Notan Design Examples and Teaching!

 Teacher Examples (Above) and Student Examples (Below)

 I am explaining the expectations for sketches and discussing how students can utilize this in developing ideas for their Notan Design. (Day one of lesson.)

 Reviewing vocabulary; including: Negative space, positive space, symmetry, asymmetry, and balance. (Day one of lesson.)

Discussing student choices in sketches and answering questions about project. (Day one of lesson.)

Essay Reflections

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Mr. H's Reasons to Teach
 

During prep-time, I decided to ask Mr. H why he chose to become an art teacher. He told me that originally he had been interested in becoming a doctor and had actually attended a program to become a trauma surgeon for a while, but soon switched to science education because of how he felt about the importance of education. However, Mr. H did not pursue art education immediately, he started in science education. After working as a science teacher for over a decade he decided to obtain an art education degree because of his passion for the arts. His parents, wife, siblings, and many of his friends were artists and art had been a big part of his life since he was young. Mr. H told me that he grew up in a bad part of a large city that exposed many individuals to drugs and alcohol. His mother bought him supplies to keep him busy and away from the negative environment outside. She used art to protect her child from the violence of the world that surrounded him. Mr. H told me that he believes that art, religion, and science are how we explain and express our existence and that teaching is the most important thing you can do with your life. This was his draw to art education; he couldn’t say no to changing lives and pursuing art, a pursuit that would never end.

I empathized with Mr. H’s situation as a child and found his mother’s way of protecting him a beautiful way of doing so. I was drawn to the arts at a young age as well, but pursued it on my own accord rather than as a distraction from danger. I too have come to believe that art, science, and religion are all interconnected and inseparable. As humans we search for meaning and must turn to something for answers. I have chosen art as my endless pursuit and revel in the excitement of having the opportunity to teach others about it’s beauty and necessity in the world.

Assessment of Art

Before grading the lesson we taught to an eighth grade class, Mr. H spoke to us about how he handles the grading of his projects. He told us that he often creates rubrics that are very simple and concise; his rubrics generally have three points available per category and students are given back clear feedback. Mr. H adjusts his methods per specific project when necessary. We also went over grading for the Notan Design Lesson; Mr. H graded a couple projects with us before we left for the day. Nora and I finished grading the following weekend together, using the projects that we graded as a team as examples of expectations to remain as consistent as possible. We were also shown the basic functions of skyward to familiarize us with the layout.

It really helped to grade a couple projects with Mr. H; it is difficult for us to gauge where students should be at developmentally considering how little experience Nora and I have had recently with students of this age. It was nice to have these projects to help us understand the context in which these grades fall and to assist us in ensuring consistency as we worked through the pile of student artwork. Students were required to turn in answers to closure questions, sketches, their final notan design, and their completed self-assessment. Nora and I took all of this into consideration when we graded students and used the combination of all of this information to reflect on the teaching of our lesson and how we may choose to assess future lessons. Teaching and assessing this lesson made me enthusiastic about my future - working with students and teaching them about the world of art.

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Defining Classroom Rules

            Near the beginning of my practicum experience I spent some time getting to know the environment; it is fairly obvious that Mr. H is a favorite of his students. I saw numerous drawings dedicated to him and a very positive attitude within his class. While looking around the room I specifically looked for a rules poster, which in the end I was unable to find. I asked Mr. H about the posting of rules and he stated that students are expected to have an understanding of proper etiquette in their classrooms by this age and should understand social rules and the general expectations within a classroom. He also said that students who needed reminding of rules would be worked with separately on resolving their struggles with the environment. The only rules students received were on the syllabus and would only be discussed if there were a discipline issue.

            I completely agree with the method that my cooperating teacher used to handle classroom rules; I feel that it is unnecessary to post rules for students of this age. Middle and High School students should already understand what is appropriate behavior in this environment so they are prepared for further education, a career, and adulthood in general. These necessary social skills should have been developed through elementary education and their home life by the time they reach this class. I like how Mr. H doesn’t completely ignore addressing rules as a whole, he states them in the syllabus and reviews them at the beginning of the year then expects students to apply them. Rules will not be posted or addressed later on in life; this is a nice way to transition to adulthood.

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Suggestion for a New Teacher

I asked Mr. H what advice he would give a new teacher; he thought about it for a while and then said that the best advice he was ever given was: teach your students how to survive in the world, use art as a tool. Mr. H told me that he was placed at a school with a high percentage of students that were emotionally disturbed and that he struggled to teach them the content because of their inability to relax and work in their environment. The teacher he was working with gave him this advice after a particularly stressful day; these students needed to learn how to live in this environment before they could begin to absorb content. What a fantastic way to express a core element of education, how can they use what you teach them if they can't make it fit in their lives?

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this conversation, I immediately made connections to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Students cannot be expected to learn content if their basic needs are not met, they will be wrapped up in what is the most immediate need in their eyes and they cannot be blamed for this. As teachers we need to not only teach content, but we need to ensure that our students are emotionally and mentally prepared to learn from us. There are so many needs that we may have to fulfill to ensure that our students are prepared. There is so much more to teaching than just using banking education, these are complicated human beings that all have different needs and we need to fight to provide support and education for them. Every student, every class, and every year will be different.

