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Secondary Student Teaching begins! It is an interesting transition from having such young, teacher-pleasing students at the elementary level to students that think for themselves more. I have already observed that a main challenge, at my school placement, is to keep the students on task, engaged in the lesson, and finishing work on time.

Another challenge with teaching art that I have found at all age levels is having students that work at different paces. When some students are faster than others in their work, the teacher must be prepared to teach these students the next project or have a side project they can work on while the other students finish their work.

One solution that my cooperating teacher at the Secondary Level, Mrs. Aguilar, uses in certain classes is having a list of the projects for the entire semester in the syllabus for the class. During the first week she informs the students about the projects and, depending on the class, allows students to either pick the order they work on the projects or follow a certain order she sets for them.

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The projects that I will be teaching in the next couple weeks are:

1) Art One.

2) A triad class consisting of 2-D, 3-D, and Art Portfolio.

3) Two Photography classes.

4) AP Art Portfolio

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The picture above is a work in progress from a student in 2-D art that is creating a still-life of a tool in the style of the artist Jim Dine.  The art method used is a mixture of drawing and painting. The students first draw the tool using pencil, then go over with an ink wash, and then use charcoal to create dark values.

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In my first week, I was very excited to see this huge closet in the art department that has an endless amount of amazing still-life objects. Still-life drawings can be very boring as a student if the object they are drawing does not excite or challenge them in some way.  Therefore, objects like old typewriters, sewing machines (in the picture below), and wooden owls can really make an art project better.

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