What does good teaching "LOOK" like?

This term, more than ever before, I'm wondering what does good teaching "LOOK" like...literally?

The students I'm teaching this term are the most independent and self-sufficient kids I've ever taught. If I let them, they would spend the entire term on one project...and maybe I should. This behavior, which I would have given anything to have in my classroom in Brooklyn, has left me feeling a little uneasy here in Massachusetts. Are they bored? Are they unhappy? Am I doing enough? Some days it sure doesn't "LOOK" like I'm teaching very much. I anticipate this happening more and more the longer I work here. This year's seniors have been working in my room consistently all four years of high school...so they know how things work and they are busy working on their work. Good, right? I will be writing about this more and would love to read your thoughts.

focusing on focusing.

on mondays my advanced 2d class draws from observation. for the first half of the term i focused on increasing their understanding of what it takes to build a drawing...working in layers, being flexible, working from the general to the specific. they seemed to get it but they haven't been observing as closely as i wanted them to.

they're the group on "the plan" after all and they tend to get silly when we work from observation. so today i decided i would provide some of the structure and they would provide the rest. they would draw tiny pine cones. i hoped the size would help them to get involved and obsessed...

i also told them they couldn't sit within 10 feet of anyone else and they had to work in silence. i recommended headphones. they got to choose large or tiny paper and the materials they wanted to work with. i advised them to think about their natural tendencies...to work small and detailed or big and sweeping and to choose wisely.

and...they did it. they worked in silence, away from each other. they spent 50 minutes observing intensely. and most of them made the best drawings i've ever seen them make.

they need that internal focus to make accurate drawings. so what is it? is it sitting instead of standing? is it working without and audience? is it the tiny objects combined with the teenage brain?

or was it me?

i sat away from them and worked on my computer while they worked, making one or two quick laps around the room. i rarely allow myself to do this. rather, i circle around like a mother hen while they draw making mental notes of who's having trouble with what and yelling out suggestions to the class. maybe they were just as relieved as i was to have some quiet for once?

this makes me think it could be interesting to have a class like this work on one tiny drawing all term long next year....

getting student feedback

mary and i talked about teaching over coffee and a cookie at flour this weekend. she said i should watch how to draw a bunny which i put in the netflix queue and will report back on. i told her to check out this blog and hopefully she will.

she also told me that at bennington, halfway through the term, there is a day when the teacher leaves the room for a certain amount of time and the students discuss how the class is going. one student is assigned to take notes and submit a summary. 

i was immediately intrigued.

i wondered about my students and whether this would be helpful to me in anyway. 

would the students feel too empowered by doing this?

would they actually give me helpful feedback or just goof around while i was gone?

revamping oil painting.

when i told a good friend (and probably the best painter i know)  i was teaching three sections of oil painting this fall he said, "oh that's easy. just tell them to move the paint around until it looks like something." lately, i keep thinking of him saying that and laughing as i look around the studio at all of my students' paintings that look like they will never be finished. 

the first major painting of the course is always a set-up of white objects. they only use two reds, two blues, a yellow and white. no black. they ask me for it...daily. but no, no black.
 

they make thumbnail sketches, using viewfinders to create an interesting composition. they build their paintings from the general to the specific, from thin to thick, with me barking out those phrases over and over again. and most of them do quite well, BUT...in this class more than any other i find it so hard to manage the variety of skill levels in the room. some have barely ever even drawn and some have taken class at the mfa since they were 5. 

most of them need practice. last year's group was very advanced so i created the curriculum for them. and somehow i didn't realize until it was too late that these guys would need something different. less finished paintings and more of them. we should have done 30 paintings by now instead of 3. in the face of challenge they have become precious and uptight...and yes, it's my fault. i've been managing it student by student, but the truth is, i'm exhausted...and part of the reason i'm exhausted is because my curriculum isn't doing enough of the work for me. i flit about the room like a dragonfly managing crises. half the time the crisis is a tipped jar of turpentine or paint on new shoes rather than any deep artistic issue. i kicked these kids off the dock and now i'm saving them one by one.

 
many of the finished paintings look good to the students. they were able to model most of the forms and mix the colors they needed...but it feels like it took and awfully long time and i wonder how helpful it is to do all that learning in only one painting.

how do we decide what speed our students should be working at?

how do we use time as an ally in the fight against preciousness and tightness?

i'm already planning for next year.

should i be allowing this?

like any dutiful painting instructor i always require my students to make 3 thumbnail sketches before they start painting. i make them these cute paper viewfinders like i used to use when i was in high school. my quote, "your first idea is usually not your best idea". 

but today one of my students asked if she could use her camera as the viewfinder. she wanted to take pictures to literally find the painting she would make of the still life she set up. i couldn't think of a reason why this wouldn't be ok. the lcd screen on the back of a digital camera if literally the best viewfinder i could think of. not only that, but they usually fight me on making 3 sketches. these girls, however, took at least 10 pictures slowly and thoughtfully and we were able to cover the screen with a sheet of paper to see how the composition could be different. 

maybe we discovered something new today.

question...

so i have a few know-it-all students in my oil painting class. they've taken lots of art classes outside of school. from their point of view those classes are more legitimate...the teachers "real artists". they think the way they did things in those classes is the only way. they also answer every question i ask even when i'm trying to help another student learn. this frustrates me...a lot. 

clearly i have to find some way for these students to share their knowledge and feel acknowledged while not stealing other students' thunder but...how?

question...

how can i convince students they're progressing? sometimes they just don't see the difference between what they used to do and what they're doing now. my encouragement is not enough.