the ART ROOM archives

computer work . . .

2011-12-19T10:19:00.000-05:00

It's been awhile since I posted what we are doing in the art room. The year has gotten away from me a little having a student teacher this year, and working on some new assignments for the year. Anyway, this past three days we have been painting digitally remembering to include background, middle ground, and foreground. We have painting with real paint for the past several weeks, and since it is close to break time, and I am slightly tired of washing palettes, I decided to do some work with the students in the computer lab. Last week we made a 3-d snowman, and today we worked on a Christmas tree scene.

week one . . . train wreck :)

2011-08-26T13:00:00.007-04:00

AHHHHHHH . . . the first (short) week of school. What to do this year huh?

Since this week was a short week (only three days) and not all the students came to art, I decided to do a one day project where the students worked with markers and drew spiral lines or concentric shapes in an array of colors. Once they finished their work, I drew there names on them in bubble letters. THEY LOVED IT!

The title . . . train wreck . . . reminds me of the graphics on the sides of trains. The TIME in art wasn't a train wreck. :)

It was fun to do!
N.P. 4th grade

It was cool.
B.M. 1st. grade

I thought it was cool!
M.M. 3rd grade

I liked it!
R.W. 2nd grade

weeks 33-36 . . .

2011-05-17T20:53:00.002-04:00

Here are a couple samples of the sculptural pieces the students have done. I also threw in a couple of shots of the next low relief project they did. Cardboard collaging then paint! The younger students used metallic paint, the 3rd grade used latex, and the 4th grade covered their work with foil then added black paint to create a pewter finished look.

weeks 23 -32

2011-05-02T20:46:00.000-04:00

SOOOOOO much has happened over the last several weeks. It has been a blast in the art room and the children are now working on some FABULOUS low relief sculptural pieces.

At the end of the painting section, I had the students work on a contest piece for Allied Waste Management. This was our second year creating artwork that is printed and placed on the recycling trucks. I had one student that placed FIRST, and a few others that were nominees.

After we finished the artwork for the Earth Day project (Allied Waste competition) we started on a series of works for sculpture. The first piece the students did were paper sculptural high relief pieces from construction paper. 4th grade made white roses, 3rd grade made 3D geometric shapes, 2nd grade made paper manipulated shapes, and 1st and Kindergarten each did a piece that involved manipulating paper into various shapes like coils, zig-zags, and beginning quilling shapes. The projects were a two day event and the students were ELATED to take them home.

week twenty two . . . and more painting

2011-02-09T08:36:00.018-05:00

Part of the process of painting is learning how to rinsing your brushes. The students get three small plastic cut, recycled cafeteria food containers, and place them on the table so that two people share them. They arrange them in a triangle and then rinse their brushes in three consecutive "rinses." The first rinse is to get all the paint off the brush. The second rinse is to get the dirty, paint water off the bristles, and the third rinse is is to ensure that their brush is clean, ready for a new color. They are still having a hard time understanding the concept behind rinsing it three times. Some of them still ask questions about rinsing like "which cup is first rinse" reminding me that they are still just trying to "listen to directions" instead of understanding the purpose of having a clean brush to paint with.

week twenty one . . . and more painting

2011-02-09T08:36:00.017-05:00

This week the students painted the "middle ground" on their paintings. After painting their background last week, they added some circles of different colors to their work. Next week they will add yet another layer of color on top finishing their painting with the foreground.

week twenty . . . and more painting

2011-02-09T08:36:00.016-05:00

The students use a round, ten well. paint palette to learn how to use painting materials and to paint. I am the one that distributes the paint. They each get their own palette and I encourage them (require them) to "set up" their painting supplies the same way each time. It is a way to keep them organized, and to give them a steady structure while working with materials that can easily become REALLY messy in the art room.

week nineteen . . . and more painting

2011-02-09T08:35:00.002-05:00

Today the students started the process of learning how to make a painting in steps. Usually, when given paint and paper, the students will make a painting similar to the paint by number method. That being that they paint the background, middle ground, and foreground all at the same time, and paint each item in the work right up to the edge of the other items. So, for example, they will paint a tree and then paint the sky right up to the edge of the tree.

This is good for a beginning painter, but since I have had the students before and taught them painting, I wanted to extend the learning to creating painting in steps.

This week the students worked on the background of a new painting. I also included the skill of blending the background to go from a dark color to the lighter tint of that color. The older students worked on two at a time starting with a blue sky blend, then a color of their choice blend. The younger students just did one painting. In addition to the lesson, I included learning about how to tape their work to a background so the paper stays flat during painting, and they would be able to paint off the edge of the paper. This is the first time they have had to tape a paper down and paint. It was hilarious to watch some of them tear the tape!

week eighteen . . . prize box day

2011-01-14T17:53:00.001-05:00

At the end of each six weeks I let the students do a free draw and we choose a prize from the prize box. Of course, they love this day in art.

For free draw this time, I pulled a HUGE sheet of white butcher paper and covered the tables. The students used crayons, pencils, and stencils to draw all sorts of designs. I told them that one person was going to get the massive piece of paper to take home. You should have seen the negotiations that happened during class. Some of the students even wanted me to decide for them! I didn't. :) Here's the trunk I use for the prizes. It is filled mostly with remnants of things I have taken out of the house, chicken feathers from butchering, found items, and an assortment of gadgets that people have given me. It is really fun for the students to dig through and find a treasure.

week seventeen . . . more mixing of colors

2011-01-14T17:49:00.001-05:00

This week we got back to school, and back to painting. It is fun to watch the students mix colors they have not seen before and develop their mixing and painting skills. In some aspects, it seems like a waist of time not to make a product. But, the children are enjoying the study, they are learning tons about handling materials and mixing paints, and they like working on it.

week sixteen . . . Christmas ornament paper craft

2011-01-14T17:46:00.000-05:00

Since this is the last week of school before Christmas break, we took a break from painting to make an ornament for our Christmas trees. The day was spent manipulating paper, talking with friends, and getting excited about a two week time off from studies.

week fifteen . . . color study continued

2011-01-14T17:43:00.002-05:00

The students are still working on their color study. And the LOVE it! It is wonderful to hear them squeal when they mix BEAUTIFUL colors. This is the type of art I could do all year.

week fourteen . . . color study

2010-12-10T17:18:00.008-05:00

Right around this time, each year, I start painting with the students. This year was no different. This week I started working with the students on a color study. We mixed paint last year and learned how to use painting materials properly. This year we are reviewing how to get a "paint setup," and will develop our paint mixing skills. The students love to work with paint, and this is a great time for the students to love what they are doing, and get a whole bunch of skills at the same time. It is also not hard to motivate them to do work either. :)

artist profile . . .week thirteen

2010-11-19T18:45:00.003-05:00

Another thing I have been thinking about along with highlighting student's work, talking about what is going on in the art room, and giving tips on techniques, is to profile some of the art teachers that I work with.

This week, I needed some labels from another art teacher who had given me some last year. So today, I visit Karen, who gave me the labels, and let me take some pictures of her in "her world."

Karen teaches art at Heritage Elementary. She focuses on color in most of her work with the students, and does a FANTASTIC job integrating cross-curricular subject matter with books the students read in their classroom. I love visiting her room because it it filled with projects the students are working on and professional art for students to be inspired by. I could spend hours there talking with her about the projects she and I are are doing with the students.

Here's Karen in her "art world." And another one of her fabulous projects she is working on with the students.

week twelve . . . finishing the colord pencil project

2010-11-16T17:50:00.001-05:00

The students did another great job finishing up their colored pencil projects. Overall, it was a joy to see them develop their drawing skills and produce such nice pieces of art.

It was a little hard for them to transfer the information of practicing blending colored pencils to the actual projects though. Through habit, the students went back to "coloring" in their picture and used mostly the same value of a color on it. I guess it will take some times to unlearn the coloring habit and replace it with shading with pencils. These are a few of my favorites.

Third Grade

First Grade

week eleven . . . color pencil project

2010-11-08T16:13:00.000-05:00

Knowing that the students are needing a WHOLE bunch of other skills, I create a two day color pencil project that incorprorated the use of rulers and drawing techiniques. A balance of sorts of controlled and chaotic lines. It is the type of project that the students get challenged on, and also don't have to worry too much.

This week the youngest students, Kindergarten, drew two lines vertically and horizontally using a pencil. Then they drew scribbles using dark, medium, and light lines.

First Grade used a ruler to draw multicolored dark, medium, and light lines veritically and horizontally on their paper.

The older grades, Second through Fourth had a littler harder job to do. They all drew a border on their paper, and then used some color page blacklines to draw from using a pencil. The second grade just traced around the thickness of the ruler, but the Third and Fourth Grades had to measure the border. Next week they will add the color pencil to their work. Of course they will be required to concentrate on light, medium, and dark lines!

week ten . . . color pencils

2010-11-08T15:50:00.000-05:00

This week the students were introduced to color pencils and how to use them. Sure, they have drawn with color pencils before, and probably have a set of them at home to use, but during art time, it is important for them to know a "little" more than they are something you can draw with.
I gave the students a copy of a hand-made "handout" that required them to blend colors and shade using different values of a color. I told thenm that it was a lot like mixing paints, but instead, mixing pencils. I was great to see the students excited about learning new skills with a pencil. The sheet only took half of the period to do so I let them experiment with mixing colors the rest of the art period.

week nine . . . a finshed pencil drawing

2010-10-23T08:42:00.002-04:00

This week culminated in the students working on a one day pencil drawing from start to finish using light guidelines first, then drawing over them with darker lines.

I had to get a little firm with some of the students though. It seems, when there is not a consequence for actions, that children sometimes do not remember directions. So, since this was the third week in a row that I told students to draw lightly first, I told them that if they got their paper and started to draw dark right away, they wold have to sit at silent table for the rest of the class. Of course I had a few throughout the day that spent their art time at silent table drawing. And I had a few that said they could not draw lightly at all. But what was great about the directions/consequence is that most of the students drew lightly, and beautifully, and many students came up to me wanting me to look at their artwork and see that they had drawn lightly. For the first time!

This sets the stage for EVERY other project we do in art for their art career with me.

Here are some examples of the finished drawings. Kindergarten and First did a drawing of a tree with swirl-like leaves.

Second Grade looked at some African design examples and came up with a drawing/design of their own.

