Technology (of a sort) in the Art Room

I recently made great strides in technology integration in my classroom...my first grade students spent three weeks of art classes using my extra special, super duper SHADOW MACHINE.... AKA an Overhead Projector!!  Yes, I know, it's overwhelmingly impressive.  As an art-on-a-cart teacher for this year, I have to be creative on how I meet that technology standard...

Joking aside, first graders recently learned about the solar system and the rotation of the earth in their science classes.  It turned out that this coincided perfectly with art lessons about Shadows.  We talked a bit about how artists make shadows using color and elongated shapes.  We looked at Wayne Thiebaud paintings.  After discussion we made the distinction that shadows in a painting or drawing are basically pretend.  Before we delve into how artists do that, we spent several weeks having a whole lot of fun making REAL shadows.  I was totally shocked at how well students did with this.  Each class took a different approach.  Not knowing how this would go over, I wanted to keep the lesson somewhat fluid to adapt to students' interests and the direction they wanted to take.  When all was said and done, the results were amazing.  My plain old overhead became a stage for many simple though exciting little tales made from paper cut outs that students presented in "Shadow Shows" at the end of the lesson.  One of my favorites depicted a student's own version of Chicken Little. His version involved an alien ship zooming in and stealing the sun.  Chicken Little stormed the ship, retrieved the sun, and put it back where it belongs.  Quite an amazing adventure.  Needless to say, there were also many monsters getting their heads torn off, etc.  As always, I saw the usually range of results.  Some students definitely got into the presentation part of this more than others, but as far as the process of translating a piece of paper into a paper cut out and finally into a shadow on a screen was rewarding to ALL students at ALL levels of ability.

Being a Good Listener

Over the last week or two I've made a discovery--or more realistically, I finally faced a problem area in my teaching day that has needed attention.  I realized that in the frenzy to keep up with all the logistics of my day--class to class, school to school, paint spill to untied shoe--I wasn't being a great listener.  One of the things about my job that I find most rewarding is the fact that I get to teach a class that allows room for socialization and a lot of sharing.  My most favorite thing to do is to step back and listen while students are working.  Over the last few weeks, this aspect of my job somehow fell out of the forefront of my mind and priorities.  In all honesty, I'm somewhat in mourning for all the fascinating tid-bits of thought I've missed over the past month or so.  To rectify this problem, I took a few steps that have been fairly helpful.
1.  I've geared my morning routine so that it now includes more exercise and less coffee.  I have more energy and patience which means I have more room in my brain to deal with the day to day things that may come up and can stay calm, able to listen and in the moment.

2.  I've structured sharing moments into every class.

3.  I've become more in tune with the rhythm of my classes--that sounds odd, but no two classes are the same so can't be taught exactly the same.  I have kindergarten classes at the end of the day every day.  The first in line starts art immediately after their afternoon recess.  This means their energy is really high and scattered.  I have to start at their level, grab their attention, and then bring them back down to an operating level that is more conducive to a successful, not-crazy art class.

4.  I've started keeping a little notebook near me all the time so I can quickly jot down kid quotes and thoughts as they come out.

5.  Above all, I'm constantly reminding myself to remain calm and comfortable and to not latch on to too much power in the classroom.  This alone creates an open and comfortable atmosphere where students want to share ideas and thoughts.  It's taken me some time to really see this but, power and control are not the same thing.  Students need room to guide themselves freely and to THINK their way through a series of given tasks.  This doesn't mean I let them go at it with no direction.  It means I let them veer from the plan if they want to or if they have a better way of doing something that I hadn't thought of.  More often than not their ideas are successful, and when they aren't they've learned firsthand that some ideas are better than others--and that's OK!

In reviewing the success of these few steps, I think they're working fairly well.  If not for paying closer attention to these aspects of my day listen to what I would have missed....

Kindergarten conversation 1:
Carson:  "My step-mom's cat died because blood was coming from its privates and he went to heaven.
(side note: there is no such thing as TMI when you're 5!)  

Jim: "What's heaven, Carson?"

Max: "Heaven is a place in the sky by God and the dead angels.  You become a dead angel when you go there.

Kindergarten conversation 2:  (On the opposite end of the insight spectrum....)

Javin: "Pee-pee."

Austin: "You can say that again!"

Javin: "Pee-pee."

Austin: "You can say that again!"

---Repeat about 5 more times....you get the idea!---

Long story short, when you start listening, there is no end to the fascinating things kids say.  No, there not always insightful, but in my opinion, any thought that a person between the ages of 5 and 8 (as is my clientele) can commit to words is worth listening to.