• By the end of the lesson the learner will apply and perform ceramic techniques including pinching, coiling, and slab building.
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to identify ceramic tools.
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to identify the different stages of clay.
  
  

• By the end of the lesson the learner will develop a short stop motion animation and pair it with an audio of their choice.
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to operate a stop motion application (Stop Motion Studio).
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to justify their creative choices when it comes to the production of their animation.
  
  

• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to demonstrate how to properly carve and print a linoleum block.
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to proficiently create a work of art that connects to a broader idea representing their personal content.
• By the end of the lesson the learner will be able to understand the importance of planning and sketching before a project’s execution.
  
  

• Summary of activity:
  
  

• Description of final outcomes:
  
  

• Future Modifications:
  
  

• Description of final outcomes. 
  
  

• Future Modifications 
  
  

• Summary of activity 
  
  

• Description of final outcomes. 
  
  

• Future Modifications
  
  

• A summary of the process
  
  
  • First, we sketched out my creature, a ghost, onto a piece of scrap paper. Then, I made another sketch of my ghost twice onto two pieces of off-white fabric leaving a border to make it easier when we began sewing the lines together. Then I  lined up the tracings and used the running stitch to attach the two sides. I made sure to leave a 2-3 inch gap that we would use to fit in stuffing. I turned the fabric inside out so the showing thread and outlines would be hidden on the inside, and then filled it with stuffing. Next I  closed my gap with the ladder stitch. For the face of our creature, I had the option to use either the running stitch or the back stitch for detail. I used the running stitch to create a mouth, and I also used a needle and thread to attach buttons as the eyeballs. 

• How would I teach it?
  
  
  • I think it would be a fun challenge to teach students the wet-felting technique and start with having students make an individual work similar to how we did in Pursley’s lesson, and then do a large collaborative project where individual pieces come together and students create a collaborative wet-felted mural. 

• How could I teach sustainability with weaving? How would I incorporate it?:
  
  
  • I could teach weaving sustainably incorporating a conversation with students about how we can work sustainably, and incorporate sustainable practices by using found materials to weave with: bark, plant fibers, scraps of yarn, cup up fabrics, grasses, maybe found scraps of plastic/other recyclable materials that have enough give to be attached to a loom. Another way to incorporate sustainable practices into the lesson would be creating our own looms similar to the ones we used in Kasap’s lesson that were made out of cardboard and yarn. 

• My final outcomes as compared to goals:
  • When it comes to tye-dying, I can never pick a pattern. I like it to be random and unpredictable, so I used the crumple tying technique. I used a wide variety of colors, but a lot of yellow and blue. I was hoping that it would be a lot more colorful, but the results were primarily yellow and green. There are some faint hues of purple and pink, but they will certainly wash out after the first one or two cycles in the washing machine. The crumple method worked out as much as I could have predicted, though there was a lot more white space than I anticipated, but I was working with a large shirt with a lot of space, and I crumpled it into a pretty small and tight ball so that may have been a factor.

• Reflecting on the applicability of natural dyes, and/or dyeing in general, in the art classroom (based on my experience):
  • Based on my experience, I would say it isn’t the most applicable technique to incorporate into the art classroom, but not impossible if you have the resources and time. Of course we didn’t get to experience the same grueling process of creating the dyes and scouring the shirts and adding the mordant that Derrick did, but I imagine it would be hard to find the space, resources, and time to do that on your own as a teacher as well. It would also be quite challenging to do that process with students as well, since there can be so many chemicals, boiling, and odors involved. That being said, dying in general might be a good beginning or end of year activity where you could start up the conversation of sustainability that could transcend into the rest of the year, and students could maybe dye some t-shirts or artist smocks. 

