My Turn at the Easel

I’m having fifth graders create shadow puppet shows and this is where I am posting them.  Cougar Theater

Without any thought of mentioning it to my students, I started using a computer drawing tablet in class. Whereas I used to stand in front of class and draw directly on the SmartBoard, now I sit at my desk and draw on the tablet. It then gets projected on the SmartBoard.

Today I noticed that when I drew, the kids looked at the SmartBoard, then they looked at me. They looked at the SmartBoard, and then they looked at me. Without seeing that I was drawing on the tablet, someone marvelled, “She’s drawing it with her eyes.”

There is a part of teaching that I absolutely ABHOR. That is writing sub plans. HATE IT!!! And after you go through all the torture of writing them, someone, who may or may not have any art experience, has to interpret it. I doubt it is any more fun for the sub than it is for me. Alas, it occurred to me to just film me teaching the whole kit and kaboodle. All the sub has to do is to pop in the DVD and hit play.

After finishing the video, I thought of lots of things I would like to change. I don’t know that I ever will though.

Here’s the link:  Sub Plan for Art Video

Art teachers…..I did this lesson with second grade, but I would try it out with second through fifth to see with whom it fits best.