Welcome to Mr. Purcell’s art classes 2019-2020! I am looking forward to everyone
learning and having fun in my 20th year of teaching! I want to make sure both students and parents/guardians are well informed of the expectations for the year.
To stay informed of both classwork and sketchbook assignments it is crucial that you are regularly checking the classroom blog at www.frsu38art.blogspot.com Please do not wait until the last week of the semester to deal with missing grades etc… as it is often too late to resolve issues at that point. I am most easily reached via email at jack.purcell@frsu38.org Please email anytime and I do my best to respond within two hours.
My art classes are the same as most any other class in terms of success; do your best work, both classwork and homework and turn it in on time. There will be a written final in all high school classes and most likely a few vocab quizzes. The assignments are specific and will focus on developing various skills (not talent) that will build on one another as we move through the class. My goal is to advance each students’ skill level wherever that may be.
Unlike some other classes I encourage students to be willing to fail in order to succeed. It is crucial for students to step outside of their comfort zone and challenge themselves in order to grow. I am more concerned with process over product in learning which can be a challenge for some students who are focused strictly on outcome. If you demonstrated an assigned technique or solved a problem but the finished product is not museum-worthy, that’s great because we aren’t showing in museums at this point.
Ultimately the goal in my classroom is to become more skillful through practice and following directions. Just like you do not necessarily take math classes to become a mathematician, you do not need to be a professional artist to excel in the arts. Art classes teach students problem solving, resiliency and creativity which are among the most marketable skills in the 21st century workplace. You can know every fact there is about science but your knowledge is useless in the workplace unless you have the creativity and innovative thinking to be competitive with the many other brilliant minds in the world. I cater to all learning styles and do demonstrations, with verbal directions as well as written ones that can be referred to anytime online. The LMC always has computers available if you do not have a library nearby or internet at home.
Phones/devices will not be allowed in class for any reason and should be off and away at all times. Please refer to the student handbook for consequences for failing to meet this requirement. Music will be allowed through the chrome books with student’s headphones at times where instruction is not being given. Charged chromebooks are required in class everyday so please make sure that is taken care of ahead of time and not in class. Students can text during lunch or if there is a true emergency (not lunch orders, forgotten sports equipment that can be dealt with outside of class) I am always understanding and students can connect with me one-on-one to work that out.
Students will need a 9 x 12 (or larger) sketchbook of plain white paper for all art classes, middle school and high school with the exception of Ceramics and Ceramics 2. Sketchbook assignments will be given on Mondays every week the class meets on M/W/F and due by Friday. These assignments are to be done as homework with the expectation of a full, undistracted hour's worth of work for each assignment. Homework counts as 20% of the final grade so it is essential that it is turned in on time to keep up grades. Late work is accepted but drops a letter grade every school day until the following Thursday. One make up assignment per quarter is allowed to replace a zero or low grade.
Let's work hard and have a fun semester!
