High School Torn Paper Animal Sculptures

Inspired by the beautiful and delicate sculptures of Anna Wili-Highfield, my high school art class took on a challenging project using watercolors and paper to create these beautiful torn paper animal sculptures. Through the process they learned about animal anatomy, texture, watercolor techniques, and experimental sculpture techniques.

(This is actually my teacher example)

Journal - Heidi Wetzel

9/21/12
My fifth week was a tough one. I had several chaotic classrooms and a few disrespectful students. However, like I told Cortney, it somehow ended up being my favorite week. I think this is because there was a lot going on. Not only that, but it was a lot going on with my projects, not Cortney's. Working on the my own lessons and being involved with the student's learning processes makes a huge difference in how much I'm enjoying the classroom.

There was a situation earlier this week, where a male student talked back to me inappropriately. I was taken a back. It was my first situation like it. I didn't write him up, but I talked in my teacher voice, saying "Do not talk to me like that. That is incredibly inappropriate." He calmed down a little. He did smirk and scoff a bit, but for the most part I talked to him in a way I hadn't before, and I think he was surprised and that caused him to shut up.

On another day when I was introducing my sculpture lesson, Cortney was standing by some students that were being disruptive. During my lecture, one student's phone rang on silent, Cortney saw it flashing and told the student she better not answer the phone. The student went ahead, picked up the phone, answered it, and walked out of the room. After school, Cortney and I discussed this and the process of deciding when enough is enough. The problem with this situation was that in the previous class, the kids were very talkative and I moved kids, or asked them to stop talking, or paused and kept silent until they were quiet. After the class Cortney informed me that some of the chatter was student's talking about the works I had presented in my Power Point. Therefore, in the next class, I let some of the chatter slide, but also tried to pay more attention to the things students were chatting about. The problem with the student who answered her phone, was that she has a lot of attitude, but she cares a lot about her work and grade. Some students at North have a lot of issues at home, or are doing poorly in their other classes. Sometimes in the art room, it's hard to find a balance between not stepping on student's toes so that they keep interested in the subject and making sure that they're being taught rules of respect in the classroom. This was a topic Cortney and I discussed that day. At first she thought this would be a situation in which I could write the student up. However, she advised I try talking to her the next day, respectfully asking for her respect in return. I tried it out the next day before class and gained the students respect. I didn't write her up, and from that day on, I have not had trouble with her being disrespectful or disruptive.

The students at North are good kids for the most part and very interesting. However, they're difficult to manage a lot of the time and I feel like I have to respond/deal with them differently than high school kids at other schools. It'll be interesting to visit/observe Shawnee Mission East week eight. I have heard so much talk about how well-behaved the kids are there. I try not to stereotype the schools and act like North is way more "ghetto" than the rest in the area, but I do believe there is a difference. The students at North have a low attendance rate and parents are way less involved.

My first few weeks with the students at North was very difficult. I didn't know them and I had to prove to them that I was the authority (not being that much older than them). However, after getting to know the students, their lives and their interests, it's amazing how much they change. Teaching becomes so much more easier and fun when I know the students and have them coming to me for everything! While my favorite part of teaching is when I can walk around and talk individually with students, helping them with particular issues, I am incredibly pleased by my new abilities speak to the class as a whole. I know I am not an expert at this yet, but I feel hopeful of improving rapidly with the next couple of student teaching positions.  I think I still need practice in managing the classroom, but I feel 100% more confident than when I started.

9/28/12

My sixth week at North was just as crazy as the last, even though we took two field trips. Everything kind of seems like a blur, but it feels good. The pace is very quick, but it's because we're in the thick of projects. Sculpture went to the Zoo on Monday and began working on their proejcts. They began working on animal collages with magazine pages. They sketched their animal on illustrator board and tore colors and textures out of magazines to collage over the animal with. This was a preliminary activity in finding and seeing texture and color. It was also a lesson in practicing tearing shapes. I have been so pleased by their ability to find textures and incorporate them in the animals. They worked on so much preliminary work before starting to build their animals, that I think the sculptures are turning out better than they could have been. The students dove right into building. I did a short demo on tearing the paper and taping it together in simple forms to start the base or skeleton of the animal. I then demonstrated watercolor techniques and let them loose with the project. I was so pleased at the amount of students that started building and painting without fear. This was truly been a process based project and it's amazing how much it impacts their productivity. They're interested and they love their work. Students have been creating contraptions for their sculptures: ways to hang them so they can work from the air and/or ways to mount them on the wall, so that they can get the right posture of the animal. This project (and the students) has made me see what makes teaching worth it.