Third and Fourth used some designs of flowers and fruit to come up with a pencil drawing of their own design. They used the examples to look at for inspiration, drew them lightly making sure to touch all four sides of their paper with their drawing, and them lastly darkening it in at last. I had the students show me their work after they drew lightly, and then they were able to draw dark outlines to finish their piece.

week eight . . . drawing so ever lightly continued

2010-10-18T20:14:00.002-04:00

This week I ended up spending some more time on drawing skills with a pencil making the students work on handling the pencil correctly and drawing lightly when they are starting a drawing. I also did not provide erasers for them so they were faced with the situation that they could not draw too dark because they could not erase it. The students did MUCH, MUCH better concentrating on hand placement on the pencil, choking up on it a little, drawing lightly. I taught the olders some more facial feature work, and the youngers did some work learning various lines and their names, and different shapes. Many of the students did really well trying to keep a light hand while they were sketching out their designs.

week seven . . . drawing lightly

2010-10-18T20:11:00.001-04:00

Young art students are infamous for burying their pencils into their paper without thinking that if they make a mistake, it is going to take a miracle to get the graphite off of the paper. Let alone out of the groove they have carved into it with the pencil. This week, we did some gesture drawing with the practice of drawing SO LIGHT, SO LIGHT, SO LIGHT! It is hard for the children to grasp the concept of drawing lightly only after one lesson. And since I only have them once a week, I feel like I can't spend too much time on fundamental art skills, because it is important for them to take home a completed project and not just a skill practice piece. This week they did some "practice" drawing lightly while we also learned some skills on drawing people. The younger students focused on the whole body making sure to include necks, the right amount of fingers, and shapes for body parts instead of sticks. The olders worked on facial features. Here are some of my favorites from the bunch.

week six . . . prize box day

2010-10-06T13:39:00.004-04:00

This week the students had a great time in art. Not only was it a FREE DRAW day, but it was also a day that they got to choose from the PRIZE BOX! (free draw . . . you get to draw anything you want)

For years I have used a stamp sheet to monitor and give feedback for daily classroom behavior. And each six weeks, the children get the chance to take their stamp sheet home to show their parents how they have been behaving in art class. What that looks like each day, for me, is that I stamp each child's stamp sheet three times in three areas. Being Respectful (speaking to me and others the right way) being Responsible (treating materials the right way) and being Resourcesful (working the whole day). On the sixth week, the students get a new stamp sheet to start fresh with, take their old stamp sheet home, and get a prize from the Teasure Box. (I haven't decided whether to call it the Prize or Teasure box so I float between the two)

This is the prize box. It is filled (usually) with trinket items I have found, made, or have gotten from somone else. Usually it is a potpourri of interesting items that the students have fun sorting through. It generally is the "land of misfit toys" or the last hopeful place before it gets thrown in the trash!

Here's an example of a few of the 600 or so stamp sheets I stamp each day. This past year I clicked into using a rainbow colored stamp pad instead of using a different color and a different stamp each day. (it became a little time consuming)

You would think that giving the children a prize only six times per year is not enough. However, it is like most other suspense/anticipation things. The longer you wait for something, the more valuable it becomes.

As a side note, the students who are misbehaving will sometimes receive an X on their stamp sheet instead of a stamp. If that happens three or more times, they do not get a prize at the end of the six weeks. It is a great teaching tool and a wonderful daily communication tool for the students, and feedback for parents. And they ae really motivated to get all their stamps for the day!

week five . . . working space

2010-09-24T14:42:00.004-04:00

Here's some samples of the fourth grade's work this past two weeks. They started with the basic shape of the face then started adding some details to it. This week we added eyes and ears, and next week will finish with the nose, mouth, and assessories. The children "light up" when they attached the eyes and the basic head shape starts turning into a face.

Here's a view of one of the two rooms I teach in. The wall is my screen where I use a document camera to demonstrate how to make art pieces. It is a wonderful teaching tool, expecially in art, to model how to cut with scissors, glue paper, or design projects.

week four . . . from Henri's work

2010-09-24T09:56:00.004-04:00

Cutting and gluing takes on a new spin when studying a MASTER at it like Henri Matisse! After listening to a brief history of Henri's biography (two to three minutes maximum) this week the students looked at some examples of his cut paper work and then started to create a paper cut project that mimicked his overlapping, geometric, and organic cut shapes. The kindergarten and first grade worked on 9 x 18 pieces of paper gluing down rectangle and square colors for the background, then applied a black organic shape on top making sure to overlap paper.

The third grade worked on a similar overlapping project but concentrated on a more realisitic "scene" using a background color for the sky, then applying grass first, a sun and clouds next, then trees on top of that.

Second grade worked on a food project that was fabulously fun. They made pizzas from construction paper! Including all the toppings.

week three . . . the larger pieces of paper

2010-09-14T20:50:00.004-04:00

This week the students finished the concentric shape design my adding as many rings of paper as they could. It sort of became a race for the students to get to the larger pieces of paper, and they really had fun working with paper as large as 18 x 24 inches. Some of the expressions they had when I handed them a paper that big was priceless.

Here's a piece that is in progress. Notice the large amounts of scraps left on the table. Those will be used next week when we work on another gluing project (copy of Henri Matisse) with cut paper.

This is a finished work that is almost as large as the student's body!

week two . . . cutting and gluing

2010-09-02T21:45:00.004-04:00

Jen Stark is one of the many paper artists whose work I love. She has a fluid, whimsical way with paper at times. and on the other hand, can be EXTREMELY graphic with her designs. You can check her website out at jenstark.com

Taking an example of her work with paper, I had the students practice their cutting and gluing skills while making a FABULOUS construction paper design. This week they cut and glued as many concentric circles, squares, rectangles as they could, and next week we are going to add SO MANY more layers of colored paper to the artwork to make them as large as possible. I think the size is going to freak them out a bit!

The students first started by cutting a small shape from a very small piece of construction paper. Then, they glued it to another small square of a different color. After holding it down to glue for a few seconds, they cut around the first shape leaving a small ridge/section of the second color.

They continued this same process with increasingly larger pieces of paper to create multi-colored designs all while practicing their cutting and gluing techniques. Some of them turned out beautifully, and the students had a great time making them.

My special students used the scrap papers that were saved to either learn for the first time, or to develop their skills by gluing down colorful shapes to a black 12 x 12 background. They LOVED it!

week one . . . summer vacation illustrations

2010-08-27T09:54:00.003-04:00

When arriving back to school, students always want to tell me the many things that happened during their summer vacation time. It is virtually impossible to hear over 600 student's stories in a weeks time. Even if I gave each student only two (2) minutes of listening, that would be twenty (20) HOURS of stories! Instead of having the students tell me, this year I decided to have the students SHOW me their summer activities by making a one day, 4 page, illustrated book.

The students started by folding a 4 1/2 x 12 inch piece of white paper in half, then chose a color to use as a cover. The instruction was to draw four pictures that "told" me the story of their vacation time. I was able "hear" all the student's stories by walking around and looking at all the images they drew, and asking them questions about their summer fun.

This example I made for them to see how I spent most of my summer time.

This booklet shows a student drawing his summer activities.

What a great way to get into making art on the first day of art class, and also sharing with me (and friends) what they did over the break.

the beginning . . . again!

2010-08-26T17:38:00.002-04:00

La La LA . . . school has begun. And it is time to record the event of the year, as well as some helpful ART ROOM skills!

This year I am hoping to post weekly on what the students are doing, including pictures of the work, and to continue to give helpful hints helping others to build their skill levels.

the same format . . .

2010-03-13T07:21:00.002-05:00

Susan Stevens Crummel is visiting our school this year. She is the co-author illustrator of this book, as well as many others. A month ago, the building coach ask me if I could do something in art class that would welcome her to our school, as well as show her that we had read her books. I decided to continue on with painting with the students and incorporate her artistic style in my lessons.

I showed the book to the students and read a couple of pages to them. I asked them, and then pointed out to them, to pay attention to the format of the pages in the book. Illustration wise. I then used that format to have them create some work of their own that we will display when she arrives.

I am using the same letter format but instead of writing it from only a dog's perspective to a dog counselor, whatever subject matter the children drew will be addressing the author herself. I will have them ask her a question in their text from the subjects point of view. Here is an example of some of the work. K-1 drew insects, 2 drew dogs, 3-4 drew sea life. This is day one's work of drawing a box for text, drawing the image, and then using watercolor. Next week they will use color pencils to add details to their work drawing controlled lines and lose lines, then will add the handwritten text in the box. Mixed media work in elementary school art . . . got to love it.

smearing chalk . . .

2010-03-03T20:23:00.003-05:00

Even though we are onto painting now, I wanted to post this picture of a drawing one of the students did. The subject matter was insects, and all the students used the same
technique to accomplish it. Drawing with pencil on black paper, then tracing the lines with glue. Set it to dry for the next class period. Next class period, color and smear chalk over the paper to get a velvety, colorful work of art. The children LOVE this type of art. (mostly because whatever you draw turns out FABULOUS with a lot of color on it)

how to mix paint.

2010-01-22T20:40:00.001-05:00

Last week I was teaching my Kindergarten class how to mix paint. Apparently they have never worked with paint before. One little girl who is quite talkative, but neat, was mixing her red and white paint together. The room was silent because the children were engrossed and were using their cerebrums to accomplish a task they had never done before. Amongst the hushed OOOHS and AHHHS Latia yells out . . . "Mr. Fout, YOU'RE MAGIC!" This is the stuff that keeps a person teaching.

on display . . .

2009-11-28T07:40:00.004-05:00

This past month has been a whirlwind in the ARTROOM. Lots of projects, and lots of matereials. Recently, we have been working on drawing. (usually I work with the students on a overarching theme like DRAWING for awhile giving them experiences with different medium) So far, we did a drawing with markers, some sketch drawings in pencil, and a glue/chalk piece. Since I received my United Arts order, I will probably spend another two weeks or so working with drawing to give the students the idea that there are THOUSANDS of ways to do drawing when making art.

Last week I put up an art show at the local museum with some of this work. Along with the other three elementary art teachers, we plastered the museum walls with creations from sculpture to line drawings. I was particularly impressed with the products that are on display from all the schools, and proud of the work my students have created. We have some budding artists in the mix. My favorite part of hanging art with others is getting ideas, spending time sharing stories, and enjoying the craft we are all part of.

a memorable gift . . .

2009-11-08T06:58:00.004-05:00

Again, a fabulous art project the students worked on to help develop their art-making skills, their love for making art, and a gift to their teacher.

Since I have the students drawing for the next several weeks, they are working with different drawing materials in a variety of ways. Let me explain a little more. In Elementary school, it is important for the students to have a WIDE range of experiences with materials to get them exposed to the myriad of possibilities when making art. So, during drawing time, I have them work with pencils, colored pencils, markers, crayons, oil pastels, charcoal, watercolors markers and crayons, and glue as drawing material. This is not a complete list but includes many of the materials they use for drawing. With such a variety, students not only gain skills at using the medium, but also learn how to use the medium to be creative.

