First Lesson

Today, was my scheduled day to teach a lesson to 5th graders in front of my observer, however, she had to reschedule for next week. I had already taken the day off at work, so I decided to go ahead and teach it anyway, just as a trial run. There is no such thing as too much practice, if you ask me, especially if you have never taught before...

I used a lesson that I made as a precursor to drawing portraits that focuses on drawing the facial bones and the skull. I brought in several plastic Halloween skulls which that got the attention of the kids right away. Some of the kids were threatened with skeleton bites when they were talking too loud or got out of there seats. First we read aloud, a section in a children's science book about skeletons and focused more in depth on the skulls. After that, the students did some mapping at tables on dry erase boards to try to help sum up the functions of our bones. 

The same ideas were listed by most of the students, which was great. They realized that skeletons, and skulls are used to provide structure to bodies and to protect organs. We discussed how to think about where each feature was placed on the face and felt on our own faces where our eye sockets were as well as, where our jawbones and teeth were. Students were then given handouts of skulls and a photoshopped, simplified version of the same skull for practicing shading. 

I put a picture of my own skull drawing up on the projector and screen to show them how to shade effectively and demonstrated on paper while they were all around me, how to shade in sections and focus on shapes within the drawing. We discussed methods for shading and how to use the pencil and eraser to create a smooth surface. We also discussed shading recessed areas or cavities darker and closer, sections lighter. 

The students seemed to enjoy the lesson and the timing was pretty good, but I will need to talk a bit more when I present for my observer. 

The book we read and one of the attention grabbing skulls

Skull shading example page with directions for lesson

Practice skull, if they chose to use it 

 Example of drawn skull that went up on the projector