March 9th

The students started out finishing up their written reflections about the origami pieces they were supposed to have finished. If they had not finished yet, each student was held responsible for taking the work home. They were also supposed to be finished with painting their clay containers at this point as well. If they had not finished, they were expected to come in during homeroom/study hall, or after school. They could not take these projects home because of the risk of breaking them and checking out paint supplies wold be unrealistic. Some of the best clay containers would be sent off to a contest in Menomonie. I think that doing this is a great way to get the community to see what is going on in the schools and is very exciting for the students as well. They seem to like the idea of people seeing the result of their hard work.

Once the students had figured out whether or not they were expected to do work outside of class, the teacher moved onto a new project. They would begin the ribbon drawing project today. She introduced the project by starting out with a PowerPoint. It contained information about shading, value, shape versus form, and gray scale. It was very simple, yet informative. As the teacher introduced these subjects, she told the students not to be afraid of all of the technical aspects of the project. She told them that shading takes practice and she knows it can be scary, but do not get discouraged. She said that everyone will improve throughout this project and it will be good for them. During the PowerPoint, some of the boys were pretty rambunctious. The teacher had to stop a few times and wait for them to become quiet again. Overall, they were pretty well behaved, and by the end of the presentation, they were ready to get started. At this point, the teacher brought out the graphite pencils and explained the hardness and softness by drawing a scale on the board. This made it very simple for the students to understand what the different numbers and letters meant and what they were supposed to be used for. The teacher also went over how to use each kind of eraser. The students then had time to practice using the pencils. When the students were practicing with the pencils, she talked about tortillions or blending stumps. She also explained that they could use their fingers or paper towels to blend the graphite. I was very impressed with the speed and proficiency in her lesson. She also did a quick demonstration on how to create a gradient, which the students then emulated. All of these things were done in preparation for drawing the actual ribbons. The student were very excited to use special drawing pencils. The teacher did a great job of motivating them. Her enthusiasm for the project was reflected in the students. I hope to portray this kind of enthusiasm in my own lesson.