A Bit About Me

I thought it might be nice to share a bit about myself. I have been living in Washington DC for two years now and I am going into my third year of teaching in DC. I also used to live in Pennsylvania, about an hour north of Philadelphia, where I taught for three years. Being an art teacher is the best job in the world and I really do love it. However, I do have many more interests in my life outside of school.

Since moving to DC, I have found myself at museums pretty often. There is no shortage of great things to see here! (art and non art related places!) Two of my favorite museums for art are the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art's Modern Wing. Both places are an a great place to go on a rainy afternoon! Their programs are a lot of fun and teach you to really view and question the art. The Portrait Gallery also has a lovely atrium, which serves food and drinks, and is a nice quiet place to sit.

 

Another one of my most favorite things is my Boston Terrier, Bella! My students always know who Bella is because I talk about her a lot. She is a great dog, who loves to tug of war with her toys and snuggle on the sofa. Here she is in my parents back yard in Pennsylvania. I think she misses roaming outside as much as I do. Here in DC, however, I do ride my bike a lot. So that helps with missing the open green spaces of Pennsylvania. If you are in need of a bike, there is a great program called Phoenix Bikes in Virginia that helps kids earn a bike. I suggest checking them out! 

 

This past year I also started my own business called Crinkle. Crinkle brings pop up studio art classes to kids and adults in the DC area. Right now I am hosting my workshops in a small clothing boutique in Petworth. It has been a fun partnership with the owner! People can shop and make art all in one night. So far Crinkle has had painting and print making workshops. Here is a link to the website: Crinkle 

Figure Drawing for 5th Grade

My hope this upcoming school year is to practice with the children figure drawing. It is always a fun activity to do! I find that after a lesson in figure study, the students are often more confidant in drawing people in their art works. I like to use the "hamburger and hotdog" technique when teaching children to draw figures. I explain to the students how the connecting parts of figures (elbows, knees, etc) are the hamburgers, and the longer parts (arms, legs, etc) are the hot dogs. It usually helps the students grasp the concept of full figures to draw instead of stick figures. For the more advanced students I then show them how to "hotdog" gets skinner near the joints to make it look more realistic.

 

Here are some photos of the students at Jefferson working on their figure drawing. We practiced together by having the students each pose for one minute. The students drew their peer using large sheets of paper and crayons. I explained to the students to focus on the form of the body and not on the clothing and details of the person. A lot of the kids had a good time and, of course, they all wanted to volunteer to be posing!

 

One way to extend figure drawing to another project is to have the students find a figure they like in a magazine. Have them carefully cut out that image and glue it to a piece of paper. On the other side of the paper, have the students try to recreate the figure as it is shown. I like the students to begin in pencil and then complete their drawings in colored pencil. This is also a great lesson to have the students practice value scales, so that the clothing can be made to look like it has shadows and wrinkles by using different pressures on the colored pencils. 

Blog Features

 

I have been working hard on the blog's features for the past day or so. You can find a lot of helpful buttons on the right side bar. There is an about me blurb as well as a Twitter, Instagram, Donors Choose, and Class Dojo link. These icons will take you directly to the sites so that you can see and read about exciting things going on in the art room at Langley EC.

Class Dojo is going to be one of my favorite features of this blog for the upcoming school year. I also hope that the students are parents reading this blog use the Dojo link as well. Dojo is a wonderful classroom tool that tracks students positive behavior and rewards. Students and parents can log in and view the student's progress with behavior in the classroom. The students can also create their very own monster avatar become more engaged and invested in their learning!

The Importance of Sketchbooks and Practice

In my last teaching position, which was in a middle school in SW Washington, DC, I was able to purchase sketchbooks for my students. This became a wonderful tool in the classroom, as it not only taught the students how to draw better over time, but it also helped with classroom transitions and student engagement.

On a rotating weekly basis students had special jobs in the art room which were posted clearly on my wall using a number system. Each table was labeled with the numbers 1-4, each seat having a number. That number corresponded with a job in the art room. For instance, maybe numbers 1's were responsible for picking up their table partner's sketchbooks when entering the room and passing them out. Another student was responsible for picking up drawing pencils and passing them out to the peer's at their table as well. The system worked well with giving the students something to do as they came in the room and having clear expectations that class was to begin right away.

After the supplies were distributed, the students viewed a drawing prompt on the board. As I was lucky enough to be in a middle school and see my students every day for a semester, I could rotate the prompts between observational drawings and challenge drawings every other day. Observational drawings were drawings that were completed as an exercising in viewing an object and trying to redraw it as you see it. I would set up interesting objects on the table for the students to observe. Anything from old bottles and cans to broken watches to art supplies. Challenge drawings were open ended prompts for the students to decide what they wanted to draw or design. An example of a challenge drawing would be: "You just heard a loud crash outside your window. You rush to the window, pull back the curtain and see...."

Both of these forms of sketching are wonderful ways to exercise your imagination, practice hand eye coordination, and strengthen your drawing skills. I was fortunate enough to afford these sketchbooks from my classroom Donor's Choose. If your school's budget does not allow room for you to purchase high end sketchbooks, students will just as much love legal sized copier paper folded in half and stapled. Let your students decorate the covers as they wish and they will feel an immediate attachment to their sketchbook and use it with pride.