Back to School 2020

Well, my school has been back in session for a few weeks now and it's going ok! For posterity, I'll explain a bit about what we're facing right now.

Last March we went on spring break and didn't return to the building. Covid-19 had hit the US and we didn't know a whole lot about it. We finished the year doing school from home. 

My district is small enough that we are able to open at full capacity. We do have a virtual school option that several families opted for, but most are in the building.

My StuCo kids have a tradition of chalking the walk so that students are greeted with encouraging messages on the first day of school. This year we also added some yard signs and got out "Francis" to make things more fun.

The first change for this school year is that face masks are required for students over 5 and for staff. I am glad that we have this requirement. It makes me feel a bit better about being around so many people. It shows that we care enough about others to try to keep them safe. My room is at the end of the hallway so if we finish clean up early, it's easy to step outside for a quick mask break before the kids go on to their next class.

Sanitation procedures have been amped up this year. I put together personal art supply kits for students to use in the classroom and for me to send home with them if we go remote. I ordered 2 gallon Ziploc bags because they are big enough to easily hold 9x12 inch paper inside along with all of the tools we need. I didn't want to pass out the supply kits until students were done switching classes but since most of my sections are graphic design or computer graphics we just started with some quick digital projects.

I have a classroom that makes it kind of impossible to have all students facing the same direction. The district ordered sneeze guards to divide the space on my tables. In some classes students can have a whole table to themselves since my enrollment is lower this year between virtual families being off campus and a drop to a smaller enrollment with graduating a larger class last year. I do have one class of 18 in a room that seats 24 in a normal year so that feels pretty crowded. We have 4 students at 4 tables and 2 students and a Para at another, which is also the table I use when I need to hook up to the tv for a demo. I'm a little nervous about having 23 kids in that classroom 2nd semester but I guess things could change before then!

Another change is that I am "zooming" in to the elementary classrooms for their art classes. A recently retired teacher came back as a Para and she supervises the class while I teach from my classroom. They were trying to cut down on people crossing between the two buildings so I think it was a smart move. This morning I was the "art fairy" and dropped off paper for the week's classes. The students mainly use the supplies they brought to school so I'm just planning based off of that. Teaching in this way is not that conducive to TAB but I'm hoping I can figure out how to make it work.

This is a photo of the end of an elementary class when the students came up one at a time to share their work. We actually have more instructional time since clean up is faster and we don't have to walk back to the other building so sharing at the end of class is a bonus.

This is my set up when I need to demonstrate something. I have an iPad with the camera pointing down in an opening of an old shelf and hook the iPad up to my laptop. Books hold the shelf up high enough to give me room to move beneath it. When I'm ready to demonstrate, I just share my screen and select the device. It's kind of bulky, but it works. I also use the iPad set up like this but hooked to my smart TV for demonstrations since I can't just call the class around a table anymore.

Here are a couple examples from my advanced class's first assignment. We watched a video from the Art Assignment on the Definition of Art and students wrote their own before creating a graphic in Canva.

What do YOU want to learn?

 I haven't posted in a long time due to normal back to school craziness and family stuff from which I will spare you the details. Anyway... this is how my intermediate kids started their school year. After letting them choose their seats and going over expectations, I explained that this year they would have more chances to design their own projects as we transition to "Choice" in the Art room. I asked each student to think of at least one thing they would like to learn or try or do or make this year in Art class and write it on a post-it. I had one color for each grade so I can look for trends of interests and use that to design my mini lessons and resources that I'm working on developing for my centers. The only rule was that the students were not allowed to write "nothing"!

 I wasn't surprised by some of the responses, like 3D art and clay. Unfortunately we can only get enough clay to do one project per student per year, but I've been collecting other materials for sculpture. Some of the specific ideas were interesting to read. I may utilize the color coded post-its for other surveys and responses this year.

Back to School

Tomorrow I head back to school leaving my babies (well, baby and toddler) at home. Never easy to do but at least since being a SAHM is not an option, I know that I'm going to a job that matters and that I truly enjoy.

A couple of weeks ago I spent a little time at school in my new room. Whenever I move into a new classroom, there's a period of standing around trying to get a feel for the room and figure out how to set it up. I think I at least got that out of the way! I left a map for the head custodian who said he and a couple helpers could move the furniture for me. I'm super thankful because I can't move half the furniture on my own. Hopefully when I get some work time in my classroom later this week, I can just focus on putting away supplies and setting up displays.

