Not on site. 0 hours
My plans with Simpson was cancelled, so I went back to continue on my final final - 3D Animation. I find myself more and more drained learning it. It's something new for me and it challenges me to think differently, but I want to work harder at it. My plans are to work more with 3D (using Maya) over the summer. My speciality is more so 2D animation but I want to be well rounded enough to be able to do all sorts of animating.
Whittier - Elizabeth Mundt - 4 hours
It's been awhile since I last worked with Elizabeth and her class, so I was extremely nervous. I was nervous because I would be teaching. I wasn't confident that we would be able to finish the lesson in time, but I was prepared to come in the next day to finish it off. Introducing the students to something completely new, like animation - I thought, would be very difficult but the students got it right away. They were so excited to make the project and I was so happy to help them out with it. They were all so creative with creating a water cycle pixilation animation (stop motion animation but with live actors too)! I didn't even tell them to create costumes, but they did. It made me extremely happy to see this be as successful as it was.
There was so much teamwork within the groups, but one of the best moments for me was seeing how everyone all gathered together near the end of the planning and set up stage to help work on the set. It was incredible how much they were all willing to help. Overall, I felt very proud of the students work and all the effort they put into this project.
Hours planning for lesson plan this week: 1 hour
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to Whittier this week because I was feeling unwell. The next time I see them, I will be teaching my lesson, so I've been preparing for that. This week I downloaded an app called iMotion, which I felt would work greatly with what I want for my upcoming lesson plan. This Monday, I'll be testing it out on what I would be using for the lesson so hopefully things could run smoothly. I'm just going over technical things first to see if it could all work before putting it all together. I've written more for my lesson plan and prepare to print out some documents/hand outs for the students to refer to.
There are some things I'm worried about, such as any technical difficulties that could happen or that I go over time limit. I want to be able to utilize every moment I can to help create a fun experience for these students.
Whittier - Elizabeth Mundt, 4th grade, 4 hours.
Simpson Housing - Melodee Strong, 2 hours.
At Whittier, I was able to see how Mrs. Mundt's class was reacting to her new reward system that she had started about 3 or 4 weeks ago. It was the one where she puts a buzzer on herself and when it buzzes, the first student she sees gets either a red or green cube, according to their behavior and if they're on task. I noticed that it's helping her class greatly and she agrees that this is helping a lot as well. It's nice to see how her students have adjusted to the reward system she's created.
Later in the day, I spent some time at Simpson Housing again with Hanna this time. It was really great to see Melodee again. The kids got to understand what a mural was and made their own mural of what a neighborhood is to them. Everyone seemed really into it, including the mentors of the kids. I felt like Hanna was very encouraging to the kids as well and was able to speak out clearly to them, even though it was her first time with them. That's something I quite admire.
0 hours on site. 1 hour planning.
Whittier is on their spring break this week, so I was not there. I'm working on ideas for my lesson plan. My time will be a challenge (30 mins) and my focus will be on community/teamwork. I'm still roughly going over ideas.
Meanwhile, I've been catching up with personal work and mindlessly doodling to get my creative juices flowing. Over this semester, I've been working a lot with technical skills. It wears me out, but it's still fun.
Whittier - Elizabeth Mundt - 4th grade, 5 hours
As I continue to observe Mrs. Mundt and her teaching style in the classroom, I notice the small things she does for every student. I think this really helps her students understand that she cares about their needs and wants. She follows up with her rewards and consequences, which most of the students respect. She also makes herself very clear about expectations of her students work and behaviors by writing a daily message for them to read, first thing in the morning.
I also spend lunch with Mrs. Mundt and we go and eat with the other 4th grade teachers. It's nice meeting them and I realize that I have seen one of the other 4th grade teacher's students while I was shadowing Edie during Art class. When the students have recess, a lot of the students in art still ask for me - which I find endearing.
Whittier - Elizabeth Mundt, 4th graders, 5 hours
This week Mrs. Mundt was sick, but she still came to class anyway. It's definitely flu season. Another student was very ill this week as well. I know where the nurse's office is at now. Aside from that, there was some chaos for a moment during lunch when Mrs. Mundt had to step out with a sick child and I was left trying to calm the class. I still feel out of place if I try to tell them what to do, even though I'm an adult. That's one of my main concerns regarding residencies and shadowing. I'm not sure exactly how far I can go before I overstep my bounds.
Mrs. Mundt is trying out a new reward system and it really seems to be working for most of the class. She keeps a timer on her, and when it randomly buzzes, she will look up. She will see if the first student she sees is good or bad. If they are good, she adds a green cube to the jar, if they are bad, a red. After quiet time, she will pick from the jar randomly and if it's green, they all get a reward (such as extra play time and such) and if it's red, they continue with the schedule. So far, her class really works well on this reward system. That's great to know!