That said, back to the above project. I decided I wanted to WOW the teachers at both schools, teach the children that they could make GREAT art, and work on a collaborative piece, introduce a new skill, and use a scratch tool as a drawing material. PHEW! All in one.

Project . . . I took a digital image of all the teachers first. After changing the saturation levels, I filtered them to a "cartoon" black line. Next, I projected them and drew an outline using black permanent marker on a 21 x 27 posterboard. Griding it to 3 x 3 inch squares, I labeled them using a letter and number system so I could remember how to put them back together. Each student received 3 to 4 squares to color really heavy with the crayon colors of their choice. They were reminded to color in "heavy" to saturate the card with wax. The following week, after painting them lightly with drawing ink, the students used large paper clips to scratch out recognizable African patterns. (this they had a little bit of trouble with)

The last step was to assemble the squares, glue them down on another posterboard, and finish it by painting it with Mod Podge. (Mod Podge is a new find for me)

The result . . . a wonderful project, a great piece of art, and a memorable gift.

with a cool color . . .

2009-10-10T06:26:00.002-04:00

Since MOST of the children are getting the glue thing down, and I am running a little low on glue, I decided to move into some works of art that I could teach the students the Elements of Design and a little about Color Theory. At such a young age, it's all an introduction!

This past week the students worked on Line Drawings and learned the difference between warm, cool, and neutral colors. In addition, I taught them how to orient their ruler to the paper and draw straight lines. They usually never use rulers, and rarely use them the right way, so it is important in the art room to teach them how to hold it, draw with it, and measure with it. This week we just focused on not using it as a sword, drawing a straight line without it moving, and hand placement while drawing so you can see the line you are drawing. GREAT FUN!

Above is an example of a Cool Color line design. I did this just in case you think I have some outstanding art student in my class. :) Starting first with a cool color marker, I drew concentric spirals with different colors making sure to keep them in the middle of the paper, close together, and overlapping them. Something we learned last week. Next, I outlined all the spirals with a black line. Following around the black line, I traced around it making sure to draw Arcs each time. I continued until I had several rings around my original spirals. I finished it off my cutting out my design, gluing it on a complimentary color of gray, and then "framing" it in by gluing it to a black background.

only little bits . . .

2009-10-01T18:37:00.004-04:00

As well as the other classes, Fourth Grade did some more cutting and gluing to make this FABULOUS radial symmetrical paper design. Here's some examples of what they did for this project. Starting with one piece of paper, they drew a design, cut it out, then glued it down. This step was repeated with three different colors making sure to use only little bits of glue, gluing around the edge of each piece, and making sure that each piece attached is symmetrically balanced.

cutting sqaures and rectangles . . .

2009-09-30T21:34:00.003-04:00

More cutting and gluing going on in the art room. Here's an example of a First Graders rendition of Mondrian's Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue 1920. This however, is done with gluing practice in mind! The students cut rectangles and squares out of primary colored construction paper on day one. Then on day two, they cut THIN strips of black paper to put the squares and rectangles in "cages." This particular student has been using both hands on his glue and POURING it out all over the paper. That was until this project. FINALLY, he has gotten the idea of only using one hand on the glue, and writing like a pencil. ( it is so nice to see them acquire skills that will last them a lifetime)

technology and art . . .

2009-09-25T20:35:00.003-04:00

Did I mention that I love using technology in the artroom?

Well, I am back to using a Document Camera at both elementary schools I am teaching at this year. The old statement "you have not because you ask not" (which is taken from the Bible) is true whether you acknowledge God or not. At both school, I asked if there were any extra document cameras that I could use to demonstrate how to make things. To my surprise, both schools supplied me with one that I can keep in the art room permanently! I also get the use of an LCD projector, a laptop, and a Mimio board. The Mimio board is the newest "Smartboard" that changes your existing whiteboard into an interactive whiteboard.

Now, what would I need all this technology in the artroom for? (especially with elementary students) To begin with, using a document camera is almost like using an artist demonstration mirror. The students are able to see your hands moving making art, so when you are modeling how to cut, glue, or draw, the students can watch you like live video. It is actually EXTREMELY helpful expecially if you place the camera on one side of the room and the screen on the other. The students face the screen, not you, and you are able to watch them watching your demonstration. It is a great way to "show" what you want instead of explaining. When you teach Audio, Visually, and Kinesthetically at the same time, students learm quickly. Last year I used my camera hooked up to my TV as a makeshift document camera.

I also use a digital camera to take images of the student's work. These works of art are uploaded to our school's Artsonia.com online gallery. In addition to uploading the images to the online gallery, they can also be copied into a shared folder that the students have access too. (I have not done this yet with the schools I am at now, but it is in the planning stages) I want to begin teaching the students to use installed prgrams like Word, Exel, and Paint programs as well as teach them to use some photo manipulating applications. My plan is to have them use images of their OWN artwork to digitally alter to make a NEW piece of digital art.

more with glue . . .

2009-09-22T19:21:00.005-04:00

Since the children are still making a Swimming Pool Party for Barbie with their glue, I have decided to continue our cutting and gluing practice for another project. (that's the phrase I use when the children use too much glue on their projects)

When working with glue, I give the students some simple tips to follow so they use as little glue as possible to attach works of art.

GLUE TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Only use one hand on the glue
Write with the glue like a pencil
Always make the cap touch the paper you are gluing
Use as LITTLE glue as possible (I bark teeny, teeny, teeny, teeny . . . )
Glue the movable paper ( the paper you are gluing down)
Rub your hand together to get the glue off your fingers
Close the cap at the end of the lesson (not each time you glue something) and wipe the glue off the top with your fingers (then do number 6 again)

Sounds like a whole bunch of information for students to process huh? However, if you saw close to 500 students a week like I do, and the amount of glue that is moving in the art room, you would probably have a longer list!

when you cut paper . . .

2009-09-20T08:54:00.011-04:00

Since we are working with scissors and glue in the classroom, I thought about giving this small scissor tutorial that I tell the students. To begin with, the proper hand placement when working with scissors is important for maximum control when cutting. Obviously if the scissors have a small and large hole, your thumb goes in the small hole, and your fingers (at least two) goes in the oval. If you are using a pair like the one pictured, your middle finger goes in one hole while your pointer finger adds stability to the top of the handle.

When cutting a circle out of paper, there are two scissor placement to keep in mind so you don't "butcher" the paper while you cut. If you're hand is ABOVE the paper, you cut COUNTER CLOCKWISE . . . if your hand is UNDER the paper, you cut CLOCKWISE. Most adults do this naturally when they cut, but students often don't realize they are shredding the paper by cutting in the wrong direction. I use a simple command like "Put your scissors UNDER your paper" without explaining the process. With older students I will explain the concept of directional cutting, but for the younger students . . . it is just TMI!

When cutting a square, it is always important to cut TO THE CORNER. Never cut OUT OF THE CORNER. This will take some practice. If you cut out of the corner, it will tear the paper, and you will have a YUCKY looking corner. If you cut to the corner, each corner will be crisp and sharp. When cutting inside the paper border (I call this a puncture cut because you have to puncture a hole in it to get your scissors in) you must concentrate on cutting towards the corners on angles first so that you can come back with the second cut and cut TO THE CORNERS.

cut around it . . .

2009-09-18T18:11:00.006-04:00

We've been continuing on with some paper projects in the art room. Knowing that students have a difficult time working out of a vacuum, (a blank canvas doing whatever they want) I decided to lead them in a FUN one day activity that helped them continue to develop their cutting and gluing skills.

Each class, Kindergarten through Fourth, started with a small square and cut it into a circle shape. After gluing it to another colored square, they cut around it a little wider to show the second color under it. This same process continued on until the circle was quite large and the class was nearly finished. Instruction were given on how to hold scissors with correct hand placement, effective cutting techniques, proper amounts of glue to use . . . and the list goes on. It's GREAT to watch an entire class of students engaged in a lesson, paying attention, and interested in how to use glue and scissors the correct way.

Each class used all extra, up-cycled paper I found in the classroom closets as I was cleaning up after the last few art teacher's stay. Instead of throwing it away, they made it into some wonderful art, developed their skills, and my closets got a face lift! The example above is a combination of the ones I did as examples using a Document Camera to model.

The idea came from an artist that works with paper and does three dimensional work. Jen Stark does some FABULOUS paper work and has inspired me for years to make great things out of colored paper.

This next piece is one made up of the scraps I had left.

sharpening skills . . .

2009-09-10T19:17:00.008-04:00

Below are some samples of what the students at Liberty and Unity Elementary are working on for the first few weeks of school. To begin with, students are getting reacquainted working with glue and scissors. The directions of "writing like a pencil" and "make the top of the glue bottle touch the paper" is used over and over. :) Students were instructed to glue the "moving part" of what they were working on, and to use as little glue as possible when gluing. Each class used only construction paper to make these FABULOUS works of art.

Fourth Grade: Portraits

Third Grade: Landscapes

Second Grade: Vegetable Collage

First Grade: Concentric Squares Collage

Kindergarten: Construction Paper Insect

What a great time working with paper! For the next two projects the students will continue to sharpen their cutting and gluing skills and make a few more paper projects.

starting off right . . .

2009-09-06T10:26:00.002-04:00

Well, the start of a new year, and the start of some new PROJECTS! For the first two weeks the students are working with scissors, glue, and construction paper. Each class is learning how to use basic materials and how to manipulate them to create a wonderful paper product. Along with learning the classroom procedures and norms, the students will spend a few weeks working with the same materials to become "experts" with them.

re-connecting . . .

2009-07-16T11:44:00.004-04:00

A portrait that I am working on for a friend. It is fun to re-connect with the ole pencil again . . . I haven't done portraiture in a long time. It's nice to be back struggling to get the likeness and the "sense" of a person on paper!

to get inspired . . .

2009-05-23T09:36:00.004-04:00

A couple of scratch art projects I have done at school as examples for students to get inspired from. I am excited to use this site to start displaying student work and to use as a communication tool for parents and students. I want to have lesson plans available for parents to look at, upcoming projects that we will be doing in the art room, and pictures of the student's work.

gift to the school . . .

