Blog Twenty Three. Alas the last!

A Work of Art with Others

This class was so disconnected I found because on our last day each of us got down to business and focused on our parts of the world and our own balloons and only in some situations did we meet up to either share our paint or the hot glue gun or to help put away the desks or string up the balloons. I often decide that if I feel like an inferior person in the group I will often just recede into the background and work in a solitary way. I still laugh and say jokes in the group but the work I do is often solo. In this group I felt like I shouldn't offer suggestions because I am not a visual arts student and I should just listen to the ideas of others. I gave my idea about the hot air balloons and then left it to the group. It felt so nice to be along side everyone as we worked away on our pieces of the big puzzle that was our presentation. I felt this great energy as all of us coated out balloons and dealt with construction issues on the fly. I believe as I had mentioned earlier that all of us just wanted to arrive at a destination as this part of the year is like being in limbo. I often feel the need to be an aggressive Type A personality because I want everything done in just the right way and with this project I couldn't be that way because I had no seconds to spare and because all of us are so unique and with out and prodding we all met up in the same idea. I was so proud of our piece and like a little girl it reminded me of a memory box and the lights of a puppet show I wanted to spin amongst the floating levels of developmental outcomes. I painted my balloon blue with white clouds and swirling rainbows and colored shapes. I chose this because students reflect their environment and that is one of the most important lessons that I have learned this year. If the content, teacher attitude, team dynamic, lesson plans, or materials do not suit students they reciprocate their negative impulses which causes distress in the environment and thus the environment will push back. So If my balloon is in the sky it will reflect the sky but with it my balloon carries shapes as my age group is working on shapes and representation through symbols and the rainbows are to symbolize the use of color but more importantly the concept that at the end of every lesson there is magic!

I really regret that I couldn't stay to help put up my balloon and I really hope that you do not view that as my attitude towards your class because I had an exceptional year in your classes and I am so very grateful for the knowledge and understanding that I have gained. I believe a Developmental Art(S) group is a beautiful idea so that we a teachers may skip ignorance and go straight to enriching our own personal vocabularies. Thank you for everything, -AZ

Blog TWENTY TWO!

Art 307

Puzzle making: I discovered that I let people take the lead and that I work harder on group projects when I take parts home with me. I learned that sometimes I need kinesthetic activities like this to organize my thoughts. I realized that there is a huge sense of accomplishment when a group actually works as a team. I found that in the second half of the semester I barely worked on our second puzzle because Amanda had it so organized and she had so much of it done on her own that it felt like interrupting and so after class I would sneak pieces on but mostly I just stayed away. I found that this kind of work is great for conversations which base themselves around talking over problems or asking questions and getting feedback because our group would often discuss our lessons or life problems as we sat and puzzled. It was healthy and therapeutic.


Project Number One: The Book
I was so relieved to find out that i know how to make a project using computers. I was more excited when my peers enjoyed doing it and when it worked out in the end. I found out so so so much about how K-grade 3 students develop in Language Arts and in Visual Arts. I discovered that they are on an journey where they are solidifying motor skills in symbol making and that they understand how to use symbols to make representational figures. I know that in Language Arts they are learning about expressing their own ideas and feelings. I have discovered that they are working on filling their vocabulary and putting words into expressive use. I discovered that they are figuring out how their relationships with friends and authority figures can exist if different ways and that they relate to their peers. Students are also coming to realize spatial awareness and they understand different environments as they are leaving home and understanding school and it is also a science unit. I discovered that story lines can be exciting to learn if you can make the pictures exciting. I have found that group projects are important at this age because so much focus is on the individual and building individual skills and at this age group they need to start making a classroom community which exists separate from home, sports, and best friends. This way peer teaching can take place, students have to share and accept ideas, and students were able to learn and work in PowerPoint. I have discovered that PowerPoint isn't as horrifying if you take the time to explore it yourself.

Project Two: Unit Plan for Child Workshop
I learned how to deal with the unexpected. I found that I need to discover when the time and place is for the teaching personae. I believe it is important to be a support but not a friend as a teacher but as a cousin I still had family obligations. I discovered that different types of documentation work well to discover what has taken place such as picture taking, note taking, looking over artifacts and created work, as well as having charts of expected outcomes available for after the project. This way the students developmental levels may be assessed and then further dealt with. I learned that lessons that work for one age group can become disastrous if it isn't shaped to fit the other age group.


This semester I have learned so much about how I view art as a way of communication. I never considered it to be a tool for understanding the learning levels of my students, I never considered that issues like negative drawing have such a huge impact, I also never considered how important documentation can be after actually creating lessons. I learned how to make student based learning Unit Plans. (Thank you Dr.E!) I realize now how easy it can be as long as the teacher and students are motivated the material will flow easily. I understand now why so much planning has to go into making unit plans so that students at different developmental levels will be able to access valuable material throughout the process of art creation. I believe that it is important to expect so much out of your students because they will still wow you even if they are slow learners if they are given wide enough doors and great stimuli (personal material such as Dewey would recommend ) then you can have your students hooked into learning.
I believe that Dewey has it right because considering that Art is a tool for communication there is no better way to get students thinking about what interests them which becomes metaphysical inquiry and thus can turn into outward research for answers.

