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october 24 2015 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 8 07 2014 head down hoody up h ead down hoody up that s how some middle school students enter the art room on the first day of class this is not where they want to be what they want to be doing sleeping music texting gaming maybe even reading a good book are all preferable activities art class is scary the potential for leakage of authentic self great f irst day of school i will station myself in the hallway greet and smile exchange a few hugs with returning students try for eye contact with the newbies so hard to reach into beyond the lacquered shell of young teens we ll get there step by tiny step b ackward portraits are a way to save face for this perpetually embarrassed age group so is lots of choice within limits freedom is moving easy in harness i ve always loved that quotation despite having to write a timed senior essay about it some 35 year ago t echnology will help me increase options have a friend snap your own rear view portrait and work from your phone or class ipad or have a friend pose and create a portrait of someone else which feels safer unless you have to pose b ut when it s all done and up the pride and fun as we identify who s who artist and model after all everyone likes a little positive attention even if eye contact is still a challenge at august 07 2014 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 5 01 2013 art style and art movement understanding and describing artist s unique styles is really challenging for middle school students today students looked at a work by vincent van gogh and we discussed the unique way in which he used line color and texture these elements are pretty easy to discern but then we discussed the way in which he divides space across the picture plain that s when things got a little complicated we muddled our way through together only to end up with confusion once students were tackling these ideas in their groups that s kind of how learning goes order is replaced with chaos when new learning upsets the working model then for a time there is comfort in stasis only to experience chaos again with new learning at may 01 2013 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels art movement art style art vocabulary 2 07 2013 working together for mlk s dream in honor of martin luther king jr and in celebration of black history month art students at my middle school and a neighboring school district worked together during february to create art my friend and fellow art teacher holly lampen received a grant to support this project and generously invited my students and me to join her in this creative effort hundreds of kids at our respective schools painted designs in individual squares on two canvases the warm and cool toned squares spell out mlk s iconic word dream each school is working on two of the large canvases the schools will soon trade one half of the work of art so that the final work on display at each school will represent the collaborative effort of wildcats and pioneers joining together to make art thank you holly for the inspired project at february 07 2013 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels black history month art project collaborative art project i have a dream painting martin luther king jr 1 23 2013 color theory hands on practice y ou re never too old to finger paint or in this case paint by hand students had a blast today covering sketchbooks with multi hued hand prints i over heard one young man say haven t done that in a few years in answer another boy replied laughing i ve never done that w e sometimes forget that not all children come from homes or backgrounds where they have the joy of just playing with paint or nice colored pencils or even making mud pies in the back yard t here was a fun twist to this beginning of the term activity which required groups to work collaboratively to accomplish the task of covering their sketchbooks with hand prints in primary secondary and dark and light hues 8 colors in all each group had five small tubs containing one color of tempera paint red yellow and blue as well as black and white each group member took charge of one color they spread it on their palms and delivered prints to group members sketchbooks then the real fun began as they gently high fived a classmate giving palms a little back and forth twist to create the secondaries as well as at least one light and one dark value of color they knew they wouldn t be allowed to wash their hands until they were done so it took some careful planning and coordination i t was so fun to listen to the kids as they discovered and named the colors they created there were some surprises such as the army green which resulted from mixing black and yellow tempera tomorrow s art start questions why did black and yellow create a dark green what does this tell us about the particular black paint we used what is black anyway at january 23 2013 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 12 30 2012 process vs product i ve been thinking a lot about the art making process versus the creation of art product bulletin board displays of student work may display the fruit of my teaching labors but do not always represent the great learning that takes place s eparating my ego from the quality of art on display is not always easy let s face it some artwork produced can be fairly devoid of visual interest for all but the loving parent at home yet i know student artists engaged and struggled and came out the other end with an acceptance of new ideas and ways of thinking y es there are a myriad art projects available on line that will result in 100 cool looking objects but this canned approach to art making isn t really for me i also don t like to sort out the best work to exhibit s ometimes i just hand the staplers to my students and have them plaster the hallways with their work they love it and it saves me a lot of time however it may be best not to try this display approach if you and or your site administrator are perfectionists at december 30 2012 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 11 28 2012 art stations i ve experimented with using art stations what we used to call centers in elementary school this fall as a way to engage middle school students by giving them opportunities to make choices and work with friends the first go around back in september was definitely a fun way to run class the kids loved the freedom of moving from station to station at their own pace however it wasn t the most expedient way to reach my learning targets for the unit keeping track of learning targets and student achievement was difficult without adding more testing something i am loath to do in the art room s o for the second go around with the next unit i improved the system of checking student understanding after each station however it took both my student teacher and myself to keep up with the larger classes i won t have that luxury in a few weeks when my student teacher moves on f or the third go around i built the assessment into a more rigorous set of expectations for the artistic end product and also added a quiz three questions short written answer this helps me meet common core literacy objectives it was apparent from the quiz and the artwork who got it and who didn t