12/9/2016
First Years (Double Class
9.30am)
This group
of first years are partaking in a taster of Art for six weeks. Every six weeks
students rotate optional subjects first
year.
They are at construction stage
of their mask making project. Each student is at the same level, and I have
noticed that my co-operating teacher has taken great care to keep the class
progressing at an even pace together. Even though they are a class of mixed
abilities. The teacher at the start of the lesson went and spoke to each pupil
individually about how their mask was progressing. I was also included in this
and my co-operating teacher took great care in asking my opinion on helping the
students.
They were warned especially about
the hot tap in the classroom, as they were first years, and unused to the classroom.
She repeated this warning time and time again. More care was taken possibly
because they are so young, I found this interesting.
Transition Years (Single Class
11.05am)
This
class is very diverse, containing nationalities such as Japanese, Australian,
Spanish, Jamaican and Irish. Instead of trying to gloss over the diversity, the
teacher seems to have instead chosen to embrace the multi-culturalism of the
class with a suitable project.
It is interesting to see how they are
allowed to assit the teacher in choosing the project. It also gives the pupils
a sense of responsibility in the class. She does not mind them like the first
year class. They instead have discussions and brainstorms in groups, which they
then presented to both the class and teacher to vote on together.
16/9/2016
First Years (Single Class 11.05am)
Class continued on making their
masks today. Over half the class were onto the painting stage, of their masks,
whilst the rest of the class were still finishing off the plaster of Paris
elements of the masks.
My co-operating teacher I noticed was
very quick to identify which children were at a different stage. She
straightaway separated the two groups; plaster of Paris and painting, into two
different sides of the classroom. This kept the room cleaner, and it was also
an effective use of materials. It was also much safer because they were not
dragging and spilling water across the classroom. It also served to keep the
class concentrated at the task in hand. It was an effective way to manage a
single class.
19/9/2016
First Years (Double Class
9.30am)
The majority of the students today were
ready to paint with their masks. Each student was asked to show their colour
ideas to the teacher, and she asked them what colours they required. It also
seemed to me to turn into a lesson about colour mixing applied in a fun manner. The children were learning about colour mixing and colour theory without even realising it. It was a very clever way, that the teacher incorporated the aspect of technical skill into her lesson. The children seemed to be really stimulated by being allowed the freedom to pick and mix whatever colours they wanted. I noticed the teacher did not spoon feed the children, and tell them exactly what colours to mix to make a 'green'. Instead, she let them make the mistakes themselves, and from that they really learned an invaluable lesson in colour mixing.
Transition Year ( Single Class 11.05am)
The class were still continuing with their multi-culturalism project. They all divided into their assigned groups, and continued to work on their finalised designs for the clay tiles. The class seemed to be harder to get to focus on the task at hand. The teacher believed that the research and preparation element of the project, had possibly made them a bit restless. To curb this disillusionment in the class, she decided to engage them, with examples from the next stage of the project. The class has never worked in clay or ceramics before. As the school, only got a kiln this year, it is completely new to the school. Therefore, the students are not really aware of all the possibilities available to them.
Transition Year ( Double Class 8.50am)
The Class today moved into the construction stage of their clay tile project. As none of the pupils had any other previous experience with ceramics. My co-operating teacher dedicated the first class completely to giving them a step by step demonstration of the whole process. I felt this was a good idea, as ceramics is a complicated process, and it would have been unfair not to show all the techniques used in the clay tile project.
The pupils seemed excited at the prospect of using a completely new technique to them and the school. My co-operating teacher was well prepared for this demonstration, and had all the visual aids, representing each step of the process. I felt this was an excellent idea, as it is difficult to explain the firing process, for example to the pupils, as they were completely new to it. However, having the visual aids allowed the pupils to easily learn the new techniques and terms. It also allowed them to visualise what they themselves needed to aim for.
30/9/2016
First Year ( Single Class 11.05am)
t The majority of the pupils in the class are now almost completely finished painting their masks. As this is only a single class, my co-operating teacher decided to use it too demonstrate the next project the class will undertake. Using examples, this time of previous first years work, which I believe gives the pupils good confidence and belief in what they themselves can achieve, when they see the work of a child their own age. My co-operating teacher cleverly managed her use of time in this single class. Whilst the pupils were putting the finishing touches to their masks. She was also explaining to them what the next project was. I felt it was an effective way to use the class time wisely. The pupils did not grow restless as they were busy with an activity. However, they were not so busy with this activity, that they could not also focus on what their teacher was showing them.
3/10/2016
First Years ( Double class 9.30am)
All pupils have now completed the mask project, and are now on the 3D tile project. Pupils were asked to draw out their design to scale onto tracing paper, and then transfer to a wooden block. None of the class had difficulty with this aspect; as it had been clearly explained to them in previous classes. the pupils showed more difficulty in using the spectrum clay. As this was a completely new material to them. It is also some what difficult to apply onto wood. It was probably the first time these pupils had been challenged as much with a difficult material. It was interesting to see how my co-operating teacher motivated them, to be not confined with the limits of the materials difficulty to use. But, to instead persevere and complete a finished base design successfully in a double class.
3/10/2016
Transition year ( single class 11.05am)
As there was smaller class numbers today than usual. The pupils were split into three groups and given a design each to draw out to a larger scale for the clay tile project. This I felt was a difficult task for the pupils to work together accurately, drawing their design to a larger scale. It helped having the pupils in groups of three, as they did not become so overwhelmed with the difficulty of the task at hand. It was also a good lesson in drawing large scale and working as a group. The pupils were encouraged to interpret and rescale the design as accurately as possible, by the co-operating teacher. I felt this was good, as it is a real example of artists are required to work in reality. By separating the pupils and creating the three separate groups of three pupils, the pupils were able to manage the difficult task, within the single class. They had also gotten a lot of work completed quickly. It was an efficient way of using a lesson when class numbers are low, and the class cannot go too far ahead of those absent.
