PME 1 NS

27/09/18 Three pupils in this class Today they are continuing their object drawing from the previous week. Two of the pupil are carrying on with their broken bottles whilst one finishes off the paint brush. This week the two pupils with the broken bottles started to add colour with colouring pencils. The bottles are a dark green which they simplified the ground underneath with yellow paper. This group is the eldest group I observe and there is a very different dynamic in the class. The pupils are quite and attentive and there is zero disruption in the class. Since this was a double the girls had a good stretch of time.

24/09/18 The class is divided into two groups one group is starting life drawing with Ms S and the second group is starting life drawing (they swapped from the previous two weeks). I was not prepared to introduce the class to life so I decided to start them off with gesture drawings , like I did with the second years in the previous class. The pupils were reluctant to start, as they expressed their disinterest of the subject, telling me it was their second and third choice in first year. I started them off with a 30 second drawing and finished with a 15 minute drawing. The pupils eventually got into it and I rotated to models for every second pose so that all could have a chance to experience it. This time unlike the second years I gave them a brief breakdown of how to measure the body (when they did the longer pose). I showed them the monocular way and the measuring off the room. Most of them tired the monocular way but didn’t stick to it. Some of the pupils lost interest and st...

24.09.18 The class is split in two, 10 and 11. So most days Ms S and Ms D have a class each. Eventually on a Monday I will have half the class so when Ms D is out I take that class. Now I had no prep for it and this was their first class of life drawing. I decided to just to gesture drawings as it is only a 40 minute class and they were leaving early for a uniform inspection. All of the pupils were very nervous to start this. As I had just did this myself in a class I thought the experience was great to get me start back to life drawing as I myself find it is very difficult. We did a series of poses starting and 30 seconds and building up to 10 minutes and swapped models every second pose so they all got a feel of the time and what they could achieve. Looking back I should have give them a brief breakdown of the figure and how you approach drawing it but I didn’t. I don't think it totally necessary for gesture drawing but perhaps a bit more knowledge would have been helpful f...

24/09/18 This is the last sampling class they have that I am observing. They got shown so samples of the JC. One being the horse as mentioned before, just highlighting the painting can be done in other mediums (horse done in pastel and colouring pencils). Ms S showed another project (one that was new to me too) it was the second theme of the junior cert which was ‘Look up-Things that fly’, and the pupil chose owls as their concentrated theme. She had a beautiful poster which had amazing use of pastel and pencil to create atmosphere within the painting. They then moved onto their first exercise which is the introduction to lettering and making words into animations that describe the word.    They again where give a list of words to work with and told to divide the page into 4 or 6 and explore different words. Again some people in the got out rulers and measured, some just folded the sheet, and some just went straight in and drew the line freehand. Its very interesting to ...

21/09/18 This is one of the last sampling class of first year. It follows the same format as the last two group I observed. This is a single class so the time is limited once the group of 23 have brought in seats from next door and sat down. They got a breakdown of the Junior Cert. Ms S lets them know that they don’t have to be excellent at art that during the course of the year they will be learning techniques that will help them develop skills that will help them in the JC. However she does stress for them to be careful putting it down as a second chose because this will be a three year commitment. Now I think this is a good and a bad thing. I think highlighting the fact it will not be a dose class but I cant help but feel it may scary people away. But then on the other hand it must be hard to motivate someone in the class who doesn’t want to do this subject, and thus distracting or even taking time away from a pupil who does. Ms S reads through the themes from last year JC a...

21/09/18 This is the classes last week of object drawing. They started off with the paint brush to explore the different textures i.e. metal, wood and hair bit, and now they are being challenged to try a teddy bear. This I think is an excellent challenge as is exploring texture without hard outlines (as a teddy does have a solid outline.). They are still on in the exploration phase so pencil is the chosen medium. But they are all eager to use their new pastel, which was part of their supplies list. Ms S explains that that’s not a suitable medium for such drawings and that they will be introducing colour with colouring pencils. As they set up Ms S runs through the simplifying of the background and ground to highlight the shadows. Ms S shows examples of how you can use different colour card under certain colours (Yellow under a green bottle highlights the light and shade). The whole class struggled with the texture of the teddy and almost all the girls asked for help for the foresh...

