Papier Mache is here!

Here is the first steps of the tribute letter project. Letter skeletons on the left and papier mache in action on the right.

Sketches

To start the tribute letter project, students must first choose a person to whom they want to dedicate the letter. Once the person and letter/letters are chosen, the student must begin creating at least 4 sketches trying out different fonts and designs that represent the person to whom the letter/s pay tribute. After creating the sketches, the student chooses their favorite sketch to turn into a first draft of what the artwork will look like drawing it on a larger scale and adding color. Here are some sample sketches by a particularly talented 9th grader named Ivory. I love that she did 8 sketches instead of the required 4, some of which are completely fantastic (the pretzel and hotdog). You can also see her first draft completed in color.

Experiment Station

I had another post featured on the Phillips Collection Experiment Station blog! You can read it here. There is a fairly good discussion going on in the comment section, feel free to leave your input!

Field Trip Monday lead to some strange finds on Tuesday

While I try to highlight great student moments, from time to time I need to mention some of the realities of teaching. After the amazing field trip Monday, I returned to school on Tuesday to find my classroom door damaged to the point of needing to be replaced. It appeared that someone tried to open the door and used enough force to break the entire lock mechanism and leaving a hole where it once was. Students often try to break into my classroom by aggressively shaking the door, slamming into it, or kicking it, and this time, the student succeeded. I entered my classroom fearing what I might find. I imagined my things stolen and classroom vandalized. However, I found that although my things had been moved around, nothing major was missing. The vandal also left a gift: a cut cardboard heart painted red. Next to the cardboard heart was a piece of paper where the student smeared red paint from the heart and wrote their name: Nobody. Lastly, the brush the student used to paint the heart was washed and placed in the sink. It was a strange find. As there is a camera facing my classroom door, I hope the vandals get caught. In the meantime, I have the heart displayed in my classroom.

Field Trip Monday

To top off the excellent end of the week PD, I spent Monday at the National Gallery of Art with some of my students. It was a magical experience. Our wonderful friends at the NGA were able to bus us from Ballou downtown. We started off at the McDonalds in Chinatown where we grabbed a bite to eat and shared french fries and funny stories. On our walk down to NGA two of my boys gave their leftover food to some homeless men on the street, it was a really sweet moment.

At the NGA we received a wonderful tour by an energetic tour guide who attempted to focus the students' attention on various artworks and engage them in conversations. Never having been to an art museum before, the students were easily distracted and kept running from painting to painting. Even though at times I think we might have tested the patience of our tour guide, I was excited to see their enthusiasm for the art, even if it wasn't always the art they were 'supposed' to be looking at. Nevertheless, I think they got something out of the tour and our guide handled them well.

For the last hour, I allowed the students to self-guide in the east wing. I gave them sketching assignment sheet, but aside from sketching and gathering information on the object label, they were free to wander the galleries and enjoy the beautiful space that is the east building. It was fantastic to see them wandering through the galleries and making discoveries. They recognized works by Chuck Close, Henri Matisse, Frank Stella, and Georgia O'Keeffe, among others. In case you didn't recognize the first artwork at the top of the post, it is a Jim Dine sculpture that I spent some time studying with one of the girls. On the bus ride home one of the boys told me he was glad he was selected to go on the trip and that he appreciated being allowed to look at art on his own. It was great. THANK YOU NGA!

Corcoran

This past Friday was the 3rd edition of the specialized art PD for DCPS teachers. I greatly enjoy the time we share together as teachers and the wonderful workshops prepared for us. This time we were at the Corcoran learning storytelling techniques, how to incorporate complex texts, and of course some art production time with local artist BK Adams. To the right is an artwork by BK. If you are a local, you have probably seen his 'I AM ART' posters posted around town.

Explicit Vocabulary

I had to laugh when I read the description for a professional development opportunity that included the words 'explicit' and 'vocabulary.' I believe explicit vocabulary is one area in which many of my students are experts. Joking aside, the PD was great. The speaker (Angela Schroeder) was an expert on her subject and she was both engaging and informative. This is the first of several literacy based PDs I plan to attend this year.