I’ve decided to completely overhaul my previous set of five rules.

Henry Wong insists that we should only have three to five rules. It limits rules to a number that you and the students can readily remember. If you need more than five rules, do not post more than five at a time. They do not need to cover all aspects of behavior in the classroom. You have a right to replace one rule with another. Any rule you replace can be retained as an “unwritten rule.”

Here are the rules I currently have posted:

• Show respect for yourself, your fellow student artists, your artwork, our classroom and our art supplies.
• Arrive promptly and ready to get on task.
• Pay attention during lectures and demonstrations.
• Participate in classroom discussions and art activities.
• Do your best work during each and every class.

I was trying to go for positive rules instead of “no this” or “no that”. I was trying to cover all the bases by being general. I was thinking high-level.

I did not know it, but I was not being very practical. I had no idea what kind of behavior would become constant problems in large classrooms, especially grades 6 through 8.

Here is a more practical and specific set of rules to begin the year with, based on things I repeat constantly in my classrooms.

• Eyes front when the teacher is talking. Do not interrupt. Raise your hand.
• Sit in chairs properly with all four legs on the floor. Do not sit on tables.
• Do not throw, toss, flick, or roll anything across the table, floor, or classroom.
• No chewing of food, gum, or anything else.
• Clean up after yourself before you leave.

Side note. Here’s what my current syllabus says are my consequences for poor behavior:

If you seem to have forgotten one of the rules, I will give a verbal reminder. If the behavior continues, I will write your name on the board or on a clipboard as a warning. If you get two checks after your name, there will be further consequences which may include: a seat change, a call home, an office referral, detention, and/or clean-up duty.

I don’t actually go through the write-name-on-board-two-checks process. I wrote my syllabus before I knew what I was in for, based on another syllabus I found online. I usually give one warning then the consequence for the second infraction. An additional consequence I use is having a student stand outside the classroom door for five minutes. Most students don’t like that. But what they really don’t like is clean-up duty. And it helps me clean and organize the classroom.

Comments (1) | Permalink

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I found an absolutely fantastic book yesterday at University Art Supply: Color in Contemporary Painting: Integrating Practice and Theory by Charles LeClair. The manager who checked me out knows me and my works. She said, “Dawn you don’t need this.” I chuckled at her flattery. I said, “It never hurts to look at the work of other artists.” The truth is, I need exactly books like this. This one is much like watching a fascinating slide lecture in which points about how color is used are supported with image after image. The text is utterly engaging and readable.

I am learning so much. I am getting so many ideas about color, composition and technique as I plot the series of paintings I want to do.

I want to make dozens of paintings of my boyfriend Vlady’s face. His is no ordinary face. He is handsome, certainly; but what makes him special is his extraordinary expressive ability. Here are 60 examples from photos I have taken of him, in chronological order over the past year:

He is wonderfully goofy. Give him food or a mirror (or both) and he takes off. He is a positive ham in front of a camera. Sometimes he reminds me of a Muppet.

This kind of expression will be pretty much impossible to capture from direct observation. I will mainly rely on my photographs.

However, I am mulling over all kinds of possibilities about how to paint these wonderful faces. Smooth and highly realistic? Painterly and highly expressionistic? In high key colors? Cartoony? I have so many options I’d like to try. Perhaps each painting in the series will be a new experiment.

What I am not interested in is “high concept.” I’m not trying to sending any messages or break any boundaries. I just want to make art that is fun to do and fun to look at. Vlady is my muse.

Comments (0) | Permalink

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I just got my grade for my final course at Chapman: A. That’s nine classes in a row with an A each. Chapman is the first college at which I’ve ever earned a 4.0 GPA. I went there for my entire credential program plus one master’s course. I knew I could pull off a 4.0 if I really applied myself.

I’m now working on a little entomology class at a community college. It’s cool. I love biology and I love insects. The teacher is good, and we’ll get to go out, and find and look at bugs.

On April 1st I’ll choose another science class for the summer. Then I’ll have over 32 college units in science, and then I’ll be qualified to teach science under No Child Left Behind. I still plan to eventually take the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) in biology, but it looks really comprehensive. I’ll need a couple of new refresher courses in biology, plus maybe a $60 XAM study guide.

In the fall, as I mentioned earlier, I hope to begin my master’s in art.

Comments (1) | Permalink

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

This week and last, we’ve been working on origami in the art classes.

Last week, I verbally demonstrated each origami step-by-step, waiting for every single student to complete each step before moving on. I had students use plain white copier paper, making a square first with a diagonal fold, then creasing and tearing off the extra rectangle at one end. I stressed that they needed to know that they could do this incredible art form with nothing but a sheet of paper, their two hands, and a flat table surface.

I thought lessons from “Essential Origami: How to Build Dozens of Models from Just 10 Easy Bases” by Steve and Megumi Biddle. This used book store find is wonderful. The models have been very popular with the students. Each day we were able to complete one or two models, depending on complexity. On Thursday, I brought in actual colored origami paper which I bought at Michael’s. It’s already square (about 6″ x 6″) and has white on one side, color on the other. 100 sheets is about five bucks.

