Stacie,
I second the suggestion to break up the daily work into smaller chunks.
You could start with a 20 minute drawing assignment. I used to give out
foam cups to tables of 4-6 kids and have them draw it for 1 minute.
Then the cup was passed to one student who broke off a piece,
re-arranged the cup and piece into a still life and everyone drew that
for one minute. The cup was passed from student to student for
"destruction" and everyone ended up seeing and drawing the cup from many
angles. The success of this lesson is that everyone gets to destroy
something (big hit with MS students) and everyone gets ownership over
how the cup is arranged. They have to turn in their drawing sheet for
credit.
Try variations on this idea with toothpicks, skewers, cash register
paper, toothpicks and packing peanuts, crumpled paper, etc.
Consider teaching lessons about perspective - using cash register tape
etc. and start the drawing and then let kids volunteer to come up and
finish parts of the drawing in front of the class. Some
active-disruptors really like the opportunity to get up and shine in
front of the class. MS kids adore drawing on the white board! Go
figure!
Ask a few students to bring their bikes into the classroom, put them up
on tables and have everyone draw only the outlines. Let one student
stand on a table and pose for one minute while everyone has to draw them
from whatever perspective the "model" chooses.
As for quiz's - give a short slide show or lecture (I mean really short
- 10 minutes, max) and tell them if they take notes and turn them in,
they get to use the notes on the quiz! This will inspire some listening
and note-taking. You get to credit the notes and hold on to them until
quiz time, eliminating note-copies passed around to friends.
I think the key to middle school art lessons is to have a great "hook"
in each lesson that tickles the kids. Things that motivate MS students
are: food, self-esteem, money, absurdity, surrealism, power and dreams
for the future.
Good luck with your classes and let us know how it goes.
-Alix
Alix E. Peshette
Technology Training Specialist
Technology Support
Davis Joint Unified School District
Davis, CA
middle school art teacher for 18 years turned techie-geek
-----Original Message-----
From: Maggie White [mailto:mwhiteaz@cybertrails.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 8:16 AM
To: TeacherArtExchange Discussion Group
Subject: Re: [teacherartexchange] Me again
staciemich@aol.com wrote:
> <snip> I'm just not into teaching this class anymore. They have
> drained me, and I'm tired of feeling like an idiot when I stand in
> front of them and try to teach. I just feel like, why bother trying?
> Why fight them? <snip>
Exactly, Stacie, why bother trying? It's extremely hard to give up on
students, but they are sapping your energy and time, which is no doubt
affecting your performance in your other classes and your personal
life. They have targeted you for a hard time. I've been there! In
fact, I subbed the other day in an eighth grade class at my former
school, and they were still as disrepectful as ever. They say they
want me to come back because the new art teacher is "mean," but they
would never understand that their disrespectful behavior creates a
vicious cycle. My replacement is having such a hard time--and she's had
a lot of MS experience--that she probably won't be back.
> I'm also thinking about a group project. Perhaps I could give each
> table some books on an artist and ask them to create a presentation?
> We don't have a library here, and I don't have computers for them to
> use. Should I make it homework? Should I simply have them work from
> the books?
Giving your difficult class papers to research in a school with no
library or computers is a set-up for failure and more distress for all
of you. They will not do it at home; you already know that. Videos
will bore them to death after the first five minutes.
> I need easy projects that have cool results...projects that will keep
> them occupied but not frustrated. I'm just trying to figure out how
> to get through the next six weeks without tearing my hair out. I
> can't stand that they come into my class and learn nothing.
For that particular class, you need to dispense with long presentations
and keep it short, giving them very small chunks of the lesson. Don't
choose lessons that need materials you don't have and that would take a
lot of involved steps that would require a degree of independence that
they don't have. If you haven't looked at Bunki Kramer's Web site,
http://www.lcms.srvusd.k12.ca.us/newKramer/KramerMain.html go there and
look at her high-wow-quotient lessons, many with simple materials. I
adapted several of her wonderful lessons for my horrid group (the
above-mentioned class) and simplified them and broke them into short
steps to preserve my sanity. The students enjoyed them and got
successful results.
> I am planning on giving them more quizzes as well. So far, five
> students are failing my class! 4 students have d's. This is just
> ridiculous to me.
I don't think anyone could accuse you of not keeping parents informed.
These aren't your grades. Let go and don't take ownership of something
you can't fix. At the beginning of the school year I sent you the
handout and notes from my NAEA presentation about dealing with MS
students. Those tactics really did work. Reread it.