2009-05-09T18:37:00.002-04:00

Recently I have been working with the students on sculpture. Each class is mostly working with paper, but my eighth grade class are working on this FABULOUS relief sculptural project that I intend on giving to the school principal as a gift. The students did this project first by using their initial, creating some high and low relief, and experimenting with the technique of adding foil and paint. The second project was the same processes with materials, but since they had worked out the bugs and knew how the material reacted, I bumped up the design criteria to patterns and designs that were strictly African American. When finished, we will mount them on foam core board and present them as a gift to the school.

example home . . .

2009-03-26T22:04:00.002-04:00

War Farm: Weihrauch Family Farm 2008
Acrylic
18 x 24

One of my more recent works of art that is available at my etsy store. This one, done of my neighbors home, is an example of the home portrait that I offer on my site. The painting is done in a posterized style of your home. The client sends a picture, I alter it and change it to a posterized style, then agree with the client on colors to use before it is painted. This one was done as an example and hung in a show that I had in January.

more cats . . .

2009-03-20T20:27:00.012-04:00

Here are the rest of the cats that I drew for the Trading Card swap on Drawspace.com. I have not received all the cards yet from around the globe, but I do have most of them. I used the journal that I have in the video below to house them all. 60 pages that I can fill up with cards! Only five or six are filled so far.

developing my shading skills . . .

2009-03-12T20:15:00.004-04:00

Here are a few more cats that I drew for the ATC trade on Drawspace.com last month. I really enjoyed spending time getting back into drawing and developing my shading skills. I haven't started at "big" drawing yet but I can feel it is just around the corner.

time explaining things . . .

2009-03-06T18:37:00.003-05:00

What a year this has been. In some ways, it has been the worst school year EVER. And, in some ways, I feel like I have grown this year the MOST in my 17 years of teaching. Let me explain.

Over the years, I have developed a style of teaching that through practice and reflection, was somewhat a perfected craft. Not that everything I did was perfect, but some very tried and true methodologies were in place that caused my art room to run efficiently, productively, and with great freedom and responsibility. That was until this year, when all of that experience DID NOT WORK! I was confused, frustrated, and downright hated going to my teaching position for the day. The upset stomach, the nightmares of students gone wild, and the attitude that I was stuck in the mud clouded every day that I went in. Then something happened . . .

All the years I have spent in workshops with information about how I could bring change by "being" suddenly came into play for me. I sort-of gave up trying to get the children to listen and pay attention to what I have to say. I started, and am still working on trying to view the students as a group of people I am servicing without any attachments to their wanting, or not wanting, the material I am presenting. I am simply delivering the information, and providing materials for those that want to learn, all while helping those that don't want to learn with their time management, interpersonal, intra-personal, and developmental skills. I am spending a whole bunch of time explaining things to students who did not listen the first time, because they were talking too much, how to do the project. Normally I would get mad and tell the student(s) that they should have listened the first time. But now, I am just graciously giving them the information the second, and sometimes third time and letting their lifestyle and modes of operation work. No tears, no anger, no justifying my behavior, no attitude. Simply giving them what they need, when they feel like they need it, and allowing the chips to fall as they may. I know, it sounds like I have given up and am just going to work and faking it for the day for the pay. But in reality, the children I teach will one day reflect on my teaching them and will come to some assumptions about what they learned from me. I have been considering that it my new approach. And it has me thinking!

finish the binding . . .

2009-02-22T19:46:00.005-05:00

Drawspace friends . . . here's the video promised to finish the binding on your journals. I played around a bit and came up with a decent, instructional video. Since this is the first attempt, please excuse the clarity, the volume, and the haphazard directions. I am excited to polish this process and also figure out how I can get it to fit inside the 10mb format of the Drawspace.com forum. Meanwhile, enjoy the video, and reply with questions about your journal binding! Please make sure to post a picture of your work to the thread for me to see.

trading cards . . .

2009-02-21T11:53:00.008-05:00

Here are some recent cat drawing I am doing for an ATC trade on Drawspace.com. The theme is cats and we (all 18 people) are drawing and trading cards. This trade is including people from all around the world. My hope is that one day we can get some people from China involved in trading cards as well.

a maturing issue . . .

2009-02-08T08:28:00.007-05:00

White Journal
41/2 x 12 1/2
Paper, Mat Board

The end of 2008 really was a creative time for me as an art teacher, and as an artist. It was great to experiment with different materials and produce some items that I had always wanted to make. Years ago when I was in college, I really struggled with finding my ARTIST VOICE when making art and really never believed that I would one day develop my own unique style.

As I look at others art, I sometimes wonder how they can make work that seems so similar and still be excited about making art. In the art world, that becomes the personal artist's "style", the way others recognize them.

For me, I have way too many interests, and want to work with way too many mediums to lock myself into a certain way of making art. In an article I read in the ARTIST magazine that I get, the author talked about this very issue that artists have. Wanting to do all kinds of art and seemingly stretching themselves too thin by trying to do everything. They explained that it was a maturing issue and that artists will eventually mature to one certain style/kind of art to make. If they don't, they never really develop into a mature artist. I am not sure I agree with the idea that it is a maturing issue. In fact, I think it is just a development of the person and more of an understanding of what one wants to focus on when making art. In addition, I think that no matter whether you make one style/kind of art, or you are all over the page with what you make, an artist's VOICE is always present in the work they make. The key is to enjoy what you are doing, stretch your artistic skills, and find contentment in making your art.

work I created . . .

2009-01-19T08:39:00.002-05:00

A couple of new sculptural pieces I have made. These pieces, which are available for purchase on my etsy store, are two of nine pieces I will show this next week at the Allen County Museum of Art. The show is themed HOPE and the work I created for this show develops the theme by using discarded, recycled items. These pieces are made from recycled barn wood and parts.

for inspiration . . .

2008-12-19T08:23:00.002-05:00

Trumpet Vine
18 x 24
watercolor payons

I am starting to introduce a looser style of work for my students to do. This project, the students used black line pictures (sort-of like color pages) of reptiles, flowers, and sea shell to draw from. They were instructed to use the pictures as "inspiration" and not necessarily copy them exactly. After the drawing, which lasted a period, the students used watercolor crayons to fill in, or to outline the work. When painted with water, the watercolor crayons give a loose, watery effect without having to learn the delicate skill needed to watercolor paint. The students seemed to like the project and I am excited to continue to develop it over the years.

one-day designs . . .

2008-12-17T20:37:00.004-05:00

Lines drawn with the ruler then colored tissue paper bled onto it.

Some fun one-day activities I have been doing with the students. Lines drawn with pencil and smudged to get some texture effect.

drawing with the students . . .

2008-12-16T18:46:00.003-05:00

School is almost recessed for the Christmas season and I have been having a wonderful time working with this new group of students. Part of the Unified Arts team is on a twelve week rotation, so each twelve weeks I get a new batch of students. This ensures that I see all the students that attend the school throught the year.

I have been recently working on some drawing with the students. Drawing that doesn't necessarily require a whole bunch of skill, but end up pretty interesting when finished. I'll be uploading a few pictures in the next post or two.

I have also been re-inspired to make some more paper products. My newest adventure has been paper head puppets that give the students direction. It is a way to make saying the same thing over and over fun, creating something new, and following the school-wide plan of implementing the Marzano teaching strategies.

new work . . .

2008-10-11T21:43:00.005-04:00

Make Good Choices
18 x 24
Watercolor, flies

Genuinely Mull Over
18 x 24
Watercolor and Pencil

Factory Farm Fresh?
18 x 24
Crayon and Ink resist (unfinished)

A new series of work I am doing for a show this next Friday. Several art teachers from the school system will display their work in local businesses while the town does an October pumpkin hop. It is a way for the business, school, and art communities to come together and create some shared experiences.

something to say . . .

2008-10-05T21:35:00.001-04:00

Back when I was in school studying art I really never "felt" like an artist. I'm not sure what it was that artists were supposed to feel that made them an artist, but I knew then, that I did not feel like one. Was I good at making art? Sure. Actually, I frequently had students collect my work because they thought one day when I made it famous, they would have an original from when I was still unnoticed. Still, I was plagued with not feeling like an artist.

For me the turning point for feeling like an artist came when I started enjoying the art that I produced. I no longer wished my art to look like other's work. I no longer cared if it came out "right." I started making things I wanted to make. You know, art for garth's sake! :)

As well, I never did understand artists that had messages they wanted to communicate to the larger population, society, or the world. I thought most of it (you know the way artists talk about their work) was just a farce. It was a pretend way to make their work seem more important than it really was. I never pretended mine was more than ink, pencil or paint on a background. It didn't have any hidden meaning. It was just art. This "having a message" has begun to change for me now.

On October 17th, some of the Lima City School's art teachers will be displaying their work around the city. It is a night that the small city has set aside for the local High Schools bands to play, people to walk around and visit the local business, and the art teachers to display some of their work. It's sort-of the small town's way of being "cultural" I guess to bring people up a notch or two in the appreciation of the arts. On that night, I am going to be one of the artists showing my work.

Instead of using pieces of art that I have made before, I am creating a theme around a technique that I enjoy, and for the first time, a message that I have. This will be the first time where I am displaying my work with the intent of having something to say.

YIKES . . . it's starting all over again . . .

2008-09-11T21:13:00.002-04:00

New school, new house, new town, new state. In my old age, this moving around thing is getting crazy. :)

I plan on returning to the series started this past summer. I am leaning toward carrying it throughout the year and on an intermittent schedule write about some of the new experiences I am having at my new post. For now, it is back to Middle School again. Students with pimples, attitudes, and insecurities. They are so close to being adults yet have so many ways to become more responsible. So far the year is working out good with scheduling, class sizes, and support from colleagues. I am thankful for the Elementary experience from last year in that it has helped me to know how to gage developmentally the project I want the student to create. This year should be filled with projects that cause the students to work hard, and to get really messy with materials.

being in charge . . .

2008-08-10T18:59:00.003-04:00

Here in America, we have compulsory education, which at times is both good and bad. In this post, whether you believe the educational system we have here in the US is in a good position or not, does not deter the fact that when we as teachers who have joined in the job of educating youth, have a responsibility in the position of being a teacher.
Since the institution of education has been established, and is governmentally ran, we are agents of the government to provide protection, instruction, and direction. If you are reading this now . . .I'll return to finish my thought :)

artist trading cards . . .

2008-07-09T20:08:00.002-04:00

Here is an example of one of the ARTIST TRADING CARDS (ATC) I have made. It is similar to a professional sports playing card or the game trading cards in size (2.5 x 3.5) or (64 x 89mm for those from other countries) and it essentially works the same as other trading cards. There are however some distinct differences.

1. Artists make them originally. They are not printed. They are like mini-original works of art.

2. Artists trade them with each other, unlike professional players or gamers who don't trade them with each other. Only the people who collect the cards buy, sell, and trade them.