There’s one distinct drawback to teaching origami step-by-step to five classes, four days in a row. I developed a sore throat on Friday, was sick all weekend, and can barely speak today. This week, the kids are almost on their own. I’ve provided each student table with reference sheets for how to make different kinds of folds. I’ve given each student instructions found online: Chrysalis. This lesson teaches the inside and outside reverse folds. These proved very tricky for many students, so I also provided examples on my desk of the crow (step 4), the pigeon (step 10) and the duck (step 12.) I encouraged students to pick up my examples and turn them around in their hands so they could really see how the models are constructed.

In order to save my voice so I can recuperate, I tried to get the kids as self-directed as possible. Every so often I’d let individual students know whether they had the folds right or not, and they could show (not “do”) each other how. But today was almost a sink or swim for them. I told them that they needed to master these two kinds of folds today or they’d be completely lost on the dragon we’re doing tomorrow. Last week I taught them all kinds of other folds with varying complexity. This week is working out to be a sort of experiment to see how much self-direction these kids can handle. Many students “got it” by the end of the day, but several did not. I don’t expect to strain my voice tomorrow either, so the complex dragon design is all them again (with printed step-by-step instructions, of course.)

Now I’m wondering if last week I should have given verbal instructions only once, then started them out with simple paper instructions earlier. It sure would have been easier on me, but I always wonder if I’d be a complete slacker if I didn’t get up there and demonstrate.

UPDATE 3/27/07

I became concerned that many students would not be prepared to do the three-part dragon. I gave some other options today as well. I reminded students that they all had to master the Chrysalis before they moved on; those reverse folds get even more complex in the subsequent models. I told them they also needed to read the reference sheets to see what “valley fold” and “mountain fold” mean. Most did. Some didn’t and this became obvious when they asked for help.

From the Biddles’ book, I chose the cat (less complex), the Scottish terrier (less complex), and the koala (more complex.) I labeled the dragon “most complex”. Many students came to me for help with specific steps. If a student came to me for help and didn’t know what was meant by “reverse fold,” I sent them back to redo the Chrysalis. If the same student kept coming back step after step, I asked them to try a less complex model. Many students ended up helping each other, which is fantastic. I just checked around to make sure that they were “showing”, not “doing.”

Every day with something like this, I wonder if I’m providing the right balance of challenge mixed with assistance. I think I may have been too hard on the middle schoolers. On the other hand, most of them did just fine without me. I was particularly stubborn with students who had trouble and who ignored my advice to review the reference sheets or back up to a simpler model. I had to gauge each time I gave help whether the student needed just one little kick start in reading the diagrams, or was in above her head.

Tomorrow, I’ll be offering a much simpler set of models for students who were positively stuck today: the kabuto and the goldfish (which shares its first eight steps with the kabuto.)

UPDATE 3/31/07

Most of the students really got into the simpler models of the kabuto and goldfish. I’m glad I provided them with a range of difficulties. Just about every student could complete the simplest models, and have fun doing it. (I do have one student whom I just don’t get; he cannot seem to follow the simplest directions in art although he does fine in reading and math.) So, almost everyone can experience success this way. However, many students want a bigger challenge and they got it. Many loved the dragon (pictured on the front cover.) Even those who didn’t think they wanted a bigger challenge often succeeded with it, and this can only improve their self esteem along with their artistic skills.

So I’ve been mulling over what benefits origami can have for the students. I’m not the best person for wrapping words around what happens during the artistic process, but I could feel something very important happening in my classrooms. Manipulating a two-dimensional surface into three-dimensional structures is pretty amazing. The paper is continually changing its spatial dimensions. Much of the creation of origami I must admit is very left-brained. Students must carefully follow step-by-step instructions in order to achieve the final model pictured.

However, it’s all extremely visual. I found myself helping students over and over, explaining, “hold your model up like in the picture. Now look at this dashed line on the diagram. Which way do you fold along this line?” Helping children recognize the relationship between a diagram and what they physically held in their hands (of their own making) was very powerful.

Students learned how to shift angles, open and squash, layer and tuck away, in order to create familiar and unfamiliar representations of things in the world. I myself folded dozens of models over the past two weeks, and helped countless children fold their own. I now find myself many times looking at my environment in a new way: house roofs and angular cars bring to mind how the paper folds, creases and hides. I’d like to find some research on it, but I suspect origami will help these students look at all kinds of problems in new ways.

If nothing else, they might have more luck assembling a bookcase from pictorial directions.

On Free Draw Friday yesterday, I noticed quite a few students mapping out their own origami. At one table, each student ended up with a paper cell phone.

Comments (1) | Permalink

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

I’m back to the figure drawing sessions on Tuesday nights. Yay!

These were both done tonight with graphite on 11″ x 14″ paper (20 minutes each.)

Comments (0) | Permalink

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.