From Ordinary to Extraordinary (Chapter 2)

This is a great chapter! I love a lot of the ideas and lesson plans presented by the author in this chapter. He incorporates found objects and recycled materials which I love.
When I think about teaching, one of the things that worries me the most is the lesson plans and materials. How will I ever have enough money to create great lessons for the students to appreciate and really get something out of? Vieth gives a lot of insight on how to use simple objects that may already be laying around at the school that can be made into something fascinating.
I love the pop can idea that used the cans that were going to be thrown, and were saved to be used by the art students to create bugs! Essentially the materials were free, and his students made some interesting and creative insects.
I recently did my practicum with an elementary art teacher who lives on this philosophy of found art. He lived off of "junk" in college creating things from stuff people may have discarded as trash or something not considered for art projects. He uses a lot of newspaper in his projects for paper maiche or "steals" paper towels from the janitors closet. One lesson he did was made up sort of on the fly. He looked in his closet and saw a bunch of pipe cleaners, and thought what he could do with them. He used them to create mini circus people and acts for his 2nd-4th grade students. I thought it was creative, and the students responed to it so well--they loved it and wanted to go bigger and work on it for days!
I love the idea this chapter illustrates and what my practicum teacher preaches. I want to be able to show my students you don't need a lot of money to create good art, just a lot of creativity!

Fires in the Bathroom (Chapter 2)

I enjoy this book because it was written by students who want future teachers to know how to treat their students. A lot of this advice seems to me to be pretty common knowledge, but I guess some of it can only come with experience as well. I work with kids now, and have for the last 3 years. At first I found it hard to not be a friend to them, because sometimes it just seemed like that was what they really needed or wanted. I quickly learned that as an adult, I needed to assume that role and be a mentor and a leader, not a friend. I know that this will always be a struggle for me because I relate to kids so well.
I found the story of the track coach really eye opening. The coach who was their friend took it easy on them, and therefore the students liked him, but they never won. The coach who never let up was not liked, but the team never lost. Even though the coach/teacher was surely hated and probably talked about negatively, he did his job and the students probably respected him more for it. This is what I hope I can be for my students, while still being liked by some of them. I want to be liked, but respected as well. Finding a balance between teacher, artist, and mentor will most likely be a challenge, but one that I look forward to.

My first day of high school, sorta...

I didn't know what to expect when going to the high school for the first time on Tuesday because I'm so far removed from my own high school experience. It seems like a life time ago, and I thought maybe being in a high school again, I might be flooded with flash backs or memories, but I really wasn't. I also thought I would blend in with the students, but they looked so much younger than I thought they would (was I really that small?!).
I loved the diversity of the class room right away. There were students of many backgrounds, something refreshing and welcoming for me. I watched the students carefully as the teacher explained the new cake assignment to them, and not too many of them seemed excited or inspired, instead they chatted to their friends or playfully flirted with a classmate. I was almost surprised by this, expecting them to be "normal" and listen and be totally inspired by the teacher (I guess I have a lot to learn).
I met the students I would be working with, two female sophomores that shared the same name, so it made them easy to remember. They seemed quiet, but my fellow college student and I got their brains rolling. They started slow, but soon came up with the idea to create a winter themed cake. The ideas poured out of them, skiers, snowboarders, a ski lift, ice skaters, snowmen, the abominable snowman, anything winter related, they wanted it on their cake. The each drew great sketches and liked the ideas provided by us as well. They definitely knew what they wanted to do, and seemed eager to begin. I can't wait to begin this project with them and see where their creativity leads them!

Artist/Teacher, One in the Same

As an artist I'm not a very good one in the fact that I only create when I have the time to do so. But I feel this can be to my benefit as well because I am always thinking and when it is time to execute, I will have put a lot of thought and meaning into what I want to create to make it more successful. This is an idea that I want to give to my students as well. The idea of creating art with meaning to them, not just pouring out work that isn't well thought out or well processed.

I've found that repetition has really helped me become a better artist in honing my skills and refining images. If my students seem to be stuck or out of ideas, I will encourage this practice to they can remain active. I've also developed a good eye for detail, really paying a lot of attention to facial features, body parts and familiar everyday objects. This helps me understand how things fit together. Having my students open their eyes and pay attention will help them when learning the basics of drawing, painting, or sculpting.

Every artist has something that they seem to be partial to, whatever the subject matter or medium. For me, the human figure is my speciality. Drawing portraits and the body is something that is especially important when learning technical skills. Showing my students portraits I've done will be a good way for the students to see what I like to do and how I may need to change an approach or work on a technical skill.

I hope that there will be opportunities for me to work along side my students during some class time so they will see me as they are—an artist and not just a teacher. Creating examples for them will also keep me working and and hopefully coming up with new ideas.

A lot of people think only “talented” people are artists, but anyone can be an artist if they want to be. To a certain degree one has to teach themselves how to be an artist—how to have a careful and watchful eye, how to know when enough is enough . A teacher of art simply instills these ideas and helps inspire what motivates an artist to do what they do.

Teaching technical skills will help a student get familiar with techniques that can make them successful. A teacher has to know when to let their students incorporate those skills into their own creative work to encourage individuality and express their ideas.

Temporary Art

After seeing some of the works by Skip Schukmann, I immediately fell in love with the idea of temporary art. This concept is fairly new to me, and something that I'm not sure I could create. I like the idea of being able to see my creations in their permanence, but with temporary art you need to enjoy the artistry and beauty in the moment. This can cause you to be more drawn into the piece due to its impermanence.

A viewers desire to understand art will only be enhanced by the idea of its temporariness to get as much out of it as possible before it is changed or altered by the elements.

When the environment is incorporated into the temporary work, the viewer may be even more compelled to the work because they are seeing nature manipulated and from a different point of view they've never experienced before.

With temporary art the viewer must understand the impermanence and urgency of the piece to really appreciate it.

When I think about my high school experience as a whole, most of the time I don’t want to think about it. Puberty, cliques, fights, and breakups are the things that come to my mind first, and none of those things were fun or memorable. But for some reason I want to be a high school teacher…I guess I either didn’t torture myself enough or I want to be there for other teenagers to help make their “most memorable” years less painful.

Most of you are probably thinking I must have been a bad student, but on the contrary, I was quite a good student. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and found most classes to be a breeze. I lived in the art room as much as I possibly could, and I adored my art teachers. (It’s them I blame for my career aspirations). I looked up to them like they were not only because they were good teachers, but as artists and people I only hoped to someday become.

Looking to where I am now, I know I still have a long way to go to becoming that adored teacher who is also a great person and artist, but I can see it happening more and more clearly every day. I do fear that I will not live up to my own expectations of the kind of teacher I want to be because of the pressure I feel to be great. I think about how much I respected my teachers’ abilities to work smoothly with the students and create an environment that made people want to be in the art room. I have this fear that I will not be able to do the same.

I hope that through working with high school students before my student teaching will break the ice for me and show me some divine way to connect with my students and have the ability to take charge. I know that practice doesn’t make perfect, but it sure does help.

I’ve posted a photo of a project I created in high school during a ceramics class. It began as a vase, and ended up as it is now. It’s called Infinitesimal. If you don’t know the meaning to that word—look it up and you may see more meaning to the piece.