Day 8

Red Canna, Georgia O’Keeffe

Today was the last day of the week as far as art classes go because all art classes are replaced with gym class on Fridays. Thursdays are also a rotational day where my cooperating teacher will see 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes for the second time this week. These classes rotate every week, so that we will see a particular class twice in a week every three weeks. My cooperating teacher doesn’t exactly like this schedule as it makes some classes get ahead of other classes in weird ways.

Today I felt a lot better emotionally as I didn’t feel as stressed or unhappy, but I wasn’t feeling so well physically. All morning I felt dizzy, weak, nauseated and had a headache and stomachache. I ate snacks to take care of my blood sugar, but nothing seemed to help. I only started feeling better after lunch, so I’m not sure what was wrong with me. Thankfully, my cooperating teacher had an extended lunch today as the lunch I had prepared for today went bad. I had to eat lunch off-campus, and within the hour we had for lunch, I was even able to go home and spend 20 minutes taking a break before returning to the school for 3rd Grade Lunch Duty. It was interesting taking a small breather at home, and perhaps that’s what caused me to feel better.

It did help me to feel better when I tried to interact with the students and help them improve their artworks. Whenever I keep busy, I tend to start feeling better, probably because it keeps my mind off of how I feel and keeps it focused on something else. Today, I spent some time with some of the third grade students as they worked on their Georgia O’Keeffe-inspired paintings of large, close-up flowers. The students had begun to paint their drawings with watercolors and I decided to show some of the students how they could add extra contrast and value to their paintings. I showed several students how they could add a darker color to an already-painted area in order to show value and variety. Several of the students were amazed by the technique and began using it in their paintings. I loved the improvements they made as they added shadows behind petals, or simply added more colors to their flowers. It seems that the students are always so focused on finishing their pictures as quickly as they can that they don’t focus on how to make a successful image.

Today I was actually surprised by my cooperating teacher’s instruction with the kindergarten students because she acted a lot more excitable and childish than she usually does. It seemed more natural to me to see her act this way with the students rather than her usual, more stern and direct style. It made the class seem more light-hearted and and enjoyable, even to me. I still feel that this might be a better teaching style for the younger students as it seems to keep their attention and invoke responses from them. I’ll have to see if I can adopt a style similar to this in my own teaching.