On Tuesday I did a full day collograph printmaking program with grade 9 girls. I love printmaking. Collograph is a technique where the artist collages materials and texture together to make the plate that is used for printing. I haven't seen this program before so I didn't teach but I did make the teacher's example for her and I sat with a table of girls who were struggling to help boost their confidence and help them through the process. Their prints turned out wonderfully and I feel confident that I could teach this program.

On Wednesday Anne was away and I did the puppet program with Lili. I taught the program in the afternoon and Lili and I learned from each other's methods and styles of teaching the program.

On Thursday Anne and I had two special needs classes for the puppet program. The groups were small and it was very rewarding to help the children create puppets they were proud of. There was a confusion with the booking and the students thought they were making clay so they were a bit disappointed and not all of them have the ability to cope with change so we did our best to make the puppets extremely fun. Anne asked me if she fell off the face of the earth would I be able to teach puppets. I think I could definitely teach the program. I haven't practiced the intro and puppet show at the beginning but I've seen it enough times that I'm sure I could do it and make it my own.

On Friday I did accordion books with grade 12 in the morning. We used the same fancy paper that we had for Forest of Reading and we even had some donated suede for them to use. The group came all the way from Barrie and Anne wanted to give them a special day. This was my first experience with grade 12 and my first experience having a student flirt with me. Awkward! Since this age group needs less help Anne asked me to make a sample book. So I made a book and circulated helping students as needed.

Book nerds invade Harbourfront

On Monday we worked with a JK/SK class all day. In the morning we did painted faces and in the afternoon we did clay. This is my first time seeing both those programs so I shadowed and assisted where I could.

Forest of Reading is an amazing two-day festival that celebrates young people's authors. Over the course of the two days 8,000 young people invade Harbourfront to cheer on their favourite authors. I worked with the school visits team on Tuesday and Wednesday to run a drop in accordion bookmaking workshop. I hole punched so many holes to bind the books that my hand stopped working temporarily, but it was a really great day! Although these books are slightly different than the ones we do in our regular school visits program I've made enough of them to know what to do. I taught several of the sessions and co-taught others. I really love this program and its great to feel confident teaching it.

On Thursday I worked with Anne on two half day lino print programs with grade 7s. This is the first time that I've seen the program so I shadowed and assisted but didn't do any teaching.

On Friday we had two half day painted faces programs with JK/SK. I've seen this program before. I watched Anne in the morning and then taught it in the afternoon. Anne still did the intro, which is a history and background that I haven't trained on or memorized yet and I did the demonstrations. It was really fun.

Although I work primarily with Anne I have had many opportunities to work with other teachers. It's interesting to see how each teacher adds their own spin to things. The nice thing about school visits is that there is no lesson planning. The lessons are created and then teachers show up and teach them. No one is going home at night and planning lessons for the next day. The downside to that however is that you are teaching the same thing over and over and it is not authentically yours. I like seeing how different teachers interpret it and develop it in their own way.

"It's like being a grandmother"

Today one of the classroom teachers said to me: "teaching here is like being a grandmother, you get to do great things with them but then you send them away."

On Monday I observed the "Discover the Waterfront" program with a group of grade 2s and then we went back inside to make accordion books. I'm a pro now at making accordion books. The program ended early and I finished up the day thinking about the school program Mike and I will be designing.

On Tuesday I observed two sessions of "Altered Art" with grade 6 classes. This program looks at identity and I've seen how important having relevant and intriguing sources is for this age group. When they make collage they need sports and fashion magazines that they relate to in order to draw inspiration. The school visits program has lots of donated magazines but most of them are old and crafts focused. I'll be sending out a call to my friends not to throw their magazines away!

On Wednesday I worked on research for our school program related to an upcoming exhibit at The Power Plant.

On Thursday I did "Rod Puppets" all day. I watched Anne in the morning and taught part of the session in the afternoon. It was great to start teaching again.

On Friday I helped with prep for other programs, getting materials ready and organized.

For every program that I assist with I do the set up and the clean up. The community at Harbourfront is great and we all pitch in the get every ready to go and then clean up. Set up is about an hour and 15 minutes in the morning, depending on how complicated the class is. Many of the projects have a lot of components that need to be organized for both the morning and afternoon classes as there is not enough of a break to do a second set up and eat lunch between the classes.

Puppets, accordion books and clay oh my!

Before I started at OISE I worked in administration at Harbourfront Centre. I am thrilled to come back here for my internship and work with all the wonderful people in school visits. Most of my experience in education has been in museums or galleries or art schools and so it feels great to be back in my element.

This year has been an exercise in figuring out if I would rather be in a classroom or a museum. It's a question I've been thinking about this past week. I still miss the kids from my last practicum, and there really is something to be said for having your own class. But it's also really rewarding to give kids a positive, exciting, unique opportunity to make some fabulous works of art. In an hour and half there's no pressure to assess or discipline, rather I can help kids make puppets and truly enjoy themselves. As a school teacher you are teaching different lessons to the same kids, here its the same lessons to different kids. Every day is different and every day is less stressful and often more enjoyable than being in a school.

The atmosphere here is also very different from the schools I've been in. While the teachers here are very busy the environment is more relaxed than a school as people here aren't struggling with report cards, classroom management, discipline etc. People are friendly and happy. They are a joy to work with and to learn from.

Some things are similar. Lessons are established in a similar way to the 3-part lessons we worked with at OISE. Students are introduced to a concept and their prior knowledge is activated prior to the art making which is the body of the lesson. Often there is time for a debrief about the process which is a great way to validate the art that the students produced.

I've been pondering the question of school/non-school site this week but mostly I've been learning from my supervisor Anne and several of the other teachers here and just really enjoying being back in my element.

I work 8:30 to 3:30 with an informal, short lunch break.