This week I learned that having a period split into a variety of activities helps students to focus. As we flow from one activity to another, students have less of a chance to take out their cellphones and text, or attempt to do last night’s math homework. The challenge is to relate the many different activities back to the main theme or concept of the class. For example, in a Visual Arts classroom, group ice-breaker activities, art history/context presentations, drawing warm-ups and drawing games are all somewhat amenable to art content. The students, I think, feel that their time is being used appropriately in each task, and each task ameliorates their visual skills.

Students in my Media Arts class seemed a little more resistant to having so many different components to each class. Splitting the class into presentation, discussion, lesson and then work period helped to manage student distractions like computer games and cellphone use, however, the students became agitated by the thought of not having the majority of the class to film their projects. Instead, I tried to see what would happen if the project work time in each class was reduced. Perhaps this will drive the students to regard the work time as more ‘precious’. I will have to observe more how this method will work.

In the upcoming week I would like to maintain a high level of energy and activities in my classes. I will be picking up two more classes, and I foresee that it will be a struggle to maintain energy as workload ramps up. I want to get enough sleep, which will require going to bed at 8:30 pm, and maintain a healthy diet. It can be difficult to get groceries with this kind of schedule.

In terms of classroom management, I would like to work on my questioning. Only certain students in each class tend to answer questions. I would like to reach out to students who are more quiet or scared to speak out in front of the class. This might be an occasion to implement the think-pair-share method.

Mask Project that students create with another teacher — what a beauty to show off!