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Art Education Assignments
This is the Brainstorm of the 3 Big Ideas.
The brainstorm consists Pollution, Humor, and Culture. Pollution is a big topic and has a lot that could be stemmed from when trying to connector to other big idea topics. It also allows for me to use a lot of different materials when designing my lessons because natural and recycled materials can be found anywhere. I'm working with another student and we both agreed on humor as something that could make the way you go about any topic interesting. She picked culture and what doesn't have to do with culture and it is easy to connect this back to a lot of other big ideas as well because it is apart of culture.
Classroom Management Tools/ Strategies
I went and looked up classroom management tools because we have read a lot about it but I feel like it is hard to hold certain information in my brain especially when it is pretty much the same things just in different ways or when some things are not appropriate for teaching in this day and age. One thing I found was a site that had a list of different tools and it included quite a few things but it did leave some things out. One of the tools that I thought was interesting was a sort of connecting and building relationships between the students and the educator. It was having a little time in the beginning of class to share positivity in your life and this could take place with your family, friends, school, or whatever. I might change it to more of a sharing of their weekend events or something they accomplished on their own recently because the same thing all the time can get boring and old. I could also just have all the children go around and say something they are thankful for. This helps them feel or belong to this group or class and they feel that they not only can be heard but other people are interested in their experiences. Non-Verbal signals was another tool that interested me. I feel like it does take away quite a bit of time to ask to go to the bathroom or for anything else. It can be much simpler and possibly even fun for the students to use non-verbal signals as well as me the teacher. I would definitely teach them signals that are directly from sign language and may mention that piece of information when introducing it but it will help them recognize a new way to communicate and they can also help out in the class. This would be like how “Quiet Coyote” is used by other students to indicate to their classmates to also be quiet or settle down so they use the tool to help one another.
Chapter 1
I feel like the most important and likely to accomplish in this after school program situation would be Envision, Express, and try for Reflect. These are important ones that are often accomplished even if they aren’t acknowledged when they are being done in the process of a project.
1-3 questions you can prompt your students to aid them with reflecting, stretching & exploring, and engaging & persisting?
How is the environment apart of art?
What is sustainable about making art?
Does art have to be permanent?
Forecast 2 questions your students may ask you.
What does sustainability mean?
What does environment mean?
Chapter 2
When you make art, do you start by planning or exploring right on the page?
It definitely depends on the situation because I definitely do both. When I’m just bored or just going through life sometimes an idea will creep into my head and I catch interest in it. I then will continue to think about it and if it seems good enough to put down on paper somewhere. Creating a sketch of what I actually want. Some ideas can’t be drawn out or totally planned so other times I’m just walking through an area and see trash or discarded items and they just trigger an idea and I then go to work with the materials. I just feel that even if you plan things out first before you begin to create, you will run into problems along the way that will cause you to have to change your idea slightly to accommodate for the issues that arise.
Does your own style match how you introduce lessons to your students?
I would say that our own style is always something we bring to a lesson and teach to our students whether we think about it or not. There is always a little bit of you in everything you do, and that ain’t just a good rhyme. People really do reflect their work whether it’s creating a lesson, work of art, house, dinner, or book there is always something unique to how the author or artist made it.
Are there some students for whom this format works really well, and others who might flourish more with a different format?
I feel like these formats can be good for both people who are more interested in planning things out before they dive into a project and for others who feel that they already have some sort of idea but they will figure things out during the process. It allows for students to not have to choose one form they want to learn in but provides the option for either and encourages thinking things through first.
How can you honor multiple approaches in your classroom?
You can offer multiple approaches but teach your students about all of them and explaining why and how certain approaches work better in different situations and at certain stages in the process. Also not discouraging students to think outside the box or use alternative methods to come to similar solutions, as long as they keep in mind the aspects of the project and what is the desired skill they are learning.
How will you transition in your program?
I will try to quiet the students down, then I will give instructions for the transitions. Have them be a part of the process and ask how they would like to have transitions go. It will also allow me to inform them if they don’t do it, that it was what they chose.
How can you train students to be more efficient in entering the room, getting set up, cleaned up, or leaving the room?
Make it as easy as possible for the students, where all the supplies are out and ready for them to use for the project. Tell them that the sooner they sit patiently and listen, the sooner they can do the fun project that we have planned for them.
How can a transition be used for learning, reflection, or observation?