20/09/18 This class only has a group of three, they will be taking art for their Leaving Cert. The teacher introduced me as I haven’t met this group before. Ms S wanted to get the group to reconnect with a drawing exercise as this was their first class back. Ms S ran through examples of what the pupils will be working towards, ( pastel, object wine glass). To get them started they got to pick objects that are already in the classroom. However the pupils have drawn most of these, so Ms S was trying to engage them with something they haven’t already drawn. Ms S goes through a few of the objects and what parts would be interesting to try drawing and hopefully explore with some colour. The objects consisted of skull, a boxing glove, old shoe, and brush. Now I’m not sure if discussing the objects and their challenges will be good to make them think when they’ll have to pick for their LC or if its off putting and not challenging them to try something hard? Ms S did another quick breakd...

19/09/18 Workshop 3 Object Painting and Preparation Work I really enjoyed this workshop. We had about 3 to 4 weeks working on one piece. We divided into groups of four and gathered everyday household items. In our group we had a lamp, fabric, vase, violin, lemon, apples, and grapes. We spent some time as a group setting up our still life and finishing the correct setting for each object and the correct position for each of us to sit. Once we were all happy with the setup we began a series of thumbnail sketches, exploring the various compositions we would paint for our final piece. I enjoyed the thumbnail task, as it reminded me of the process of a sketch book, where you are looking at the same objects but changing one slight aspect until you find the prefect composition. Before beginning the final piece I completed a series of colour test with acrylic paints, as I have never worked with them before. I really enjoyed this process, however I also used this as an example to pu...

17/09/18 The class is split 11 and 8. The group of 8 are currently doing life drawing with Ms D. The pose was seated with hands in lap. The kids didn’t want to choose who to model so their compromise was to put names in a hat and I would chose. Ms S (Co operating Teacher) gave me A2 sheets for them, which did throw them, they wanted to use A4. They asked me how would they use the page, I explained as they are so close to them portrait would probably be better. I gave them the option (like in the JC) of full seated or head and shoulders. All the girls except one just did head and shoulders. When the pupils were drawing most of them weren’t looking at the model they where drawing. The one pupil who attempted the full pose drew what she thought she should draw. As she was slightly on the left hand side of the model, where as she drew as if she was face on. I don’t think the they enjoyed the class all that much. The approach each pupil took was interesting. Now I’m not sure how they ...

17/09/18 This class again is split in two and they are doing life drawing with Ms D. I was just asked to sit in with the pupils and pick a model and set up a pose for them to draw. One of the girls volunteered straight away (which honestly I think she did to get out of drawing). This class was very unproductive as a few of the pupils were really badly behaved and I was shocked and didn’t know how to react. They were discussing very inappropriate this things, like teachers and so on. They were not listening to me and being very disruptive toward the other kids. We got through the class and half of them produced some lovely drawings. In the future I feel I need to be more authoritative. Take phones if the pupils continue to ignore and talk during class.

14/09/18 The class group was out this day but I worked on a fourth year project with the Art Teacher. Also we went through the breakdown of numeracy and literacy see pics for examples. The fourth years have decided to do a monthly piece, where they pick a famous piece of art and put up pictures and facts around the school. This month they chose Michael Angelo’s Peita. I think is a great way to involve the pupils on pieces they may be interested in and to grab the attention of other pupils who do not do art and hopefully will spark so interest.

12/09/18 Workshop 2 Observational Drawing – Figure Figure Drawing was never my favourite part of the art class. However, at the outset we divided up into groups and my classmates introduced me to gesture drawing.   I loved it and was quickly participating   in both drawing and modelling, ranging from 20 seconds to 20 minute poses. The gesture drawings were a brilliant way of warming up the whole class and reintroduce someone to the discipline of life drawing. During this exercise in my school placement, I quickly observed that the pupils aren’t the biggest fans of life drawing, which was challenging for me during my first weeks of teaching. Initially, I worked hard to get them to like this, but it did not work and the negative response was alarming. However, I soon worked out that the pupils were nervous because they feared that their drawings were going to be sub-standard and they would see that as a failure. However I explained that gesture drawings are not meant t...

10/09/18 Object Drawing (meant to be life drawing but the girls started object in last double) This is a short 40 minute class, the teacher wanted to go through their supplies list to make sure they had the right things before the opened them all. Then the class was split and I supervised one half as they drew objects such as shells, water bottles, the bags. Now I was unsure about what techniques the girls had learnt from their first   class but they had a good understanding for light and tone in the drawings. This class was also shorten by 5 minutes as that time every Monday the girls have assembly thus making the class and observation short.  

