Thursday, December 17- Day 4
Craig High School - Lori Barry, Amy Cossette - 6.3 hours
Today was my first full day of all of the classes. Full class days consist of 47 minute classes with a thirty minute lunch. To be honest, this day was the most tiring to me. Eight classes a day are a lot for a teacher and even the students to handle. I was thinking if all of those classes were curricular classes and it honestly tired me out just thinking about it. Kind of crazy. We also spent our prep hours talking a bit about what to do for my lesson, Mrs. Barry wants to give me a block day and the following Thursday to introduce a project on abstraction. Mrs. Cosette wants me to teach a quick lesson on fonts and how to create your own in photoshop and illustrator. Over the weekend, I was given the task of creating a slideshow of contemporary examples of abstract artists to reference from because in high school, students don't generally get a chance to experiment with abstraction because they focus so heavily on technical art and realism. It will give us a chance to explore how to create and use a limited color palette. It was a really fun and informative week!
Wednesday, December 16- Day 3 (Second "Block" Day)
Craig High School - Lori Barry, Amy Cossette, Maria Kane - 6.55 hours
Today started out kind of similar to Tuesday because it was the 86 minute classes again, however, today I began in Mrs. Barry's 5th hour Drawing 1 class. This was the last class I had to introduce myself to. I was able to talk to the students more about their work and how to make their lives easier by utilizing what they had available to them. At first they all seemed reluctant to try the light box or tracing paper but it was interesting to see how they used it to divert from what they were tracing. I tried to be a bit more in tune with the students and really observe my teachers this day. I was trying to incorporate how I saw the teachers giving suggestions to the students even just kind of randomly which was interesting. My goal was to kind of offer suggestions to enhance each piece. I thought it would be good to keep the students minds turning. Computer art offered the same opportunity. I noticed Mrs. Cosette would see a students work and show different ways of getting an a effect a student was looking for to enhance their pieces which was really interesting. I kind of get to learn a bit more from the students in that class as well as the teacher which is fun for me as well. They know so much about technology I felt like Mrs. Cosette learns a lot too. After helping where I could, I went back to be with Mrs. Barry's second Drawing 1 class of the day, it went similar to the morning drawing class. Except the difference was that I ended up connecting with a student through magic. He was asking me to explain 3 point perspective and how he could be able to draw a Rubix Cube. I showed him a few tricks and he showed his, he solved a messed up cube and finished it in 32 seconds. It was insanely awesome. He also kind of explained what his favorite subjects were in class to pick a part his brain and it turns out he's really into mathematics so I showed him a lot of methodical and intense drawings that he really enjoyed. He even decided to try implementing this style into his own work which got me very excited! The day ended with another painting class that was very quiet and relaxed. They are a really intense painting class, very interested in what they were completing. It was also an event day during their study hall. The students were taken down to the gym to participate in a few school games and activities which was a lot of fun to watch.
Tuesday, December 15- Day 2 (First "Block" Day)
Craig High School - Lori Barry, Amy Cossette, Maria Kane - 6.55 hours
Block schedules are odd, the students have four classes throughout the day that are 86 minutes each and then a 46 minute study hall at the end of the day. This was a pretty new concept for me so it was interesting. Overall in the art department, I think this is beneficial for the students to really get focused on projects.
I started out in a painting class, I introduced myself and what I do as well as encouraged the students to ask questions about life after high school and options in the arts. I then observed and walked around the class, asking questions on everyone's projects and helped out when the students asked. Computer art started out the same but I was also able to help teach some students something new. They were starting a Photoshop project and I was able to help some students with resizing some images so they were able to incorporate smaller files to their projects. I was also able to help teach students about some filter options and combining things to create new effects. The next hour and a half was Mrs. Barry's prep so I was put to the task of fixing some rulers and laying out projects on the tables. After that I went over to Mrs. Kane's room for about an hour to see and help around her Drawing 1 class. This class was working on 1 point perspective drawings and I kind of just walking around helping students again. That was a good experience, mostly because I was able to connect with a student who usually didn't like the class. However, I was able to help him get excited about drawing! The last class was with Mrs. Barry and that was similar to 1st hour painting class.
I also got some behind the scenes action and was able to sit in on a lunch meeting with the principal and took notes for Mrs. Barry. Which was informative as well as interesting.
Monday, December 14 - Day 1
Craig High School- Lori Barry, Amy Cossette, Maria Kane- 3 hours
I met with my teachers around 12:30 p.m. to discuss my work schedule and who I would be best suited for working with. After discussion, it was decided that I would mainly be working with teachers Lori Barry (Painting and who the majority of my time will be spent with) and Amy Cosette (Computer Art and this is only two class periods) and just helping out as needed with Maria Kane *This is mostly during prep hours for my other two teachers as prep is extremely long for two days* I stayed in Mrs. Barry's classes until the end of the day after lunch just helping with her Drawing 1 class and a Painting class. *school ended at 3:28.*