A Rare Day

  Days like today are what make me want to continue teaching.  It has become so hard to engage an entire class of students.  I strive to find projects that my students will be invested in and show pride in.  Unfortunately, you can't always accomplish this.  Some students think that the project is neat, and some think that it is "stupid."  It always baffles me when I hand projects back and some students don't want them.  How can they spend so much time on a project only to throw it away?

  Last night I had a project idea hit me like a lightening bolt.  Lately, I have been "art journaling."  It is a new craze that has hit the mainstream.  Journaling is such a healthy activity, but I am not a very passionate writer.  It is hard work for me to express my feelings and emotions through the written word.  Hence, becoming an art teacher.  Visual journals allow those of us who are intimidated by writing to journal.

  I am going to have my students create a mixed media piece showcasing a quote that inspires them to become the person they want to be.  I want them to REALLY think about who they are and who they want to become.  Not a profession, what kind of PERSON??  How do you want people to see you?  Before we can tackle this deep concept, we need to address a few things.

  How do people see you now? What negativity is effecting your self-esteem?  What would you change about yourself?  What personality traits/morals/characteristics are important to you?  What are your strengths?  What are you proud of?  What nice things would people say about you?  They don't know it yet, but they are going to all of these things throughout this project.

  Today, I had my students chose three watercolor pencils in any color combination they wanted.  They sat down and looked up, waiting for instruction.  I told them to spend the next 7-10 minutes writing down every nasty, unkind thing that someone had ever called them or said about them.  Thirteen sets of eyes looked at me in terror.  "What if it's a bad word?"  "Who's going to see this?"  "Do we have to write our names on it?"  "Are you going to read this?"  Rapid fire of questions and concerns.  I told them if they had been called a bad word, write it down.  They won't get in trouble.  By the time we get done, no one will be able to see what they write.  No, I'm not going to read what they write.  At this point, they calm down a bit, but are still skeptical.  I promised them that no one was going to read what they are writing, I just wanted them to write for the next 7 minutes without stopping.  If they run out of words, rewrite ones they have already written.  Fill the paper with the words.

  Slowly, they quieted and started to write.  Many were very protective of their papers.  It was a little difficult for me because I normally walk around the room and check the work.  But this time, they didn't want me looking.  I was so shocked to see all the students completely invested in this assignment.  No one was scoffing at it, trying to look at someone's paper, or fighting the assignment.  It was teaching utopia!  I showed them my example and shared some of the words I wrote.  Did I feel vulnerable?  YES!  But they were very respectful.  I think it helped them be more honest in their own work.  The papers were filling with words.  I think they would have just kept going if it wasn't the end of the hour.

  I collected the papers.  They were still concerned about keeping them secret.  We locked them in a specific location until tomorrow's class.  (I had to PROMISE not to read them.)  They were so excited to come back tomorrow to work on it some more.  They left my room talking about the quotes they wanted to use.

  Three of the students came up to me later in the day to tell me how much they enjoyed the assignment.  One told me; "I felt so good to get those words out!"  Another student who is working on an independent study that hour came to me after school.  She wants to join the group for this project.  Sure!!!

  I sat down after she left and thought "I did it.  I got through.  Now what?"  LOL.  I am so excited to see the final products of this project.  I'll keep the blog updated.  I'm going to leave you with a picture of my sample so far.  I'll update as we go.

Rethinking Homework Reflection

Well, I guess I'm not very good at doing my homework.  LOL.  My blog is a bit late, but here we go.

Reading this book didn't really change my views on homework.  I think it is necessary.  I also think that in needs to be practice for what they are learning in the classroom.  They should not be learning anything new on their own.  It also shouldn't be given as busy work.

When we started this book, I called a friend of mine in Virginia who has an eighth grader.  When I mentioned the idea of teachers not assigning homework, she was completely appalled.   She went on a tirade about it.  I hadn't heard her be so passionate about something like this in a long time.  She make some excellent points about why homework was important.  It did make me consider economics though.  We were both raised in well-educated, high-income households.  When we had jobs in high school, they were for fun money.  Our parents communicated with our teachers.  We also were held to very high expectations.  We were expected to do well in school, do our homework, and go to college.  If my homework was not done, I couldn't do ANYTHING.  No TV, no going out, no computer, no phone, nothing.  I did my homework at the dining room table in view of my mother.  She could make sure I did my homework because she was a teacher and had the same hours as I did.  If she wasn't there, my older sisters were expected to make sure it was complete.  It would have been very different if my parents didn't have those high expectations and/or were not at home in the evenings.


My Classroom:

I don't give my students homework very often.  Art is a bit different.  I know many art teachers that assign weekly sketchbook assignments.  I feel that the sketchbook assignments are often busy work.  At the beginning of the semester, the teacher hands them a list of options they can choose from each week.  Many, using skills the students have not been introduced to.  Most students wait until the night (or morning) before they are due.  Then, only spend 10 minutes on it or just don't hand it in.

In my first year of teaching, I did just that because that was "the norm."  The students hated it and I hated giving grades for sloppy work, or having to chase them down for the assignment.  I also saw students' grades suffer.  They did great with in-class assignments, but never completed homework.  How is that fair?

Some art teachers have students work on projects at home.  I have never done this.  Here are a few reasons why:

1.  I may NEVER see the projects again.
2.  They often forget the project at home.  Now, what do they work on in class?
3.  They don't have the supplies necessary to complete the project at home.
4.  When they get stuck, I'm not there to help.

I think the most important reason is #4.  I am here to guide them through the process of creating art.  When they get stuck, I want to be there to help.  I don't want them becoming frustrated or angry.  That doesn't help their "creative juices" to flow.  I also want to SEE their journey through their piece.  I know that sounds kind of corny.  It's just, that's one way I assess how they are developing as an artist.  If a student is falling behind, I try to have them come in after school.