During a transition you could get them to reflect by telling the students to think about what they just did for an assignment and maybe have them share amongst their table members.
Can you think of some Studio Habits that might go together because one leads a student on to the next one?
Probably Envision to Express because you come up with an idea or ideas then you go and put them either down on paper or start creating, depending on the given design.
What Studio Habits of Mind do you use in your 21st Century After School program?
Envision, express, engage and persist, stretch & explore, and possibly reflect but who knows what we will actually get down in an after school care program.
Are there any you never use? Why do you think this is?
Understand arts community would be one that I don’t often use because I never really think about it but also I feel like most of us just create art and you don’t actually need to understand arts community to create art. I also feel that you never totally understand the arts community because it does have things that are hard to wrap your head around, issues that nobody really has one correct answer to, and it’s always changing. Art history is a big thing that we should learn but I know at least from my experiences in art classes, that you don’t need art history in order to create art but it does give you more things to think about if you do.
Chapter 4
There are a ton of different requirements and plans that need to be included in the curriculum. Obviously you have to try your best to get all the standards in there but overall you have to think about the individuals and as a class the certain needs that are required before they can even think about meeting the standards. Standards are made but they only work when everyone is at the same level and for a certain kind of average child.
Encouraging students to use another form that they don’t always use or try using different forms with them to get them to see different ways of getting new ideas. Not to say that they won’t prefer one type or the other but it gives them the opportunity to discover both and use them for idea exploration.
I would accomodate for children taking a long time to finish their work. I know when I was in middle school I had to stay in for most of my times for recess just so I could finish an art project but even though I was so late, he saw that I wanted to put in all this time and worked hard to finally finish it so he gave me an A. As long as students are trying then they should be able to get the accomodation for time. This goes for anything else, like for the students that are trying yet they have some kind of physical or mental handicap that prevents them from being able to fully accomplish a task.
Leaving flexibility in your schedule allows for some things to change but difference can be nice. I have not yet taught but I would try to be as flexible as possible because not everyone is the same and why should they all have to learn all the same then. It is not always possible to accommodate everyone but all you can do as a teacher is try your best to. It isn’t always possible financially for a school to even have the equipment for all the different flexibilities possible with the different learning styles. I would want to be able to work on having more accommodations in my teaching practice and school in general. It would definitely make a big difference if the school was on board with accommodations and flexibility so that other teachers would do the same but there would also be a budget for it to be accomplished.
The key values of Caren and Jennifer’s school are Integrity, Simplicity, and Community. These are basic ideas that can connect a lot of teaching practices down to. There are many ways you can connect these and other values back to your curriculum and teaching practices in general. In art we deal with big ideas and core standards for teaching and this is where we stem are ideas from in order to create lesson plans for the overall curriculum.
There are so many people you could discuss this book, these ideas, and school things with. Looking at people I could easily talk to in my life, I have my girlfriends mother who is a first grade teacher and grandmother who was a special education teacher before she retired. We discuss school and teaching every now and then, just in regular conversations that randomly pop up. By them being non-art teachers, they give me different perspectives and ideas that I never would have come up with in my own head and teaching practice because they are also experienced. My girlfriend is a future educator and wishes to work with elementary school children so she is another source I could talk to. Old professors who I have had through my years of college and even the ones I have currently. Whether the professor’s class is on teaching or art it doesn’t matter because it may be useful just seeing how they go about teaching in general. Their rules and guidelines for the class and projects are all different with some similarities. I have also gone back to my old schools and they have been interested in talking about not only what I’m learning about but their experience with me as a student and other years they have dealt with.
My Developing Art Space
In creating my art space at my girlfriend's family's house I have found some areas that work best but I am open to being flexible considering it is not my space alone. I also don't like the restraint of a confined or limited space. Just like with a bigger canvas you have more space to be expressive with your brush strokes specifically. My main issue is finding materials to use. I do have a a lot of recycled goods but they would not aid in the styles or images I had imagined in creating art. I will adapt and hopefully keep looking for materials and other art forms to help to create ideas that I would enjoy creating. I will also try to play with the scales of my work because I don't normally work on small pieces but it could be interesting to see just what could be created. I will also be trying to bump up my inspirations that are out there and just waiting for me to find. I was working with cardboard to produce the small cardboard structure to the right. It reminds me of the moquettes we made in some of my classes but it also was logical because I have lots of cardboard at my disposal.