3. Artists use them as a way to share skills with each other, meet each other, and learn from each other. Again, unlike other trading cards, where the people who collect them don't have the skills the people "on" the cards have.

4. Artist's intent in making the cards is to create, enjoy, and develop as an artist. Other card traders usually are "in it" for what they can get "out of it".

I realized that this might sound like I have an attitude against trading cards of other kinds. To set the record straight, I don't. I have not collected trading cards before, but if I got my hands on one that I knew would make me money, I would be sure to get it. I just never personally believed in collecting pictures, jerseys, signatures, or memorabilia of "famous" people. Would I collect things like this? Maybe. I am sure that if I found a Andrew Wyeth painting or some Blenko glass in a thrift store, and the owner didn't know it was a rare piece of art, I would write a check, give them cash, or even charge it on the credit card!

interlude . . .

2008-07-07T21:49:00.004-04:00

This summer has been filled with reading books, blogging, and developing my "making art" skills. You can see more work from the past at DRAWSPACE.com under foutfolk.

This one, of my youngest son, was done the other day. I told him that he couldn't do something and this is the face he gave me. I bet it is strange for children to hear their father say "stay right there, I want to get a picture of you" while they are pouting.

Sadness
9 x 12
Graphite

YOU CAN'T MAKE ME! . . .

2008-07-06T16:15:00.002-04:00

Authority means "the right to rule; the power to act, decide, command, judge". As the classroom teacher, you are in the position of authority. That means that you are the one that rules, acts, decides, commands, and judges. However, most people, including the teacher, has negative reactions when talking about authority. Why? We have all had bad experiences in the past with authority figures. From teachers, parents, and city officials we have all had situations that make us cringe when we hear the word authority. I have had several experiences with police that illustrate this point and I can recall three particular events that happened in less than a five year period.

One evening I was walking home, after serving in a restaurant, across a mall parking lot late at night. A squad car squealed right up to me and the men jumped out telling me to put my hands on the hood of the car. Obviously I complied. They questioned why I was walking, why I had a whole wad of $1.00 bills, where I had been, and where I was going. Long story short, I was the wrong guy. On another occasion, awoken from sleep, the police at my apartment door (4 of them) said that someone had just robbed the donut store next to my apartment, and after looking in my windows, noticed that I had a jean jacket similar to the one the robber wore. So they barged it, interrogated me as to where I had been and what I had been doing, felt my chest to see if I was breathing deeply, and then had me stand outside in front of the squad car to have the employee identify if I was the one who robed him. All of this in my underwear. I'll leave the third story to your imagination.

Obviously, I could have an attitude about authority from my experiences. I am sure you have similar horror stories as well. It still doesn't change the principle that our world, the nations, individual countries, states, cities, and even your classroom has authority established by God for protection of those that are under that institution. Are all people in authority always acting in the best interest of all the people involved? I am sure you know the answer to that question? But, with a proper attitude about authority, and teaching students the proper attitude about authority, we can all benefit from the God-given establishment and prosper no matter how "bad" it seems for us.

no child left behind...

2008-06-20T17:19:00.003-04:00

As a teacher, the school district that you are employed by has entrusted you with each of the students in your classroom. As well as being entrusted to teach them, you are also accountable that they are learning. I know, I know...you have taught, therefore they have learned. Or better yet, "they won't sit down long enough for me to teach them anything." "It is not my fault, their parents won't give me any support and I have tried everything." Sound familiar? At times I say the same thing.

One of the first places to start is to train your students to honor you. That's right, I said HONOR you. Students are to honor their teacher with respect due to their position alone. Even if the student doesn't like you personally, they are still required to show you honor. Usually, the first few days of school the children respect you because of your position. (And they don't know how you are going to respond to them and they are afraid) They in fact are afraid of you. Which they should be. You are bigger, stronger, smarter, and sometimes uglier! :) Even if you feel like you are not worthy of respect because of your behavior, attitudes, inferiority complex . . . they still should be showing you honor. Honor is not something you have earned or deserve, your position demands it.

Teaching honor is where we sometimes fail and where we need the practice. First, your position is one of authority, not power. Think of it like a policeman encounter. Do they ever scream at you to pull over? When they stop you do they ever yell at you for speeding? No. They usually ask you if you were aware that you were doing something wrong. Nicely at that. No matter whether you lie or tell the truth, they still kindly deliver the consequence to you and tell you to have a nice day. We should be doing the same thing. Kindly handing out the tickets!

In the classroom, teachers train students to honor them by telling them ways to address them, how to interrupt them, and how to speak to them during the day. Obvious things like saying "please" and "thank you" and others like "excuse me" to begin with. Most children are not required to speak like this at home. Also, if you have second language learners it helps them to start becoming proficient in the English language.

In the next post I will develop this concept of HONOR further and give specific examples of how you can train your students to honor and respect you in classroom.

blessing or curse...

2008-06-16T13:31:00.004-04:00

In the classroom, we tend to view students as either a blessing or a curse. Admit it, you have caught yourself in the teacher's lounge complaining about one student wishing they would be taken out of your class, and in the same breath praising another wanting to "clone" them for the rest of your teaching career. Why is it that we like certain students and not others? Why do we prefer some and not others? The answer is relatively simple. The ones we like are the ones that listen to us, and the ones we don't prefer...are the ones that don't listen. Easy to diagnose the problem. Now what do we do about it?

Training students is not hit or miss set of circumstances that we must deal with. There is no "On "and "Off" switches that we can control. It is not an issue either that some students will turn out O.K. while others don't. We are not faced with students who are "bad seeds" so to speak. When we train students, there is a great chance they will turn out to be productive citizens, even if we don't see the fruit of our work that year. Think about yourself as a students. How many of your teachers would have guessed you would turn out the way you did? Take time to think about the fact that you are training a person, not a thing, and that your influence lasts for the rest of their life. As I have told my students, "I am your teacher this year, but I am also your teacher the rest of your life! You will remember me and my voice will live in your head forever. I am your teacher now...and later."

As you spend time thinking about what is just written, ask yourself some important questions. Do I want to affect this student this year only, or do I want to affect their whole life? Will the way I am working with this student now want them to be more like me, or want to forget me?

When you think about these types of things, our perceptions change, and our behavior as a teacher follows suit.

so where do we start...

2008-06-10T18:23:00.004-04:00

J. Richard Fugate is an author that I read from time to time. His work consists of family oriented material that instructs men and women how to govern themselves and the people in their care. He uses the Scriptures as the basis for instruction and relates practical, everyday experiences to carry out the tasks. This first series, dealing with training students, closely resembles his outline of child training. Since I am in the classroom, and have had years of experience working with students in a classroom setting, I am going to tailor the information to relate to the classroom teacher.

So here it goes...

Now that you have your teaching credential, and you have been deemed by the state to be a "teacher," what do you do now with the students you have in your classroom?

Teaching is a difficult task; and everyone, including your professors and colleagues, has an opinion on how you should teach and train your students. Based on our own school and home situations, we all have skewed ideas about how to train students and most of the time we end up using the default method of trial and error to no avail. When that happens, classrooms tend to be an environment where students are unsuccessful, unmotivated, and unruly. How can we change that about our classroom situations? Can we expect joy when working with students? Can we have peace in the classroom while so much is going on? The answer to these questions is yes. With a little work, (actually a lot of work :) we can have classrooms that function just like a well-run family. Classrooms that we WANT to be part of and enjoy spending time in.

decisions...

2008-06-01T22:05:00.003-04:00

Summer is here and it seems like a perfect time to take a break from blogging. However, this is the time that I think the most concerning the past school year and what I want to accomplish for the upcoming school year. So, I think that this summer I am wanting to do a series here on the blog. Start something and continue until I feel like I have adequately covered most of my thoughts on the subject. There are so many ideas to choose from. Projects to do, incorporating test items into the art projects, how to enjoy teaching art, approaches to teaching, and the list goes on.

I have also added a few new items to the blog. Verve Earth which links me to a geographical map, a few more links, and a counter. I am interested to get a "round-about" idea of how many visitors I have to this site.

As far as the series topic...I haven't decided yet :)

children can be children...

2008-05-31T09:52:00.005-04:00

AAARRRRGGGGHHH! The last week of school again. So many things to finish up and clean up, especially when you are moving schools.

As an art teacher, it is always hard to part with the many boxes of raw material. Material that you think to yourself "I could you that someday" and then lug it around for awhile. I suffer from the same mentality. I have carried thing from Los Angeles to North Carolina, and now it will make its way up to Ohio. Oh well I guess, it is only 40 or 50 boxes or so :)

The last weeks of school have been fun for the students in the art room. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I do one-day activities that the children love. Modeling clay sculpting, line design drawing, making bracelets, coloring pages, and all sorts of different activities they have not done during the year. And did I mention candy? Candy is certainly part of the picture as well.

The last couple of days I have given the children candy during the art period. Since I have not given them ANY during the school year thus far, it makes it a special treat. Little cups with Life Savers jelly beans this time. Probably around 7 jelly beans in each cup. The way I handle it makes it even special. Here's how it goes.

As I am passing out the cups, I tell the students they are not allowed to eat any of them until I tell them too. Control freak you might think. You're right. I am still teaching them. Only this time I am teaching them self control. If they eat one without permission I take the cup from them. Usually only one, if any eats one without permission. After everyone has their cup of jelly beans, I tell them that they may eat ONE of them. They are faced with the decision of which one they will eat. They squeal with delight with the anticipation and decision making of eating the jelly beans. They even talk to their friends about their choices. I am talking about the 5th graders too. They do it as easily as the Kindergarten. All of this is while they are working on their daily project. I then give them the direction to eat another one. About 5 minutes later. Same reaction. During the period, I lengthen the time between eating them and also throw in some added instructions like: trade one jelly bean with one other student, choose one with a warm color, and the like. By the end of the period, which goes by REALLY fast, the students have eaten all the jelly beans, made a great one-day project that they take with them, and think that I am the BEST Art Teacher they have ever had. Works for everyone. And discipline in the class you might ask...not a problem, it is usually calm and peaceful all day.

The other day I did this with my 5th grade students. I also had another class in my room because I was taking pictures of them. The last few minutes of the class, I blew up a balloon and had the students hit it around with out letting it touch the floor. These are the same students who fight each other, call each other REALLY bad names, and generally act as if the are adults and need to be treated as such. And today, they acted like giddy children. Just like they should have.