Don't get me wrong.  Many times students have asked to take supplies home with them and work on an assignment.  Typically, those students have highly developed skills or have a very small amount left for the project.

The only times students have homework for me are when they need to study for a test and a few papers.  Even then, we often review during class, and I give them time to work on most of their paper during class.

Do I think all teachers shouldn't give homework?  HECK NO!  I just think that they need to reflect on if it is relevant and make sure that it is practice.  Just my two cents.

Rethinking Homework Ch. 1 and 2

   These chapters have caused a lot of internal conflict for me.  I think homework is important to a child's education.  It is necessary for many reasons (I'll address that later.) but it is also a source of pressure and conflict for students.  How do we, as educators, find the right balance for our students?

   When I taught in South Korea, I assigned A LOT of homework for my first/second graders.  This was the expectation from the school and the parents.  Each night they had spelling, reading comprehension, journal writing, math, and 20 minutes of free reading.  Every morning we checked the homework.  Most of the time (I'd say 95%) the students completed all of their homework.  If they didn't, they had to bring it out during recess to finish.  My homework was in addition to the after school activities they went to schools for any of number of the following:  Ballet, Tae-Kwon-Do, Piano, Korean Language, Chinese, Science, Math, Art, etc.

   Most American parents would think that it is too much for such a small child.  I thought so too, for a while.  I ended up having VERY high expectations of my students.  Failure and zeros were NOT an option.  If they did a crappy job on an assignment, we talked about it, and they redid it.  After having to do that a few times, their quality of work improved greatly.  I don't want people to think that I was a militant teacher.  I LOVED my students, and they loved me.  We had a lot of fun in class.  We did a lot of hands-on learning.  We celebrated their accomplishments, and were very supportive of each other.

   I feel this was very beneficial to their education.  The students learned and retained what we studied.  This was evident in continual assessment and annual testing.  Our students, as a whole, scored in the 75^th percentile or greater.  Many of them tested grade levels above in both math and reading.  This was even with English being their second (or third) language.

   Because I had not taught in the US before, I didn’t really know how my students compared with their peers in US schools.  In my last year of teaching I had the principal and third grade teacher’s son in my class.  They were slightly apprehensive about the amount of homework in my class.  Their views changed very quickly.  Mrs. Mom would constantly come and talk to me about G’s progress in my class.  She couldn’t believe what he was able to do.  Most notably, she couldn’t get over the writing accomplished in my class.  By the end of first grade, they were able to use the 6+1 Traits of Writing to create three paragraph stories.  They were normally spelled correctly and grammatically correct.

   It was shocking to move to the high school level in the US and observe the difference.  I make my art students write in class every day.  I ask that they write a paragraph (and I has to specify that that means 5 sentences, minimum.)  I was shocked when I read responses such as “IDK” and had numerous one sentence responses that include basic spelling mistakes.  What has happened to our expectations of students in the US?  I have flashbacks to my “Reading in the Content Areas” class in college.  A group of us would complain about being there.  We didn’t understand why we would need to include literacy in art, PE, music, etc.  Now I know that it cannot fall solely to the language arts teachers.  They cannot teach literacy on their own.  It needs to be reinforced throughout all classes.  We need to EXPECT students to use proper spelling and grammar, even in art class.

OOOOOO, I’m veering off topic.  Sorry guys, I’ll get back on track.

   I think it is important for students to practice skills outside of school.  There is not enough time in the school day to fit everything in.  Some of the studying needs to be done at home.  I know that a lot of students have commitments outside of school.  Some work, help on the farm, watch siblings, or just plain have drama to deal with.  I guess that’s why I’m glad we have SRB.  It gives them an opportunity to do it at school.

   At the beginning of the year I was pretty relaxed with my SRB.  People could talk, read, study, get up and walk around the room, whatever.  Many students did try to study.  This was, however, short lived.  Because of the lack of structure in my SRB, students got up to mischief.  One specific incident prompted a strict change in my SRB rules.  Here are the new rules:

1.      You must be in your assigned seat when the tardy bell rings.

2.      You must have work to do.  Remember to bring it with you.

4.      No Talking

5.      If you need to get out of your seat, raise your hand to get permission.

6.      No cell phones, iPods, or other electronic devices

   Many of the students were very upset with the new rules.  Funny thing is, when you look around my room now, they are using that time to get homework done.  For the students who have always done homework during SRB, it has created a more conducive environment.  It’s more work for me.  I can’t tinker on my computer or work on my own projects.  I walk the room, help students with questions, and refer them to other resources.  I don’t feel upset about this because as a teacher, it’s what I should be doing.

   If we are concerned about the students being able to do homework at home, perhaps we should extend the school day by 30-60 minutes for studying in SRB.  (That’s right, I said it!  The school day may need to be longer.  I can see the eye rolling now.  LOL)  This will only work if all the teachers enforce the studying part though.

   Switching gears again, I also think there needs to be more communication on the teacher side of homework.  I had a student last night that told me they had 3 tests today and a paper to work on.  Because of their afterschool activity, they didn’t leave school until after 7:30 pm.  When you are in elementary school, there is one teacher for many classes.  When you plan, you make sure not to have a lot of tests and major assignments all at once.  I still think it would be a good idea for there to be a master calendar for the high school.  That way, we know when other teachers are having tests and major due dates so we don’t overload the students.

   Well, I could keep going on and on.  I know that I’m rambling.  Guess I need to stop somewhere.  Plus, I need to save some of this for the other chapters.  LOL.  I'll leave you with some pictures of my ADORABLE students from Korea.

 Sports Day

 Pirate Day - AARRRGGGG!!

Fun in the classroom (The high schooler was my TA.)

 Random cuddles.  They are such hams for the camera!