Week #4: nearing the midpoint ...

Monday
Today was the first time we've had our Monday class schedule due to snow last week and the strange schedule the week before. We got to do all the introductions/ first day things one last time ... My teacher taught all of the classes today since they are a week behind, except for 3rd grade (which I have taken over completely). The third grade class I had was very social and had difficulty listening to instruction. After requesting for them to quiet down and focus twice, I asked them to stop talking and put their heads down for a minute. Then I explained why they needed to be quiet today so they could keep up with lesson since they were doing instructed drawing and that next class they would be able to socialize more. It worked out pretty well - they knuckled down and got as much as they could done before class ended. I think next class will be much more successful/ productive now that they understand what I expect of them. Other than that, I think I finally taught the lesson pretty well, conveying all the points that I needed to for a solid introduction. This time I included a quote from Frida about painting a self portrait because you are the person you know best and it gave the kids something to think about ... it also let into a discussion about the purpose of a self-portrait which I think will be really beneficial when they start the exaggeration portion of the lesson.
I spent the rest of the day assisting my teacher with her lessons and brainstorming lesson ideas for when I take all the classes on during week 5 and 6. I think I have some really great ideas and will start researching for them this week so I can write them during the two teacher workdays (Thurs & Friday).

Tuesday
Today seemed like such a light day because we had two planning periods and only five classes. In the morning there was first grade, kindergarten (my teacher taught) and pre-K (which I taught); then in the afternoon we had second and third grade (which I also taught). The pre-K class did a modified version of the Andy Warhol hands that I had taught last week. They used elongated paper (horizontal) and did all of their colored squares side by side and got to choose more than just primary colors - the end product was awesome! I think the way I organized the lesson this time and spent more time talking about patterns, shape and color was very effective. I had the students count how many times Mickey Mouse showed up in Andy Warhol's print and talked about what shape he was in (square). Then we looked at other images and talk about how it was the same picture but with different colors - they got it! And knew it was pattern. I had some problems keeping them focused and my teacher share a tip with me afterwards that singing directions will bring them back. Good call! Overall though, the hand prints Warhol style turned out really well and the students were able to even review what they had learned.

Wednesday
Today was another short but busy day with just five classes - note to self, plan lessons so that you do NOT have classes painting back to back. Unless you prepare everything in the morning (and have the supplies to do so) before the classes get there, with the small margin of time while classes are changing it would impossible to switch over without help unless you want chaos to ensue. I think all of the classes went well today, especially the third graders when doing the second part of their self portrait lesson. They worked quietly the whole time and came up with some really cool exaggerations - with crazy hair, big eyes, shrunken mouths. They will finish up during the beginning of the next class and then move on to their lesson about illuminated letters (that I will be teaching).
I also taught the second half of a Modigliani based portrait lesson to a first grade class. I went over all the instructions and thought I had really conveyed the process of mixing skin tone, however once the students began painting it took a lot of monitoring to make sure they really got it. Its really tough teaching another preson's lessons because I always feel like I'm not doing it as well as they do or that I'm forgetting something. My teacher reassured me that I did cover everything, its just a hard concept to really get across and takes a lot of teacher assistance so that the students portraits don't end up with green skin.
Other than those two classes today, I began planning lessons for the next several weeks - and will use the next two teacher workdays to research and finalize these lessons. I think I have some really great ones for each grade - I just hope that the execution is as successful as I have been with previous lessons, if not more so ...

Thursday
Today was parent-teacher conference day and since my teacher and I just moved into a new school it turned into a teacher workday for us. We spent several hours today over at the old school painting a mural on the windows of the cafeteria based on a book that the school is reading (Fire on a Mountain). As an art teacher, you are often asked/roped into doing any "artistic" project that a school needs and this is a perfect example. Luckily, my teacher and I both like to paint and worked together very well and quickly to finish the mural - and got many complements and thanks for it as well (which is the benefit of doing such things). In the end, the project was pretty gratifying and led us to decide that some of our workday tomorrow would probably be spent painting the window of our new classroom that looks into the hall (as it has been a point of distraction for students). The rest of the workday as spent developing lesson plans for the next couple weeks, although my ability to do so was limited by being a little ill (I think I may have caught the 24 hour stomach bug my teacher had earlier in the week). I'm really hoping the gradoo goes away by tomorrow because I really want to be able to use my workday to finish my lessons and get paper work done with my teacher. Cross your fingers!

Friday
Today was another teacher workday, with a part of it spent doing projects for other teachers at our school. We traced and colored a pictures of "The Magic School Bus" and created a banner saying "Music Matters" for the music teacher, which took up most of the morning (learning to say no is a crucial skill sometimes). During the afternoon, we collaborated on lesson ideas, discussing things we would want to teach, artists that could inspire and other such things. I continued working on my lessons for next week and researching the ideas further - they are almos all finalized. I feel like I have really developed some lessons that incorporate cross-curriculum ideas, visual culture, art history and even art SOLs, but are still creative and hopefully enjoyable/valuable for the students. I'm really glad that I have the teacher that I do, she has been a really positive influence on me, encouraging my ideas, guiding me to resources and giving me great criticism. I am officially half way through my elementary placement of student teaching as of today and will really be getting into the thick of teaching starting next week. I think I have already grown a lot as an art teacher and it has been a good experience thus far - I will be interested to see how the next four weeks go!