6/10/2016
Transition year (double class 8.50am)
As the large scale clay tile plans were still being drawn up to larger scale, by the three groups. The rest of the class could not proceed to make their tiles as they were waiting for the others to finish completing the designs. As these pupils had nothing really else they could not do at this stage of the project; my co-operating teacher decided to get the pupils who were not doing anything to make posters to decorate the school assembly hall for maths week. The class were very unmotivated and listless. The co-operating teacher I noticed tried many different ways to motivate them. However, as hard she tried her effort did not seem to get them much more motivated at the task at hand. It was interesting to see this situation and think about how I would try to motivate them.
7/10/2016
First year (single class 11.05am)
Today the pupils were continuing their spectrum clay project. I noticed the pupils kept complaining about the difficulty of moulding the clay into the shapes they required. I noticed my co-operating teacher kept trying to continually motivate the pupils who seemed to be slowest using the clay. And she used the work of pupils who had a successful technique, as an example, describing and asking the successful pupils what method they used. This seemed to really help and motivate the rest of the class. It was a good example of peer learning amongst the class.
10/10/2016
First year (double class 9.30am)
The class had all proceeded to the next stage of their project. The next stage required them to become more picky about the way they applied the materials as if not applied correctly, the tiles could have a clumsy looking appearance. Some of the more impatient pupils started to rush this part of the process. My co-operating teacher was quick to spot this amongst her class. She made the pupils who rushed their work, re-do in the correct manner, what she had originally demonstrated to them. This served as a good way of stopping this problem of rushing in any future lessons with this class. It thought them to take their time and too not worry about always being the first to complete a task. It was a good demonstration especially to first year pupils, who really seem to suffer with this idea; that first to finish is always the best! It was a good lesson for the pupils; as they seemed to learn that in this instance finishing first did not necessarily mean they had made the best project.
10/10/2016
Transition year ( single class 11.05am)
As the scaling up of the clay tile designs was still being completed by about half the class working in pairs. The other half of the class were still completing their posters for the schools maths week that is taking place the following week. They were tasked with creating eye catching posters to decorate the schools assembly hall. My co-operating teacher used this poster task to teach them about the fundamentals of graphic design. Graphic design is a fundamental core of the art curriculum. However, it can be difficult to explain verbally, as it contains many technical terms. It was a much better idea to teach graphic design as a project. As the pupils did not even realise they were learning a key part of design. My co-operating teacher decided to use a PowerPoint presentation which contained plenty of examples. She cleverly used recognisable and famous logos as examples. This really seemed to excite the pupils learning about something that was familiar and recognisable to them.
20/10/2016
Transition year (8.50am Double class)
Class today had reached the glazing stage of the sample tiles clay tile project. My co-operating teacher decided to give a glazing demonstration, as none of the pupils had any previous experience in ceramics. She also had to point out the relevant health and safety precautions to do with ceramics. What seemed surprising to pupils was that the glazes were a different colour after firing. I noticed that this particular lesson had its equipment carefully set up. Each glaze was clearly labelled with the colour once fired and an example of a fired tile was also left behind each pot. It worked very well as a simple visual tool, as the tiles each showed firings after 1, 2, or 3 layers of glaze. This was a useful teaching aid, as my co-operating teacher could easily refer to it, and all pupils seemed to grasp this idea quickly. Throughout the lesson, I noticed pupils consulting these tiles themselves. It was interesting to see this self direction.
11/11/2016
First year (11.05am single class)
Today as this was only a single class. I was very conscious of time management. To aid the pupils I had everything prepared that they would need to help them focus on their own masks for this lesson. I feel this was the best plan for this particular class, instead of having pupils wasting valuable time on getting out materials, they could instead start straight away on construction of their masks. Many pupils seemed to benefit from this and many of them actually finished the newspaper construction stage of their mask as well. I feel this plan worked effectively and will try to keep it up for single lessons. It is especially useful technique as the first years are unfamiliar with the art room as well. And therefore would be slower just finding where everything actually is in the classroom an storeroom.
14/11/2016
First year ( 9.30am double class)
Today the class were continuing on the construction of their masks. Many pupils moved from newspaper stage to plaster of Paris stage quicker than I had anticipated. Three classes and many had already completed forming the faces of the mask. I found this difficult to judge how to guess how much time pupils would take constructing their masks. How do I learn to judge time management? Some pupils however were quite slow and were unable to move onto the next stage or solve a problem. They constantly required my help. However, I did not want to over help or take over the task as in the end, the pupils would not learn anything. Also, I found that by helping one pupil for too long, that the rest of the class could end up being neglected by me being too focused on one or two pupils. As the situation turned into several pupils asking me what to do next.
14/11/2016
Transition year (11.05am)
Today, the class were quite boisterous. I found it difficult to give them instructions and to make them listen. I found that half the class were listening to me and the other half were not. Basically, I found I was speaking over them, trying to compete almost with the boisterous class. However, once I eventually got all the pupils onto task they worked very well. I was impressed especially with their level of speed and technical skill on this project. As this for the majority of the pupils is their first experience with ceramics! Managing classroom resources is generally not a problem. However, today it was. Between 18 pupils, I had two clay extruders and nearly every pupil at some stage needed to use this tool. I decided to divide the two clay exctuders between the two sides of the room. It was the best way I could divide the resources I felt! Dividing the clay exctuders seemed to help as more pupils got access to the tools, and completed nearly all of the clay tiles today.
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