Hours 5 and 6

On this visit I was once again present for a first grade and fourth grade class.  The first grade class was starting a new project, Matisse inspired paper cutouts.  The teacher had a power point prepared that illustrated the life of Matisse and showed examples of his paper cutouts.  The presentation was much more than a dissertation of facts about Matisse's life and work.  Mrs. A narrated the life of Matisse in away the children could understand.  She segued into the project by including Matisse's cutout of Icarus.  She told the story of Icarus, she was very animated during her story and the kids just loved it.  The actual art making was very step by step.  Students were first asked to draw a stick figure falling and then we went around the room and drew skin on the figures (outlined).  The kids cut around the outlines and were then given more paper to glue their stick figure onto.  The student were asked to finish cutting out their shapes from a piece of paper before they were given more paper.

The fourth graders had been given the background information and demonstrations the week before.  Mrs. A reminded the students of some of the most important highlights from the previous weeks.  The students were then dismissed to their tables to work on the project which was plaster paper masks.  The students were each given a mask mold to lay plaster paper over.  There were a few students missing so to keep them from falling behind I created some extra masks and any students that finished early were asked to create extra masks or help their friends.  The hour went very quickly and for the most part smoothly.  The teacher for the class was late picking up the students from the art class.  This seems to be a chronic problem.  It makes things a little difficult for Mrs. All though because when a teacher is late picking up students from the art room it cuts into her time to set up for the following class.

When assessing student artwork I look for evidence that they learned the concepts I set out to teach within that lesson.  I consider before I teach a specific concept what the best way for me to measure what they learned will be for that concept.  I often use rubrics to layout what specific criteria I am looking for from the students.  Within the rubrics I most often look for students to have acquired a skill, knowledge of design elements or principles, the ability to recognize artist, define vocabulary, and recognize art movements.  At the end of the term I also look over the students work to assess how much progress the student has made throughout the term. 

Paul Weber's visit was informative.  I think most of the information that he gave during his visit to the our classroom was common sense such as dressing appropriately for the interview and being polite over the phone if you are not offered the job.  What surprised me though is that a school may ask you to teach a impromptu lesson during an interview.  Knowing this I'm now going to plan on having a short lesson ready when I interview so that I won't be thrown off balance.

On the second day within the classroom I stayed for two class periods.  The first class were 1st graders working on painting clay slab that was cut out like a goldfish bowl complete with goldfish and gravel.  They used tempera cake paints to paint the fired clay.  Mrs. A would later spray the fishbowls to make the paint permanent.  Mrs. A made sure when she demonstrated to the class the importance of handling their clay fishbowls carefully so that they would not break them.  In kindergarten Mrs. A has another clay project, she fires a few extra duplicates of this project and then pretends to accidentally drop one so that the students will see and feel the impact of breaking one of these objects.  She reminded all the students of the experience to encourage them to be careful with their fishbowls.

The second class was made up of fourth graders.  This class was finishing up a project inspired by Klee.  The students had drawn a cat and bird then outlined their pencil lines in cray pas.  During this class Mrs. A showed these students how to use the tempera cakes to paint their drawings. She asked them how they could make a color lighter or darker.  The students talked with Mrs. A about using more or less water to create light and dark colors.

I asked Mrs. A why she decided to become an art teacher.  She said she always new that she was going to be a teacher and originally she started going to school for early childhood education.  She thought that she would continue taking art classes though too because she enjoyed doing art too.  Then she began talking more with her adviser and decided to change majors to art education.  She has always seen herself more as a teacher than an artist and teaching is what is important to her.