The nervousness from this Saturday has continued even into today, still wondering "what did the students think, what are their parents thinking?". Even with all the nervousness I do still think that the class went very well and that the students enjoyed it. I was extremely impressed with the students art and their creativity. The students all seemed to embrace the project more than I had hoped for and were very excited about the theme of dinosaurs, dragons, and other imaginary creatures. Although some of the students drew things they had seen before, such as the student who drew the nyan cat, the majority of them drew incredible imagined creatures. One student drew a giraffe/peacock creature, another drew a two headed cat, I was amazed at how creative they were and at the quality of their art. I think the students' level of engagement with the project made for a higher quality of art, they put more effort into something that they were interested in.
I think we had a few problems during the class, but not enough to ruin the class. We had a few issues with timing and trying to keep things moving. Students wanted to continue working on their pictures when it was time to move on and it wasn't easy to tell them to stop doing something they were so interested in. We also had a table of boys who would not stop talking to each other. I told them several times that they could only talk if they were continuing to draw, but in the end they were behind and needed more time before we could move on. Overall I think the class went very well and it was a very enjoyable experience that I am looking forward to repeating next week.
As a parent, I'm pretty comfortable with saying that the parents were probably happy and as long as the kids don't come come crying, its all good.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like there was some really great creativity happening in your class, I would love to see some of the student's work. If it's okay with the kids, would you mind posting some images next time.
We had a few issues with timing as well. I think that our timing estimates and time management will get better the more we do it! It sounds like the first SAS went very well for you guys! Don't be nervous thought because I sure that it went great! Did you guys take any pictures on saturday that you could post too?
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have a camera (as far as I know) so we didn't take any pictures, but we will next time.
DeleteI was also impressed on the creativity for such young kids! It would be interesting to compare the works for each grade. We had a few timing issues too, but those issues will easily be worked out with experience! I'm sure they all enjoyed the class, and I'm sure the parents were excited to have the kids doing something other than focused on a screen, so don't be nervous! :)
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way about getting them to stop working. It's hard to tell kids to stop doing something when they are reacting is such a great way to something you assigned them. I was kind of happy in a way that all those boys were talking so much on the first day because that only means they will get along even better in the future, and i'd like the students in my class to be friends and get along because it will make the class that much more enjoyable for everyone, however they did start to get a little carried away with their conversation and weren't really stopping when we asked them so thats just something we are going to have to work on. I'm going to make more of an effort to be stern when it comes to those things because I know that's not one of my strong points. But all in all I think we had a great first day!
ReplyDeleteI also had a similar experience in the Saturday Art School with the children not wanting to move on to the next activity. As we were gearing towards the end of our self portrait exercise, we gave them a five minute heads up that the activity would soon be ending and a few of the children responded with "noooooo"s or I saw one girl start frantically grabbing colored pencils to hurriedly finish her portrait. I also found that a good experience in that it did kind of show that they were enjoying the activity we had planned for them. As far as the group of boys in your group who seemed more interested in socializing, maybe next time your group could tell the kids to set with a new group of kids? I don't know if that would help, but it might be worth a try.
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