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Cass Junior High

January - March 2020

Darien, IL

At Cass Junior High I had the opportunity to work with Matthew Etherington and embrace the warm and welcoming school climate. I developed and enacted a curricula for seven different art education classes infused with visual culture, fine art, and technology. These classes include Illustration (7th and 8th grade), Digital Media (6th grade), Virtual Worlds (7th grade), Visual Culture (7th grade) , Painting (6th grade), Visual Culture (7th and 8th grade), and Art Foundations (5th grade). My most memorable experiences at Cass Junior High were spent in the classroom teaching children how to use divergent thinking skills and metacognition to become critical thinkers that aim for mastery.

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Throughout the curricula, students gained knowledge about arts role in social advocacy and acted on high morals through the creation of art as well as the communication and collaboration with peers. In addition to my experience teaching in the classroom at Cass Junior High I learned and implemented the use of various technological platforms, assessed students, and helped foster a strong school culture and climate. An essential skill I learned was how to use Google Classroom and PowerSchool. These tools allowed me to directly communicate with students and update their grades in real time. The school used standards-based grading for summative assessment. I was previously very familiar with standards-based grading; however, at Cass Junior High I was able to create and enact assessments aligned with the state standards using this method of assessment to understand how the implementation of standards-based grading influences the students motivation. I was able to apply my skills about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to nurture student’s excitement to learn.

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My strength during my experience at Cass Junior High was being able to foster a strong school culture and climate. I would stand at the front of the building to greet students in the morning, attended board meetings, led art club, visited sporting events, watched scholastic bowl compete, volunteered at the Valentine’s day dance, judged and attended the Darien's Women Art Show hosted by Cass Junior High as well as collaborated with parents, other teachers, the guidance counselor, and principal. Within the classroom, I promoted the benefits of social and emotional learning (SEL) weekly by engaging students in a Mindfulness Jenga activity where students reflected on their life and shared with others. I was jovial watching students faces light up with excitement every Monday as they were eager to participate in the activity.

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Teaching at Cass Junior High was a wonderful learning experience where I was grateful to gain flexibility in my teaching style and confidently use my knowledge and skills to help students become insightful artists who can impact and contribute to a democratic society. Being a part of a warm, nurturing and empathic school allowed my personal values to flourish among the students, parents, and additional members of Cass’s staff and faculty.

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Art Schedule

Units                                     Class                                      Grade                      Time

N/A                                     Plan                                      N/A                      7:30-8:45

1, 2, 3                                 Illustration                               7th & 8th                8:45-9:30

4, 5, 6                                  Digital Media                            6th                     9:30-10:15

7, 8, 9                                 Virtual Worlds                             7th                   10:15-11:00

10, 11, 12                            Visual Culture                             8th                    11:00-11:45

13, 14                                    Lunch                                  N/A                    11:45-12:15

15, 16, 17                                Painting                                6th                       12:15-1:00

18                                           Plan                                  N/A                           1:00-1:15

19, 20, 21                          Visual Culture                               7th & 8th                1:15-2:00

22, 23, 24                             Art Foundations                          5th                       2:00-2:45

25, 26, 27                               Plan                                      N/A                       2:45-3:30

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7th & 8th Grade

Illustration

Lesson: Screen Printing for Advocacy
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Students were introduced to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and instructed to create a design to screen print on a t-shirt which advocates for peoples physiological needs. In order to express evolving methods for advocacy, students were introduced to the technical application of thermochromic pigment. To conclude the lesson, students wrote a fashion script and strutted the classroom runway. 

6th Grade

Digital Media

Lesson: Stop Motion Anti-Advertisment

Students learned effective methods to communicate with their peers which were used when creatively marketing to a target audience reasons viewers should not to buy an imagined or currently existing product. Students used various media such as clay, drawing, and Legos to create a stop-motion animation using key techniques including key frames, continuity, and frames per second. 

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7th Grade

VIRTUAL WORLDS

Lesson: Fantasy Land Zoo

PART 1: I can research and document information about animals and their environment to create a sketch of an imaginary fantasy creature that has color and texture within its imaginary environment. 

PART 2: I can create a display board using digital media with the information from my brainstorming sheet for my fantasy creature using clear text and repetitive elements to express unity. 

PART 3: I can sculpt my fantasy creature that has color, texture and form using Open Sim in Firestorm. 

PART 4: I can collaboratively work with my peers to design a map for the fantasy zoo. 

PART 5: I can sculpt my creature's environment which corresponds to the location on the map I designed with my peers. 

PART 6: I can design a brochure to market to a target audience about the benefits of visiting the fantasy zoo. 

I Can Statements
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To begin this lesson, students imagined and sketched a fantasy creature as well as documented information about their creature. Through this multidimensional lesson focused on digital sculpting through Open Sim in Firestorm, students created fantasy creatures along with a zoo. With digital and analog options, students designed brochures with promotional methods to encourage visitors to visit the zoo. 

8th Grade

Visual Culture

Lesson: Recontextualizing History

During this project, students randomly selected an art era to research as well as various contemporary photographs. Students applied the media and visual qualities of their art era to recreate a contemporary photograph they selected. Additionally, students led assessment by evaluating the Illinois State Standards applicable to the project and modified them in groups to make them specifically connect to the project. To conclude the lesson, students presented their research, process, and final projects to the class. 

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6th Grade

Painting 

Lesson: Food Industry Illusions
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First, students selected their favorite snack food and conducted research about its nutritional value, advertisements, and additional fun facts. Then students learned about anamorhpic illusions to create their own anamorphic illusion paintings to symbolize the illusion some food companies create with their marketing techniques and nutritional value of the product they endorse. 

Lesson: Imprinting Memories
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For this lesson, students recalled an important memory in their life. They explored how their senses heightened their recollection of this memory and used their sense of touch to make it come to life. Students envisioned their memory and painted it on their body in a monochromatic color scheme using body paint and imprinted it on paper. During this project, students were challenged to blur the boundary between painting and printmaking to experiment and explore the potential in creative risk taking. 

7th & 8th Grade

Visual Culture

Lesson: Repurposing Life Experiences
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Performance Art
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Exhibition

There were four main components in this multidimensional social and emotional centered lesson. First, students expressively used line to write a personal and private story. Then they created a performance piece destroying their narrative. Students used these pieces of paper from their destroyed narrative to create a sculpture that symbolizes their growth from the experience they wrote about. Lastly, students collaboratively designed a gallery and invited other classes to attend the gallery opening.

5th Grade

Art Foundations

Lesson: Balancing Life Mobiles
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