2008-05-21T18:50:00.005-04:00

One day projects are fun to do and easy to accomplish. The nice thing about them is that the students get to take it with them that day, and you don't have to store work. One of the projects I always do with the students is drawing line designs. All you need is a pencil, paper, and a ruler. (everything else is packed up ready for summer anyway :)

The great thing about projects like these is that you are still teaching spacial, mathematical, and visual discriminating skills. And the children are INTO it! They keep on asking for more. And, buy using the ruler more, they get used to measurement and more comfortable with the marks that are on it.

more EOY fun...

2008-05-20T18:12:00.004-04:00

The end of the year is a really fun, easy, relaxing time for me in the art room. It is a time to do the easy one-day activities that the children love to do, and require little skill. Sort-of like some of the in-service teacher training times. We've seen it, heard it, done it before so it doesn't take much mental work to sit through the information. Well, the same goes for these projects. Today the Kinder and first did a marker fuzzy animal. I made one in the paint program as an example.

When they were finished, they each brought it up to the document camera and showed it while others clapped. What a great day in art! If you have access to computers, have them draw it on the paint program.

what to do with the crazy beads...

2008-05-12T20:19:00.006-04:00

Another one of those end of the year great activities. Years ago I received a donation of a whole bunch of beads from one of my student's parents. As I had always done, I told them at the beginning of the year that before they throw anything away, to run it by me and I could find some use for it. Anyway, this parent gave me a bunch of beads that I have been using for years now. Recently, I found another use for them.

On this project, the students in the second grade first used a process similar to "paper mache" and filled the inside of a plastic bowl with scraps of construction paper and liquid starch. They were limited to a cool and cold, warm and hot, or a natural and neutral color palette. When the bowl dried, they then used a push pin to poke holes around the rim of the bowl. With twenty gage wire they threaded beads and strung them around the rim of the project. I made sure not to give too much direction on what it should look like. When they finished stringing beads, I helped them to hot glue some sticks on as a base. THEY LOVE IT! And the beads look great on the project.

another tip for EOY (end of year)...

2008-05-09T19:16:00.003-04:00

If you are like any other teacher I have met, including myself, at this time of the year you want to be DONE ALREADY! and go to summer vacation. Don't feel bad, everyone is experiencing the same thing, including the children.

Let me begin this tip with stating that I am not a fan of candy in the classroom. With that said, not giving treats at the beginning of the year leaves room for a few treats here at the end. For example, the other day I had the Kindergarten class from h_ _ _ again. Just kidding, but they sure are a squirly bunch and I had a couple of students who are OCD, BED, and every other acronym you could apply. SO...I broke out the Dum Dum lollipops!

The children have made so many things this year, and this being the last week for them to come to specials, I wanted them to enjoy making things daily and taking them with them that day. We made drawings, bracelets, and then on Thursday I let play with modeling clay and have a lollipop. What a great day in Art they had. And they did not have to take another paper back to the classroom.

So in short, don't fight with them now on rules, procedures, and classroom policies. Don't compromise, but give in a little and let them gets some treats. (now if you have treated them all year you will probably have to bribe them with bigger ticket items)

and now the fun stuff...

2008-05-04T18:27:00.004-04:00

Here's an example (not a very good one though) of the paper weaving project the younger students were doing. The third grade on down wove with paper while the older students learned hand loom weaving with yarn. There is no need to motivate the children to work with yarn. It seems that they were born to work with yarn and even want to take more of it home to do work as well. We are now working on sewing and incorporating building along with it. The students are making three-dimensional pieces that have "things" attached to it using some form of sewing. They are loving it!

nothing lasts forever...

2008-04-12T09:00:00.005-04:00

It's that time again where I get to go and find a new teaching position. My family and I have decided to move to Ohio and will be moving to the Northwest this coming summer. Along with moving, comes finding a new school, and of course interviewing again. Over the years I have grown in the area of interviewing. When I applied for the junior high teaching position back in 1999, I was convinced that I needed to take an example of some of the things I worked on with my students. I also did a little research on portfolios and decided to make one about my teaching career. What is the benefit of a portfolio? Well, when you are interviewing there is nothing better than to be able to put real evidence in a principle's hand. So, I made one.

I am now convinced that everyone in the work force needs to keep an updated portfolio to talk for them. For example, artists keep portfolios of work they have done to show potential clients. Landscapers keep portfolios to show the types of arrangements they have made. Designers keep one as well. So why not teacher? And especially art teachers.

nature's art...

2008-03-30T10:48:00.005-04:00

God has a great way of teaching us the Principles of Design and the Elements of Art. You remember, Line, Form, Texture...

This is a moth my children found at the farmer's market the other day. The design on it's wings are fascinating! It is a Luna moth and will only live for one week. It has no mouth, therefore doesn't eat, and it only lives to reproduce. What a life huh?

printmaking...

2008-03-28T00:07:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to show an example of the printmaking projects the students worked on.

when you have to call mom or dad...

2008-03-27T23:51:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, sometimes it is important to call parents during the day when you have a student that won't listen or follow directions. When this happens, it is important to talk with the parents, counsel the student, and make plans for them to be successful in your class. However, there is another way for you to get parents to see how it is that you run class so they can get a feel for what is expected from the student.

For example, I had a student today who was rude, uncooperative, and obnoxious all in a span of the first three minutes he walked into the art room. It started with him walking in and saying "I don't want to do art today". After several minutes of crazy comments and rudeness, I called mom. I mentioned a few things that he was doing, then asked her if she could come in and sit with him. She said yes. When she arrived, I politely greeted her and asked her to sit next to her son. I didn't mention anything or "bag" on him to her at all. After a couple of minutes, I asked her if she would be wiling to work on the project that we were doing in class. Crazy you think, but everyone above the age of 18 loves to sit down and work on some art. She started on her project, and after awhile, I commented on some of the bad behaviors he son was having. While they were both making art, she counseled him. She worked well and actually got more done than her son did. I told her that I wanted her son to work as well as she did and that I appreciated her coming to class.

How did it all fair out? Well, she left having had a good attitude about making art, was able to see and feel what art class was like, and spent time telling her son to listen to me. Just what I wanted...her to be on my side and not feel like I am picking on her son, or her parenting.

I also told her to finish the project at home and to bring it back in and show me.

egg art...

2008-03-23T17:56:00.005-04:00

Using food coloring, olive oil, and some eggs, you and your students can make some pretty marbled eggs in your classroom or at home.

Here's how to do it. Dye eggs the same way you always have. On a small plate or bowl, add some of the dye along with some olive oil. Stir it around, and add the egg. The oil stops some of the dye from getting on the egg making a "marbled" effect.

feeling tired...

2008-03-19T23:18:00.007-04:00

March is a crazy time of the year as a teacher. Major holiday times are over, the end of the school year seems too far away, and most teachers are just holding their breath until the spring break time comes. With this in mind, let me give you a few tips to help you get through this time and still be happy that you chose teaching as a profession.

~Treat yourself during the day. If you like chocolate, put some in your apron, jacket, or shirt pocket. When you feel like you are going to choke someone...pop one in your mouth. They do wonders for your attitude.

~Bring in a couple of lamps from the used clothing store. Incandescent light adds a homier feel to the sterile lights in most classrooms.

~Drink lots of fluids during the day. Brew some coffee for yourself, drink a sports drink, or plain old-fashioned water will help you to think and relax more.

~Remember that you are still training your students. Obviously they should have some routines in place, but remember that they are children. And besides, how many times do you ALWAYS do the right thing?

~Spend more time LOOKING at the students and noticing things about them. If you need to clean up a little earlier to spend some time talking to them, the rewards are worth it.

~Sit down at the tables and do the project with them. They love to see how you handle working with material.

~Do projects that require less direct instruction. You have spent some time teaching them skills. Let them develop the skills they already have.

~Do projects that require close contact with students. I always like to do weaving around this time because I get to rub elbows with the students and the atmosphere becomes more relaxed.

~Bring in pictures of your family to show the students. Whether it is a slide show, or physical photos, they love to see what you are about.

~Make projects that they can wear or use immediately. You have done the "art" thing for awhile now, spend some time making stuff the can wear out of the class.

~Instead of tightening up trying to re-establish rules again, talk to the students about "helping" you out for the rest of the year.

~Did I mention treat yourself yet? :)

There is nothing worse than wishing your life away by saying things like "I can't wait till Friday" or "Spring Break is almost here!". Enjoy the day that you have to work. Stop and think about what you want to get done and work on it during the day. Continue to work with the staff to enjoy being at school. Only talk about the things that will help you have a good attitude. If you end up complaining about a situation or a student, just complain without letting it get to far on your nerves. It's actually refreshing to complain with a good attitude!

art at home...

2008-03-01T21:09:00.002-05:00

I am stirred to share some helpful information about how to teach Art to your children at home. It is sometimes areas like Art where parents have a difficult time deciding what to do and what to focus on when they have had no formal training in art. Not that formal training in Art is a prerequisite for teaching Art, but in my experience, most adults are SCARED to death to teach art. Even getting a substitute at my school is hard because of people's insecurity about art.

As an Art teacher in the private and public schools for 15 years, I have had the chance to work with the rich, the poor, the gifted, and the *@#~`"! students. I am constantly growing on new things I can share with the students and processes I can teach them. Personally, I am still enjoying learning new ways to create art that is skill based, and extremely fun to do. You too can enjoy, along with your student, the pleasure of creating art at home.

To start with, I break the school year down into six week sections. Thirty-six weeks total, six weeks on a particular focus. Here's the order: Cutting and Gluing, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, and Weaving/Sewing. Each year I incorporate Graphic Design and Technology into the six different sections along with the skills they are learning. Usually one week is long enough for a student to work on an art project, given that it is about 45 minutes per day. That gives you six different projects you can do with your children and not feel guilty that they are missing out on a well-rounded, art inclusive educational experience.

The first tip for teaching your children art at home is to teach them what you enjoy doing yourself. Do you like stamping? do you enjoy gardening, cooking, writing? Whatever you enjoy doing will be easier for you to teach your children. For example, if you like gardening, while you are in the garden pulling weeds, planting, etc., have your student study the different shaped leaves on the plants. When you are ready to work on art, have them cut the shapes of the leaves out of construction paper and glue them down on a pleasing background color. Obviously you are teaching them the skills of cutting and gluing so your is focus is on using the scissors correctly (and safely), and using the proper amount of glue. The same project (leaves from the garden) could become the theme that runs through the whole change of mediums. For example, the student then draws the different leaves they observe in the garden, they paint a picture of a plant from the garden, they make a paper mache' of a vegetable, they stencil a print from a cut potato, and they cut out a shape of a fruit and sew an applica' on a square for sewing. It is endless what you can come up with when you focus on the things you personally enjoy doing. You are motivated, and they pick up on your motivation.

