Week 2

Today Jewelry 1 was working on using the Jeweler's saw a cutting sheet metal in straight, curved, and zig-zag lines and using the drill press to create negative shapes. Since I do not have a lot of experience in metal work aside from last spring when I worked with Ms. O's class, I refreshed my skills and watched Ms. O give a demonstration to a few students who were absent for the demonstration the day before. During the next class I offered to do the demonstration for absent students and Ms. O was more than happy to let me. I intended it as a way to free her up so she could help other students but was happy she took time to actually sit and watch my demonstration and take notes to give me feedback. That was awfully considerate and kind of her! Here is a picture of some of the feedback she gave which will be very helpful for future demonstrations.

Overall I did well, the one big piece of advice that I think will help is making sure to be specific when teaching them something new. I think part of the problem is that I'm still new to metal work myself so I still don't have a full grasp of the terminology.

She suggested that we start doing this more often on the days I visit, I observe her first sections of a course and then do whatever she did. I think that would be a great way to get more involved! I am also looking forward to our clay unit in Intro to 3D, as I completely developed it from scratch when Ms. O decided that she wanted to do something new with that unit. She also wants me to develop a tool or resource to implore students to think a little more thoroughly through the initial brainstorming phase of a project. She feels that they most often resort to the very first idea they have and that the point is to explore different solutions to the same problem. I don't have solid ideas yet, but I will be working on that over the weekend.

AP Drawing/2D is finally into their concentration this semester so it was fun to go around and talk to each of them about their concentration and the current piece they were working on. I wish I took more pictures of their art! I'll make sure to next week! I was excited because a lot of them asked me if I had any comments or suggestions for their works in progress and that was the most I've really talked to any of them, just because AP is more self-driven and it feels weird to hover over their shoulders the whole class period.

Intro to 3D had their elements and principles quiz so I did a lot of grading. I came across one student's who had obvious struggles writing at grade level and I could tell by his test that he mixes words up and has trouble spelling. Like he would know the correct answer started with an "h" but would put a nonsensical or incorrect word starting with an "h." At the end of grading he had received a 13/43. So I pulled Ms. O aside and asked if this student had a learning disability and she said not that she knew of and I asked her to look into it because it was clear to me by his performance that he KNEW the information, just had trouble writing and spelling or getting words confused with each other if they sounded the same or started with the same letter. She looked deeper into it and found out that he has Autism Spectrum Disorder. So she is going to make sure he has a word bank and will give him extended time the next time around. A lot of the students that did require modified tests received word banks, extended time, and sometimes only asked to answer a few questions within the test. I think I want to look into other methods of modifying tests because I want them to be challenged not giving "short-cuts" or "dumbing" down the test. I guess I just don't know much about modifications so that's something I'll need to look more into.

S. still visits us during one of the Intro to 3D classes. While they were taking the quiz, S. worked on a contour self-portrait. I think activity was good for her, because she has difficulty with fine motor skills, and when doing a contour drawing, the crazier the lines the better! Here's some of her work!

Excited to go back next week!

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