• Summary of activity

The fourth week of Saturday Morning Art Workshops was also my second and my last solo-taught lesson for this semester. I decided that we were going to play with clay, and boy was it fun! We began the lesson with a very brief opening activity that got kids up and moving and dancing around, as they typically come in with a lot of energy. I played a video that was made by some teacher somewhere who wrote a short four minute song that went over the life-cycle of the butterfly, which was our connection to the overarching theme of environment. We had a smaller class this week, so the energy felt a little lower than normal, but most of the kids had lots of fun getting up into the middle of the room and coming up with little dances that synced with the different stages of the butterfly. We debrief afterward and discussed what we already knew and then what we learned about butterflies. These smart cookies already knew the life-cycle and it was a good refresher for them. 

After the opening activity, we moved into the instruction time. Most students, if not all had touched clay before in the art classroom, so much of what we covered was easy to catch on to or was review for them. I gave them all three approximately ½ pound balls of clay, and demonstrated how to flatten them out to make the body and then two wings. We talked about the slip and scoring technique and how we use it to connect the different pieces. I used a fun rhyme that I learned from my practicum teacher to help students remember these steps: scratch, scratch, water, attach. From there we went over vocabulary such as symmetry and texture, and I demonstrated how to create texture and symmetry by impressing materials into the clay butterfly wings. Students then moved into a work period where they began slipping and scoring their butterflies together and creating their wing patterns using texture and symmetry. Once they finished those steps, we watched a read-aloud and then reviewed how to use underglazes and brushes. 

• Description of final outcomes.

By the end of the lesson, each student was able to complete all of the steps for the day, including glazing. The results of each student's butterflies showed their understanding of the terms and techniques we had learned and/or reviewed: symmetry, texture, slipping and scoring. 

• Future Modifications

I actually modified this lesson at the last minute from using the slab technique to hand-building/slipping and scoring technique after experimenting/practicing the lesson with a kindergartner in my practicum teachers class after school one day. Learning how to create a ceramic creature using the handbuilding technique and attaching  through slipping and scoring works well with K-1st graders, but the slab technique was a bit more challenging with their fine motor skills, as well as considering our limited amount of time. I think this lesson could be modified for older students (perhaps 2nd-3rd) by using the cutting from a slab technique instead.

For the 5th week of SMAW, Mya taught a fun and engaging lesson where students got to learn about fossils and create their own scratchboards. This could be a potentially time consuming process for the relatively short amount of time we have with students, but Mya had a plan to counter this. To get them to color the bottom layer of their scratchboards as quickly as possible so they had more time for etching later on, she made it a game by seeing who could cover up their paper the most while playing a 5 minute timer. The students loved this bit, but they needed a bit more time to finish, so they begged for another timer, which Mya was hoping for and already had planned to give them another 3 minute timer to finish that first step. Mya also kept their end goal a secret the whole time, so when she got to the demonstration, everyone was pleasantly surprised.

The next step was to cover up their first layer of crayon with black pastel. After this step, Mya provided the students with a demonstration on how to draw certain types of fossils as well as bones, skulls of dinosaurs and other creatures, some plant-like items, etc. Then they had work time to create their own depiction of fossils by etching onto the scratchboards they had made using wooden tools. The activity also included an open discussion on what students know about fossils/how they’re made, if they have used scratchboards before, etc. Mya also showed the students a read aloud of a children's book titled, “Nature is an Artist.” by Jennifer Lavalee. Other resources Mya shared during this lesson were some papers that showed examples of what full dinosaur fossils looked like that students could reference while they worked. 

• Description of final outcomes: 

At the end of the lesson, each student was able to successfully create their own scratchboard with a wide array of types of fossils. Some students created full dinosaur compositions out of bones, other students drew fossils that both Mya and I had never even heard of, and much more. Students loved the lesson as well, and were very engaged in their art making. 

• Future Modifications

If I were to teach this project myself with this particular age group, I might make a modification and include a time where students can practice drawing bones and fossils before etching them onto their scratchboards. I would also try to make it a point in the demonstration to show students how that can remedy mistakes. For an older age group, I might modify this lesson by having them work on a larger scale and put more emphasis on creating stronger, more intentional compositions within their fossil etchings. 

