Week 14

Today was a wrap up day for most projects. Next Wednesday is the due date for all final projects and then the rest of the semester they will do a unit on art history and a final exam. In ceramics students continued to work on their final slab project. I helped problem solve and give suggestions for their projects. Intro to 3D classes were a bit out of control today. Everyone is at various stages; some are completely finished with their paper project, others are far behind, for those who are completely finished they are supposed to work on the art history project and complete a reflection on the paper project, so some are working on that and some are just completely done with all the additional work all together. I think pacing is incredibly difficult for art classes. It’s hard to set a due date because everyone works at such different speeds. Some take a long time to create fantastic works, others just get it and don’t require a lot of time to create an outstanding piece, others rush through to get it over with, and some are so slow they don’t even finish projects. I think I'm going to look for more resources on pacing, specifically for art education, so I can try to avoid that awkward period of time when some kids are frantically working to finish and other students are sitting around or doing homework for other classes.

She also gave a presentation to Intro to 3D on an artist they needed to know for the test. I personally wouldn't have waited until the end of the project to introduce the artist it was inspired by because they aren't able to make connections or incorporate ideas or strategies from the artist when the project is over. She also had a hard time getting and keeping their attention today. I think it was because they normally get to work right away so they had their laptops and projects out and were already in the groove when she asked them to listen for a few minutes. I know for myself, I have a hard time stopping what I'm doing, especially if it is sitting right in front of me, so I think a better strategy would be to write on the board or announce as kids come in not to get their projects out because she will be giving a presentation.

Ms. O told me about an incident that occurred yesterday. One of her students with special needs came into class crying hysterically and looked incredibly distraught. She was saying "I'm so upset but I can't talk to anyone or take it out on anyone." Ms. O asked her what was wrong and the student showed her texts between her and her dad. She had texted him asking him to return her calls and inviting him to an event at school and he responded, "you need to delete my phone number. Stop trying to contact me." Apparently he wants nothing to do with her or her mom and has a whole other family. Ms. O called in one of the special needs teachers that works with her often and that teacher just said "Oh just don't think about it!" trying to be nice, but Ms. O responded with the fact that she obviously needed to talk about it since she expressed she is so upset but has no one to talk to. Apparently the mom tells her to not think about it too, so she has no outlet. Ms. O talked to her the rest of class and got her to calm down and told the special ed teacher that she needed to call the mom and have her arrange counseling or something for her kid. Definitely will take a similar stance like Ms. O did if a student ever has an issue like that. Glad she stood her ground against the teacher and the mom and said that she obviously needed to talk about it.

That was about all for today!

Here are some mini-masterpieces AP completed this week!

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