Last Day at NFA

My last day at NFA was spent just having the students continuing their work on their drawings. I had students at all different stages in the project so I was just walking around helping them and trying to keep them on task. It was nice to see how the drawings had progressed while I wasn't there. I was lucky enough that my teacher didn't have a problem giving them time to work on them while I wasn't there. These are some of the pictures I have of their drawings, some done, others in progress:

We didn't exactly get to the completed drawing stage that I had planned, but I'm content with the work I did and what they accomplished because I saw so many of them improve their drawing skills and really work at it, they were learning and that was more important to me in the end. 

Compostions Using Your Body- Victoria and Justin's Lesson

I really would've liked to participate in this lesson, but I had to videotape. That being said, I think it gave me a different perspective on what was going on.

I liked that this lesson kept everyone moving from the very beginning, it had students up and out of their seats participating. However, I feel that there was an issue in managing the space of the room, there were some tables in the back of the room that isolated from the rest of the class. I feel like they kind of became forgotten back there and even I found myself having to remember to keep going back there to ask questions and see what was going on. I think a solution would've been to bring those tables into the center of the room so there wasn't one student alone on the floor working by themselves.

There was also an issue with students being told that they shouldn't move both of their hands at the same time to achieve symmetry, but instead try to make a mark on one paper and then copy it on the other paper. I think this was so students could really concentrate on making the marks symmetrical. Some students had issues with this and others didn't and Justin did state that you would probably find one way easier than the other. I found that a lot of the students were doing it both ways anyway. Some students weren't really sure what to do after they had finished, they didn't really know when they were done. But overall I feel like this was a really realistic classroom situation and students were enjoying the activity. There was a lot of conversing as work was being done, it was interesting to see all this happening and not be caught up in doing the lesson myself.

Communication Through Memory- Joe and David's Lesson

This lesson was interesting, but I feel like it was a rather rushed drawing process. I feel like students who would be doing this wouldn't necessarily be happy with the drawing that they created for their partner. It had to be rendered rather fast due to the information that was given by your partner. I think it's a good practice for maybe a final drawing later on. This was the drawing that Taryn made for me:

My memory was being in the car holding one of my new puppies on the way back home from picking them up. I actually think Taryn did a really good job at drawing my memory.

There were a few issues as far as using the materials, which were kind of like oil pastels. I didn't really like using them and didn't understand really how to get the finished results that were shown in the teacher samples. we found out later that the teachers themselves had put a little more time into their drawings, which was fine, but it would've been nice to tell us not to necessarily rush the process.

The other thing that I had an issue with was the packet, I thought it was good that all that information was provided for us, but neither one of them went over it. I think it would've been helpful to have the terms explained or examples given on how we could use the terms. I saw the point of having that worksheet to work on, but I found it distracting and couldn't fill it out because I was listening to my partner and answering her questions. I kept getting distracted by that. It was also really noisy in the classroom and I had a hard time hearing what my partner was asking me.

I think it was an interesting idea in discussing communication, it just needed some tweaking.

My Thematic Lesson-Phobia Photo Comic

I was really nervous the day we did the lesson. A lot of things were falling into place a lot later than I would've liked and things were not going very smooth.

I really do wonder if there was a way to not make this a collaborative lesson in the future, than maybe the means to make it so should be explored further. I just feel like making it collaborative brings up a lot issues that can hinder the lesson. There is figuring out when to put things together and the disagreements that happen between two people who teach differently. There is also this issue that I saw in a few other presentations where one partner can be out shined, not necessarily through any fault of their own. Some people are just more dominant in certain situations and you're not going to call out your partner during a presentation. And while I know why we had to do it this way and I learned a lot of things while collaborating with a partner, I feel like a more fair way of assessing someone as teacher and seeing how they teach a 55 minute lesson would be to see them do it on their own. This is just my personal opinion and I might be the only one who felt like this, but it's the way I felt through the entire process.

That being said, I enjoyed the lesson that my partner and I came up with and presented and even though there were issues in executing it, I feel like everyone still enjoyed themselves.

Narrative and Performance Art- Jen and Megan

I enjoyed this lesson a lot. This was my puppet for my nightmare narrative:

It is an in progress spider. I have this nightmare where I am sleeping in my bed and I suddenly wake up and look up at the ceiling and there is this huge spider crawling toward me. The awful thing is that I cannot move, I am paralyzed with fear and can't get away. A horrible feeling.

I feel like when I first walked in and saw puppets, I began to wonder if it would be age appropriate, and I think with the added references to a dance group on a popular tv show, the movie the Labyrinth and the puppetry used by another culture to portray fables and stories, it in fact did make it very age appropriate. 

I think just some things to consider would be maybe not such an emphasis on having to have a figure in the nightmare. Also, there are students that are not going to be as willing to share their nightmares or maybe cannot remember their nightmares and maybe coming up with solutions for those issues.

Other than that I thought the lesson was presented very well, I walked in a little late, but i still understood exactly what was being discussed and what we were supposed to do. I would love to do a lesson like this in a classroom.

Candy Compositions- Mia and Rebecca's Lesson

I feel like this lesson was fun, but a big risk and there were some snags in executing it. This was my candy composition that I made:

I had the Beatles song "Across the Universe" and used the line "Images of broken light dance before me like a million eyes..."

I think the part of the lesson I had the hardest time with was during the demo. The demo itself was really well done and helpful, but halfway through it, I was wondering what we were making with the candy, I really had no idea why we were watching a demo on making things with candy.

My second issue was the choice of songs. I do like the Beatles, but I think limiting it to one band and their music is not going to sit well with your students. I understand that there is the possibility of inappropriate content if you let the student pick their own song, but I'm sure that can be worked out somehow because I think a more personal connection to the song could be helpful in making the artwork.

I think the energy during the lesson was prevalent, but we were also eating a lot of the candy.

Teaching at NFA Part 2

The second part of my lesson revolved around elements of design. Students got to experiment with pattern, symbols, and color to make a design that was personal to them to fill in the hands they had drawn. I also touched on Mehndi designs that are done with Henna: 

I felt like this was a relevant cultural tie in because a lot of them had heard of henna tattoos, but might not know their significance in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. I discussed with them about how they were using pattern and symbols and how these design were very significant to Muslim and Indian cultures as they are usually applied before weddings and important religious festivals.

The students really liked seeing images like this and I think my enthusiasm about them was a little contagious. I also saw why many started the design process that they kind of took elements from these designs and made them their own. 

Another thing I saw in their designs was students really trying to incorporate their personal interests. I had one student make a design on her hands that revolved around her being a volunteer firefighter. Another student used these figures that he drew as the main focus and made a design around it. 

I was quite pleased with the designs that they were coming up with. I gave them multiple suggestions and helped them one on one, but I didn't want to give them too much. What a lot of them came up with was fantastic.

Some of my students work:

I had a few students who had rendered their hands to the point where they became very attached to them and didn't want to fill them in, so I suggested that they come of with a design to fill in the negative space around the hands.