Reads: What the Art Teacher Reads

Hi! I've pored over a few books this school holiday. The NLB OverDrive app is so convenient to borrow ebooks and read on the go. My first choice will still be a hardcopy but if I can't borrow it in time then I will go digital.

My favourite read has to be Made in China. It's especially telling especially when our goods are mostly imported. The mere thought of walking down the aisles of Daiso, Target or Hundred Yen shops excite me. Since we stay mostly indoors now and virtual shops are accessible in a click, who wouldn't like a good bargain? We have no lack of e-commerce platforms in Singapore. With the pandemic, even physical retail stores have online presence or making the shift towards it. There is everything we want but very little we need. This book helps me to think more critically about owning cheap commodities.

Artventures: Teachers Conference 2021

Hi! Teachers attended a conference in Term 2. I particularly like this keynote about emotions and learning in children. The standards of lesson planning in SG starts with a tuning-in (about 10min), keeping the lesson objectives in mind. Instead of diving straight into the learning outcomes, learning is deem meaningful if children understood the purpose of learning what I had intended.

A friend once told me that young children will not know anything about planning for their future but they do enjoy learning if they like the teacher or the lesson. Perhaps that's where emotions come to play.

I remember a Modified Language Experience Approach (MLEA) to writing from years ago on sandwich making. The level teachers had to prepare peanut butter and jam, bread slices, plastic knives and plastic gloves for the lower primary children. It's such a simple snack to make but the children had a blast! A child had offer me her sandwich but I had to politely declined 😁 Then, they ate their sandwiches in the canteen and returned to the classroom to do class writing. The experience was to develop emotions in the fun activity in order to engage children to reflect on the common experience. It was sensorial. How difficult is it to forget about what was taught and the post-learning activity? Was the preparation for the sandwich-making activity a waste of time? Could the teachers have just dive in straight to writing? Can we assume that all children had made sandwiches under similar conditions before? Will the children remember the experience for years to come and have common topic to discuss with their peers?

Never associate teaching with pouring knowledge into empty vessels but rather provide positive learning conditions and trust the learners' ability to make meaning. But of course, we do not equate teaching with learning so assessment comes into place but that's another story for another day. 

References:

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/publications/the-brain-basis-for-integrated-social-emotional-and-academic-development/

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may20/vol77/num08/Building-Meaning-Builds-Teens'-Brains.aspx

Art Class: Places of Interest in Singapore

Towards the end of Term 2, my youngest students learnt about the places of interest locally. They were all excited to share about the places they have visited and I conclude that a high percentage of the children have visited Universal Studio and Sentosa whereas there is less awareness about our historical sites.

We discussed about the activities that happened at Singapore River and the Cleanup that took 10 years. I showed them some black and white photographs of Singapore River in its dire state. Paintings by pioneer artists which is related to the Singapore River were also discussed. Some children volunteered to do a role play on what they would do if they live by the river while the rest guessed. 

We spent a lesson drawing and cutting the river out from our painted paper made in the previous art class. Then, the children pasted them in their sketchbooks. The rest of the details were drawn in markers.

Art Class: SG75

Hi Teachers! We had our Child-Teacher-Parent Conference just last week and now it's the start of the school vacation. This month, my students are participating in SG75, an arts-based competition. In 2040, we will celebrate 75 years of Singapore. According the website, SG75 was chosen because it is far enough for us to envision and to make good plans - yet near enough for us to see these plans take shape. It calls for thinking about and preparing for future challenges. I designed worksheets for different levels and made a video to go with the activity.  You can check out sg75.sg for more details.