Coon Rapids High School – Jennifer Latuff – 9 hours
This week I did my monotype lesson with the drawing level 3 students - it was a blast! Lynda came to my lesson to observe me teach. The lesson was very strait forward: short presentation, and a demo. You can view my lesson plan, photos of student work, as well as photos of me teaching under the "lesson plans" tab on this website. The lesson was a terrific learning experience, I know exactly what I would do differently next time.
The students were very eager to dive into the monotype process, many started prints on Monday right after the demo. I was able to follow up with the students on Tuesday, give feedback, answer questions, etc.
Ms. Latuff and I have also been working hard with her Advanced Placement: Studio Art students, trying to have them conceptualize their ideas. The AP course is very rigorous for a high school student, they have to create about one project a week to stay on schedule, and they are more used to making four pieces over the course of a whole trimester. For those of you who don't know, the first half of the AP course they focus on their "breadth" pieces, which focus on technique, showing the judges their skills. And for the second half of the class you work on your "concentration", which is a conceptually based body of work consisting of 12 images.
I went through the AP course twice in high school - one year with Drawing & Painting, another with 2D Design. I was eager to work with these students and try to help them conceptualize their projects which tends to be a struggle with younger artists. Many of them find an idea, and essentially create the same piece over and over rather than developing the idea and experimenting. Ms. Latuff and I gave them a "restrictions" project where we gave the students rules, or obstructions they had to follow in making a new piece, in attempt to get them to break out of a un-successful pattern of making. We are excited to see what they come up with next week!
Perpich Center for Arts Education – Pat Bennincasa – 5 hours
Back at Perpich! Finally.
I'm very excited for this placement. Perpich is such a unique and wonderful facility that I am so happy to be involved with. Pat Benincasa, the instructor I am working with, has a wonderful way of speaking with her students. I was able to be there for her introduction to her painting class… which was astoundingly different than Coon Rapids, to say the least. Pat made mixing color sound like an activity only magic-amazing-wonder-wizard potion-masters do. She got me excited about mixing a color chart!
The classes at Perpich are much more structured like a college course, which is much more relatable for me being that I haven't been in a high-school setting in five years, and that I would like to teach at college level someday. The students who had taken painting before were pretty much told to make five paintings before the end of the semester and were sent to go work, where the ones who had less experience are doing more structured assignments.
During class Pat simply spends her time meeting with each student individually. This was a bit more of a challenging task for me since it was my first day and didn't know these kids in the slightest sense… next week I hope to be able to have better communication with the students.