The second tip for art instruction at home is to let children create art even if you do not do it or want to teach it. Providing students with raw materials, even without a planned art experience, will give them a wonderful appreciation for creating and tons of enjoyment in making art. Children are naturally creative. Given time and resources, you will be amazed at what they will create.

Third tip....Don't worry that you are not a professional artist. Who cares if it is great or not? They don't.....so why should you? Most parents I talk with have an idea about what they want their children to do, and when it doesn't look the right way, the parent takes the project over and "touches" it up. Don't touch it up, leave it as is and then use that as a way to teach your student about how they could improve on their skill the next time you make the same thing.

Fourth and last tip for this post. Do the same projects over and over. When you find a good project that is fun to do, and costs almost NOTHING, have them do it several times. Each time the child does the project they get better and better at the skills required.

I hope this post has dispelled some of your myths about teaching Art to your children. And I hope that it has inspired you to start creating art at home with a new attitude.

For those that are interested, I have posted this on my family blog at foutfolk.blogspot.com as well.

From the art room,

garth

PS. Some children take more time, some less when making art. In addition, there are those students who finish things that are to take four days in 10 minutes. If this happens, require them to go back and add to their project so they can learn the art and the power of focus.

integrating technology in the classroom...

2008-02-23T22:23:00.004-05:00

Some ask the question of why they should integrate technology in the classroom, while others think that it is a sin not to in today's computer-age classroom. My attitude about it...if you like to use technology in the classroom and are proficient at embedding it into the curriculum, then do it. If you are not competent at using it, or don't know how to use different peripherals, stay with what you know. Chances are, that whether you know how to use technology or not, the children you teach are going to surpass your knowledge of it anyway in just a few short years.

What you teach without technology will help them when in fact they do use it. Things like perseverance, dedication, observation, and a love to create art. (or a love for learning any subject for that matter!)

Personally, I enjoy using technology in my Art-room. Since I am working at an elementary school, I am currently not having my students use technology to create pieces though. This is for various reasons. One, I have the whole student body run through the art room on a rotation type of schedule. Two, I only have one computer in my classroom compared to my last teaching experience where I had 25 laptops in my OWN room. As well, the most important reason why I am not using it now is that the students do not have enough appreciation for doing their own artwork to add the TOOL of the computer to their repertoire. (knowing that using technology in the classroom is a tool and not a toy!)

Most recently, I have added the DOCUMENT CAMERA as a means to read to the students and to demonstrate procedures to them for the project we are working on. The school owned on document camera and the teachers didn't really take advantage of using it on a regular basis. The technology equipment "adviser" said that I could use it anytime I wanted and that all I would need to do is requisition it. This is probably why the other teachers don't use it. Trying to organize when it is not being used can be a pain. So.....I improvised and brought in my own digital camera, tripod, DC source of power, and made my own document camera using the television. It worked great. I was so happy about getting the ability to sit and demonstrate to the students without having to walk around and have them play behind my back.

A few days later, I obtained an older model projector, and the woman in charge of the document camera said that I could use it, and keep it in my room, until someone else wanted to use it. No one has asked for it since. The other day, she mentioned that the administrative office gave her another document camera for our school and that I could keep it permanently!

I am wanting to get back to Junior or Senior High School teaching so I can start sharing with the students the endless possibilities of using technology in art.

family ideas cont...

2008-02-17T17:55:00.002-05:00

Here is another family integrated work of art that I did several years ago. Sort-of quilt, sort-of color theory, sort-of abstract. The focus being on incorporating family into artwork.

training in art...

2008-01-30T20:45:00.001-05:00

I was talking to my wife the other night, and I showed her some paper sculpture work I enjoy. As her usual self, she said it was vain and a waste of time...
Some art seems to be a waste of time and materials. I don't like giving materials to students to work with, only for them to create something that is messy, uncreative, and wasteful. As well, when we lie to students who throw something together saying that it is great, they know that we are not telling the truth. Instead, we should give them projects that teaches them a skill and allows them to be creative in the process.
I am part of a county-wide art program that advocates student expression in artwork. I am not against student expression, but the focus seems to be not to give the students any references for creating anything. No copying, no tracing, no images to get inspired from. It is as if the children have to pull from memory the things they want to create. How may professionsl artists just pull things from their head without using references for what they want to make? Frustrating for them, and fruststrating for the teacher.
I have been bucking the system a bit. I am giving them pictures to look at, or drawing an example for them to copy. As an analogy for the situation, how many Olympic athletes get told to do their event "the way they want to"? Is that training them? How is it the same in art? Giving the children too much freedom only to arrive in adulthood with no skill of making outstanding art would not be a program that trains children inthe Arts. It would be a program that gives students experiences with materials. There is going to be those students who will be great becasue God has given them an art ability. We really won't teach those types of students much anyway. But what about the rest?
My biggest pet pieve as an adult artist is meeting a "so called" artist who has no real skill at producing good art, and throws junk together and declares it a masterpiece. Am I against an artist who has trained to be an artist and then chooses to break all the rules? No. Likewise, I would never show up at a board meeting of a company and declare that I am an executive and demand the respect of the group just because I think I am an executive.
So what is the whole point of this post you might ask? TRAINING again! Training children to become artist. Training them to see, to produce, to create, to appreciate, and to enjoy art.

incorporate family...

2008-01-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

This drawing I did of my family a few years ago. It is a great example of how important it is to include the people you love in your artwork.

software...

2008-01-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Who needs all the fancy software when you can create in the paint program? Sure, it takes a bit more time to do the coloring, the drawing is a little more difficult, but what a great way to give students an inexpensive way to create animated characters with software already available to you. In addition, the students learn the character traits that you are trying to teach anyway: patience, steadfastness, commitment. This drawing took me about two hours to do. I worked on it by changing the view size and going back and forth to "clean it up". Here's the how to.

1. Sketch what you want to draw loosly with the small pencil.
2. Change the view to 400 zoom and clean it up a little. Zoom back out and look at it and then make changes. (once you are happy with the picture you can zoom even more to make cleaner edges :)
3. Bucket fill the main sections with a fill color.
4. Add tints and shades of each color to create a more realistic animated character.

Seems easy huh? It is. And the students love to work on them. Take the time to do one yourself before you have the students do it so you can work out the bugs.

training...

2008-01-19T15:08:00.000-05:00

I had been having some difficulty in the classroom with a few of the first grade students from a particular teacher's classroom. In short, they were cocky, didn't listen, and when imposed upon to do something besides what they felt they should do, became quite obnoxious. I dreaded having this class because of them.

The other day the students came to class as usual, but this day, change was going to occur. I was going to train these few who seem to spoil the time for the whole class.

The project was to draw and watercolor a flower including the major parts of the flower in the drawing (ie: Pistil, Stamen, Petals...) and I spent some time teaching them the parts of the flower. I had several students calling out and side talking and after a couple of warnings started the training; knowing that I was going to focus on those few gross offenders.

I first told everyone to put their heads down on the tables. I then told them that I had given them directions not to call out or have side conversation. I then asked them by table groups to line up at the door like they were going to go home. The first table group did an excellent job. I told them to sit down. The second group did the same. The third group (with the few) just stood up and walked to line up like the other tables had. However, they were not listening to my instruction. So I told them to sit down, explained that they needed to wait for my direction, and that some of the students followed other students instead of listening to me. I then gave them the direction to line up. All went well except the few again. At that point I praised the students who did a good job and asked those students to go back up and line up like I asked them too. This time I told them to stay lined up until I called for them. I went back to teaching. After a few minutes, and when the other students were independently working on the drawing of their flower, I called the two remaining trainees over. One had stood and the other still wasn't done with himself yet. I asked them if they were ready to listen and do some art and the one that did well in line said "yes sir." The other shrugged his shoulders as if to say "whatever". I told the first student where to sit, gave him a pencil and paper, and thanked him for listening. They other, I told him to go back in line. He finally got the point. When I called him over to talked after he had spent some time nicely in line, I asked him if he was ready to do some artwork. He said "yes sir". He got to do some art that day. At the end of the class, as they were walking back to their class. The child broke out of line to come back and give me a spontaneous hug. It was a successful time for the both if us. The rest of the week the ones who had been giving me trouble were the ones who stayed later to put all the chairs up, all the pencils away, and make sure to say good-bye to me at the end of the period.
That is training. Students doing something over and over and over until they do it the right way. No fight, no yelling, no discipline, just training.

discipline...teaching...training...

2008-01-17T09:08:00.001-05:00

In reviewing some of the previous parenting books that I own, I have been re-inspired to distinguish the difference between teaching, training, and disciplining. Below is a short definition of each of them for the purpose of this post.

Teaching (transitive verb) to impart knowledge or skill to somebody by instruction or example.

Training (transitive verb) to teach a person to behave in ways acceptable to people, especially by repetition or practice (this definition is most commonly used with animal training but works well with training children :)

Disciplining (transitive verb) to punish somebody as a way of enforcing obedience.

All three are similar and if you use the thesaurus, they all can be synonymous. However, in the classroom, and at home, you can distinguish them and use them differently to TEACH children information, TRAIN children to respond appropriately, and DISCIPLINE them when they infrequently don't follow directions.

The question that most teachers have is "When do I implement the three different aspects of working with children"?

The question should start with what types of problems you are having in the classroom. Are you frustrated with a certain child's behavior? As a class, are the children doing what you are asking with a good attitude? How much time are you spending telling the children to stop doing something?

From my experience, I have seen many teachers miss the understanding of training children. The most frequent situation I hear is a teacher who is praising the students who are doing the right things (which is all but two of them) while the others are not listening or even caring that praises are not being issued their way. The teacher is thinking at that point that if they say the praises louder, or more often, the students who are not listening will finally listen and want to be noticed for their compliant behavior. Has this ever happened to you? In the next post I will describe a scenario that happened in my first grade art class that illustrates the point of training explicitly

new year...new...

2008-01-07T21:15:00.000-05:00

It is always great to go back to school after having a couple weeks off for Christmas vacation. Getting back is often harsh though because we generally have the idea that we will just pick up where we left off and everything will run smoothly like it did before we went to break. EEEEEEEERK! That doesn't happen. The students turn back into a different breed of people having spent so much time away from your instruction. SO....what do we do?

Start the year over again! Pretend like it is the first day of school. Although, this time you have so much more information about your students. Here is a list I suggest that you try for the first week back to class.