10/3/12

I taped myself teaching the beginning of sculpture today. I believe that in a short couple of weeks I have improved in my rapport with the students, my authority over them, and my confidence in speaking to the class as a whole and managing their attention.

There is a student in my sculpture class that doesn't finish projects. He sits and sleeps and I constantly have to probe him. Today, while everyone was working on their sculptures, I saw him sitting on one of the computers. My first thought was that he was just playing around. I walked over to him and realized he was actually reading an article about the animal he was making. He explained to me what it was about. It was a really interesting story about his animal, so I grabbed some paper, handed it to him, and said, "Write exactly what you just told me on this piece of paper - it is the inspiration for your project!" We went over to his sculpture and began talking more about the story and his project (which is a snake). I helped him figure out strategies on how to construct his snake and he explained to me what colors would work well for it. He hasn't finished the project yet, so I don't want to speak too soon, but it's moment like those that make me want to teach. I want to encourage the students that have no motivation. I want them to discover new things, whether it be news articles that motivate them to create, or contraptions that assist them in constructing a sculpture.

Video Reflection

When I took a look at the video recording of myself giving a lecture to Digital Media about pattern design, I noticed my wordy tendencies. That is one of the main things Cortney and I have discussed, based on what I need to work on. In my power point presentations, I tend to be a bit wordy. In some ways I feel like she means I'm mumbling. I tend to be a mumbler and I'm worried this is coming out in my teaching. It's not something I'm proud of and I think it's a good thing that teaching forces me to work on it. However, I hope that I can improve this!

In the video, I hear the awkward pauses I take. Sometimes this means me breaking up sentences or dropping the volume of my voice at an awkward time. It frustrates me to see/hear this on video because I can notice it a bit when I'm actually speaking to the class. I become self-concious about it, which probably causes me to make more awkward pauses.

Another issue I notice is my posture or movement around the classroom. I think I usually do a pretty good job of monitoring the classroom or walking around to check on the students, but I noticed in the video that I was kind of just pacing back and forth. I'm not sure if this is completely distracting to students or not. I do like being able to walk around the classroom, rather than stand in one spot, especially since my voice might not always carry. Courtney said I do a good job of making my way around the classroom, but watching this video makes me wonder how I can improve that.

I think the biggest thing I learned today is how to take control of classroom management issues. I got extremely frustrated today. There were three students who were talking a lot during my presentation. The time I noticed, I politely asked them to stop talking. The second time I came by and quietly said, "Guys. Please." The third time I looked at them from across the room with a extremely irked facial expression and just said "Really?". Basically, what I learned, is that I handled that all wrong. I really felt empowered around the second week of ST when I shut some kids up and got them to pay attention, but I'm realizing now that I haven't taken any steps forward. What I should have done in this situation today, was confidently and out loud separated the boys. This keeps the pace of the classroom and my presentation up and it doesn't hide or hinder the problems their causing. It just plainly and simply solves the problem at first hand.

However, this issue really got to me. It was the last hour of the day and I felt totally taken advantage of for the first (ok, maybe second time). High school students are a tough crowd, especially at the last hour of the day. I think sometimes I compare myself too quickly to Cortney and her ability to make things sound exciting and worthwhile. But Cortney says I'm being too hard on myself, and maybe I am, but I just want to feel like I'm being heard. It's only Tuesday and this week has already been the toughest week. I've felt really challenged, but also discouraged in my teaching abilities. Some of it does have to do with a critique I did yesterday. I'm suppose to be 100% taken over by now, which I pretty much have for the past couple of weeks, however, during a critique yesterday Cortney wanted to check out the student's design, so she said she was going to come join the critique. What bothered me, was that she kind of just took over. I wrote up the plan for the critique and had control, but Cortney stepped in and kind of made it her show. That might sound kind of dramatic, but it kind of dimmed my mood. I believe that she has the right to do that, but I feel like it confuses the class. It makes it seem like we're co-teaching. I want the students to understand that I'm there teacher now.

