Miss Art of Teaching

Visual Arts Year 6 Term 2 My high school offers transition lessons for our local primary school. Every Tuesday afternoon, our local primary school brings over their Year 6 students. The students are split off into groups to try a few taster classes. It helps prepare them for high school as they learn about the school structure and routines. Inside my classroom, they have been working together to make the 'What Lifts You' mural. Every student contributes by making a feather design. Resources that can benefit Year 6 students: Instructions:  What Lifts You Year 7 Term 1 Every year we start off with a Self-portrait unit with the Year 7 students. I decided to spice things up and use Snapchat filters on my students. We used the dog filter on Snapchat as it still allowed a reasonable amount of realism to be portrayed in their artworks. Students' artworks are now on display in the CAPA corridors. Resources that can benefit Year 7 students: Instruction...

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...

I LOVE MY CLASSES. This year I have been blessed with really good classes. I still get my dose of challenging students but overall the students are settled and I get to be myself in front of them. I can be silly, make jokes and do some horrible dabbing.  Teaching is about knowing your students and working on building good relationships with them. At the same time NOT letting them get away with things like coming late to class, incomplete assessments tasks and being rude. It is important to have consistent instructions and consequences. Students do three things when they walk into my classroom: 1. Bags off (and placed at the back of the room). 2. Sit down. 3. Zip it. This is to get the class settled quickly without interruptions. Once the introduction is done (for practical lessons), students can start on their own project. If it is a theory lesson, students need to remain quiet unless there is a class discussion. I am generally more flexible with senior s...

The suggested methods can be adapted into any classroom or year groups: This morning I took out several suits from an old deck of playing cards. I proceeded to cut them in half.  I passed out one-half to every  Year 11 student who walked through the door.  They were then instructed to find the other half.  This method allows them to break away from their friendship groups or from attempting the paper alone. You can carefully pair students up if you want by making sure you separate the same suit from 'close' friends. You could also pair a stronger student up with a student who may need the extra help. A good memory is important so you can distribute the cards carefully without it being obvious. For me, 'destiny' works out fine!  Once they were in their pairs, I gave them a copy of either Question 1, 2 or 3 of section 1 of a preliminary exam paper. I ended up having 3-4 groups per question.  They were then instructed to: 1. Find the ke...

This is the aftermath of visiting Kmart... I love decorating my classroom and Kmart makes my job REALLY fun! Sometimes I go overboard. You can find most of the items in the 'Party' section at Kmart. The Unicorn pom poms is only $2 Aud. The big 12 piece decoration pack is only $12 Aud!!! This is cheaper than buying individual pom poms for $3 Aud each. The necklaces are $6 Aud each and come with a pair of earrings. I saw on my Instagram feed that you can easily convert them into cute teacher lanyards by attaching large lobster clips or keyring holders. The mini blackboard is only $5 Aud and comes with two chalks. The board is going to be for motivational quotes.  The pink table cloths are $2 Aud each and are actually used for covering tables. They make a great backdrop for walls.  I feel like going back to Kmart just to purchase these lovely trays:

Our high school offers transition lessons for our local primary school. Every Tuesday afternoon, the local primary brings over their Year 6 students. The students are split off into groups to try a few taster classes. This year I decided to do something different and went with a collaborating design between students. Please check out my previous post in regards to the 'What Lifts You' mural design. What Lifts You   This class activity was very easy to handle. I was given 5 lessons with this class but we pretty much finished by the third lesson. On the fourth lesson, I started giving them another activity to do. I will be getting two new groups and plan to have 3 pairs of wings by the end of the rotations. The primary school students will be taking it back to their primary school to have it on display. I hope students enjoyed working on it and I want them to be proud of their team effort. I'll miss them! Hope to see most of them next year.

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...