Full Integration

Let me start by saying that there was no part of me that wanted to come back to school today. I guess I was too indolent over the break...during the ten days we had off I went into school once, for an hour and a half to finish writing my units of inquiry so Casey and I could pow-wow this morning. I haven't felt the sort of panicked unwillingness to go back to work that I had last night since I was a newbie in Korea.

Fortunately for me, Casey is amazing...she had lots of good things to say about my fully integrated unit - the unsurety of which was probably what was leading me to the panic - and that got me motivated. Also, I actually came in at 6:15 (resisting sleep and other temptations), which gave me lots of time to get my head in a row, which, for me, makes all the difference.

So, full-integration ahead! Today saw me teach my introduction to year one's Art Attack unit three times (1V forgot they had an extra lesson today, so we'll reschedule for later in the week). I really like having them in a row like this, because it gives me the chance to improve with each lesson. The expository/inquiry part of the lesson became more fluid each time I went through it, and as for the painting part (Jackson Pollock-style drip paintings), I went from putting the paint on a plate to in a cup, to having it ready ahead of time. Fortunately the kids managed not to get any paint on their clothes (for the most part), but I got better about explaining the best way to hold and use the brushes as the day wore on. My main beef with the lesson is my pacing - I didn't get through our discussion of art fast enough for every student to have a chance to try the drip paining, and because I'd hate to have any of them feel left out (they really seemed to enjoy it), I'm thinking about sending an email to the teachers to let them know if their students would like to stop in my classroom during their break, the students who didn't get a chance can make a drip painting I'll display in my room, while the "class" paintings will go to their core teachers (one of them asked me for it today, which I'm of course okay with).

Just before the Eid holiday, I got the news that I was not going to be going into the classrooms with the KG's anymore after this unit. I have mixed feelings about it - I really like those kids, and I know they really enjoy art class (probably because I'm a total goofball and I'm worth my weight in gold when it comes to entertainment value), and I hate to let them down. But on the other hand, I only get to see them once every other week, and when you're trying to work through all the students in small groups, it doesn't give you much time to work with each child. So I guess it's for the best. I will still be collaborating with the teachers by helping to plan art based activities and games to go with their units of inquiry that they will execute in their own art stations...but without the contact hours it makes me feel sort of underemployed.

I still have three weeks (each) to work with them, which poses a problem insofar as it's challenging to find something to fill in that time with. For the KG1s, who are learning about transportation, I decided to have them make "tires" out of card stock and my leftover foam squares, which we will use to do some printmaking. I should have been able to get mostly through step one in today's class, but they are also usually late, and I wanted to introduce the lesson with some transportation-related art prints, so we were a little pinched for time, but the kids who got through it did well enough.