Things that I have noticed while helping out at the Midddle schools.
I guess that the saddest thing that I realized in the art classes is that the children that would benefit the most by art instruction get the LEAST attention. The kids that get the most attention? The kids that are doing poorly or have the least interest in the material. I had noticed how I never meet kids that have much interest in art. Part of the reason I don't interact with them is because I'm helping those that are not getting the material. Or even worse I'm "helping" those that have no interest in doing the work. Honestly, I feel like a race horse that is being used to make glue. I say this because today I met this 6th grade girl who obviously liked drawing, and I was wishing that I could meet more kids like her. But the kids that disrupt the class end up taking away from those that might be interested in what is going on.
On a snarky note I also noticed that even art teachers don't understand two point perspective at least middle school art teachers. However teaching middle school students requires that you simplify everything...almost to the point where it loses its original meaning. I also notice that I have a hard time explaining how I use perspective because a) I'm still figuring out how it works myself b) The "rules" of perspective only work sometimes and they never work if you can't apply them correctly. This is one of the reasons that I start things at a smaller size so that I CAN make perspective look naturalistic. Although you can also use a Haedler ruler to make things work at a larger scale. Kristen Perry will show you how: ) Again this is stuff that would be hard to teach kids who weren't art majors, let alone middle school students. I guess the best solution would be smaller classes and maybe also having kids compete to be in the art classes. That would weed out the kids who don't want to be there and it would weedout those kids that wanted to get an easy grade.
I guess I'm not really cut out to be a middle school art teacher.
On a snarky note I also noticed that even art teachers don't understand two point perspective at least middle school art teachers. However teaching middle school students requires that you simplify everything...almost to the point where it loses its original meaning. I also notice that I have a hard time explaining how I use perspective because a) I'm still figuring out how it works myself b) The "rules" of perspective only work sometimes and they never work if you can't apply them correctly. This is one of the reasons that I start things at a smaller size so that I CAN make perspective look naturalistic. Although you can also use a Haedler ruler to make things work at a larger scale. Kristen Perry will show you how: ) Again this is stuff that would be hard to teach kids who weren't art majors, let alone middle school students. I guess the best solution would be smaller classes and maybe also having kids compete to be in the art classes. That would weed out the kids who don't want to be there and it would weedout those kids that wanted to get an easy grade.
I guess I'm not really cut out to be a middle school art teacher.