9-7-12

Today marks the end of my third week. Next Monday I will be officially 100% in control! However, before looking too far into this next week, I do want to consider one thing I learned about this week, and that is grading and critiquing student work. I did a lot of grading this week and became more involved in the production and improvement of student's work. Grading the student's Typographic Pendant designs this week was fun (because I really do think they did a good job), but it was also difficult and sometimes frustrating. It's hard to take a look at student's work and explain to them what needs to be changed. A lot of the things that I think I can say right away are too abstract for them. Even if I said "consider the composition" or even expand upon that by saying "Could the letters be spaced more, could there be more negative space on the left side?", they would still have misunderstandings and need further explanation in class. But maybe that is an OK thing? I did encounter that situation where I said some of those things about composition and after I handed back my comments the student said, "Could you explain? I don't know what you mean". So I did. I had her design in front of both of us and I pointed out the certain places that would change the composition and I explained what composition is. And this seemed to be a good thing, but then there's my other question. How does an art teacher help a student improve their work without offering suggestions that would make the work barely their own? In a project in Digital Media, the students designed name tags that described a personality aspect about them. The letters of their name had to be manipulated in a way that described something like "I'm busy" or "I'm hungry". It was very difficult to explain to students what this project was asking of them. They did a pretty good job developing ideas in the end, but for some of them I felt like I had to just say, "Ok, here's what I mean and I think you should do this" and then voila! They created a design that was not there's at all, but mine! Therefore, this is something I definitely want to work on, consider and talk to other art teachers about. I want to see the students coming up with these ideas themselves and having revelations about their own work. Sad to say, but I don't feel like I'm teaching in the way that I have imagined. I don't want to forget about all the classroom management and studio thinking content I studied and learned about in college. However, I believe that being in the classroom now, makes me even more energized about this kind of learning. I don't want to give up on students and how art is a joke in school. I don't want to make it an easy place to goof around. I do want to make it fun and I do want to make it a comfortable environment, but I think students need to be challenged and given the benefit of the doubt. I don't want to act like they can't figure things out on their own. I want to reveal to them that they CAN create and they CAN come up with good ideas and they they ARE creative and that they ARE smart!

9/4/12

Today was the first day of my third week of student teaching. I taught every class today (besides AP Studio). First through fourth block was Jewelry/Sculpture. Some of the things Cortney and I talked about me improving on was starting and closing the classes. Therefore, today I opened by saying "Good morning" to everyone and asking them about their weekend. We chatted a bit and then I talked to the students about how I'm going to start fully taking over the classroom this week. I told them that since I am still a student like them, I am still learning about the classroom and teaching. I said this will be my new classroom and I want them to go by the rules that I set. I projected a document on the screen and read through list of rules. I also read them a quote about talent versus hard work. I told them that while talent is great, I wanted my art room to be a place where hard work is rewarded over talent. I gave them a list of different logistic rules for the classroom and ended it with number five: use this class time to be a creative learner. That could have, or might have, been an abstract thing for them to grasp, but I have confidence int he students in their ability to understand what a "creative learner" is. And I hope by the end of my teaching, they will have a better understand of it.

The rest of the day was divided into me "scolding" them on their horrible critiques from Friday. I said, "Remember how I asked you to critique each other's work last Friday using this worksheet?" and they all nodded "Yes", and I said, "Well, you didn't do a very good job!" Cortney gave me the confidence to  tell it like it is to the students and make sure they understand that they're getting participation points for these critiques and what they did not do will hurt them. Then, I went through the instructions of how they needed to look at my comments on their designs when I handed back their work and head to the computers to start working. How I spaced time during this first block not so good. I didn't introduce how to "scale" their design before printing early enough in class, so most students didn't get their designs printed before the bell rang. Cortney and I talked about this and then second through fourth block went great! Cortney said everything went really great and my timing was good.