1. Greet the students like you have never met them (and are happy to see them)
2. Go over the rules of the classroom again (let them remind you of the rules)
3. Tell them what they will probably feel for a few days due to inactivity (sluggish, annoyed, wanting to go home) and that these feelings are normal
4. Remind them that they are almost in the next grade! (this helps them to be more mature)
5. That the beginning of the year was easier, and that you are going to make them work really hard till the end of the year (and then pour it on...you have a lot to cover before the end of the year)

Usually, if you spend the first week back going over these items, it makes the transition from home, to school schedule again, smoother.

silent table

2007-12-18T00:25:00.001-05:00

I took my own advice on an earlier post. The other day I had a couple of students on "silent table" in the art room. They spent too much time talking during the day, so I put them at a table and told them that they were not to talk and that they were on silent table for the period. Worked GREAT! They did sneek in a couple of quick comments to each other, but the next day, they behaved better in class.

The duck tape is still working as well. And, I have instituted another techinque to get the students to listen. It is having the students shadow me by holding onto my pocket or apron. They don't like to be so close, so it encourages them to listen to get some distance freedom.

We are currently working on watercolor painting. A technique I learned a few years ago that I am incorporating in the classroom. Check out some of the work under the PAINTING gallery.

murals

2007-11-20T20:24:00.000-05:00

Here is a photo of some of my former students' mural painting. If you want to know how to paint a mural with your students, email me, and I'll give you the quick 10 minute lesson plan on how to get it done with virtually no work from you!

make you dizzy

2007-11-20T20:19:00.000-05:00

Here's another OP Art image for those of you who appreciate the headache. If you stare at one black center dot, the wheels stop moving. Have fun!

"silent" classroom tips

2007-11-20T19:09:00.000-05:00

Regularly, I think of things that will help me manage my classroom better. Sometimes they are based on my own classroom experiences, or things I have noticed in other teacher's classrooms. We all know that when children don't listen and follow directions, that they do not learn. Or, they do not learn what we want them to learn. I am all for students helping to create the curriculum and for the classroom to be student centered where students take ownership of their learning, have choice in the materials they want to investigate, and govern their own behavior.

EEEEERT! That is not what we have in the classroom though. What we do have in the classrooms of today are students who feel entitled to get everything they want, and to get it yesterday. We have students who think that we are there to help them "if" they need help, and that most feel like they can do it on their own if we just "got out of their way and stopped nagging them." We have a whole bunch of students who are self-absorbed, self-motivated, self-esteemed, and just plain SELFISH. It's unfortunate that most of the teacher's day is spent dealing with these students and these discipline issues. The children who are naughty SUCK up all the time from the learning process and cause the teacher to hate their position. Having been in the classroom now for 15 years, I have seen many students, and many teachers work at this thing called an education. I have watched students run the classroom to the point where the teacher quits, and on the other side of the spectrum, I have seen teachers hand out worksheets each day and scream at the children when they make a sound in the room.

Today, after talking with yet another teacher who was baffled that a student talked all day and disregarded his instruction, I gave him this piece of advice.

I told him that students have not been trained in appropriate speaking. What I mean is that in our society today, when a person has a thought, they almost always just vocalize it. To us as adults, who have jobs and are responsible in them, we have learned to have our thoughts, but to not always vocalize them. (at least not to the wrong person) This is a skill that students need to have as well. I am constantly telling my students that "just because they had a thought, doesn't mean they need to say it." Hence the "silent" training.

Students who are untrained how to keep every though inside their head, I send through the silent training. That means on several occasions, I have them go throughout the day without saying a WORD! If they speak, they get the classroom consequences. THAT IS MEAN! you might say. But I beg to differ. As an adult, are you ever allowed to have a thought and then just express it whenever you want? Sure, in the privacy of your own home. So, the practice comes in for the student to learn to have thoughts without sharing them publicly.

When it comes to parent involvement, if a parent complains (and they will at first) that their child is not allowed to speak all day, you simply start asking the questions. (sort-of like the ones in an earlier post) Questions like "Does your child ever interrupt you when you are talking?" "When you give a direction at home, do they follow the direction or do they start TELLING you why they should not do it?" "When they are asked a yes or no question do they give you a whole bunch of other words besides yes or no?" If they do, then they would benefit from the silent training as well. The key is to give them the reason why you are training them (it will benefit them and the student) and how they will be trained (by following simple directions that anyone can follow). So, give it a try. And then comment and let me know if it is working in YOUR classroom.

illusions

2007-11-18T20:44:00.001-05:00

Here's some OP Art for you. Stare at the gray dots and watch them jump around the design.

involving parents in discipline

2007-11-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

I have over the years, spent large amounts of time involving parents in the problems of discipline in the classroom. Sure, it takes time to call and get parents to come to school, however, when the all the students see a parent come in based on a phone call, they all seem to settle down to what you have asked them to do. Here are some tips I use in talking with parents when they visit. It is a list of questions and comments I make that let the parent know I care for their student, but that there is something going wrong in the classroom.

1. I greet them and make sure to say their name back to them. I also introduce myself using my first name.

2. I tell them of one behavior I have noticed at school (like not listening to directions) and ask them if they notice that same behavior happening at home. They usually say yes! (duH!)

3. I then ask them to tell me other things they are having problems with concerning their student. They usually open up and tell me the WHOLE THING. If they baulk, I suggest something like..."When you give a direction do they talk back to you questioning why they need to follow your directions?" They usually take the bait.

4. I then AGREE with them. I tell them that I notice the same behavior in the classroom. In addition, I ask them if that's the kind of student they want their child to be. The answer is always no.

5. I then ask them what they do when their child acts like that at home. They usually tell me something that they WILL do and not something that they do. (which is why the student acts that way at school)

6. I ask them if what they are doing is working for them. Again...the answer is no.

7. I then ask if I may give them a suggestion. The answer....is yes. So I give my suggestion. (more on suggestions later)

8. They then usually turn on the child and side with ME! "How dare you treat him that way," "He is doing everything that he can to make....," "When we get home..." That's all it takes. they are now my helper at home.

9. Any future problems at school, I simply state "If you don't listen, I will call your parents." and you would not believe how quickly the want to comply with my wishes.

I have encouraged parents (suggestions) to re-gain control of their students in many ways. Here's a list of some of the things that I have suggested, and parents have done, to get their voice back in their student's life.

Works well in Junior High

Choosing their hair style :)
Choosing clothing for school
Random visiting the classroom
Coming to eat lunch with the student
Choosing their backpack color :)
Deciding what they will eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Packing a brown-bag lunch with one sandwich and a piece of fruit only ( on wheat bread)

just to name a few

vocabulary pressure in art?

2007-11-15T18:06:00.000-05:00

How are we handling the vocabulary issue in art? How do we get the students to identify the words of art with the techniques, styles, or processes of art? I know that most teachers are now using the practice of Word Walls. However, how often do we visit the words to help the students embed them?

This week, I am working with the students on a color study. All the classes, K-5, are learning how to mix colors and show relationships between them. The classic "primary, secondary" color wheel project. But...I put a twist on it. Using both primary and secondary colors, I had the youngers (K,1) trace their hands to paint, the middle grades (2,3) did an organic design, and the olders (4,5) drew flowers that had six petals. The olders added tints and shades to make more petals. The middles painted the organic shape that included tints and shades as well. Question...how did I incorporate vocabulary in the lesson?

Each student got a packet of laminated 3" squares. Primary, secondary, and black and white colors. I then ask them to show me a color by holding it up. Next, I asked them to show me a primary color. You should have seen the learning happen. They were looking to me for feedback, they were looking to each other for help, and they were laughing and enjoying holding up the cards. For the olders, I asked harder questions like "hold up two primary colors and then slide the secondary color in the middle that it makes." They did really well. One period, only fifteen minutes, and I know that most of them know the words now.

tape time

2007-11-13T21:31:00.000-05:00

This year I have instituted the tape system. In a nutshell, it is another name for time out. Now we know that time out is a horrible waste of time for the student, mostly because they get to sit by themselves and do nothing. And, for you as the teacher, it is not effective with the chronic misbehaving students that seem to always need to be sent to the "time out" area or chair. Besides that, it has a punitive feel and looks bad when administration comes in. You can hear it now in your head, "How does sitting this student in time out help them to understand the state standards you are teaching? What are they learning by sitting in the chair WAY over there?"

SO........the tape. I put red squares of duct tape in on the floor inside the middle of the tile square. When students are talking when I am talking, goofing around during class, not following directions...I simply tell them to go stand on a square. They stay there until I dismiss them. And, I usually dismiss them by asking if they are able to do as I have previously instructed them. Sometimes I have to send a student over to the squares several times during the period. The seem to have an attitude about it as well. But then something strange happens. They start feeling the pressure. Not from me though. They start judging what others in the room must be thinking about their inability to follow simple directions. I don't think that the other students are making judgement calls on other student's behavior, but who cares. The student gets the idea that ever time they are not able to control themselves, they are going to go on a walk and stand on the silly red square.

Has it been working you may ask? Oh yes! I have had some obnoxious students stand on the squares several times to the point where they ask me if they can sit down. To which I reply, "are you able to listen to my directions from a sitting position." The answer is always yes. They hate to stand up. And, during the time they are standing...they are really listening to what I am saying. (in addition to looking around to see who is noticing them :)

galleries

2007-11-12T12:16:00.001-05:00

Check out the work from some of my students. Students from old, students of new, and some of my own.

Students from old http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=87980

Students of new http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=106410

My own students http://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=107523

Artsonia is a wesite that hosts galleries of local public and private schools. They have a great base of resources for art teachers. If you are stuck without an idea of what to do for a project, just browse through the galleries on the start page. There are hundreds of ideas to choose from and adapt for you classes

welcome :)

2007-11-12T10:36:00.001-05:00

For years, I have had countless people ask me when I was going to write a book. Books from how to handle discipline in the classroom, how to incorporate art into curriculum, or general "how to" books for classroom projects. After much encouragement, from friends and family, I have decided to start this ART ROOM archive. It certainly looks different than a book, and it will certainly earn me less than a book deal will, but the versatility of it will lend itself to me, and others, sharing valuable classroom strategies and practices that help us help students to produce exceptional artwork, and for us as teachers to have a smooth, productive art rooms. I encourage those that visit this site to comment on my posts. Whether you agree or not with what is said, leave your comments anyway. In addition, if you have a practice in your class that takes the suggestion I have given a little further or a little deeper, please include it on your comment. Hopefully, together, we can encourage and inspire each other to follow the classic words of Napoleon Bonaparte, "A picture is worth a thousand words."