Day Twelve: Last day! Manga and Story-Boarding

General Art:
This period was dedicated to introducing the next assignment students would  be starting the following day. Mr. H began by asking students if they were familiar with Manga and Anime, the majority were. He then spoke about how he will only introduce a culture/history/person if he can reduce it to three questions: 1)What was the change that occurred? (What made them revolutionary?) 2) What is their influence? (Why did they do what they did?) 3) What is the tradition they kept? (not too radical). He really focused on the progression/development of single panel comics to full anime by connecting the influences from Japan to the US and back. He showed examples to students and asked them to focus on their life as students, make something that you connect with. The US animated industry focuses on the heroic/what sells, they should focus on what they connect to, event if it would draw only a small crowd. Students were given time to come up a five sentence story that they would turn into a Manga in their own style. He showed images of comics and talked about breaking up the space and creating dynamic images. Students seemed excited as they spoke at the end of the hour about their ideas.
I think this sounds like such a fun project for this age group; what a great way to connect the students through their experiences as students together. Mr. H also asked students to raise their hands if they have been to an art museum in the class (1) and then he asked them to raise their hands if they have seen anything animated within the last month (every student). He told them that he wants to make sure they are familiar with their pop culture, what is truly relevant to them rather than just the fine arts.

Prep hour:
During this time Nora, Mr. H, and I reviewed his notes on our lesson and discussed what we would learn as we gained experience teaching. Mr. H was full of compliments and encouragement even while he was critiquing things we could have done differently. Speaking with him made me really excited about becoming a teacher; I only wish I'd be in the classroom again sooner! I was also excited to speak with him about student teaching; he would like to request both Nora and I to work with since we will be student teaching during different semesters. This is so great! I loved working with Mr. H over the last couple weeks and I feel like I've learned a great deal during this time.
We also went over grading for the Notan Design Lesson; Mr. H graded a couple projects with us and Nora and I will finish grading this weekend. He also showed us the basic functions of skyward before his next class began.
 I asked Mr. H what advice he would give a new teacher; he thought about it for a while and then said that the best advice he was ever given was: teach your students how to survive in the world, use art as a tool. What a fantastic way to express the core of education, how can they use what you teach them if they can't make it fit in their lives?

Eighth Grade:
This class began learning about story-boarding today. Mr. H introduced different views that are important in story boarding and gave great verbal stories that incorporated effective shots. He did a great job of helping students imagine scenes and how they would depict them. Students were shown many examples of story-boards and discussed what they were seeing.

It was really sad saying goodbye to Mr. H; I learned so much from my time in his class. I hope that I will be able to student teach with him, he is a great teacher and I think I would fit well into this setting.

Day Eleven: Finishing the Notan Design Lesson

Eighth Grade:
Today, Nora and I finished teaching our Notan Design lesson to the eighth grade class. The students had continued their lessons with Mr. H on Friday and were expected to be finishing up in class today. Before the class began Nora and I worked quickly with Mr. H to come up with a small project for students to start today, since many were nearing the end of our lesson, according to Mr. H. Mr. H informed us that these students recently learned about analogous and complimentary colors, so he thought it would be a great idea for students to build off of our lesson with this knowledge to create another small Notan, now that they understand how it works. We started the class by splitting students up into pairs to critique and contemplate scoring based on the self-assessment forms they received last week. Due to the new lesson/filler that we were introducing to the class, we decided to  introduce our closure question near the beginning of class, because it felt like an appropriate way to start. Our questions was, "If you could go back and do something differently, what would it be and why?" This allowed students to think about their design and what would be an improvement for their 4x4 in. color Notan creations. We also reminded students of what was all due at the beginning of the next hour and collected the work from students that were done and gave further instruction to students who needed it. We then gave the students work time, Nora and I circulated the room answering questions, giving suggestions, and reinforcing students. The class seemed a little less under our control today, I think it was because it was a Monday and some students were getting frustrated with cutting and gluing paper due to other projects Mr. H has worked with them on. Some of the students were turning out fantastic projects though, it was so exciting to see how successful and intricate some of their work was. I really look forward to reading through their answers, self-assessments, and getting the chance to really sit down and look at their final products. As class wrapped up, Nora and I flipped through the closure questions to make sure that students were able to answer all of them before class and pointed out the items that are due tomorrow. Mr. H then took over to remind students of what they were doing tomorrow and take back control of the room.

Day Ten: Stages and Day Two of Notan Design Lesson

General Art: Continuing stage design

I feel like this class keeps becoming more open to me; I was very excited about working with them today and felt really invested in their work. I asked many of the students what they selected as books, gave positive feedback, and suggested additions of methods for them to use. I was able to joke around with students and talk to them about books and music, I think some of these students are starting to really like me. They no longer shy away from me or answer me with short replies. Students were telling me about their school play, their family, and anything else they could think of related to their books. The only problem is I only have one more day with them! There are some really great kids in this class who have come up with very creative ways to design a scene and portray emotion. It’s going to be sad saying goodbye, knowing that we have just begun to build a relationship.

