizes for the school rewards system: Vivo miles. I posted on different Facebook groups and had one response from a gentleman who works for Eckersley. He is offering art supplies and free medium workshops. I also promoted new prizes on assembly, through the school Facebook page and through student's notices. Students are snapping up raffle tickets to build a higher chance of winning a double pass to our local wildlife park. On the side, I am still activ...

Since last night, I have been working, working and working. There is so much I want to do but physically I can only do so much in one go. I got up early this morning to finish off what I wanted to do. I think I must have a love and hate relationship with working in my own spare time. I find what I do interesting but at the same time, I whine to myself. I spent almost two hours last night uploading new prizes onto the Vivo online school shop, making facebook posts and sending emails in regards to the school's Vivo rewards program. Vivos is a rewards program we used to reward students using virtual points. Students can exchange the virtual points for a prize of their own liking.  I have been actively seeking for more donations from the school and local community. Parramatta Riverbank has kindly offered a double pass to see Dracula. Here is my post on the school's facebook: Above: DRACULA double passes. I started making a PowerPoint for the 'Meet the Teachers...