• Age Group: K-1st

• Teacher Name: 

• Date Taught: 11/4/23

• Learning Objectives:

  • The learner will create an individual suncatcher  that will be part of a collaborative work using recyclable materials 

  • The learner will create geometric shapes using lines drawn with a straight edge, and color. 

  • The learner will gain a deeper understanding of light/the sun and what it provides. 

• Essential Questions: 

  • What does light provide?

  • What are geometric shapes?

  • How can I create geometric shapes? 

  • What is a suncatcher? 

• Summary of activity:

This week was our last week of Saturday Morning Art Workshops! To go out with a bang, for the final lesson, students created individual suncatchers that went together to make one collaborative work! We began the lesson with a conversation about collaborative artworks, and how artists come together to create one collaborative artwork made of multiple components. For our opening activity, we briefly reviewed geometric shapes, and I demonstrated to the students how you can create geometric shapes by using a straightedge and creating multiple lines all over the paper. Students used rulers as a straightedge and then made their own lines using sharpie. For the next chunk of instruction, I demonstrated different ways they can color in their shapes that they made using either tempera paint or markers, or both!

While students worked on coloring, we talked about what suncatchers are, and watched a read aloud of a children's book called, “You Are Light” by Aaron Becker. The book has a unique visual component that consists of bright die-cut circles with different colors on each page that illuminate when you place the book on top of a light source, similar to how their suncatchers would function. During this making period, students were encouraged to use a variety of different colors, as well as decorate the cardboard frames of their suncatchers. 

• Description of final outcomes: 

Most students were able to complete their suncatchers, and all turned out incredibly colorful and vibrant. The students did a wonderful job using a ruler as a straightedge, and the end result was lots of sharp lines and geometric shapes that they had lots of fun coloring in. 

• Future Modifications:

If I were to teach this lesson again with an older group of students, I may modify this lesson to make them work on a larger scale, or maybe even challenge them to create symmetry with their geometric shapes. Another option would be challenging students to create figural/representational images: animals, plant motifs, people, using geometric shapes like you might see in a stained glass window or mosaic.

Being totally unfamiliar with Adobe Illustrator, once I heard that we were allowed to use pre-made laser cut files I was all on board with that. I liked the pattern that you could make that allowed the wood to bend, so I searched for something like that and went from there. I saw that you could make the cover of a journal or book with a laser cut using a similar pattern, so I downloaded that one. To make it a bit more personal to me and to try and attempt getting more familiar with using the software, I added some text to the file that would be raster engraved. 

• Description of if/how you would use a laser cutter in an art class:

I would be willing to use a laser cutter in an art class, but I would be more likely to incorporate it amongst upper level high school students (11th-12th) that took more advanced classes. My sole reasoning for this is because I would want to spend more time focusing on how to use Adobe Illustrator or other software options so that students wouldn’t feel inclined to source pre-made files online and could feel more confident making their own. I would be open to expanding this type of a lesson to a broader age range of students depending on the funding and resources available already within the school/art classroom.

My 3D printed sculpture was created using a couple of basic shapes and grouping them together to create a ring dish. I made the dish shape as well as my name “Jones” on the front of the dish using the ‘creating holes’ technique I learned when completing the starter tutorials. I made two identical prints of the same dish design, but for the second one I added another cylinder shape to create a place to hang earrings above the dish. 

• Description of if/how you would use 3D printing in an art class (include grade levels in reflection as well as details about the learning outcomes you would be working towards

I think the user-friendly interface of TinkerCAD makes me feel more comfortable introducing 3D printing to younger students in addition to secondary students, perhaps 5th-8th grade and above. With those younger grade levels, I think a soft introduction to 3D printing would work best by having them create small sculptures such as animals, or functional objects like keychains with their name. For older students, say 9th-12th grade, as they progressed I would create more challenges by having them work on a larger scale or create more large/functional pieces, or large sculptural works.

