Today was day two (and my last for the week) on a cart--when it arrives at least--and it was only marginally less awkward than yesterday. My second graders were wonderful, but I didn't get to judge my first graders very well as we had to go to an assembly fifteen minutes in. We had time to cover the rules at least. I'm excited to have the art room for the rest of the week, as I will have a full load of classes each day.
Now, since academic interventions have not started yet, I have a lot of free time on my hands. Something that I've been wanting to do--but have never actually accomplished--is sitting down and figuring out a year long set of units or at least a comprehensive game plan for fitting in all those frameworks.
Let me just begin by saying that, yes, I was shown more than one method of mapping my lessons to create a sort of basic curriculum map. And one would think, having taught for 3 years now, that I would already have this invaluable reference. Unfortunately, I tend to forgo that simple step, either through forgetfulness or just plain old apathy. Either way, I've got nothing. There are a couple sets of textbooks in our room, but honestly, I don't particularly care for how they approach their units. They don't make sense to me. So, I decided, after a bit of moaning and groaning, that I'd have to write a long term plan from scratch.
I think part of my current troubles in wrapping my head around long term lesson planning is that I'm still having issues reconciling TAB with the way I was taught to teach. But I think I made a breakthrough today. I recently made a word document for this purpose: a table with space for each 9 week quarter. Then I sat down and got organized.
To start, I grabbed my frameworks and copied down all the 1st grade sections barring history, critique, and similar stuff (which I will eventually do for all the grades I teach). I was mostly concerned with the elements, principles, and technique related frameworks. Art history and critique are generally easy to incorporate, especially with the Five Minute Museum and art shows, and many of my other frameworks, such as collaboration, are likewise easily incorporated into a lesson or activity.
Having the frameworks written out and separated from the other grades made it easier for me to focus on just one grade at a time, which is another problem of mine. Vertical alignment is all good and well, but not when you can't focus on lesson planning because you keep thinking about it!
My first lesson was of course this week's introduction to the class. From there I planned to introduce my core centers: drawing, painting, and collage. I followed up with a lesson about brainstorming and then sketchbooks. Next, I went down the list making sure to put in lessons on the elements and principals with different lessons in between. For example, in 2nd grade I penned in a lesson on line followed by opening the scratch art center and then shape. Clay center's opening is followed by form, then space & depth, then observational drawing.
There's probably a fair bit of tweaking needed as the year goes on, and I still haven't gotten to 3rd or 4th grade. But I'm feeling much more confident in my lesson planning now! In fact, it feels a little ridiculous that it's taken me 3 years to actually sit down and do this. I'm glad that I've finally taken the time.
Now, since academic interventions have not started yet, I have a lot of free time on my hands. Something that I've been wanting to do--but have never actually accomplished--is sitting down and figuring out a year long set of units or at least a comprehensive game plan for fitting in all those frameworks.
Let me just begin by saying that, yes, I was shown more than one method of mapping my lessons to create a sort of basic curriculum map. And one would think, having taught for 3 years now, that I would already have this invaluable reference. Unfortunately, I tend to forgo that simple step, either through forgetfulness or just plain old apathy. Either way, I've got nothing. There are a couple sets of textbooks in our room, but honestly, I don't particularly care for how they approach their units. They don't make sense to me. So, I decided, after a bit of moaning and groaning, that I'd have to write a long term plan from scratch.
I think part of my current troubles in wrapping my head around long term lesson planning is that I'm still having issues reconciling TAB with the way I was taught to teach. But I think I made a breakthrough today. I recently made a word document for this purpose: a table with space for each 9 week quarter. Then I sat down and got organized.
To start, I grabbed my frameworks and copied down all the 1st grade sections barring history, critique, and similar stuff (which I will eventually do for all the grades I teach). I was mostly concerned with the elements, principles, and technique related frameworks. Art history and critique are generally easy to incorporate, especially with the Five Minute Museum and art shows, and many of my other frameworks, such as collaboration, are likewise easily incorporated into a lesson or activity.
Having the frameworks written out and separated from the other grades made it easier for me to focus on just one grade at a time, which is another problem of mine. Vertical alignment is all good and well, but not when you can't focus on lesson planning because you keep thinking about it!
My first lesson was of course this week's introduction to the class. From there I planned to introduce my core centers: drawing, painting, and collage. I followed up with a lesson about brainstorming and then sketchbooks. Next, I went down the list making sure to put in lessons on the elements and principals with different lessons in between. For example, in 2nd grade I penned in a lesson on line followed by opening the scratch art center and then shape. Clay center's opening is followed by form, then space & depth, then observational drawing.
There's probably a fair bit of tweaking needed as the year goes on, and I still haven't gotten to 3rd or 4th grade. But I'm feeling much more confident in my lesson planning now! In fact, it feels a little ridiculous that it's taken me 3 years to actually sit down and do this. I'm glad that I've finally taken the time.
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