9/1/12

This was a stressful and difficult week. I felt overwhelmed by the students and their horrible attention span. I was frustrated and didn't feel like I was being respected or listened to. There were a few classes that listened well and worked hard during class, but there were two classes where kids looked at me like I was nuts. This is the hard thing about student teaching that I was worried about: gaining student's respect, especially high school kids.

We did a critique today in Jewelry/Sculpture. Cortney taught first block. She was going to let me take 2-4 block, but she asked if she could redo second block because it didn't go as smoothly as she liked. This was a tad refreshing to hear. It made me realize that no matter how much you plan, you're not always going to do a perfect job and you might have a flop block. Cortney "redid" second block and I taught third and fourth. This was a difficult task to maneuver. While I felt prepared to get the student's attention and present them with the task before them, I just felt like a mess. The students were tired and slow. They didn't want to write about each other's work and they looked at me like I was an idiot. It's difficult to bring life into these kids sometimes. I feel like they look at me with no interest at all and have no idea how to think. However, I think I'm slowly figuring how to energize them and get them excited or interested. I remember being a high school student and sometimes feeling that way as a teenager. I was never rude or grumpy towards a teacher, but I remember feeling bored. I remember feeling bored and tired in college classes too! Therefore, I know what these kids are feeling and I just want to get to a place where I feel like I connect with them. I'm eager to get to know them so that I know how to interact with them and show them that I care.

However - while both blocks felt difficult and tiring, Cortney actually said fourth block went a lot more smoothly. She said I did a really good job of clearly explaining the instructions for the students. She said I did a nice job of showing them in a systematic order what they needed to do.

Yesterday had been a hard day because I felt beat and like I wasn't doing a great job. And Cortney and I hadn't been able to discuss much so all we talked about that day were the things I needed to work on. However, today, Friday (the day of the critiques), Cortney and I took a trip down to the SMSD print shop and had time to chat in the car. We talked more about how everything was going and I was able to vent about different feelings I was having about the situation. She gave me very positive and helpful feedback. She encouraged me in how I have been doing and said she had great confidence in my ability. She was also very helpful in giving me advice on my lessons.

Then, after school today, we spent a couple hours debriefing. This was even better. She had had a mentor meeting earlier this week and was inspired to use a chart to help us talking about what's going well and what needs work. This was so helpful!!! We sat for an hour talking and writing down different things. We wrote down things that I needed to be doing and things she needed to be doing to help. We had a great conversation about my challenges and my strengths. It encouraged me very much and helped me to understand my situation as a student teacher better. I feel like from then on I've been very positive about this learning experience and how it is and will increasingly improve my techniques and abilities as a teacher.

Today was the last day of my first week of student teaching. It's been a crazy week and I'm exhausted. Today I taught and took over blocks 1-4 and block 7. The only class besides those is 6th hour block or AP Studio. Therefore, I've taken a majority of the day already.

In the morning, blocks 1-4 are all Jewelry/Sculpture. This makes it incredibly nice to transition to each block. All I have to do is repeat the same class over again four times. It helps me reflect on what I need to work on and try that a new route or routine in the next class. I began first block by taking role and making sure every student got their "Wearable" art project graded and put away in their lockers. Once I had made sure all of the grades were in for the wearable, I instructed the students to take out their sketchbooks/journals from their lockers and get out a pen or pencil. In this first class, I asked the students what they remember going over last class. They were very quiet and I didn't get much out of them. Cortney was at her desk and heard the silence and yelled, "Oh come on, guys! You remember!!" Then, they were all like "Yeah....elements". I then, told them we would be going over the principles of design today and told them that the principles organize the elements. I went through the slide presentation, introducing different sculptors such as, Donald Judd, Louise Nevelson, Ron Meuck, Roxy Paine, and others to help describe the different principles of design. It was fun in most of the classes, listening to them talk about their experiences at the Nelson and had seen the images I put up. They discussed the work together as a class very informally and freely. It was my first time feeling like the students were engaged and interested in art!