A Light When I Needed It

-
The light shines thanks to WEAP. After working with an autistic child for five weeks while teaching summer school, I was left wishing I had more training in the field. I loved working with this particular student, but struggled knowing how to keep his interest while teaching twenty other students at the same time.
After the summer was done I found myself wanting to know more about autism. When I was unable to land a teaching job, I started looking for something that would still allow me to teach or work with children.

Wisconsin Early Autism.... I applied and was hired as a line Therapist. For the first time since the summer I was hired for a job that I was not only qualified for, but look forward to each day. As a line therapist, I work with the family of a child with autism in the families home. Each day I have learned new techniques and skills I can use as a future teacher. The greatest thing about the job is the "high" you get when the child masters a program he has struggled on for days.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eat Your Fruits And Veggies Mosaics!

-
Image
Pear Cherries Pear Orange (top view)  Banana   Green Pepper Lime Mosaic Fruits and Veggies! After finishing the toothbrushes I went right into another observation drawing hoping that we can continue to draw things LARGE! The students looked at a plastic fruit or veggie at their tables. The requirements were that the object had to have two sides / parts go off the edge of the paper, and it had to take up most of the paper space. I was worried, but soon blown away. The students drew outline drawings of the objects and outlined them with a wide black sharpie. The next class we looked at multiple examples of mosaic artwork from all around the world. The students  got the point quickly (NO PIECE OF PAPER CAN TOUCH ANOTHER PIECE). We looked at the highlights and shades (student had to use at least two or three different colors). By the way, great project if you have a large box of scrap paper. Students picked the colors and cut each piece of paper
Read more

Leonardo Da Vinci Flying Machines

-
Image
            Rocket Man             My fourth graders learned about Leonardo Da Vinci's many talents. I have to give mad props to my buddy Derek, an art teacher in Peshtigo WI (http://greatartdoors.blogspot.com/) for this lesson. Derek did this with his fourth graders (check out his blog) and used paper straws and other different materials. I used wood dowels, paper, string, twisty-ties, plates, hot glue, rice paper, cardboard, and plastic. I started the lesson by introducing the students to Da Vinci's many talents... science, military, and artist. We focused on his two studies on flight and their drawn models. The students examined the drawing, and then looked at drawn models from the Wright Brothers and airplane models drawn up till today. The students started by drawing their own blueprints showing a side, top, and front or back views. After their 2-D model was approved, the students started building their own flyin
Read more

5th Grade Emphasis… Work In Progress

-
Image
My examples of layered art objects (top right), emphasis example (lower right), and colored object example.  My students are close to finishing their EMPHASIS project with an object observation. Students made a layered black and white drawing of two different art objects. They started by tracing each object with pencil, followed by a "still-life" observation drawing to fill in the inner lines and details of each object. The lesson makes students aware of where things are on the page. The layered affect adds depth to the composition. When the students finished the drawing, we talked about an emphasis, and added color to ONE item on the page. Students used colored pencil to add color to their item. We are still working on them at the moment, but I was excited to show them off. Finished projects are soon to follow. 
Read more