New Beginnings...

What does an art teacher do when she can't sleep and it's 1:40 a.m.? She writes on her blog, of course. I have some beginning of the year pictures that I wanted to post, so I will do just that. My camera was stolen, and I still haven't replace it, so the pictures are from my phone. I will do my best to get some visuals to you :)


The students in all grades have been hard at work. We've only been in school for six days now. We have spent a lot of time on seating charts (and more seating charts and more seating charts), getting to know names, and even bringing in more tables to accommodate more students. The more, the merrier, I say! That's more students who are exposed to the arts.


The 8th graders are calm and cool. I have them first thing in the morning. I have had these babies for 2+ years now and know and love them like my own. I can already tell that I'll miss them when they move on to high school. They are working quietly, and they know what to expect.


The 7th graders are a bit more energetic. They, too, know what to expect, for the most part. They are having to get moved around just a bit, and I'm having to remind them of the rules, but, if you look around my room at any given time (for the most part...) they are doing what they are supposed to do. That's creating, working, thinking, brainstorming, and chatting about art (or so I'll tell myself).


The 6th graders are learning the ropes. I have them at 2:00 each day. They have been at school for over 6 hours by that point. They are ready to go home. We're working on staying in our seats, not yelling out, not screaming to friends across the room, and just remembering to respect one another (including the teacher). We've had a few "prayer meetings" and have been reminded of the rules a few times. I've had to make some serious seating arrangements and have even had to move students to new seats multiple times. I am doing so so that we can proceed as planned. For the 6th graders, I have amazing lessons planned. They will be learning one point perspective, making paper mache creatures, doing printmaking, learning about value scales and shading, learning how to use watercolor, and looking at South and Central American art. I am VERY excited about showing these students about art at the middle school.


The walls are blank, but soon we will have artwork up. I have spotted SIX bulletin boards that need artwork on them. We are working on getting a glass display case for the 3D artwork. The media specialist is also amazing at letting us put our artwork in the media center (thanks Lindy!).

During the first week, all students (240) have created a portfolio (folded piece of poster board, stapled sides, name and class on the top) and have started to work on their journals (sketchbooks). We took 12 sheets of white copy paper, a folded piece of 12x18" construction paper, stapled that together, and then created their covers. We studied Teesha Moore and various book artists to get ideas. They learned the art room materials and also were able to be successfully creative with this lesson. The 6th graders have started on their value scales and their color wheel lesson. We are now starting drawing lessons with them. The 7th and 8th were able to be more creative on their sketchbooks. Eighth graders will start sketching skulls and studying the bone structure of the face so that they can begin portraits. The 7th graders have been working on their contour shoe drawings.

This is truly the best school ever!

It's time!

It's that time again, friends. Here we are again for another good year at the middle school. I will be happy to see the students again this Friday!

Summer flew by... but it was the best one yet.
                                           

This year, we have different assessments for the students and for the teachers, but hopefully we will survive. I will challenge the students to get creative, to think outside of the box, to brainstorm, and to take creative risks.

During this time each year, I always brainstorm about my lesson plans and about my curriculum map. I have been teaching for 400 years now, and I have lots of ideas. There are set standards, of course, for Visual Arts. They are the National Visual Arts Standards, but also the state mandated standards. For the most part, the students need to be able to apply media, techniques, and processes, through a variety of subject matter and ideas, understand how art relates to history and cultures, and reflect upon their artwork and that of others. They also need to be able to make connections between art and other disciplines. We've got that covered... 8th grade particularly needs to focus a bit more on Georgia art, Native American art and Folk art. Sixth graders study Aboriginal art and Central and South American art. Seventh graders will get to study Asian and African art.

That all being said, it's hard to narrow down exactly what to teach these little folks. We usually start off with the syllabus, information sheet, and then they make their portfolios.
                                           

We will roll right into blending, shading, hatching, cross-hatching, etc. They will look at the Elements of Art, such as line (drawing of all sorts, moods with line, etc.), shape, texture (lots of patterns, visual and implied texture), color theory, space (things that are in front of and behind, smaller and large to appear further away and closer), and form (this will come later).

I have the students for 18 weeks (for an hour a day), so we will get to cover a lot of material. We will eventually get into printmaking (foam, linoleum, collagraph), sculpting (paper mache, cardboard, and clay), textiles (weaving), bookmaking (various sorts), collage work, and of course, the 2D supplies and materials. There are lots of things to look forward to in art this year.

If you are a student or parent reading this, below is the syllabus.

