There’s always a bit of anticipation and anxiety that comes with the beginning of a new school year. As a teacher, I begin each year wondering how I can step up my game, do a better job of reaching my students, and of course maintain my sanity. This year, I am also contending with a return to the art classroom after a two year absence. I’m pretty excited to be back teaching art, especially after participating in a Leadership Program with colleagues Colleen Rose and Lindsay Costa. I can put ideas to practice!

I decided to jump right into things with my classes this week. In ALC1O – Grade 9 Visual Art students have been working on an Introductory Design assignment.

I really want to applaud the new Grade 9s who jumped right in. The first week is always important for me to gauge work habits, risk-taking, and use of materials. This group is awesome. I’m looking forward to seeing things come together as we finish the activity. We will also be exploring the Elements and Principles of Art.

In ENG2D – Grade 10 English, we spent the first few days with some introductory writing assignments. We will continue that this week as well as introduce essay writing. My intention is to ensure that these students are experts in academic writing. Students are also reading To Kill A Mockingbird in advance of our next unit.

Finally, in AVI3O – Grade 11 Art I started the semester by asking my students the following question:

What is an emotion, character trait, or interest that you feel defines you? What does that LOOK like? How could you communicate your answer in art?

Students jumped to brainstorming. Some used lines and colours to represent their idea. Otherwise went with emojis. Still others decided to work on self portraits or outdoor scenes. I’m interested in seeing the creative processes of these students and I’ll be excited to share their final products. Most students are using acrylics on canvas paper for this assignment. The majority of the class has not been in visual art since the Grade 9 half-credit course so I have unlimited options to help build an appreciation for art with these folks!

Week #2 is going to be a great week!

I’m excited to explore visual arts with students this semester. We experiment with many tools and techniques and I encourage students to guide their own learning based on their areas of interest. In the art room I have limited supplies for everyone. However, students – especially those in the AVI3O – Grade 11 art class may wish to bring some of their own supplies. I suggest:

• A beginner’s drawing set. These include various pencils and usually a sharpener and eraser. This is highly-recommended. These can (usually) be purchased locally or from retailers like Amazon, Staples, Michaels, or Walmart – often for under $10
• Pencil Crayons. A set of 24 colours works well.

Otherwise, everything else is provided (within reason!) to allow students to complete assignments.

Let me know if you have questions!

Welcome new and returning students and parents! It’s the dawn of another school year!

I’m pretty excited for this semester. I’m back in the Art Room with two periods of visual art: ALC1O – Grade 9 Integrated Arts – Visual and AVI3O – Grade 11 Visual Arts. Sandwiched between is ENG2D – Grade 10 Academic English, which is one of my favourite courses to teach. I’m also excited because I’ll be a meeting a number of new students this year. I didn’t teach any grade nine courses last year, (for the first time in my career) so I’ll get to meet many of these students in Art and English. I’ll also have the opportunity to meet all new grade 9 students in art.

As usual, I’ll be regularly posting and sharing lesson information, student work, and other related content so check back frequently, subscribe to the site, or follow me on Twitter. For those too anxious to wait until the first day of school, here are the outlines for my Fall 2017 courses:

Period 1: Grade 9 Visual Art
Period 2: Grade 10 English
Period 4: Grade 11 Visual Art

Enjoy the last days of summer – and the first days of school. I’ll be back with more updates soon!