How my lessons have effected me

I noticed that since I have been doing research on recycling and raising awareness on plastic in our environment, I have been much more conscious of the products I buy and where they will end up when I am finished with them. I enjoyed introducing artists who raise awareness about the effects of pollution in our environment to the class I am observing at.
A perfect example is the artist Chris Jordan.

 http://chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24


 Based on a photograph by Bryant Austin, this 44x82’’ collage depicts 50,000 plastic bags, equal to the estimated number of pieces of floating plastic in every square mile in the world’s oceans.



It is interesting how it takes hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years for plastic to break down in most environments. This means a single bag can kill more then one animal over a very long lifetime on land and sea. As the bags decompose, tiny toxic bits seep into soils, lakes, rivers and the ocean's.

Understanding behavior

The importance of children absorbing information when their young is extremely important to them developmentally. This is why it is so crucial to keep arts in our schools. "sometimes as teachers, parents and as a community, we need to be reminded of the difficulties that our children/students are experiencing in their trouble lives. Often unaware or too busy to notice, that the child that stresses us in our classroom is going through greater stress at home. If the even have a home. These are the students we label "at-risk" because of their frequent behavior problems and below grade performance in the school" I noticed my mentors teachers frustration with an students behavior in the classroom. He called out when we wan't supposed, said inappropriate things and constantly had to be reminded of what he was supposed to be doing during class. As frustrating or difficult this was to correct, I think it is very important to understand why a student is acting the way they are.

Exquisite Corps

I had a blast doing the exquisite corps activity with my class at the Middle School. The students seemed genuinely interested and it appeared as though they had a lot of fun. It's incredible how much trial and error effect your lesson plans. You write down teacher/student activity but there's always that element of surprise. I first asked the students to participate in an exquisite corps activity focusing on "What they want to be when they grow up". This theme seemed very suiting for students in Middle School. After the activity was finished I recommended they play this game at home with friends or family. I noticed many students faces lit up when I suggested they play with the theme of their "favorite animal". A few of the students mentioned they wish we had played with that theme instead because they were unsure of what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Art supplies for India

As you probably do not know, I am going to India this summer for five weeks to teach art in an orphanage in a small town. I am keeping a journal of supplies that would be easy to bring to the orphanage in case they do not have any materials. A few ideas that would be accessible to bring or find when I'm there are...

School Cuts Hurt Kids

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