Jefferson Middle School Visual Arts       

Dr. Shana Norton

www.shanasartroom.blogspot.com

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The goal of this course is to provide a working studio experience where students will develop techniques and ideas in both 2 and 3 dimensions. There will be an emphasis on the elements and principles of design.

Required materials: a non-mechanical pencil (daily), and an eraser (daily), a personal pencil sharpener (daily)

(A donation of a pack of white computer paper would be greatly appreciated!)

**Wish list: box of tissues, germ-ex, old paintbrushes, craft paint, tape, ribbon, erasers, rulers, or pencils, etc.  We also are in need of any old spray paint that you may have (parents need to drop this off because students cannot bring this to school). 

Class rules:

-Follow all JMS rules

-Show RESPECT towards the teacher, the materials, and the other students

-Stay in seat

-Clean up after yourself

Consequences:

Could include, but not limited to, verbal warning, contract between student and teacher, moved seat, before or after school detention (SAS), silent lunch, working lunch, ISS, or OSS

Rewards may include: Special rights in class, music, rewards, verbal praise, etc. J

**PARENTS- Stay tuned for more information about an exciting fundraiser where you can buy your child’s artwork framed, on mugs, on t-shirts, on mouse-pads, etc. This would make a great gift and supports the arts!**

Criteria that affects your grade

Quality of work        Personal, expressive work        Time on task       

Good work habit        Sincere effort     Participation in critiques and activities

     Satisfaction of the requirements of the problem      

Taking appropriate risks with your art    

 Using materials and equipment responsibly

Grading

100    95   90              89    85    80               79    73             72   70           69<

                                  Aa                            Bb                        Cc                     Dd             Ff                                            

                        Outstanding Effort              Very Good                     Good                   Needs Improvement

                  Excellent- Above Average                                                                            Barely Acceptable

  

**Questions? Email is the best way to contact me.  I will respond ASAP.**

snorton@jeffcityschools.org

Ocean

This is me and my wild men. Thank goodness for the ocean. Isn't it calming? I believe that half of the art work in our home has to do with waves (thanks, Sobe), the tides, the ocean, or cool colors pertaining to the calmness of the sea. Thank you, God, for the ocean. It will continue to inspire my lesson plans, artwork, and life.

I have my family in perfect control. If you look at most of my family pictures, my children are crawling all over me, laughing, flipping on their heads, or attacking me. I have complete control... just like in the classroom. Ha ha! 
School is almost upon us. We have the 4th of July and a few more weeks. Make the most of it! My little guy will start Kindergarten in a few weeks. Life is flying by, one glorious minute at a time. Make the most of it. This has been the best summer ever, with boys ages three and five. Everything is magical to them at this time. They enjoy the little things in life. I hope that I can take that into the classroom with me and remember that inside every middle schooler is a 3-5 year old waiting to come out!

Happy Bday E

               
My youngest turned three... and the oldest was helping him blow out the candles, shirtless none the less. (We had played in the water for hours, so he was shirtless.) What do art teachers do all summer besides dream of magical lesson plans and clean art rooms? We make cakes and throw parties. This cake was not of Pinterest magnitude, but still, it was amazing to a three year old. It was a Jake cake and it made his eyes light up!! I built it from layers of yellow cake, homemade chocolate buttercream icing, and put pirouline cookies in the side with candles. He thought that it was the coolest thing ever. The look on his face when I brought it out will be forever etched on my mind. Happy Birthday little E! Your mother loves you. No one ever said that this was a blog only for the art room... In three weeks, we will be having a TMNT birthday party!

Summer to a Teacher...

                                         
And we're off!! Not really. I believe that a good teacher's mind never stops working and thinking, simply brainstorming for the next year. I've been at school for a few days now for post planning. I've been tossing around ideas about what lessons to prepare for next year. I have been officially teaching for 13 years now (more if you count long term substitute teaching, after school programs, etc.). One of the many things that I love about my job is that we get to start fresh. There aren't many jobs where you can do that. I have cleaned out my room, torn down the older posters and such, thrown away any old papers and/or rotten examples (some just have to go), and, after our awesome custodial crew waxes the floors, I'll be ready to go for next year. AFTER I get new clear boxes to organize their art in, new containers for storing art materials, and hopefully some wooden shelves for storage. I might be getting... are you ready?? NEW ART TABLES! My students have been drawing on tables that are over ten years old that literally move when you get near them. They have plywood bottoms and are not able to be tightened. A rare angel has said that I might get NEW TABLES. Yes, I am still ecstatic.
                                          
I hope that over the summer, you all take a break, get a little fishing and sunning in, and return completely refreshed. Happy Summer! If you are a student reading this, know that I love you. Be safe.