PME Blog snr

The first week back after the Easter break and at the beginning of it I feared that without being physically in the school students may loss track of the days and not view what has been posted in Google Classroom. However the response from most students has been positive. The focus of this weeks lessons were reestablishing their drawing skills wherein tone, form,  line and colour played essential parts in their lessons. First years were introduced to portraiture, focusing on the nose and eyes. Focusing on the features separately I find makes drawing the face less daunting. I offered to use Google Hangouts to explain the PowerPoint that I had attached to the lesson however one student signed into it. And the two random emails that had not received the code kept sending a request to join the meeting. I've elected not to use it anymore and just to post videos of myself explaining the PowerPoint. Second years and Fifth years had good attendance and were focusing on their prima...

Problems with students uploading work seems to be a common occurrence, as the class heads have been in touch again outlining the protocol for students not submitting work. For the most part, students are good to upload work, however there is a now a list of "usual suspects" that need reminders. It is important to maintain normality in these strange times and if you do not do the work there will be consequences. This week was the last week before the Easter holidays, I felt it was important to remind them that we will be back in two weeks. Without the returning to the school it will be difficult to return to the mindset of learning and work. However we will persevere. This week was I thought productive. It is getting easier to get into the mindset of online teaching and for the most part students are responding well to it. This weeks' focus was on the creativity and adaptability of the students and allowing them to take more control of their finished pieces. Through p...

This week was a little easier than last week. I have taken to conducting class on Google Hangouts with my first years, this has helped to negate any problems they have had with the work and it also gave me a better understanding of how to much work to give them so they are not overwhelmed.  Google Hangouts seems to work best with small groups. I attempted to initiate this with my second year group, however the video lagged, audio failed randomly, so it was decided to stick to  Google Classroom instead. This work very well and this systems allows me to post my own examples of the work I set them as well as PowerPoints to do with the subject matter. This same approach is being used for my Fourth and Fifth Years as well.  This weeks goal was to return to what we were doing before we were set into quarantine, making allowances for materials at hand. The making of origami and drawing the finished piece with as much tonal range as possible was the focus of the second...

This was the first full week of online teaching, and it was a tad disconcerting. Not being able to see the students, not knowing what materials they had and not overwhelming them were all thoughts floating in my head. From my research over the weekend prior to this week, teachers from across the globe agreed that when setting work it must be remembered that little questions and queries would now cause challenges as they cannot directly ask me. They have to send a message and wait for a response.  From this week, I learned that when giving the instructions for the work, it must be clear so they understand. Numbered, so they know what has to be submitted and I have to be available in front of my computer to answer any questions. Patience is key as well. Not every student will have good access to the internet and if that is gone then we are left in the dark as to their progress. The principal of the school set up a system that if a student does not submit their work the teacher m...

Due to schools shutting down on Thursday to help prevent of COVID 19 all Classes are cancelled until the 19/03/20, returning to school on the week of the 23rd. First year and Fourth year classes were carried out using Google Classroom, it felt impersonal and I felt as if I was slacking in my approach to teaching as I was in front of my computer available for any students that sent me questions. The principal of the school advised to stick to our time table, and that “office hours” were that of the set out timetable. This will be the normal approach to teaching for the next two weeks, already online groups of art teachers are forming to share ideas for teaching online. A great response and a much needed support network and information pool that art teachers from around the globe can utilise. Second years are progressing very well and are showing wonderful examples of cooperation in their approach to learning. They have no problems sharing problem solving ideas or assisting one a...