In preparation of exhibiting my student’s artwork, I was primarily considering the importance of making sure each student was represented, and that each student had artwork to be displayed, even if they were only present 1-2 weeks, or even if an artwork was unfinished. My main priority was that if every student of mine made it to the art show they would be able to point out their artwork on display and say, “that is mine. I made that.” I was also carefully considering the placement of their artwork, making sure small people would be able to see everything by making sure it wasn’t hung up too high onto the walls, as well as keeping things organized by project. 

• What process did you and your peers go through to prepare?

To prepare for the show, we went through a planning process over time to distribute tasks amongst one another: creating a slideshow of images from the workshops, picking up snacks and coffee, bringing art-making supplies for kids to have access to during the celebration, etc. My peers and I also went through the process of sorting through student artworks, making sure they were ready to be put on display, ensuring each artwork was labeled with the students name, etc. I specifically had to hot glue some pipe cleaners on the back of my students ceramic butterflies so they could hang on the wall, as well as hot glue a wing that had broken off of a butterfly in the kiln firing. 

• How were you feeling leading up to the exhibition?

I was feeling pure joy and excitement leading up to the exhibition. I knew that the students had worked so hard, and that they were equally if not more excited. I was looking forward to seeing them again, and specifically seeing their faces as they got to witness all of their artwork on display. 

• How did students respond to the final exhibition?

From what I could tell, the students had a blast at the final exhibition celebration. Some of my kinders/first graders I could tell were slightly shy and nervous, but it was fun watching them from afar pull their parents, family members, friends, and supporters around and pointing at the artwork they made. A fun story from the show that was relayed to me by someone else who had overheard a conversation was one of my students was pulling another kid around the installation and explaining the processes and techniques they had used for each of the projects they did. Nothing feels better as a teacher to hear what sticks with students!  

• How did family members and supporters respond?

I heard nothing but awe and praise from the family members and supporters about the show, which was heartwarming to hear. I got to speak to the majority of my students' family members/supporters and they all kept gushing about how excited their kids were, how they had visited multiple times throughout the week while the show was up, how amazing everything looked, as well as how well the artworks were installed within the space. 

• What went into preparing for the art exhibition?

Much work went into preparing for the art exhibition. These preparations included labeling students' artwork, writing and printing out descriptions of the lessons students participated in, making sure each artwork was labeled with the students name. Then there was the installing part, which included picking out a space to hang artwork and arrange their pieces.  I personally was in charge of curating the slideshow, so I had to collect images from each group and figure out the technology of getting the slideshow to loop on a monitor, which was quite the challenge. It might as well have been rocket science, but it got done and worked! 

• How did you and your students feel at the exhibition?  

I could tell students were very excited, and ultimately proud of their hard work being shown off. As the teacher, I also felt a deep sense of pride. Partially for all of the hard work it took for my peers and I to get the show put together, but largely for all of the hard work the students had done and how fantastic all of their artwork had turned out. It was a truly rewarding experience, and I think everyone would agree.

Suminagashi marbling is an ancient technique that consists of suspending color in a liquid and manipulating it into creating a variety of patterns and designs. You need a surfactant, which lowers the surface tension of the water allowing the ink to float, an oily ink called Sumi, and fine tipped calligraphy brushes. Henry showed us how you take two of these fine tipped brushes and dip one in a water and soap mixture, another in ink, and can dip them in alternatively. The water and soap mixture spreads the ink out so you can create space in between the inks. You can also use tools, such as toothpicks, to manipulate the ink creating lines and swirls. 

• Describe how you might incorporate paper marbling into a larger unit in the art classroom:

I might incorporate paper marbling into a larger unit in the art classroom with a printmaking or bookbinding unit. I think it would be fun to create journals from pages made using Suminagashi marbling, and then also create some marbled pages with the intent to print onto them, combining the two mediums.

