Day Three

General Art:
These students were assigned a small, long rectangular drawing to bring to class today. These drawings had to incorporate people, text, and symbols. They were then given a relatively large piece of clay to flatten out using a large slab roller. Mr. H told this class that tomorrow they would be transferring the image from their drawing to the clay slab,  later they would cut the slab into four equally sized pieces, and finally they would assemble a hand build square jar. I thought this was a really great transitional project from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. They would learn some basic clay techniques like scoring and using slip to connect pieces, while still retaining some basic two-dimensional drawing skills. I think this will help them get used to the medium before they move on to a hand-building lesson.

Prep-hour:
During today's prep time I shadowed Ms. J in chemistry. Mr. H recommended that since there wasn't anything for me to do for prep today, that I watch a student teacher who is doing a phenomenal job of asserting herself and connecting with the students. These students were working on "Chemistry shields", which was a project that required them to pick an element and research to create/decorate a large cardboard shield. Students were required to include on their shield the structure, history, properties, and uses of the element of their choosing. I enjoyed watching Ms. J work with her students; she was energetic, interested, and supportive when interacting with her students. They were on task and reacted well to her critiques as she circulated the room. The students seemed comfortable approaching her to ask questions and respected her presence in the room.

Eighth grade:
This group was continuing a bowl that they had started yesterday. The lesson was a continuation from the last one, they were asked to create another focal point on their clay project, but this time it was a three-dimensional object. I asked the students about what they were thinking about or drawing inspiration from, many of them stated that they were creating images similar to other graphic, hard-edged projects from the beginning of the semester.
I thought it was interesting to listen to these students talk throughout the hour; they were all very interested in football and it seemed that almost all of them were aware of numerous teams and their stats/players. It seems that sports are a big part of the community within this school; I don't remember sports being such a topic of interest when I was their age.