i'm gonna be an art teacher

I should plan for that. Maybe here.

First Day: introduce myself. get to know the kids. I'm thinking I'll make some kind of powerpoint that has some art I've made and talks about past jobs I've had. or whatever. Then I'll come up with some kind of activity to have the kids talk a bit. Maybe find out an interest and their feelings about art.

Second Day: lay out expectations for the class and a general overview of what the year will look like. I was thinking that every six weeks they would get a portfolio grade to assess what they've worked on and they would also get a daily grade that reflects behavior and being on task. Art is just about doing it. You need to practice. The space and time is for practicing and doing art. If you do that, good job.

I was also thinking about offering a new activity every week. I will see 4 groups twice a week, each week for about 50 minutes. So it's really not a lot of time. But for the ones that can't focus on any one thing or don't really enjoy art, I'd offer some variety. At the same time, if somebody gets really into something or wants to do a larger project, I don't really have a problem with that. As long as they're using the time well. So maybe you'd knock out 5 projects for your portfolio or maybe you'd have one or two really detailed, in-depth projects. I don't know. I can see it not working out. But I'd rather have a few excellent projects than a bunch of ones that could just as easily be thrown away.

The second week I would want to show them how to do the abstract doodles that I like, that I got from Peter Draws. The way I do it is just a few easily repeatable lines and patterns. I feel like if you break it down into a few easy steps, it's really easy to do. Just fill a page with some patterns.

The third week would be drawing from a reference. It's a good skill to have.

The fourth week would be designing something. The theme at the school for the first six weeks is aviation so I was thinking the kids could design their own aircraft. Planes, helicopters, flying saucers, zeppelins. Whatever. You could make it by doodling or you could get a reference and modify it. Or you could just do your own thing.

The fifth week I planned to do posters. But I might change that to something that builds on the previous weeks a little better. This weekend I discovered Amik, the 1976 Montreal Olympics mascot. It's a beautifully simple design. So maybe we could look at that. Kind of minimal design and iconography. That could be fun.