10/09/18 Sampling class Drawing word exercise used. The same examples given IE. New York, Fish, see sketches below. Suggested that if you get an idea, for example the ‘I’ in Paris is a baguette, maybe rethink this as lots of things can be used as an ‘I’ so rejig is around. They received the same list of words as last Mondays group: windy, nest, fire, book, cloud. The teacher walks around the class encouraging ideas and giving a few out as well. Some of the kids just stare at the blank page whilst other dive right in. The page was slip in six allowing them to come up with a few ideas or explore just one, and next class they’ll pick one word to do on a large scale. When choosing do your encourage/guide them to an idea or do you just agree with their choice? And drawing on someone else’s page? Should we as art teachers do this?

07/09/18 10 in the class (split in 2) Introduction to tone and tonal value. Engaging the pupils and clarifying if they have covered it previously.They got a breakdown of the pencils and the different types and a quick word about respecting the art room and its supplies. The first exercise the class had to do was draw a pencil chart (see sketch below) to think how this will effect their drawings and how they would utilise this information. The teacher then comes down from the board and shows the pupils two extreme pencils, 9H and 9B. on a piece of paper the teacher demonstrated each of these pencils, whilst doing so the teacher encouraged the class to listen to the sounds each pencil made as they drew lines. Highlighting the point that 9H is hard and 9B is soft. (whilst this exercise was being displayed the pupils started to chat a bit, but another nudged them to pay attention).Before the pupils got introduced to the next project they went through the different typ...

05/09/18 Workshop 1 Observational Drawing – Object This was the first workshop we had this semester. We were told in advance on what to except and materials to bring in. However, as I had not partaken in object drawings for about 4 years, I was extremely nervous. I carefully selected my materials which consisted of   a pinecone and lantern. I deliberately chose one natural and one man made object. I did this purposely for in the composition of a still life in a classroom setting we would normally have a mixture of both organic and geometric shapes. Furthermore, given their shapes and textures, these two objects are excellent examples   of a variety of art elements touching on shape, form, line, value, and texture. I found starting the task quite difficult, mainly because it is so far removed from what I had been busy with in college during my undergraduate and the type of work I did since then. Nevertheless, whilst my work orientated on designing of interior spaces, ...

03/09/18 The number of the class is about 18 pupils. The introduction for the second years was a bit different for from the first years, they got a more detailed breakdown of the Junior Cert. The teacher took out some examples of past junior cert projects to show the class in order to show them what they would be working towards. Both samples showed two different levels of work from students. Perhaps this was done to reach out across the board as everyone will have different abilities. The first theme was ‘what a day’ (horses). The pupil had a clear ability to draw. The pupils painting (use of mixed media) was beautiful the texture and light the student captured (close up of horse head) was amazing. The pupils prep sheets where clear and thought out. You could see the pupil had an interest in art and design and in the topic they chose. The second project, showed a different set of skills and thinking behind it. The pupil chose ‘The next chapter’. The pupil chose graphic pos...

03/09/18 Not everyone has decided whether to take the class yet or not, only one has said yes out of 22. But there are 3 other classes of first years, so we will have a small group. The introduction to the class was a brief outlook on the junior cert, however the options that where given where somewhat limited (batik, weaving, calligraphy, and one more) but the work load was stressed, perhaps to underline that this is not just a fun class and that there is hard work involved. The first exercise introduced to the pupils  was lettering. But words that look like what they say, so that if you couldn’t read that language you would be able to guess the word. I.E Fish, you draw out the letters in the shape of a fish. Or New York draw the letter as skyscrapers. The girls were given a list of words to help inspire, however they were free to choose. The list consisted of words such as Tear, Walking, Scary. This was done so that the pupils had a stepping stone to help get the pen...

03/09/18 The class on Friday the 31 st of August (college orientation for me) got a detailed breakdown of the junior cert, as this is what they will be achieving this year. This will be the last year group to complete to old Junior Cert. The breakdown consists of: 1.        Graphic Design (painting/poster) 2.        3D- clay, cardboard, wire, etc. 3.        Option: batik, weaving, packaging, lino, and so on. Each of the above will have a preparatory sheet, The graphic design will have its own support sheet, whilst the other two will share. 4.        Drawing Exam is the last aspect for the group to complete. The class was well behaved and attentive, the class seemed focused and had a sense of pride in their work as their only questions at the end was if they could take home their second year work from the previous year. The te...