Ebru marbling is a method of making patterned paper by transferring color from the surface of a liquid onto paper. You are able to do this by thickening the water using Carrageenan, a gelling agent, and using water-based inks that float on the surface. Aluminum sulfate is also added to the surface of the paper to ensure a smooth and clear transfer. There are many techniques you can use to create a unique pattern: the stone technique is done by simply flicking a paint brush of ink over the water, or you can use droppers to add ink to the surface, and then manipulate the ink  using tools such as combs, tooth picks, or by using your breath. You then apply the paper, leave it on the surface for a couple of seconds, gently remove, and then rinse it well in a basin of water and leave it to dry. 

I would use this in an art classroom when introducing a collaging or printmaking unit. I think it would be fun to teach junior or high school art students. It is very similar to printmaking, as with marbling you are transferring inks to paper, just in slightly different ways and using different techniques. Ebru marbling also creates very vibrant and color prints, and therefore I think it would be a good stand-alone lesson to tie in to color theory and challenge students to create unique compositions using only analogous colors, or only complimentary colors, so on and so forth.

I would absolutely use this technique in my classroom, either elementary or secondary. I think it would be a great lesson to bring in elements of culture and history with the traditional Gyotaku techniques while doing a unit on print-making. I think it could be even more enriching, depending on your community. For example, my hometown is right on the Mississippi river and they are largely known for the lock and dam, as well as being a large boating/fishing community. What an additional great way to teach students about the local community as well as bringing a cultural tie-in, all while print-making! It is also just so fun, and I can only imagine how students would go crazy over printing with fish. 

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The most difficult, or really frustrating part of the relief printing process was the ink gunking up and drying very quickly. But to counteract the quick drying and gunky-ness, I would have to repeatedly wash off my lino-block, the inking slab, and the brayer. It also made it challenging for me to make an even and dark print using the black ink. My most “even” prints were more gray-appearing than black, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not what I was trying to do.

Tack and full fusing are techniques used in making fused glass art. The tack fusing process involves heating the glass in a kiln to a temperature where it softens enough to stick together, allowing them to partially stick together without completely melting into a flat, smooth surface, which would be a full fuse. This method allows you to create dimensional and textured effects in their glass artworks. Unlike tack fusing, full fusing involves heating the glass to a higher temperature and for longer in the kiln, allowing the individual pieces to merge completely, creating a more uniform, homogenous shape. 

A list of all equipment required to fuse glass:

• Safety goggles

• Gloves 

• Tweezers

• Glass sheets/pieces 

• Wheeled glass scorer 

• Glass breaking plier 

• Cutting mats

• Broom and dust pan

• Elmer's glue

• Heat resistant wire 

• Kiln shelf paper 

• Glass kiln 

A description of how you would use glass fusing in the classroom, and what grade levels and safety considerations would you have:

I could see myself potentially using glass fusing in the classroom with middle school (6-8) and/or high school students (9-12). For middle school, I would introduce tools under close supervision, making sure to emphasize safety rules and making sure students understand how to responsibly use tools to avoid harming themselves or others unintentionally. I think it would be fun to have them begin to create intricate designs and create smaller panels and/or decorative items such as ornaments, jewelry, wall-hangings, etc. For high school grade levels, I would introduce projects that call for more intricate or complex designs, either representational or nonrepresentational, while still emphasizing personal responsibility when handling the tools and materials safely. I would also show students how to load and fire the glass in the kiln, and teach them how to grind their works for smoother edges.

For one of my lead lessons, I taught a weaving lesson with third graders. Students wove with recyclable/trash materials and created a wall-hanging. There was a literacy and a cultural tie-in to a crocheting group of women in Gambia, and our overarching idea was tied to the environment and recycling. I opened up the lesson by first demonstrating how to add a warp string to a cardboard loom, then did a second demo on how to begin the weaving process. Once students got settled and had a few rows started, I then would read the story, “One Plastic Bag: The Recycling Women of Gambia” by Miranda Paul. Once students had filled up the majority of their loom, I did a final demonstration on how to take the weaving off of the loom to create the wall-hanging. There were many meticulous steps involved in this lesson, so I found breaking down the demonstrations into parts was very helpful for students. Students overall found the lesson appropriately challenging, and would feel a surge of confidence once they overcame a bump in the road. Once students began weaving, they were most engaged. I had all the trash materials pre-cut, and they loved shuffling through the bin and making their selections. Many students took the weaving a step farther and would create patterns based off of color or type of materials. 