Prep-hour:

During this time I spoke to Mr. H about rules; he does not post rules in his class. I had noticed this within the first couple of days that I was present in his room. Mr. H said that he expected his students at this age to understand social rules and the general expectations within a classroom. The only rules students received were on the syllabus and would only be discussed if there were a discipline issue.

Lesson Day two:

This was another exciting day! Mr. H was out of the room for a parent-teacher conference during the majority of the prep hour and missed the first couple minutes of class. Nora and I began shortly after the bell rang and started with a recap of what students learned the day before. We split the students into small groups of three to four and gave each group a word to define. (Symmetry, asymmetry, balance, negative space, and positive space.) We asked them to write the word and define it in their own words together and present it to the class. The students did a great job of coming up with definitions and I tried to connect the definitions they gave with images that we looked at yesterday. Nora then gave a demo on how to use the exacto knives and how students should flip the pieces and paste them. We gave a few suggestions on methods that might help them create well-crafted designs. Students began working on cutting their designs out and pasting them on their large sheets of white paper. As Nora and I rotated through the room we were asked a couple questions that we addressed to the class. It was exciting to see how the information we gave them was leading to understanding and successful designs. Some students were getting excited about how their projects and other student’s work were looking. Mr. H decided to extend the project through Monday because he was pleased with how their work was looking and wanted to make sure their projects turned out well. Nora and I will be returning to the class to finish up the lesson on Monday and see how their work as paid off. To finish class we asked another closure questions, “What did you gain inspiration from for your design?”

Day Nine: Notan Lesson day one - 11/7

Notan Design!

My partner, Nora, and I began our lesson today with the Eighth grade class. Notan design focuses on utilizing elements of design to create either a symmetrical or asymmetrical image. (I will add photos of my examples and student work soon.) The students are given a 6x6 in. black square that they cut shapes from and rotate the pieces as if they were on a door hinge to explore positive and negative space. This will be glued down to large white paper.

Lesson Day one:

Nora and I began the class with a PowerPoint presentation that we hoped would engage the students through questioning and participation. Students were a little resistant and possibly a little intimidated by the change of dynamics within the class; Nora and I haven’t spent an incredible amount of time with them and have not been a significant part of any lesson up to this point. We struggled a little to get students to participate, but we reacted positively to comments and tried to appear open.  In the PowerPoint were images of Notan design, including history and examples of symmetry, asymmetry, positive space, negative space, and balance. We also defined student expectations and due dates. We explained our expectations for sketches and showed an example. Nora and I then passed out both papers along with a self-assessment form for students to complete after finishing the project. Students were given the remainder of the period to sketch while Nora and I circulated through the room answering questions. As closure we asked the students what Notan design is and asked them to write their answers in their art notebooks. Students were assigned to have three sketches finished and their favorite one drawn out on their black paper for tomorrow.

I was so excited about teaching today that I almost started to cry when we finished for the day. This was not expected; I just really loved teaching the kids and working to engage them through questioning. It was thrilling to answer their questions and work with them individually on their designs. I was so excited about making myself seem accessible and approachable to the students; the last thing I want is for them to feel like they can’t ask me a question or talk with me about their work. This was an incredibly exciting and eye-opening day. I feel like I learned so much from this initial experience.

Day Eight: Stage Construction and Adding Color

General Art:
As usual, this class immediately went to work without being prompted by Mr. H. As I walked around the room I became aware of just how different students were interpreting the prompt and how far some students were in comparison with others. The students spent the hour constructing and decorating their stages to their liking. Mr. H acted as facilitator today through assisting students with questions and commenting on their work. There was little that either of us really needed to assist students with in retrospect; we talked about student projects and organized the room while remaining accessible for students. This class went smoothly, most students made significant progress and there were no issues within the room.

Prep-hour:
Mr. H and I spent more time discussing student lessons and how to engage their minds and encourage reflection while teaching them about a new culture/art history. I really look forward to this hour and find this time to be very encouraging as a prospective teacher. I learn such different things from directly working with students verses talking with Mr. H about teaching. I think the combination of both is what makes this observation experience so enlightening and fulfilling.

Eighth Grade:
This class continued their two-point perspective drawings; the majority of students were finishing up their addition of color (chalk-pastels) and were preparing to outline their buildings with a fine-tip marker. Mr. H emphasized that students need to layer colors, create focal points, and make sides of buildings distinctly different. For those that were finished, Mr. H allowed students to attempt to write their name using two-point perspective. This was the first day that Mr. H had to discipline students while I was present; one girl rubbed her chalk-covered fingers on another girl's face, at the time Mr. H and I were discussing art history and were brought back to the class by their hysteric laughter. Mr. H chose to re-arrange seating due to the frequency of their off-task/distracting behavior. The two girls were separated and at the beginning of each class are expected to move their desks in to corners to avoid distracting others.