Whittier - Mrs. Mundt, grade 4 - 5 hours
Simpson Housing - Melodee Strong - 2 hours
It's my second day with Mrs. Mundt's class, and they are warming up to me. They are a very nice and independent group of students, so I often feel helpless there (especially in the Math department). It's interesting to see how Mrs. Mundt handles her students and teaches the class. She often likes to split the class into two groups: one group is learning with her and the other group is doing independent work that's still related to the topic (normally on the ipad). They switch during half time. That style of teaching seems to work great with her class, plus, they can get better attention to their needs. I'm slowly thinking of a lesson plan for this class!
It's been awhile since I've been at Simpson and it's still really nice. There was a lot of prep work this time around because the project was acrylics. Again, each child had their own mentor that they are very comfortable with, so I went around offering more supplies to each table whenever I saw them becoming low of something. It's great to see the variety of work that children produce!
I look forward to next week!
Whittier International - Elizabeth Mundt, grade 4 - 5 hours
This is my first week with Mrs. Mundt. Her class is very fun but I can tell that most of them are not too fond of strangers. Haha, and I don't blame them! I hope to be able to grow a relationship with them. First of all, I love the room layout. It's very welcoming with books everywhere. It makes the room feel like a mini-library, which is always so comforting. Today was just the day where I get to fully immerse myself in her classroom and see how the students work. They are finishing the lesson of magnets and will be moving to the environment and water. It was a fun day!
Whittier International - Eddie and Elizabeth - 5 hours
This week I wrapped up my lesson plan with Edie. I showed the completed gifs made by the class and I got a great response from the students after they saw the end product. I also got feedback from both Edie and Lynda to have a checklist hand out so the students could follow that sheet if they wanted to get ahead.
What I saw working was also that Edie had asked them what works best in taking selfies, so she had them angle the laptops to get more interesting shots. They really had fun with that and it was a success. You can find my lesson plan under the name "Gif Me! Project".
I met up with my next residency, Elizabeth. She is a pleasure and I even met some of her students while speaking with her. I look forward to the journey ahead of me.
Whittier International, Edie, Grades 1 and 5 - 6 hours
This week (and last) I planned for my lesson and taught. I did as much planning as I could for this. I was excited to teach the 5th graders about animation. I wasn't aware of what animation really was until about high school. I thought it would be great for the kids to understand that what they watch and see on TV are most likely animations. My lesson plan was to create a gif of an expression or idea using 3 sequential pictures of themselves. The class seemed to really enjoy the thought of having themselves animated in the digital world. Due to some privacy, I will not be posting the student examples up, but my own that I created for the students.
I created a webpage on my own personal website with an example for the students to follow along with visuals in case there was anyone who was confused. I created the lesson plan to share as well. There are plenty of gif makers online, but because of the school internet security, I had to make the gifs myself. If you are interested in creating gifs for your class and is not able to have the students create the gifs themselves, you may have to create them on your own time outside of the school's internet. My suggestions is GifMaker.Me. It's a helpful tool if you don't have a program to create your own gifs.
I had to adapt to the changes in case the school internet security wouldn't allow it. I suggest that you allow some wriggle room for adaptability as well. Digital media is always quite finicky and may require you to jump through some hoops. But overall, it was extremely fun! I hope the students are able realize how powerful the digital world can be for them.
Whittier International, Edie, grades 1, 5 and 4 - 4 hours
Simpson Housing, Inventory - 1.5 hours
Forgive me for this late journal. This week of Whittier, I am preparing my lesson plan for Feb. 23. This particular week of Whittier seemed to go by faster and faster. The students are all used to my presence by now. It was quite calm this week, except for grade 4 - who seem to have a bit of trouble with attention span. It was mostly relaxing though! Again, I love all the projects Edie comes up with! The students seem to all enjoy them.
At Simpson, I came in to do an inventory of their art supplies. I often do inventory for my own personal projects and such, so I was used to it.
Whittier International School, Edith McDonald, Grades 1, 4, 5 - (3 hours)
Simpson Housing, Kate and Melodee, (3 hours)
I always feel like I'm hustling over at Whittier. By the time I realize it, a new class has entered and the previous class had gone. There is not a moment to spare to even take a breath until lunch hour, I realize.
First grade has been working on creating dragons for the Chinese New Year and they are always pretty excited about working hands on and creating something. This class is rather rowdy this week and I had to keep a close eye on staplers, because I overheard a child wanting to staple his sleeve shut. Thank goodness I saw and took the staplers away.
The 4th and 5th graders get the same online assignment this week, which was researching your favorite Black Artist for Black History Month. I appreciate Edie incorporating all the celebrations in the classroom. It went fairly well and I think the students are finally getting more comfortable with the laptops.
Last week at Simpson, I was given a task by Melodee in completing a collage themed "City Life". Collage isn't really my forte, so it was quite difficult for me. It was fun though, despite being difficult. This week, Iris and I helped watch over the children as they finished up with their collage. I only really did the set up. The kids were already rearing to go with their collages so all I did was watch over them. They each have their own individual tutors, so that is extremely helpful. I like setting up supplies but often feel a bit awkward when interacting with others. I met with Kate earlier and we discussed making lesson plans. I will have to get used to writing often. My writing isn't spectacular, but I hope to take this as a growing opportunity in my writing skills. Until I see Melodee again, I will be working on inventory and grant writing/lesson plans with Kate.
