Student Teaching Part 2: Gayhead Elementary School

After leaving a wonderful experience at the New Paltz Middle School, I thought my only direction for my next placement could go was down. Little did I know, Mrs. Robinson, the elementary schools art teacher was also an amazing mentor. I learned so much from her as a teacher and peer in the school. Her classroom was extremely organized and displayed all the students work. She had a great relationship with the students and new extremely well where to draw the line between friend and educator.
I hung around the room for a week or so, getting the hang of the way she taught and what the students reacted well to. She had many techniques I took notes on and wanted to incorporate into my teaching style. While I waited, I developed lesson plans and projects.
The projects I did with the students included:

1st grade
Van Gogh Trees- this project may have been a little better for a higher age level, second or third grade. Students had a hard time connecting paintbrush to paper. But, the end results were so cute! Students learned A LOT of techniques and names of styles in this lesson. After reading Sky Tree, by Thomas Locker, students were asked to make their own tree and use color schemes for a particular season.

2nd grade

The Big Orange Splot- The introduction for this lesson icluded a class book reading of "The Big Orange Splot." Students then learned how to mix paint to create the color orange. They then created their own ink blot and had to decide what they saw in the image! Very cool. They were asked to draw on top of the dried paint and recreate whatever they had imagined the splot to be. We spoke about contrasting colors and negative space. Each student also wrote the story of what they saw in their big orange splot.

 

3rd grade

Texture Boxes- After I dressed myself up as Louis Nevelson to introduce this lesson, students learned about Nevelson as an artist and what texture was. They were asked to make their own texture boxes that would create an installation when combined with classmates work. Thank goodness my mentor teacher had tons of materials for this! We used laundry detergent caps, wood, buttons, straws, tissue paper, pinecones..  When students finished their boxes I brought them all outside and spray painted them according to class. This class came back and saw their pieces all gold! The reactions were extremely rewarding and they kids loved to see their work together. They conducted a quick write up about texture, what they see in other students boxes and what they learned from the lesson. This was on display in the hallways and students recieved MANY complements on the lesson. It was abstract but eye grabbing!

4th grade
Nature Books- Students in these classes learned how to create an accordian book and what drawing from observation meant. They were asked to explore outside for interesting materials that they can bring into the classrom. After gathering supplies from outside, they came back and explored the art materials such as painting, watercolor, printing, and drawing.

5th grade
Calder Balloons- This project was definitely a bit of a challenge for this age group. I would love to try it again with 7th graders and see if it was a bit more productive. The main goal for this project was to learn about artist Alexander Calder and create hollow balloon like structures with facial expressions. Using balloons, students wrapped glue-y yarn around the balloon. The base was a primary color and once dried, yarn was again applied to create a loopy facial expression that the student chose in black. Students at this age seemed to have an extremely hard time working the motor skills to control the balloon. After a first failed attempt, I made the balloons smaller. This worked a bit better, but even then students had a hard time keeping the yarn tight from falling off the balloon. Again, an older group would have had a bit of an easier time with this project. In the end, I finished the base for some balloons that had no hope. Students created the face on top and the next day in class, they showed up to their spheres hanging in the front of the room.

This was as well a marvelous experience. I spoke a lot with Mrs. Robinson outside of the classes about how I can improve my teaching and communication with the students. She gave me a ton of feedback for growth and expanding. I would hope to go back one day to see the classes and school again. I greatly enjoyed my experiences student teaching and I often reminisce about how great it was!