Week 7

Another day filled with valuable experiences from Fishers! We had a quiz in Ceramics 1 for 1st and 2nd period. After quizzes were complete I introduced an assignment to prepare for next week's unit on the wheel. I didn't get any quizzical looks when I was presenting the information and they all seemed excited about the project! The rest of class was time for them to do research and sketches for the assignment I introduced. HERE is a copy of the assignment I created.

Mid semester grades are due this Friday so I spent a majority of my day helping Ms. O grade quizzes, projects, and assignments which was a great opportunity for me to gather evidence and experience for evaluating student learning. Grading the AP Drawing/2D projects from the assignment I had created for them was great practice for me. Ms. O allowed me to grade them since it was my project, so I appreciated she gave me that opportunity. I used a rubric she uses for all of their projects and then practiced writing descriptive feedback from my lesson during Lead in CoT. It was extremely difficult. Looking back, I did well describing what I was seeing "as the viewer." Whenever I made a comment on something that was confusing, or could use more attention in their piece, I made sure to point this observation out as a viewer of art, not "the teacher" or authority. I hope that this helps them understand that just because it is something I am pointing out, doesn't mean that it is a suggestion they NEED to take or alter their piece. Art is tricky that way. You don't want to influence the direction of their work too much, but you also want to make sure they are growing in their skills. So hopefully by including the phrase "as a viewer" I can get them to understand that these are observations any other viewer may or may not make and it's not just because I'm the teacher and am supposed to be this "authority" of "good" and "bad" art. The most difficulty I had grading was grading work that was not AP quality. I wanted to make sure I worded it in a way that was constructive even though the piece was obviously not given the fullest attention and care from the student. So I had to figure out some fancy wording to solve that dilemma. I made sure to address what I appreciated that they were trying to accomplish and then describe the reasons they didn't accomplish it. HERE are examples of the feedback I wrote.

Here are some of the pieces from the object morph project!

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Aside from grading, I stayed after school to attend a faculty meeting. They have one once a month. I'm glad I was able to attend this one because they addressed the different levels of security and what teachers need to do in each instance (normal -> normal w/no outside activities -> shelter in place -> and lockdown). They addressed this with the staff after the bomb threat because they realized they needed to have clear rhetoric when addressing staff about the situations at hand because when they announce a lockdown due to the bomb threat two weeks ago, some teachers treated it as an active shooter situation and had students arm themselves and barricade the doors. So they want to make sure they and the staff are using the same language. I've outlined what each situation calls for HERE in my notes during the meeting. They are also going to have teachers go over ALICE protocol and Run, Hide, Fight with their students during one class period next week so they are all updated on what to due in the instance of an active shooting situation. They also addressed the gridlock and updates on ways to disseminate more information to the entire school's staff so they know what is going on in emergencies. I appreciated that they addressed the bomb threat promptly and clarified what they expect of the staff and students. I also appreciate that they're taking time to teach students what to do in the event of an active shooting. They actually will have a day in three weeks where they simulate an active shooting event. The "active shooter" will be a assistant principle in a tiger suit (to make sure students do not for any reason mistake this as a real event even though they will announce that it is a simulation several times) and staff will be alerted to what areas in the school he is and what directions he is heading so they can decide to run, hide, or fight, depending on their location. They did emphasize hiding/ barricading the doors because a gunman can get from one side of the school to another at a decent pace, so if you are evacuating and you are caught with him at the end of the hall, that's bad. There have been no recorded incidents where an active shooter has gotten past a barricaded classroom door. They want easy targets. Again, I think that all of this is timely and appropriate given the circumstances in the school district and nationally.

So pretty full day! I teach my unit next week! Unfortunately PSAT's are on Wednesday so the students won't have any time on the wheel, so I will only be there Monday, Tuesday, Friday. Super excited!