New Year Resoultions

Every year, around the end of December, or the beginning of January many people make the mistake of making "New Year Resolutions".  Why is this a mistake you ask?  Well, most resolutions tend to be very specific.  "Lose 20 pounds" "Stop smoking" "Organize my life".  What if, instead, everyone on the planet simply vowed to do better than they did before?  And why do we have to wait for January 1st to make this commitment?

What if we all tried to be a better person than we were yesterday? A better teacher/parent/co-worker than yesterday?  Then even if we "slip" for a day or two, it's just as easy to begin again.  For example, if I was to try to exercise "better than I did before" than anytime I take a walk around the block I'm good.  You have to assume (and you would be right) that I basically haven't exercised in years.  So if I'm trying to do better all I have to do is more than I have in the past.

Just for a minute imagine if everyone-everywhere saw each and every day as a new opportunity to do better, be better, live better?  So this is my challenge, to you and to myself-do better than you have before!

Watch Dogs!

Have you heard of the Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students) program?  If you have this at your school you know how lucky you are.  If you don't have this program you should really check out their web site  http://www.fathers.com/watchdogs/http://www.fathers.com/watchdogs/ and learn all about it.  In a nutshell someone in your school (usually the counselor) oversees the program.  Dads, or other male role models, sign up to come to school for a day.  They then spend their time not only with their own student (our Watch Dogs come for siblings, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and so on) but also with other classes/grade levels.

In our schools the "Dogs" spend time in classes with their own student, but also work with other students, eat lunch, go to recess, patrol the perimeter of the school (read smoke break for the Dogs that need it) and get to learn all about the school day.  Since the Dogs have a schedule and do many different things during the day they really feel that they have "made a difference" with the time that they have taken to be at the school.  They also gain an insight to the school-day that many males never see.

Since I have every student in the school in my class, I have an unique opportunity to have many Watch Dogs in my classroom.  I can't even begin to tell you how much of a positive experience the program is not only for the "Dogs" but also for all of the kids that they come into contact with!

If you work with children you should really check this program out and see if you can bring it to your school!

Saving My Sanity With Name Cards!

Every single piece of great art has the artist’s signature on the front.  The signature alone is often what determines the worth of a painting.  Students need to learn that their work is not only fabulous but also worthy of a signature.  The trouble is that many young scholars need a “line” to help them when they wright their name, also most art teachers have hundreds of students which brings up the issue of “which Mary (or whomever) does this art piece belong to?”

My first year of teaching I quickly realized that all of these things were going to be an on-going problem if I didn’t quickly find a way to not only organize the students work, but also a way for each of them to proudly display his or her name on their work.   I came up with what turned out to be the perfect solution.  I print up pages of what we call “name cards”.  These are 1” x 1 ½” slips of paper with three lines.  The first line reads Artist, the second line is for their section (more on this later) and the third line is the date.  I keep these in a small box on the “supply table”.  When a student has finished a project he or she fills out a name card and then glues it to the artwork.    This also solved another problem, that being “is this student finished or not?”  By affixing a name card to the front the student is telling me that he or she is finished and the project is ready for grading. 

I use this method for my 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd graders.   Many kinders are still learning how to manipulate a pencil, and I have found that the small slip of paper causes frustration (read tears) for some of them.  By the time students have entered the 4^th grade I have them sign directly onto the front of their artwork. 

So what is a section?  A section is a way that I identify whom is in which class, without having anyone else’s name (like their classroom teacher) on the artwork.  Since I only see each class once a week I use a number for their grade level and an abbreviation for the day of the week.  Therefore first graders who come on Monday are 1M, followed by 1TU, 1W, 1 TH, and 1F.  The other grades use the same abbreviations and just change the number to reflect their grade.  If you see students more than once a week, just change the abbreviation to an arbitrary letter. 

This method has kept me relatively sane while grading and sorting the students’ artwork!

5th Grade Painted Spheres

     I find that after summer or winter break it is nice to start off with a "short and simple" type of project.   This is one of my favorites as the kids really enjoy watching their paper "bend" as they progress through the lesson. 

