Hey Stacie,
Teacher of the Month!! Wow, way to go girl! Savor this sign of success!
A really powerful art "tool" to give MS student is how to make things
look real; i.e.. perspective and shading. It is said that most adults
draw at an eleven year old's level - because they became frustrated with
not being able to make things look "real" around that age and so gave up
on drawing!
Instead the traditional method with rulers and marking out the one point
or two point perspective and horizon line etc. look into the techniques
of Mark Kistler. He has an easy and fast approach to 3-D drawing and
shading that the kids really get.
http://www.drawsquad.com/
I bought one of his books years ago and gained a lot of confidence in my
ability to draw in perspective on-the-fly, so to speak. This guy used
to be the host of Secret City on (I think) PBS. I used to fly home from
teaching in time to sit, watch and draw along with him.
I think his videos (I haven't seen them in years) were aimed at a
younger crowd than MS and my students thought they were sorta hokey, but
the book as a resource is priceless.
-Alix
-Alix
Alix E. Peshette
Technology Training Specialist
Davis Joint Unified School District
-----Original Message-----
From: staciemich@aol.com [mailto:staciemich@aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 3:25 PM
To: TeacherArtExchange Discussion Group
Subject: [teacherartexchange] The good and bad and some ugly
I thought that I would share some good news since I always seem to be
griping! Today I found out that the sixth graders voted me teacher of
the month out of the special areas! It actually really meant a lot to
me. I almost cried! I didn't even know that they were voting on it.
Also, my elementary students have been finishing up the Kandinsky
lesson from the SchoolArts magazine, and they came out so splendid!
I'm thinking about assigning this to the middle schoo but making them
choose a color scheme. It's so easy and comes out so cool. I finally
put up some new artwork in my room, and I keep admiring the bulletin
boards...fresh orange backgrounds filled with colorful abstract cities
mounted on black. Also, I did the color theory icing lesson with my
middle school yesterday for the first time. I was nervous about it,
but they did really well...well despite my 7th/8th graders getting too
wild at the end. Other than that, the kids really enjoyed it. I made
it a contest to see who could finish the color wheel first, and they
were very motivated. I even heard one student say, "Art is now my
favorite class." I find that I have to cherish the little things to
keep myself positive when so much seems to be going on.
Today I had a good day until that last class. They really made me
angry when they wouldn't clean up and when I found drawing pencils
missing. I came down hard on them and two students started laughing.
I was furious. I called several parents again today. I have three
typed pages worth of parent phone call notes just from that class!
I've given out so many forms to take home to be signed and so many
contracts and essays. It's so exhausting. I keep telling myself that
I only have five more weeks with this group and that the next group
will be better. My goal now is to decide on an interesting and EASY
project for next week. I've been toying with a few, but I can't
decide. Still life is out for the next bunch unless they bring in cool
objects to draw. Perspective is out. Drawing cubes is out. It's just
too much for them and therefore too much for me. I think I need to
adapt some elementary projects to their level.
So that's my update. Thanks again for such wisdom and support.
I haven't cried once this week! That's a good week in my eyes. Stacie
D.