When I was at school, I also cleaned out my mailbox since I started maternity leave early and missed the last week of school. I found a few things in it that made me smile! First, a "Jaggie" award from the end of year staff party. I received the "Ms. Go Green Award for helping us save the planet" i.e. pestering students and staff about recycling.

The next thing I found was a card made by a mystery first grader who forgot to sign it. The card read:

I love art. I think this sumer I should do some. I think I'll to you when I'm in sence 2 grade. I hope that your baby will be hellthey. Why why do you Why are you switching rooms? Is it cause you need more room? I'll miss you. :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(*

*Please note that the frowning faces were going every different direction on the real card for dramatic effect.

The last thing was a thank you note from a nice family that included a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card. I put the gift card toward a book that's been on my wish list for a couple of years- Engaging Learners Through Artmaking by Katherine M. Douglas and Diane B. Jaquith. I think it will come in handy as I transition to a Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) teacher.

If you are interested in TAB, you should definitely try to read the ebook "Choice Without Chaos" by Anne Bedrick. I'm almost finished with it and it is filled with great stuff on her experience switching to TAB, how she runs her centers, curriculum, etc. It's the first digital book I've ever purchased and I can see why ebooks are popular. The format (I have it on my iPad) allows for video and slideshows in addition to text. You can view the opening video on Bedrick's Vimeo account here: http://vimeo.com/47676569

Back to School

I only see my 4th-6th grade students every other week.  Needless to say, we won't have finished artwork to display in the hallway for another 3 weeks!  I didn't want to walk through empty hallways until then and we needed an activity for the second half of the first Art class (first half= introductions, seating chart, rules, procedures) so this is what I came up with!  I went through all my Art History posters and pulled a whooooole bunch, looking for diversity in time periods, styles, media, cultures, etc. and hung posters in the hall.  We discussed how to act in a museum (don't touch, be quiet and respectful, act like ladies and gentlemen) and went on a tour in the hallway.  I gave each student a die cut shape, a sharpie, and a piece of masking tape.  Their instructions were to look at EVERY poster hanging, then pick a favorite and 

"Stop, Look, and Think" about WHY it was their favorite, then write a sentence about it on their piece of paper.  After writing, the students stuck their shape on the wall close to the poster.

I gave much clearer instructions after the first class when I got sentences like "It's my favorite because it's awesome" and "I like it because it's pretty."  I started reviewing the elements and principles and asking the students to be more descriptive and specific.  I also modeled a detailed, specific sentence for an imaginary art work.  The writing really improved after that.  I guess next year I'll have to add that the sentences should be something positive.  I did not read each sentence, I trusted the students enough not to.  I did have students point out that somebody "wrote something inappropriate" so when I checked under Grant Wood's "American Gothic", I read "I like it because it looks like he's going to stabe (stab) her with the pitchfork."  I put the original and a blank die cut shape in his teacher's box with a note asking him to write a different sentence.  I was back at that school yesterday and students had found another, almost identical sentence written by someone else.  Did the same thing with requesting a re-write.  Found yet ANOTHER almost identical sentence, this time with no name.  Moving on...

If I were really smart, I would have chosen one color for each grade level.  My reason: the shapes created a strong visual that showed what the students are most interested in.  It would have been nice to know if there were trends based on age.  I think it will give me some guidance when I plan for later lessons.  The two most popular posters were an Op Art painting and a FSA Landscape painting.

Scroll down to see some more pictures of our hallway "museum"!

Written about a Jackson Pollock painting

Back to School 2

It was a pretty good first week back at school.  Hard to not be with baby but once I got to school and got busy, the day went fast and things seemed pretty normal.  I only heard a few times "Mrs.Morris, you look different with your baby not in your belly!"  Well I would hope so! :)

It's amazing how many catalogues accumulate over 8 weeks!  Cards from students on top.

Back to School

One of my Kindergarten classes made drawings that their teacher mailed to me!

Tomorrow I go back to school.  I am thankful that I was able to take 8 weeks to be home with my baby but I know returning to work will be a huge adjustment for all of us!  I was able to visit both schools with baby last week and stop in some of the classrooms to introduce them.  I guess some of the younger students were really concerned because they thought I had been in the hospital the whole time!  The last time most of the students saw me, I looked like this:

I bet I will get some interesting reactions this week!

I will also have several projects to post after I photograph them.  My sub is not an Art teacher but she can follow a lesson plan and has great classroom management so I know she did a great job.  I can't wait to look through the rest of the projects (I peaked at a few last week) to see how the lesson plans worked out.  I will also be posting tips on preparing for maternity (or other) leave since I have had a chance to talk to my sub and see what helped.

It's going to be hard to leave this face!