One week down..

This week was a good first week I'd say. I like my classes and so far they seem to like me... even with there being a full moon and all. ..

I did not go over rules and procedures this week, the only procedures I reviewed were drills- fire, earthquake, tornado and lockdown. It's such a shame that we have to review what to do in the case of an intruder, but that's today's world I guess, sadly.

Anyway, my students worked on the Marshmallow challenge (see previous post) and also the exquisite corpse drawing exercise. 

Students were each given an 8.5x11 piece of paper. They created a tri-fold and wrote their name on the back. Then students were instructed to draw a 'head' for the exquisite corpse. They must extend the neck to just below the fold line. After drawing the head they were told to fold the top third backwards and make sure they could see  the marks from their drawing below the fold. They then had to  GET UP AND TRADE WITH SOMEONE AT ANOTHER TABLE. This way, they had actually move and talk to other people. 

They were NOT allowed to look at the head on their newly acquired paper. They were to use the marks that extended below the fold to begin the 'body' of the corpse. When finished, they again had to extend the lines below the fold line and fold it backwards again. They were instructed to trade with someone they hadn't traded with yet.  

Lastly they were instructed to Finish the bottom of the corpse. They the. Open it, laugh and return it to the original artist. 

It's a fun way to get them drawing on the first day! 

Day one, ✅

Well, I have made it through my first day, year 13! Shew, hard to believe I've been teaching this long! 

Today consisted of no rules, and no procedures, only FUN! I had a professor at Radford, Richard Bay, who was the most amazing teacher! I'll never forget a lesson he taught me, he said "if you teach them to create something on the first day, you'll probably be their only teacher who doesn't go over rules and procedures, and they'll remember that." 

So today, we built, we created, we STEAMed... which brings me to the Marshmallow Challenge:

20 spaghetti sticks, a yard of string, a yard of tape and a marshmallow. The challenge: create the tallest free-standing structure possible. The kids love it because at first they have no idea what to do...

Eventually after utilizing their communication and collaboration skills, they begin to work together to create foundations for some pretty fabulous structures.

Eventually they realize that the super tall tower they built will not withstand the weight of the marshmallow which when placed on top, usually makes the most awesome tower FLOP! 

Tom Wujec did a Ted Talk on it and it's definitely worth a watch. 

I hope everyone else had as great a day as I did! 

Quick last day before the madness ensues post..

So.. that's me behind the door.. and that's my husband.. talking to me. 

I really do love that 'back to school' feeling, but at the same time.. ugh, is summer really over?!? 

In the summer I sometimes do actually forget what day of the week it is, but I kinda like it that way! 

"Sleeping in" wait, what's that? I have two young children who think that 5:30am is an acceptable wake up time... so at least waking up early for work next week won't be too much of a struggle. 

Last night before bed my kids looked outside and said "whoa, mom!! The moon is full" in complete and utter disbelief, I looked outside to see, in fact they were correct.. it was an almost full moon. Ok whose idea was it to have a full moon the first week back to school?!? may the odds be ever in my favor...

But just in case the odds are not in my favor, someone is looking out for teachers anyway..  

Happy first week of school to those post-Labor Day starters like me!! 

And so it begins...

Helloooooooo 2017/2018 school year,  and my 13th year of teaching! Whoa. 13 years... usually 13 is an unlucky number, you know, Friday the 13th... but it happens to be lucky for me. My name is Tyler and I am the art teacher at a middle school in Stafford, Virginia. I teach 6th 7th and 8th grade students. My 7th and 8th graders see me every other day (X/Y) for a semester, 85-93 minutes per class.  6th grade is either 9 weeks 40 minutes every other day or semester 40 minutes every day. 

So last year I started the year with a NASTY attitude and it never went away.. from teacher week on. It started with hardly any time to work in my classroom before school started and I just felt like I never got my head above water, not to mention I had TERRIBLE class combinations, so overall is was an awful year.

This year I am being POSITIVE!!  In doing a pretty good job, if I do say so myself!  Today is Friday, so now that I've come to the end of my work week, in ready to share my room and some of the things I'm doing in my class this year. 

So this is my classroom, I actually have two classrooms (lucky me!!) as my school used to be a high school and there were two connected art rooms.


 My room is an explosion of color and is every bit as distracting as it could possibly be :) 

Our school theme this year is "Oh the places you'll go"

My contribution to the theme:

Other ideas I've had this year (thank you Pinterest) 

My pencil system consists of flagged and numbered pencils, the number corresponds with a number at each seat in my room. I have found this to be the most effect way of not losing so many pencils.

Pool noodle markers:


Hall passes: I only allow one student of each sex out of the room at a time so this is a good visual for me to remember when someone is gone. 

This is my idea for students who are struggling with the ability to work on projects in class.. students who are not working approproately. This is my Art Reading and writing center. Students have two ways to learn about art.. creating it or reading and writing about it. Students who struggle with the first because of behavior will be invited to the R and W center to read scholastic art magazines and complete written assignments. It's my first year trying this so we'll see how it works. . 

Lastly for this year is my 'teacher art supplies center' I've set this up for the core teachers to be able to borrow/use my old supplies that are still good, this is also new so we'll see how it goes. 

So school starts Tuesday, wish me luck!