Final Exams

We've hit the mid point of the school year so that means it is time for final exams!

I have never been a fan of exams.  Taking them or giving them.  I'm more of a final project kind of person, especially in my subject area.  As an art teacher I feel that the best way to determine whether my students have learned anything or retained any knowledge is to see how they apply what they've learned to a creative project.  However, during this time in education, the written word and the measurable test is the preferred method of verifying that our students have learned anything.

Although this is not something I believe really myself, I do give a written final since it is required.  I do try to incorporate some more hands on components in an attempt to keep the creativity in there which is what I really am 'grading.'

So twice a year, I sit in a silent classroom - no music or chitchat - and watch my students finish a written final.  It is a long week...

...and so is next week.  Why? The start of a whole new semester with all new students.  It's like the beginning of the year all over again!  Syllabi, scheduling conflicts, and learning another 100 or so new names is what is in store for me next week.  It is exciting to get new students and start fresh, but its also hard to say good-bye to the really great classes I had that were just gaining momentum!

The Spring semester always seems like the hardest of the two.  It is not the beginning of the year, so the students tend to be slow to getting started and are not as 'enthusiastic' as they tend to be in September.  The Spring also brings additional challenges - disruptions from testing, more vacation time and seniors leaving early.  I feel like I never accomplish as much in the Spring.

But the warmer weather will be coming, which means potential for more outdoor assignments.  There are things to look forward to.  I need to work on keeping my motivation up to get ready for the beginning again.  The school year is already half way over and it will be summer before we know it.

After all this freezing whether lately, summer can't come soon enough.

Beginning Blogger

I've been looking for a way to work out my trials and tribulations as a new high school art teacher and I decided that I would give blogging a try. I'm planning on sharing my successes and failures in hopes that others out there will be inspired or will at least inspire me. Either way, everybody wins.

I'm very much into art, crafts, and anything that makes life artistic so i'm sure that will be a large part of this blog as well. My current passion is crochet. i'm working on an afghan and i'm in search of an awesome pattern for a hat. I have some great cotton/silk yarn which is screaming to be created into something.

Regarding school, i'm teaching an intro art class at a high school where a small percentage of the students have ever had art. this is completely new to me. i'm used to be able to explain things and use art terms with out question, but its completely different now. i'm starting from the bottom up. we just finished creating a color wheel and we had to go step by step. so basic, that i needed to explain how to create orange, green ad purple. Don't get me wrong, the kids are great, its just a learning curve for me. I'll planning on posting how lessons are going. Currently, we are painting apples in various color schemes and i'm beginning to realize that I probably should have taught value before color because the concept of color is beyond many on them. Oops. but they are half year classes so i get to fix things for next semester.

that's it for now. more to come i'm sure. i'm hoping this blogging thing will be a good outlet for me!