Teacher Reflections: The First Week = Just 2 Days

Well, here we are. I'm back in the art room, students are back in school, and you're back at my blog! There were really only 2 days of student attendance, but that still equals over a dozen different art classes.

The first work that my Jr. High worked on was to create a self-portrait. I didn't want to give any instruction to this one, because later on I will lead a self-portrait unit to evaluate progress and growth. This is all an attempt to wrap my brain and curriculum around the new Teacher Evaluation system that requires part of our evaluation score to be based off of student growth. I let my Jr. High artists to use any tools or resources they wanted to. I saw quite a range of interests from students that wanted to solely use pencils to students that decided to cut pieces of paper out and design a representational self-portrait. I saw a range of skills from artists that divided their face into proportional grids to artists that explored with color. I was happy with their enthusiasm and approach.

I also met several groups of 3rd grade students this week. We looked Fauves and Henri Matisse. We discussed his history and why he was called a "wild beast". Then, we work on drawing the wild beast. I show them 3 quick steps which amount to 3 lines. After that, I ask the artists, "How can you finish your wild beast with details?" Thta's when they devise their own solutions.

That's all I can show you this week. But, I can talk about what I plan on working on for the school year. This year, I plan to revive my unused Artsonia accounts. Artsonia is an online gallery which I haven't used for 4 years. I stopped using the site because the working with 900 students and their artworks for every one of their projects gets to be intense. However, I'm going to give it another go. Also, I plan on recording some drawing lessons and posting those on YouTube. Those are 2 huge goals I want to accomplish.

#3rdgrade #jrhigh #henrimatisse #selfportraits