After three weeks of foundational learning and experimentation with color schemes, mixing and theory, my students were ready to begin their culminating (final) project.

Seniors: At the beginning of the week, I spent two days working with students on observational techniques and facial feature placement. Students completed worksheets about themselves. The students are creating a split self-portrait where they are to present their current reality and fantasy and the struggle to find balance between the two. The realistic portion of the assignment was to be drawn and shaded using graphite. The fantasy portion was to be painted in one chosen color scheme which represents and reflects on themselves. The final element was to write about themselves on a transparency paper and tape this over their face to include an element of concealing/revealing themselves. This project turned out to be insightful not only for the students but both myself and my mentor teacher as we were able to discover more about our students through their drawings, paintings and writings.

Adaptations/Modifications: For students who required a modified lesson, I taught first about the pop artist Andy Warhol. We spent a day looking at his work, inspiration and techniques as they would be completing a self-portrait with a similar color scheme process. After learning about the artist, I presented an example of screen separations on transparency paper to show his concept of process and layering.

Students completed a self-portrait in the style of Andy Warhol. This project was successful and students had a flex assignment for those who finished early without having them move on to a new project. This was another layer to their final project.

Arty On!

In my third week at Hughes High School, I had the students continue working with color mixing and color theory. This week, students created a 12 piece color wheel, complete with a range of 9 values for each color (hue), including four tints and four shades. The students created a design for their pie pieces and completed it around the color wheel.

The students completed their color mixing and painting in the following order for their color wheel:
Primary Colors: red, yellow, blue
Secondary Colors: orange, green, violet
Tertiary Colors: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, red-violet

This project was modified for my mentally disabled students. Their color wheel still included the 12 colors, but they completed theirs with one tint, the hue and one shade of each color. Example.

The students were informed that they would need to choose a color scheme for their self-portrait painting! More to follow!

Arty On!

The focus of this week at Hughes was color theory. All of my students created value scale paintings, creating tints and shades for red, orange and yellow. I wanted the students to have the experience of a small color family, so we began with two primary colors and created a secondary. With all of these colors, we created three tints and three shades.

This was an extensive exercise for students to use for their final painting. Many of my students had not had experience with paint, color theory or color mixing. It was a valuable lesson for students to learn about mixing dark into light and the effect of black and white on each color.

Arty On!

The first week of five weeks is finished at Hughes High School! This week, my main emphasis was on teaching and exploring color theory and color schemes with the students. We began with a powerpoint presentation and guided note taking for them to keep in their portfolios. We reviewed the color wheel and color mixing.

Their first in-class assignment was to complete a color scheme flipbook. The students wrote the definitions on each of the tabs of different color schemes. On each tab, the students glued three examples of the color schemes from magazines available in the classroom. Example.

The assignment was modified for the mentally handicap students, their color scheme flipbook was reduced to a selection of five color schemes. They were to glue pieces of construction paper down that are included in the color scheme. Next, they took color scheme crayons and created a design on the top of each flap, having two ways of showing the color schemes. Example.

These will be used over the next four weeks, as my student teaching experience will be heavily focused on color, color mixing and theory.

Arty On!

Today I began student teaching at Hughes High School. This school is located in Clifton (near the University of Cincinnati), as a high school in CPS, Cincinnati Public Schools. The senior class is the last class of traditional high schooling, Hughes Center. The school is in transition to a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) school. I will be working with students in grades 7-12 with a range of artistic exposure and experience. A break down of my classes is below:

1-Mentally Handicapped students who are in grades 7-11.
2-Students in grades 7-11 with individual academic and/or behavioral plans.
4,5,6- Seniors who are in the last graduating class of Hughes Center.

I am excited for what I will teach, learn and experience with my students.

Arty On!