Week 2 of Mentorship

Today I realized I need to get up even earlier than 5:30 am as Fishers High School gets really congested around 7:25, 10 minutes before class, and takes forever to get to the Main Office. They have almost 3,000 students that need to get to the same place at the same time. It's insane. Anyway, this morning I sat at a table and worked on the same project as them so it was easier for both me and the students to talk to each other. I'm just slowly trying to build trust and comfortability with them since I'm an outside presence. During prep, Ms. O went into further depth about the TLO's which we discussed a little last week and I have outlined in further detail in TODAY'S NOTES. She also asked that I help her come up with sketchbook assignments for Drawing 4 so I will be looking up resources this week. During this time I also taught her how to weave stars for the One Million Stars to End Violence project that I supported during a community weave-in on MLK day. She's going to have Art Club make them and send them to Australia to be part of the installation. So I'm glad I went to this event so I could tell her about the project and teach her how to do it! Ms. O did not have class watch the inauguration and other art teacher's didn't either as they felt it wouldn't fit into their day's schedule. I don't know what I would've done, maybe have it playing while students were quietly working on their projects? I also know that some people refused to watch the inauguration as a form of protest or boycotting, but I don't think that's what Ms. O was doing. I think at the very least I would ask how everyone was feeling today to see if any students were acting anxious, but as far as I could tell, everyone was indifferent to today. I think it deserved some kind of recognition though. During lunch we talked about students who were submitting pieces to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. The photography teacher said that she used to pick "the best" pieces and submit them, but now she lets her students choose which ones they want to submit or if they want to submit anything at all. I like this because who knows what art will speak to the judges? After lunch was AP art. She showed me the board she created to help students keep track of their portfolio and visualize it easier since the pieces vary in size and can't all be laid out at the same time. I like this because they can get an easier sense of whether or not their pieces are cohesive.

She also showed me the Instagram account she created for the FHS art department. It's cool to see her promoting student artwork on social media. In the last two jewelry classes, they continued working on their keychains. Ms. O showed me a few more techniques that she will be teaching the class next week so I can help out.

That was about it for today!

P.S. Check out this BA metal bird sculpture one of her AP students made. Way cool.