"Where shall I begin...AGAIN?"

Today our school year began for the 2011-2012 school year.  I'm still at Skyline High School and Career Development Center.  I'm still teaching on A days on a half time contract with the Dallas Independent School District. I'm still in classroom G-62.  Sounds pretty comfy, eh?  Doing the same kind of job year in and year out?  Maybe for some, but not for me.  No sir, I'm starting this 42nd year of teaching with a whole new program.  I've taken over the Jewelry classes this year.  The former teacher, Susan Embler, decided to make a move to the "burbs" over in Mesquite, leaving her three jewelry classes behind.  Always looking for new experiences and challenges, I decided to put in a bid for them and was granted my request.

So I have two beginning classes of jewelry, Art II, and one advanced class with both Art III and IV students enrolled.  The Art II classes are about 24 students each and the other has about 10 students currently enrolled.  I moved the basic tools and equipment from the former teacher's classroom and brought in some of my personal stuff as well.

I met with the classes today and only had time to cover some rudiments of their behavior and code of conduct generally in the classroom.  I did, however, tell them about my Student Directed Art Curriculum.I haven't given them any handouts or specifics yet, but I did tell them I would be teaching them the same way, generally, as I did my Art I students last year.  There will be some modifications, a little less paper work, fewer written requirements, and more concentration on skill building, but that will be necessary considering the type of classes they are.

I broached a subject with them verbally today about a concept I thought of dealing with COLLABORATIVE LEARNING . The idea is to form some "mini companies" within the class.  Students in groups of 5 or 6 that meet together and work out what kinds of things they want to learn, share research they take on, decide what raw materials they need, chip in equal amounts of money to purchase them, elect a person or persons to be responsible for keeping track of their expenditures, do their own bookkeeping, and share in any profits they might end up with when and if any of their designs/work is sold.  Not that THAT would be the impetus for the groups' endeavors, but it could be, down the line, a result.

I shared with them my personal need to stay out of any transactions they might make regarding finances so that a liability issue wouldn't be raised regarding going through proper channels and adherence to school district policies.  I also shared with them the VERY limited budget I was on, particularly in regard to consumable materials.  I will keep this blog posted on how successful this process becomes, how it is working, and the positives and negatives involved.

For those "following" this blog, I say welcome back.  I look forward to hearing your comments along the way.  Until next time....