now i just have to figure out what i m going to do about the students who didn t do well on the quiz m y basic philosophy of teaching and learning is that every kid can have an a if they want it i see no issue with allowing endless re do s except of course the obvious constraints of time and energy at november 28 2012 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 10 06 2012 ceramic pendants s tudents learned about the elements of art by studying ancient symbols i added two ipads to my classroom tools much to the delight of my students they found thousands of symbols online at www symbols com a really cool site that allows the user to search symbols in a variety of ways from the visual attributes to the meanings d uring a week of station work students rotated through six activities exploring signs symbols and designs through a variety of media such as colored pencil india ink oil pastel and tempera paint t hey loved the freedom of moving through the stations at their own pace working with friends and trying out different media it was a fun relaxed time that allowed my student teacher and me to really get to know our students as we had time to talk to individuals and small groups a fter station work the unit culminated with everyone creating several pendants in clay one could be a modern everyday symbol and one pendant needed to incorporate an ancient symbol into the overall design we cut shapes from slabs allowed them to dry to leather hard then carved designs into the clay a very fun process w e decided to paint the pendants in acrylic paint rather than glaze as this allowed the students greater control of color and detail i was amazed that these 7th and 8th graders boys and girls alike enjoyed stringing and beading and walked out of the classroom wearing their pendants who would have thought this could be cool at october 06 2012 no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 9 09 2012 how is a work of art like a toaster wow made it through another first week of school i love my students these young teens are so talkative and yet so mute so so awkward and yet so sure of themselves so cool and yet fun and funny on thursday we made toast and talked about how a work of art is like a toaster when all the elements are functioning well the out come is a complete experience like a a lovely piece of buttered toast this silly opening activity was a fun way to introduce the elements of art line shape form space color and texture breaking bread together is a time honored tradition of connecting with others a not so traditional ice breaker activity this week that helped us cool down while building bonds was an ice melting relay race i gave each table group of 4 5 students an ice cube the winning group melted their cube first such a simple and silly activity we do not have air conditioning and it was a stifling 90 degrees in the art room with humidity to match this was a very popular activity that left me with clean art tables at september 09 2012 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest older posts home subscribe to posts atom breaking rules c ontemplating impending retirement i revisit works of art created by so many students over the years what a complete joy and privilege handy work it s intensely satisfying to make things with my hands pie dough needle point pencil drawing painting a wall or a canvas it makes breaking rules c ontemplating impending retirement i revisit works of art created by so many students over the years what a complete joy and privilege search this blog pages home about me kiki view my complete profile blog archive january 2020 2 october 2015 1 august 2014 1 may 2013 1 february 2013 1 january 2013 1 december 2012 1 november 2012 1 october 2012 1 september 2012 1 august 2012 3 april 2012 1 march 2012 1 february 2012 1 january 2012 1 november 2011 1 october 2011 1 july 2011 1 may 2011 1 april 2011 1 march 2011 3 february 2011 2 january 2011 2 december 2010 3 may 2010 1 april 2010 1 march 2010 1 january 2010 1 december 2009 1 november 2009 1 october 2009 2 september 2009 2 august 2009 2 july 2009 2 june 2009 3 may 2009 4 april 2009 6 march 2009 13 labels 2011 education budget cuts 1 abstract expressionism 1 acrylic painting 3 african masks 1 albrecht durer 1 american sign language hand drawings 1 art and language arts 1 art appreciation 1 art centers 1 art contest 1 art cuts 1 art demonstrations 1 art elements line and shape 1 art field trip 1 art field trips 1 art games 1 art history 4 art history activity 1 art history project 2 art movement 1 art process 1 art project to do at home 1 art style 1 art videos 1 art vocabulary 1 artist bingo 1 artist biographies 1 artist biography 3 artist s contribution to society 1 artist s style 1 artprize 1 arts funding 1 autobiography project 1 back to school 2 black history month art project 1 botanical illustration 1 building trust 1 calligraphy 1 ceramic animals 1 ceramic art 1 ceramic leaf bowls 1 ceramic plate 1 ceramic stars 1 ceramics 2 chalk drawings 1 charcoal drawing 1 chicago art institute 1 chinese brush painting 1 classroom procedures 1 clay animals 1 clay project 1 clay sculpture 2 clay spoons 1 collaboration 1 collaborative art project 1 collaborative art projects 1 collage 1 color theory 1 colored pencil 1 common core state standards 1 complementary colors 1 contemporary art 1 contour line drawing 3 cuts to education 1 davinci 1 deborah butterfield 1 degas 1 die brucke 1 digital photography 2 doodling 1 drawing 1 drawing cylinder 1 drawing in pastels 1 drawing lessons 2 drawing trees 1 drawing with sticks 1 dreamweaver 1 dry pastel 1 economy 1 education cuts 1 elements of art 1 end of year art activity 1 end of year art project 1 engaging middle school students 1 erasing highlights 1 fair tax structure 1 favorite middle school art project 1 figure drawing 2 fingerpaint 1 first day of school 1 fundraiser 1 german expressionism 1 glass blowing 1 going green in the art room 1 governor snyder 1 gradual tone shading 3 grand rapidsartprize 1 green art 4 group art projects 1 group project 2 guiding questions 1 hand made books 1 henna hand designs 1 henri matisse 1 henri rousseau 1 human figures 1 i have a dream painting 1 independent art projects 1 ink drawing 1 ink painting 1 integrated curriculum 1 integrating art with core curriculum 1 jackson pollock 1 landscape painting 1 language arts 1 learning styles 1 left over house paint project 1 leo lionni 1 life mask 1 linocut 1 magazine collage 1 martin luther king day art project 1 martin luther king jr 1 memory game 1 michelangelo 2 michigan public school funding 1 middle school drawing lesson 1 middle school relationships 1 middle school students and confidence 1 mixed media 3 mlk memorial 1 modern art 1 national gallery of art 1 national standards 1 nclb law 1 new teacher 1 officer trevor slot 1 oil pastels 1 old shoes pencil drawing 2 painting project 2 pastel drawing 2 pdf 1 pen and ink 2 pen and ink drawings 1 pencil sketching 2 photo silkscreen 1 photoshop 1 photoshop gallery 1 picture books 1 picture frame 2 plaster 1 plaster face mask 1 plaster mask 1 plein air painting 1 printmaking 2 proportion 1 pubic school 1 public employees 1 read aloud 1 recycled art project 9 recycled materials 1 recycling 1 renaissance 1 rodin 1 romare bearden 1 school funding 2 sculpture 2 self portraits 6 service learning project 1 shoe drawing ...