Day of the Dead and Papel Picado!

    This week in my studio class, I started a presentation on Day of the Dead. The students really enjoyed this project because it is festive subject and is relatable to Halloween. The students who also take Spanish as a language in school may have heard about this holiday too. It was a great project to begin right before Christmas as well. Instead of using Halloween images and skeletons, the class is making winter holiday images to hang all around the school. This has been working out great so far because the students are able to make this own image and choose how the work will come out. The class work will really come together at the end. and get the students more excited about the holidays.

  

        I also really like this project because the students got the hang of it after they made their first image. The realized that it isn't that hard and grew confidence in themselves. This made them also want to make many more images and create better art work. I am most proud that the students like doing the work and are trying hard. Even my students who really dislike art class! This assignment has been great.  (Here are the students working hard and making beautiful winter holiday papel picado.)

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       In my yearbook class, we are starting another fundraiser. I suggested that selling chocolate would be a great idea because everyone loves chocolate and it is much cheaper than candles or pizza. The students that are selling the chocolate also love selling it to because it is so much easier. Within a day I have had students come back in to get another box to sell. Did I mention that there is 60 bars in a box!? Selling yummy treats for only a dollar makes fundraising much much more easier. I am happy we tried this fundraiser! -----------------------------------------------------------------------                 Also in this week was the first week for me as a teacher to encounter violence in the school. This is a very wealthy school with very well behaves students so I was shocked to see what I saw. I was also upset to hear so of the comments the boys were yelling at the one student who was getting abuses. Because I was the only adult there, I had to break the fight up. Luckily the students all broke up the time I walked over. I unfortunately did not know these students but I still made sure to report it. I went to the office and gave the time and location of the fight, and the description of all the students involved. I just hope I never encounter a problem like this again, although I know that will be very unlikely.

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        Lastly in my drawing and painting class, my students were finishing up on their color themes and schemes project. I really enjoyed this project because all of the student succeeded. We will be having a critique next class and a Happy Holiday party. I can't wait.

Critique + Painting Class

 Today in studio class, the students had to do a critique on their watercolor paintings. None of them have done a critique before so it was a slight challenge at first. Many of them did not know how to give comments and feedback on others work. Most of the students were also too self-conscious to even speak about their work or their peers work. So I decided that it would be best that the students walked around the class and gave the students each a grade and comment on a sheet of paper. This way each of the students would be critiqued and graded by everyone. The students had to as well write a response on what they believe they should get and complete their rubric. It was great to see the students evaluate their work and others for once.

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     In my drawing and painting class, the students have begun a new project. They have to create a series of 5 squares that work together in a theme. Most students found this easy to do and chose something of their interest. Once the students had chosen an idea, they had to sketch them out and figure out which color scheme should be used for each. The students had to create an image that is monochromatic, complementary, analogous, neutral, and black and white. I found the color schemes to be the hardest part for the students. I was glad to help them execute what would be the most successful.