I have the kids use compasses to draw the circles,  some can do this totally on their own, some buddy up with another student, and there are a few that I assist.  The biggest obstacle for this is-believe it or not-hand strength!  Personally, I blame all things with a screen.  When I think back to how my own children spent their early years, their days involved many fine and gross motor skills.  The internet was just getting started, I think there was one or maybe two gaming stations, and those VHS tapes took up a lot of storage space!

The part that I find most interesting is that academic achievement, socioeconomic status,  race, sex, or age seem to have no correlation to hand strength in my students.   Hand strength or lack of it seems to simply come from how students spent their time outside of school, beginning with their pre-school years and continuing on.

The best thing about this problem is that it's easy to help kids improve their hand strength.  Coloring, cutting, and painting are all good things, but remember they mainly work the dominate hand.  Playdough, legos, and other things that encourage the use of both hands are also necessary.  The beauty of this is that all of these activities are not only inexpensive, but can become valuable family time as well.

April, May and June!

I don't know about you, but April, May and June were a super hectic time for me this year!  Of course there are the "normal" art teacher things, like art shows.

That's the time of year when all of my students (500+) get to choose 4 pieces of artwork each to hang in the hallways.  And now for a little math.... over 500 students * 4 artworks = 2000 pieces BUT each piece has (at least ) 4 pieces of tape or sticky tack on the back which is over 8000 pieces of tape/sticky tack!  Don't forget what goes up must come down AND get re-filed into each student's portfolio to take home.  Yes it's a lot of work! Students and parents help with the actual labor, and classroom teachers help me remember who-due to an absence-still has to choose their artwork.  It is also the best time of the year!  All of that creativity hung up at once makes the school look AMAZING!

I have heard of some art teachers who (gasp) don't have a show!  They say that it is too much work, too time consuming, and too little "reward".  I beg to differ!  The pride on the faces of your students as they admire not only their work, but also the work of others is fantastic!  Also it is a chance for other teachers in the building to see a creative side of their students that they might not know about.  I can't tell you how many times I've had a colleague say to me "I was looking at so&so's artwork and I just cannot believe how talented he/she is! I never would have known about this side of them!"

Once the art show is over it is time for the Student's Choice Award each of my students grade 3,4 & 5 is allowed to choose one piece of their work to display.  We have 3 different awards, one for each grade level.  The students (and staff) vote and I award the top 10 for each grade level a certificate and the top 3 receive either a bronze, silver or gold medal.

Then of course there is the rush to make sure that each student has all of their artwork in their portfolio to take home at the end of the year.  Each grade level does 10 or more projects, kindergarten does about 25, so that multiplied by over 500 students is a lot to keep track of.

The hidden benefit to storing their artwork all year and then sending it home leaves me with an empty cabinet.  That translates into the perfect spot to stash all of your stuff that has to be put away for summer cleaning!

Somewhere in there we had our last early release day of the year.  Some teachers have to go to PLC and a select few of us get to hang out with the kids for four and a half hours!

This year with a graduating senior the spring was especially hectic!  Since she is a dancer there was of course recitals and competitions.

Mine is the one in gray, seven performances with up to 14 numbers each!

Of course there was prom.

And commencement.

 And then summer activities start-for me that is supervising the gym 2 nights a week for a summer basketball league.  I don't have pictures of that, me taking out the trash isn't very exciting!

And of course summer school!  For the month of June our after-school program becomes the summer school program.  We try to find a happy medium of academic and enrichment activities for the kids.  Here are just a few of the highlights.

And now as summer truly starts it is time for a family vacation!!! Guess where we are going?!

 It's summer!  Relax, look for inspiration, write new lessons, create something, and don't forget the sunscreen!

Yes, art is a social type of class, but it is also a personal type of class, so how does one develop concentration while not squashing the social-conversation part of class?  How do you encourage students to be social while at the same time concentrating on their work?  In my class, we have time for both, but I do wish we had more time!  Of course every teacher wants more time with their kids!  What works for you?

Finding my way

I am currently attempting to "find my way" through cyber-space, and digital footprinting.  I have so many students that are so very talented, who teach me every day, and I want to find a way to show the world what they can do!  I also seem to have a lot to say-I quite frankly get paid to talk/teach.  My hope is to have this blog become a record of my lessons-lessons that I teach, and lessons that I learn.  Hopefully social media will give not only myself, but also my students an opportunity to stretch our wings!