Hi Gang, Sorry we haven't posted our PLC's lately. Sean and I have been swamped in the last month and a half. All is well. The issue about the clay and which art room to teach it was decided by our administration. It turns out that I will have to teach this class in Sean's room after all because of the computer issues. This will be impossible but we will struggle through... I guess.
Today's meeting... several topics.
Our first was a continuation of the logistics of the sculpture class and Sean's room.
Secondly was about computer shortage for both my room and his.
Lastly, we spent much of our time creating our smart goal for this semester.
Art I and the "Still life" project:
We have discussed this with you all in previous blog... but Sean and I are now considering some major revisions with the project. Our goal is maintain our previous goals through redistribution of time.
After reviewing the data (results of the finished still life projects, by our students) we believe that the still life project should be removed from our curriculum. Student simply could not complete the drawings (with the exception of maybe 3 or 4 out of 100 students) with any measurable degree of success or completeness.
The greatest challenges we met with the assignment was
-time... not enough of it (being only a semester class and all).
-productivity (the projects robs time from other more valuable projects)
-necessity (can we reach our goals without this project)
-readiness (are the students to take on this task and instead should wait till they reach art two.
Our goal for this second semester is to remove the still life drawing completely from the curriculum while maintaining the goal of having the students compose, render an object from life. We believe we can have the students succeed with these objectives through other current projects/exercises we have in place. The three weeks gained by removing the assignment will promote more complete work from the students in all these other assignments.
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2 comments:
Well, snow days are good for a lot of things including checking on the department blog. Anyway, now that your school is slated for architectural revisions, are there some ways you can improve the art studio space issue in the future? In black and white, the high school art program (with a little vertical integration from us grades 1-7 art teachers) has consistently produced significant scholarship monies, so perhaps you can remind everyone about that and beg for a third room? One room for computer art and drawing, one for clay and sculpture (with adequate ventilation), and one for painting (and dare I propose this?) advanced printmaking (that's the "surface designer" in me). Anyway, dare to dream....
Wow... I wish I had a day (time) to respond properly to your comment.
Our program, from what I understand, is not under any consideration of architectural changes. A new computer lab with the new Apple computers placed in that lab would be a great solution on many levels. It would allow for growth in the art department... since I teach 4 periods a day computer art anyway (last semester was 3). In other words, a sculpture class and a painting class and a computer art class could all be happening at the same time with such an addition. But I am not holding my breath. In the end... our classes do not really matter. We are an academically/sports driven district. I can tell you this though, today was my second day with my new sculpture class. It is a nightmare. Kids are tripping over each other because of the lack of room, especially at clean up time. And I have no clue where we are going to store these large sculpture projects when we really get started. And how about Sean. Is the administration expect his kids to transport their easels back and forth everyday... because they need the easels for his other classes.
It is just a mess.
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