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.