Art Class: Cardboard String Art

Hi Teachers! Have you watched the video about true cyan? Last few weeks, the students went through the lesson unit on Optical Illusion. It's a hit with children because it offers weird and interesting truths about the nature of perception and colours. You can search Youtuber Zack King's videos for some brilliantly-stitched videos that are quite magically. I brought string art artmaking back due to popular demand its accessibility. I'm quite surprised to hear that many students do not have strings or threads at home. We have been doing mostly solo work or work that don't requires a lot of movement in the classroom. Thus, the materials used are quite economical. It's light and handy in case students need to bring them home to complete. 

On another note, Singapore schools moved online last Wednesday. The press release was on a weekend so we had time to prepare and distribute materials to our affected classes on the first two days of the week. The students were just tidying up their artwork for Term 2 and it seems like I can only see their final work in Term 3. When school term ends this month, we will still be in the midst of Phase Two. I'm working on something for the students to participate during the school vacation. Please check back!

Housekeeping: The Indispensable Tool

Hi! We all have that one (or countless!) essential tool in the art room. I use the scissors quite frequently and I can't imagine depriving the children of the opportunity to practise cutting just because we want to 'protect' them (from getting hurt). I shared about a scissors safety lesson and I'm happy to say that most of them do remember the rules. 

Recently, the scissors are re-arranged to not just to appear neater but to track their whereabout and ensures that all scissors are returned after use. This layout allows me to see at a glance that all tools are in place. It's especially useful if you need to run to another class and counting all forty takes time. 

Art Class: Painting Routines

Hi! The children have started painting with water. I like using the coloured crepe papers for this lesson to talk about the painting routines. So when we are ready to proceed to using the actual paint pigment, the children are familiar with the routines and movement:

• clutter-free desk
• half-filled water container
• water container placed in the top center of the desk
• given only one paintbrush
• must place recycled paper underneath the watercolour paper
• tear the 'magical papers' and keep them under the water container
• hold the recycled paper lengthwise with both hands and bring to the drying rack
• rinse the paintbrush and water container

Instructions such as the amount of water to use is learnt through practice. Some children need more reminders so rest assured after a few practices, they will remember the routines. Take swimming for example, you can listen to explanation after explanation and watch many swimming videos. By not getting into the pool, how would you learn to swim? When all the children are in their painting mode, you could hear the pin drop! But the silence doesn't last long. 😹 

Art Class: Applied Learning Programme

 

Hi! It's been busy times. I wish I have more work-in-progress photos to upload. My students have completed their projects and they are tidying up their scripts for the upcoming recorded video presentation. The ICT teacher went through the concept of the project while I gave them suggestions on attaching the microbits and presentation of the work. I didn't like the idea of pasting masking tape directly over the microbits so I had them cover it up with bits and pieces of paper first. It will be easier to separate the tape and the microbits when the project is over. Check out my teacher's work sample in the video. I'm happy to see that the foam brushes produce an even finish and are effective for painting larger surface area compared to paintbrushes. I'm always curious when students bring something from home as add-ons. The toys as furniture looks so adorable👶. For the final layer, permanent markers are used to speed up the process otherwise we will never resume our routine art classes!

Art Class: Painting With Water

Hi Teachers! I used to save all my videos in my thumb drive but I run the risk of losing them if my external drive fail to work. Since our school has wireless network, it has been a breeze to upload teaching videos online and retrieving them easily during class. I hop from class to class with my laptop now. Attached is an old video for comparison purposes. The current videos contain video thumbnails to make video search easier. Content wise, the newer videos show wider angle perspective to capture more activities. That said, investing in suitable video equipment to create the content that you need is important too. What are we doing with the painted papers? Check out in my next post!

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

Hi Teachers! We had a good laugh in class last week. I showed everyone's work under the visualiser (document camera) and it generated much reactions.  Check out my previous post here. The children didn't mean to laugh at their peers' work in a bad way. It's entertaining to see the children imagine their friends looking like hand drawn cyborg in real life. 

The children had some practice with drawings of smaller versions of the robots before committing to drawing on the coloured papers. I find this practice useful for most art tasks as it strengthens their stamina in drawing. Some children do claim that their hands are tired from drawing after a while. The reason I use an A3-size papers is also to increase the visual impact of their efforts. They use bold chisel tip marker for better grip that also highlight the visual effects compared to just making do with pencil lines. The marker ink does bleed through the coloured papers so they put the back of their sketchbook underneath to catch the ink. 

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.