Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Amazing what I can get done with a little time...

Four years of art school come in handy when making glaze charts! If
only my digital camera didn't make everything look slightly fish-eyed!
I have been teaching for six years now, four of them at my current school. For the first time ever, I have a student teacher! Mrs. Heimlich is from The Ohio State University and is in the middle of ten weeks working with me. It has been a great experience so far. It is a whole different form of teaching- one that I really enjoy. For one thing, it is incredibly nice to have another adult in the room. Getting additional lesson ideas is another big plus. I love seeing what other teachers do in their classrooms, so I'm getting that experience in my own room. If you're a regular blog follower, you know I post examples of each project I teach. I'll be posting Mrs. Heimlich's lessons as she finishes them. 


Another aspect of having a student teacher that I'm really enjoying is having a little more time during the day to catch up on lesson planning, blogging, and projects around the classroom. What you see above is my new glaze chart! The chart I had before was just on plain plywood with tiny tiles and colors written in Sharpie. Some of the colors were essentially duplicates and a couple of the colors had bee discontinued. I had been wanting to make a new chart for several years. 


For those of you who have had a student teacher, what is your favorite part of the experience? Do you have any fun suggestions or stories?

4 comments:

  1. Zach, that is a seriously cool glaze chart! I never have time to do neat projects like that although I think about it constantly! I haven't had the use of my kiln for almost 7 years and I finally got it back last fall when my new room was finished. I even have a separate room for it which is really nice.

    On student teachers, it's hit or miss. I had a run of bad ones for various reasons and then I had one who is now my friend for life. I learned a lot from her (although she was supposed to be learning from me!)I have decided that before I ever say yes to taking on another one, I want to meet them for coffee or whatever and put them through a little interview process. Sometimes people's personalities and sensibilities are diametrically opposed. Five minute at Starbuck's and I'll know.

    :)Pat

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  2. I was fortunate to have a student teacher who had worked as a graphic designer before returning to school to become a teacher. She was able to bring me up-to-date on technology (PowerPoint, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.) while I was able to help her translate it into classroom use. Her enthusiasm for EVERYTHING was contagious and it breathed new life into my 25 yr old career! She was truly a blessing...

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  3. That looks great!! I'm a brand new art teacher and attempting to make one of these for my room. What did you use to get the tiles to stick to the board?

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  4. Thanks! I just used one of those obnoxious smelling adhesives. It was called E6000 and it was in the Blick catalog. Anything similar would work, too.

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