Whittier International School, Edith McDonald, Grades 1 - 5, 6 hours.
Over the course of the week, I wanted to familiarize myself with the digital art program the students were using so I could be of more assistance during the digital arts classes. It's a free online program called Sumo Paint, which I found is really powerful for a free program. I'm glad Edith was able to find such a useful and strong program like it for the kids to use. I made a demo for the class to use the "filters" tab, and they all really enjoyed it. Some students even went out and experimented with different filters that I didn't show them - which is a success! I hope to see more experimenting throughout the weeks of working more with the digital arts!
In other classes, I helped Edith prepare for her traditional works with the students. It's a lot of work! All the students enjoy the traditional art because of how much you do with your hands. This week was about texture, so they were really into it. Edith had prepared watercolor with salt, glitter and textured paper, which was really beautiful when it all came together. Everyone loved the glitter and the salt soaking up the water. Another big success!
I'm starting to feel more comfortable around the students and they are starting to get used to me as well. I do my best to find little connections with the students and their interests. (I could thank my interests in cartoons and animes for that!) During our breaks, Edith and I bounced some ideas off each other. It was so pleasant to do that, especially with someone who has a lot of experience like Edith.
I look forward to the coming weeks! From next week onward, I will be starting with Simpson Housing!
Whittier International, Eddie, 5 hours.
Simpson Housing, Melodee, 3 hours.
Every time I'm with Edie in class, it's always a surprise. The projects for the week are always quite fun and creative. This week, some classes made a dancing dragon for Chinese New Years. The students really loved the hands on projects and you always know that you're successful when your students go beyond what you talked about. It was nice to see the creativity seep in these children!
I've been finding myself more friendly with grade 5 and I realize they are much more curious about me than any other class . They have been working digitally since a week before I arrived. I think about how innovated they are or could be. A lot of the work they do, they do the same thing, thinking that it's all they can do with a digital program. One student in particular gave me an idea to manipulate photos that they took on the computer using the program they've been using. The program is originally for photo editing, but we found a way to make art personal to them, as it definitely should be. I'm always excited to talk with Edie about future projects and works. Sharing ideas and bouncing ideas are some of the most important things as teachers, I believe.
A argument broke out between students and escalated, which really startled me (as I'm sure everyone was). But I felt the situation was handled the best it could have been at the time. No one was hurt and class resumed as normal after awhile. Another student had drawn a picture for their friend who had been part of the problem in hopes that they felt better. I thought it was a kind gesture.
This week was my first week with Simpson Housing. I've heard so many great things about Melodee, and she certainly is! I came in not knowing what exactly to expect. I've heard projects that were done before. I love how positive and uplifting this place is. It really reminded me of my old workplace that I loved. This is a much smaller group with lots of assistance around. I also heard from Kate that I would help assist with documenting and grant writing sometimes too. I'm excited as I feel very blessed to have all these opportunities of experiences.
Whittier International School, Edith McDonald, Grades 1 - 5, 6 hours.
On January 19th, 2017, I met with Edie and helped her for the first time in her art classroom. Every grade had a different lesson, so we went over clay, digital illustrations and tempera paint. We started with clay. It was great to have each student create four thumbnail sketches of what they wanted to create with the clay initially, before given the clay. This is good to make a habit of, because this is a normal studio practice as professional artists. It also really helped with taking something 2D and turning it into 3D with their hands.
Digital illustration was fun! The students use chromebooks , which are a great choice because it's restricted to google-only programs. The students use a free program called Sumo Paint. Even though it's a free drawing program, it has powerful tools similar to Adobe Photoshop. Having a digital illustration course is so wonderful to have in this day and age, allowing the students to explore art in many forms. Because I focus on digital art myself, I was excited to see the potential of this particular course. The students had just started, so I'm hoping to see a growth over my time spent with them. Along with anything digital, we ran across some technical difficulties, but nothing we can't fix!
Another class began working with tempera paint for the first time. Edie mentioned that they worked with watercolor pans previously, so they got to experience a different kind of paint. I have to say, working traditionally will always be fun for students of their age. Painting requires you to move your whole body. Edie had the students use dry brushing first and later wet the brush to get the different feels of how you could use tempera paint. These kids were very energetic and happy with how the paints were different from last week.
From my observations thus far, it seems most students prefer working traditionally, but that may be because working digitally is very different. Most students started working with a mouse, but previously, they worked on the trackpad of the Chromebook. I think having a dedicated day of teaching the basics of Sumo Paint may help and also having examples of digital art. I feel the students who were working with Sumo Paint didn't know what to expect out of the program, but I hope to help them realize that digital illustrations are also as powerful as traditional paintings.
