What do Art Teachers do?

 

Hello! Ever wondered what teachers do after school dismissal? Saw us at the school gate? Most probably rushing for a course. It's been some time since I attended any in-person course as most of them are being held online. There are pros and cons for each of the modes of delivery. Depending on our travelling time, sometimes I can take an hour and a half to reach the course destination. Thus, through the online mode, I save on the travelling time. On the other hand, I know this convenient approach has also resulted in a new term known as 'zoom fatigue' which is almost unheard of in Pre-Covid era.

A good thing about being teachers is that I get to move a lot at work. Teachers hardly sit at the teacher's desk throughout the entire teaching periods. We do activities with the children and by moving constantly across the classroom, we gain proximity control - one of the classroom management strategies. Physical closeness to students has been proven to increase students' engagement. Literally and metaphorically speaking, the distance between teachers and students play a role in the learning environment. 

If you had some interactions with children, you know it's harder to get them to do something like taking a shower through a phone call or a shout from the kitchen compared to being right in front of them. So, moving about ensure the students receive adequate attention.

Teachers in Singapore regardless of subjects specialisation will still attend courses even after graduation. The educational theories and children development acquired during University will not sustain our entire teaching career because the real world moves fast. Even though we can't predict the future, we can prepare children to think critically and creatively and cultivate their character development.

Teaching in the classroom is only a part of teachers' work. In Harry Wong's The First Days of School book for beginning teachers liken a classroom to running a restaurant. You have to be prepared before the opening hours and besides the dishes, factors such as the location, service, ambience would affect the quality of the customers' experience.

I have a tab on housekeeping to show activities beyond the classroom. While these activities are more visible because they are physical and tactile, most of our decision-making happen in our heads. They may appear as document or explanation of decisions that drive the direction. 

Art Class: How to Transform Yourself into a Cyborg (Part I)

 

Hi! we are excited to participate in this year's SYF. The theme for 2021 is Artist & Technology. In class, we begin with some discussions first to grasp students' understanding about the theme. I've prepared some robot printouts in advance so the children can practise drawing in their sketchbooks. I encourage them to mix and match the robot parts so their drawings do not appear identical to another child's. 

This is one strategy to allow children to build confidence in artmaking. If I were to just say use your imagination to draw, I know there will be children who will be stumped in making their first mark. Besides, to fill up the sheer size of their A3-size sketchbook page with drawings is a challenge if you lack stamina in drawing. Because art classes are bounded by time, it is also no excuse for me to say my students took too long to think and therefore they cannot complete the work. Showing them some ideas and simple line work can help them to be more self-directed so that they don't have to keep approaching me to seek approval. 

In 2016, I visited the Big Bang Data in ArtScience Museum, Singapore. The show must have left a lasting impression because I saw a statue of Neil Harbisson and of course a lot of others. Neil is the world's first officially recognised cyborg and he had an antenna implanted in his skull 🤯😱. Watch his TEDtalk here.

Art Class: Crazy Hair Self Portrait

Hi! This year, I've made some changes to the self-portrait lesson because I would like the children to try mixed media work. It did take longer for them to work on one project but look at the captivating visuals. The children are colouring their hair neon! Watch the video to find out more. 

 

Tech Club: Osmo Coding

Hi! I started as a co-teacher in Tech Club last year. As most of last year's CCA sessions were held online during to Covid19, I feel that I didn't really get to know the children in the club. My colleague, Mrs Low has shared some programmes that the children were involved in and I shadowed her in most of the online sessions.

This year, together with another colleague, we started Osmo coding as it's manageable for the younger students. On the surface, Osmo might seem like an awful lot of games and fun. Students are building the foundation in programming language with game-like features without much stress. The tricky part about this class is you have to resist the urge to introduce the game in the first lesson. I spend the first class just practising class routines, seatings arragement and packing the resources. There is a need to emphasize the importance of ownership. The blocks in the game have to be accounted for in every lesson. Thus, we assigned numbers to the students that correspond to the labelled boxes so they will use the same one in each lesson. The younger students work in pairs while the older ones can work individually according to their pace. 

After a few sessions, students were challenged to write a story depicting the level of choice in the game.

 

Art Class: Fresh From the Oven Art Sketchbooks

Last week was the deadline for their sketchbook design. For the past few lessons, I've gather all the art materials on the trolley and bring them to class. In our first lesson, I introduced the usage of the materials. For materials that are more straight forward such as coloured markers and papers, I don't have to give them more air time. Two hot glue guns were placed on the teacher's desk so that I can monitor their usage from time to time while allowing them some autonomy. I have goggly eyes of various sizes, coloured pompoms and glitters. The students viewed some sketchbook design ideas online and I left the rest to them. Different art materials call for different types of glue. It's a good idea to go through the requirements and recommendations before letting them loose. 

Art Class: Patterns using lines, dots and shapes

Hi! For some years, our school's art sketchbook has a printed cover. My students used to cover the printed cover with coloured papers before starting their design. It was only last year that I found out that I could ask for thicker plain cover for the students to design their own! So, look at the beautiful blank canvas with children's mark making. Our first lesson of the year is learning about making patterns and writing their bubble letter names. Check back again!

 

Art Class: DIY Stickers

I've designed a set of motivational stickers inspired by the plushies found at home. Procreate drawing app is user friendly but looking for a suitable vendor to print the kiss-cut stickers is taking more time than I'd expected.