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...

I love when teachers share ideas! A teacher friend commented on one of my Instagram posts (missartofteaching) about a cool online planner that she uses daily. She introduced me to 'Planboard' (free teacher online planner) where you can set up your timetable and then attach lesson plans, worksheets, and outcomes to each lesson.  It also syncs to Google Drive making it convenient. You can work on it from the computer or download an app for Iphones and Andriods. It took a while to set up, but I can see the benefits of using this online planner. I can edit my notes, select my standards and view my lesson attachments all under my fingertips. You can literally plan lessons anywhere and everything is in one place! I'll be using it to record class discussions and attach photos. A few examples:

Back to school... the three words that you probably love and hate at the same time. I will miss the holiday sleep in, naps, dog cuddles and taking my time for my morning run. But I am ready for another year of learning and nurturing my students with love and care.  Recently I stocked up at The Reject Shop and purchased half price pens from Woolworths. I am looking at implementing a system in my classroom where students are held accountable for borrowed resources: pencils and pens. I will be in two classrooms this year and have decided that I will need two caddies filled with supplies. One caddy will have pencils and pens based on the table number/colour and the other caddy will be based on numbers from 1-20 (since it is a flexible classroom). To be dismissed from class, I will need the pen/pencil to be returned. No more walkabouts. 

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...

Today a Year 7 student purchaesd the right to teach my lesson using 100 virtual rewards points. Mr Pulvirenti saved up his virtual rewards points to teach the class how to create a cartoon self portrait. The class worked beautifully. Students were on their best behaviour and some wanted to continue the activity at home.

Time is flying... I will be saying goodbye to my first Senior Year 12 class in a few months timeframe. I am now on a count down with my Year 12 students. They have 4 days until their 30% Body of Work and Visual Arts Process Diary is due for marking. This is an in school progress mark which is combined with their earlier 20% practical progress mark. The final 50% of their mark will come NESA (NSW Education Standards). It has definitely been a journey of mixed feeling. We are all exhausted both emotionally and physically. It has been difficult to get them to stay motivated. I will need to work on developing a stricter timeframe, provide more examples of Band 6 artworks and learn how to provide criticisim that does not deflate their self-esteem. Teaching my first senior class has definitely been an eye opener. Students are used to be given direction at every step from Year 7-10, with the freedom to choose their own concept and materials it can be quite stressing. Some may not be ...

I've been away from my blog for about 9 months. A quick overview of the past 9 months: 1. Invitation to be an admin for the Art Teachers Australia Facebook page. 2. Got engaged. 3. Purchased a house and moved out. 4. Appointed as the Positive Behaviour for Learning Coordinator at my school. Why I am back: 1. To be more proactive. 2. Exchange and share ideas about teaching pedagogy. 3. Implement classroom and school-wide systems. 4. Encouragement from people:

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...

I always get excited about teaching the Cyberpunk/Steampunk program to Year 7 students. This is my third year teaching it and it gets better every year. The first year, students did not take responsibility with bringing in their own 'materials' to create a mask. This ended up with a lot of masks looking similar and lacking the detail required to create interest. Last year, all my students were motivated even the ones who had difficulties completing homework throughout the year.  I loveeeee this project as I am a hands on person. Students will be using plaster bandage, hot glue gun, spray paint and also found objects. The combination makes it fun to teach. Students have started bringing in materials. A student told me today that he would use his broken fire alarm as part of his mask. I want students to see the potential in every household material. Anything can be made into a mask. We started the project yesterday and I am so happy to see students being eager to learn. I ha...

I am now officially appointed as a permanent teacher at my high school. I have been working for a total of 5 years and this is my fourth year at my current school. It feels like a long journey but it is only the start with a lot of learning to take place. I hope to grow into a better teacher by regularly reflecting on my teaching and being aware of new pedagogy practices. First day back means updating the theme/look of my classroom. I may have gone crazy with buying new containers and falling into the trap of liking blue-mints-turquoise. 

Thank you for visiting my blog! I started blogging this year and I tend to share a lot of stories inside and outside of my classroom. I like covering areas such as DIY, classroom organisation, classroom management, Art resources and anything to do with teaching. Sometimes you will see a few posts about my Shih Tzu, my shopping and what I am doing to de-stress. After all, teachers are humans too! I am so thankful that my Friday post about 'Ultimate Teacher Storage Box' has reached more than 4300 views. Here is the link: Ultimate Teacher Storage Box I am glad that teachers are enjoying the post. Australian teachers are my biggest viewers this week but my biggest page view country is from the United States. Crazy how the internet allows you to share. Over in Australia, we are enjoying our long weekend due to the Queen's birthday. I have been binge-watching Season 5 of 'Orange Is the New Black'. I can shamefully say that I have finished all 15 episodes withi...

Instagram has been quite addictive! I have broken the promise of only posting one photo a day. I should have probably known better since I LOVE taking photos. There is just so much that I want to share during my day to day teaching. Sometimes I share about the artworks which my students make, other times I focus on the classroom decorations or classroom systems that I have in place. I also like to share teacher outfits and ideas from my blog posts. so.... Some days you can have a mixture of really good classes and some that can tear you apart. But you keep doing what you do because teaching is more than a job. If you can't teach them today, you can teach them tomorrow. And this pretty much sums up today! It was quite difficult with one class today but hey... we learn from these experiences. Without a challenge, we can never grow to become an even better teacher.

I love blogging and it has been quite addictive. It is a great way to sit back and reflect on what is working and what needs improvement. Since making this blog (early this year), I have been interested in DIY projects and creating resources that help tackle/prevent issues from arising in my classroom. I have improved with my classroom management skills and resource making skills. Students respect the classroom space as there are structures and routines in place. They can see that I take pride in my classroom space and thus, they also respect the space more. My passion for teaching is getting stronger. It is my fifth year teaching and I feel like there is so much to learn and do! Today, I plan to share a list of Facebook groups that I follow and some of the places where I contribute ideas and resources. Sometimes I link my blog to the post, sometimes I am just happy to show a picture. I love how all the Facebook groups connect teachers around the world. I am based in Australia b...