Inside the Classroom is a series that visits Northwest ISD campuses throughout the year and highlights the magical moments that happen between teachers and students each and every day across the entire 234 square miles of NISD.
Opening day at the State Fair of Texas is an exciting time, and one Northwest ISD elementary art teacher is capitalizing on that enthusiasm and bringing Bix Tex to life in her classroom.
The latest edition of Inside the Classroom takes us to Schluter Elementary where Keisha Morales had her fifth-grade students learning all things Big Tex as they worked to design themselves in the mold of the fair’s iconic mascot.
Ms. Morales sees her fifth-grade students once a week, and when we visited it was the fifth and final week of the project. Students had been incrementally learning about Big Tex and creating their own versions, and during our visit it was finally time to assemble the finished product.
The project started in late August when Ms. Morales introduced Big Tex to the class by watching a history video about how he got started. Students learned that Big Tex actually began as a giant Santa Claus in 1949 in the town of Kerens, Texas, and that he was sold for $750 at the time. They tied into their math curriculum by talking about what that amount would be in today’s economy.
Since that first week, students have been designing their own Big Tex, with some sticking to tradition and some adding lots of their own personality. They also created custom backgrounds inspired by this year’s State Fair of Texas theme, “Texas Shines Bright.”
Our visit during the project’s final week began with students creating their faces. With some direction from Ms. Morales, including demonstrations on the class camera, students added facial features and accessories to their own custom, skin-toned papers.
Ms. Morales then modeled a cowboy hat to help students visualize how to draw their hair. Students with varying hair styles came forward to see how they could draw their hair under a hat.
Once they were happy with their faces and hair, students traced hands on their skin tone pages. Next, it was time to cut out the elements of their Big Tex.
When the first student was finished cutting out her pieces, Ms. Morales used her project to demonstrate to the class what order to glue down their Big Tex. When that first project was finished, it was just a few minutes before more began to take shape.
As students finished their projects, they jumped in to help classmates cut and glue so as many people could finish their project as possible. The collaboration and teamwork was remarkable.
The day’s visit finished with a class photo, then students placed their projects on the drying rack and helped clean their working space.
Ms. Morales is in her 10th year as an art teacher, with six of those coming at Schluter, and she doesn’t like to repeat projects very often. This Big Tex creation was a first for Ms. Morales and the Schluter Spurs, and she was very happy with the results. Her students were also very thrilled to show off their creations.
Five weeks is a long time for an elementary student to commit to a project, but with a teacher who has the vision and ability to organize her class like Ms. Morales, the pieces always seem to fall into place.
Check back regularly all year as we continue to visit students and teachers throughout Northwest ISD and offer a rarely seen look Inside the Classroom.