Areas of success:

 Connecting with students, problem-solving and adapting, using multiple teaching methods and cross-curricular perspectives to support learning, apply content, and engage the learners. 

Reflection -  How did you grow as a teacher, what did you learn?: 

I learned, overcame, and gained so much during this experience. I began with a looming cloud over my head called imposter-syndrome, and grew exponentially in my sense of confidence as the lead classroom teacher. I learned how to think much more quickly on my feet, adapt when a lesson isn’t working, and gained skills on how to develop effective and engaging lessons that are appropriate based on learner development and needs. I practiced developing my own original lessons within a scope and sequence. I dove at the chance to teach a broad spectrum of mediums and techniques across grade levels such as painting, ceramics, weaving, and more. I gained skills in other areas such as getting to know students and classroom management, as well as gathering formative and summative assessment.

During my time at Regina High, I led a few of my own lessons across the different classes. The classes I taught consisted of two sections of AP Art, two sections of Art II, Advanced Studio Art, and Photography. The lessons I taught included mediums and topics such as: weaving, paper making, GIF making, and research/creating a digital gallery. In Photography, we reviewed basic photo taking and editing techniques, and I taught students how to create a GIF in Photopea. The big idea was: how can I create a moving image? I taught this lesson by showing students examples of various GIF artists, including examples of GIFs created by myself and other students from another class where I participated in a similar lesson. Naturally, we also had to look at a few GIF examples that included imagery from pop culture that students would recognize. 

The first day introducing this lesson, I threw up the steps on a slideshow for students to reference and let them practice the steps to making a GIF in Photopea with random photos from their camera roll. The next day, they made their first GIF using random objects within the room. I provided a demonstration using a pencil, taking pictures as if I were making a stop-motion video. Once students had selected their objects, they had work time to create their GIF. The next day, the students were tasked with their second subject: a person! I demonstrated by showing them the step-by-step process that they were all familiar with now by using Mr. Demory, their art teacher. Students got to choose their own partners, dispersed around the room, and created their GIF. The final days of this project were work days to finish editing the GIFs and getting them emailed to me. 

It initially took some time for my students to warm up to this lesson. As the days of the project went on, the students gradually became more engaged. They had such creative ideas when they created their random object gif, but the creativity really took off when they got into partners. I even had someone who was in that class as an AP 3D Art student who typically works independently make a GIF that day. Students were up and moving around the room coming up with fantastic ideas and it was very fun and playful in the room that day as students took pictures of one another doing silly motions like pretending to slide on the floor in celebration of making an imaginary soccer goal. 

Areas of success:

• Relationship building with students

• Incorporating technology in lessons/teaching 

• Creating engaging lessons 

  
  

Reflection: 

As I reflect upon the last couple of months during my time at Regina, I grow in fondness for my time here. Teaching high schoolers during the tail end of the semester with the hope of summer break and graduation dawning upon them has had its challenges, but I am thankful for them. The reality of the end of the semester attitude has directed me to brainstorm and get creative with how I would introduce a lesson and encourage engagement. It was a learning curve to figure out how to respond to my Regina students, many of which were either pretty much wrapped up for the year or feeling generally uninspired. I discovered strategies and methods of teaching and introducing lessons that got students more fired up to make art than they had previously been. This included talking to them, and trying to figure out what they have never done before in art class and/or what truly interested them. I got them up and moving in classes like photography and working with partners on a project. Other students spent entire class periods laser-focused on their weaving, which many had found relaxing and fun. Weaving, I learned,  was an especially great project for these students, as many of them just wanted to engage and chat with their peers. Weaving/textile art in general can be a very social activity while also still remaining productive in class creating some beautiful artworks. Overall, my students got me to think outside of the box about ways I could incite the same excitement in them that I felt about teaching them these mediums and concepts.