Long Term Substitute
When an art teacher at LaGuardia needed to go on a long term medical leave, we discussed the work that the students had previously created in her class and we made plans for lessons that I would teach while she was away. Based on her guidelines, I created lesson plans, taught, gave feedback and graded student work for two and a half weeks. This longer term coverage was an invaluable learning experience for me as a new teacher. During my time there I was able to build rapport with the students and teach projects that were both fun, engaging and challenging.
For the freshmen foundation classes, the students wrapped up a color zine project that I co-planned with the teacher a few weeks before. For the color zine project, students were to choose a color and research technical and conceptual aspects of the color and create a zine to convey that information. While some students were just starting the project and others had been long finished, in order to better manage the classes, I introduced an inbetween project to engage the students that were finished. For this assignment, students had to choose one object, person or place and draw or paint it in 7 different color schemes, 7 different mediums and 7 different techniques on index cards. Students would choose which color scheme, medium, and technique they would want to combine and then they would check those off from the list. The purpose of this project was to engage students in approaching the same subject matter with the different lenses of color, medium, and technique and how each approach creates a different effect and meaning on the subject matter. The students had not yet used any color or used paint as a medium in their work so I thought that this was a good way to experiment and play. The students really enjoyed this project. After the 7 index cards, we moved onto gesture and figure drawing. We practiced gesture drawing both from references on the board and with student models. I taught the students to draw the line of action, along with shoulder and hip lines to anchor the gesture. We practiced rough gestures with the line of action, circular/volume gestures, continuous line gestures, and drawing negative space. After that we discussed the proportions of the body and we did longer figure drawings from reference and from life, using the tools of gesture drawing. To conclude, we spent three days on a longer figure drawing from life. On the table in the center of the room I set up a skeleton and a chair for a student to sit in. The skeleton would remain stationary but the student model would switch out every 10 minutes. I didn’t have access to a model and this was my way of working around that. Students would draw the skeleton in detail and use it as a proportion guide, whiel the models would swap out and give the students an opportunity to make choices about which parts of each model they would draw. In addition to that, I instructed students to create a narrative for the figure and the skeleton and then illustrate a background. While each student drew the same skeleton and a figure in the same pose, each illustration and the accompanying narrative ended up being really unique. In addition to teaching these projects to two freshman foundation classes, I also taught a freshman 3/d mixed media class where students worked on a mixed media artists book that I coplanned with the teacher a few weeks prior. During this long term coverage I developed rapport and a routine with the students. It was the first time that I truly independently taught.
After completing my student teaching hours at LaGuardia High School I became a certified substitute teacher and started to regularly substitute at LaGuardia for art classes. I substituted for my former cooperating teacher, where I taught lesson plans that she shared with me and gave feedback to the students while they worked. I also substituted for other art teachers in the building, for both short and long term coverages. In addition to covering art classes where I am able to talk to students about their work, I also started to cover other subjects. In these classes, I take attendance, make sure that students check google classroom and complete assigned work.
When an art teacher at LaGuardia needed to go on a long term medical leave, we discussed the work that the students had previously created in her class and we made plans for lessons that I would teach while she was away. Based on her guidelines, I created lesson plans, taught, gave feedback and graded student work for two and a half weeks. This longer term coverage was an invaluable learning experience for me as a new teacher. During my time there I was able to build rapport with the students and teach projects that were both fun, engaging and challenging.
For the freshmen foundation classes, the students wrapped up a color zine project that I co-planned with the teacher a few weeks before. For the color zine project, students were to choose a color and research technical and conceptual aspects of the color and create a zine to convey that information. While some students were just starting the project and others had been long finished, in order to better manage the classes, I introduced an inbetween project to engage the students that were finished. For this assignment, students had to choose one object, person or place and draw or paint it in 7 different color schemes, 7 different mediums and 7 different techniques on index cards. Students would choose which color scheme, medium, and technique they would want to combine and then they would check those off from the list. The purpose of this project was to engage students in approaching the same subject matter with the different lenses of color, medium, and technique and how each approach creates a different effect and meaning on the subject matter. The students had not yet used any color or used paint as a medium in their work so I thought that this was a good way to experiment and play. The students really enjoyed this project. After the 7 index cards, we moved onto gesture and figure drawing. We practiced gesture drawing both from references on the board and with student models. I taught the students to draw the line of action, along with shoulder and hip lines to anchor the gesture. We practiced rough gestures with the line of action, circular/volume gestures, continuous line gestures, and drawing negative space. After that we discussed the proportions of the body and we did longer figure drawings from reference and from life, using the tools of gesture drawing. To conclude, we spent three days on a longer figure drawing from life. On the table in the center of the room I set up a skeleton and a chair for a student to sit in. The skeleton would remain stationary but the student model would switch out every 10 minutes. I didn’t have access to a model and this was my way of working around that. Students would draw the skeleton in detail and use it as a proportion guide, whiel the models would swap out and give the students an opportunity to make choices about which parts of each model they would draw. In addition to that, I instructed students to create a narrative for the figure and the skeleton and then illustrate a background. While each student drew the same skeleton and a figure in the same pose, each illustration and the accompanying narrative ended up being really unique. In addition to teaching these projects to two freshman foundation classes, I also taught a freshman 3/d mixed media class where students worked on a mixed media artists book that I coplanned with the teacher a few weeks prior. During this long term coverage I developed rapport and a routine with the students. It was the first time that I truly independently taught.