I believe that the relationship between education and learning is that education is material and curriculum's and organized environments where as learning is when a teacher gives students an opportunity to grow and expand their base of knowledge and depending on how that teacher chooses to share their classroom and create a community of learning the students will reflect back what they have learned, plus they will ask further questions so the teacher can then reflect and grow and then reciprocate. Learning is the symbiotic cycle of knowledge exchange and skill refining and education is the structural support and the matter that helps feed the members of this relationship.

The teacher needs to be so creative, so flexible, so in-tune with the students and the material so that students can learn in the best way possible. Teachers need to be exceptionally well rounded and must be able to roll with the punches.

I have learned the importance of a wide understanding of subject matter because as George Balanchine a famous modern dance choreographer has said when asked if he pre-plans his dances, "You can't plan steps ahead of time, just as you cannot plan words when you are about to write something. It's part of your ability. You have enough vocabulary and grammar in your head when you need them -everything that's required to start writing when the moment comes." I need to personally work on crafting my own vocabulary so that I may be able to answer questions, change lessons plans, and best support the individuals in my classroom.

I think that it was so important that through this semester we would look at the curriculum when we made our projects but instead of worrying all about the curriculum we worked on actually looking at what students need to be learning to grow into their next developmental stage which better reflects biological and mental needs of students as opposed to dictated outcomes by an education board.

Blog 21!

I chose this picture because it is a picture of Contact Improvisation where two dancers try to support one another through spontaneous lifts and movement.
This to me is a collaborative work, ideas will keep coming out and the best way to work on a piece which needs to be finished right away is to say 'Yes' even if you mean 'Let's compromise' and each person will rest their thoughts on one another.
If the group has trust, integrity, and related intentions not only will art and chemistry result but a community is formed.

Collaborative Project

I honestly felt like all of us just wanted to get a solid idea down right away so we could start working. Keeley, Kristen, and myself figured that hot air balloons would work so we brought it up to everyone and there were no qualms. I believe that it has much to do with how at this time of the year everyone needs to have positive energy even if they are the ones that need to give it but more importantly I believe that at this time of the year it is better to be progressive and start working then to philosophically nit-pick.

I believe that each of us has a starting place and a vision and as an art teacher it is important to give students that starting place that very lift off opportunity and through our own need to excel, communicate, experience, and question we decided to go on our own journey. This is what our students will need especially if we as teachers want to give our students recurring moments of enrichment and engagement.

I think that it is important as a group member to see what your personality is like, and to watch others in the group. Is anyone else like me? I like to put my big bossy idea in and then help with small details later because I get scared of leadership roles with my peers. Are other people commanding and crazy, has no one else answered if they don't do they look uncomfortable or do they look like they have checked-out? These values are important to study because students will have group projects and it can be valuable to try on different personality types and see how you interact in this setting so that if problems were to arise in a group setting then I as a teacher will understand the personality conflicts and will be able to divide work up and give the proper direction to those who need it. It is also important to discover how you work with peers because in a school setting you are never alone as there are administrative members who you never want to piss off because they can help you, there are fellow teachers who are also allies and at times foes and dealing with them to protect your classroom environment is essential to professionalism. There is also support staff like resource teachers and if you are in a group and are a go-getter you will work well with resource staff because they need organized individuals who use initiative.

Group work is important on both a teacher-networking level and also in regards guidance and supervision over group work in the classroom.

Blog Twenty!

Visual Arts: Solitary or Not Solitary that is the Question!

I believe that my notion of solitary Visual Arts has come from my personal desire to make Visual Arts known as a unique identity and only complementary to the other formal education core subjects. I feel too as a theatrical and movement artist that as we rely almost entirely on our body and are only helped by lighting, scenery, props, and costume that I put visual art in it's own category. I find it easier personally to deal with arts of the body because we can work with the one tool that we've got and in an endless fashion as we search in pursuit of new ways of recreating ourselves. Visual Art is a whole new dimension where you have to be in control of your body that in in control of tools which are in control of media. I find that often theatre doesn't need visual arts because I love minimalist sets where the raw nature of humans existing takes place right in front of the naked eye. I do also love musicals. I also love spectacle such as choreographic works of art created by Edouard Lock who uses scenes and sets and costumes and digital media. I am also a sucker for naturalism and ballets which use impressively painted sets and elaborate lighting schemes. I find that visual art in this sense adds to the fullness of "the production" as it communicates location, money, commercialism, skill, and trickery. Visual Art on its own however to me is an extraordinary entity in that it is so communicative on its own. It says so much when it is on its own where as when it is in theatre it is often made to help establish an illusion. I believe visual arts need more credit than that so I find that I separate them and look at installation pieces and am in awe over their size and skill level or look at paintings and am fatigued by just considering each stroke taken. I find that theatre hushes art in the forms of scene painting and costumes. It is so true though that in many cases the costume, lighting and set design have saved poor human communication on stage. I believe that visual art and music make a captivating duet such as those beautiful stories that are told through watercolor paintings or clay animation and musical scores. I do believe to that if the artist works with the composer or if one artist applies their art to the other it works well. I believe that music has the ability to pull the mood out of visual art and it can also punctuate rhythms without it. So much art though again can live completely alone and in certain cases sounds can often take away from the art piece because it is so strong on its own. I do find it interesting though that the human arts can exist well as human arts and the human arts often wrap themselves in visual arts while musical art attaches itself to moods and the feelings of atmospheres for human performances and visual art pieces and that music and art work so well together and they are arts created from humans controlling objects and movement and drama work together because they are both body exterior and interior formations when communicating. I believe that each art form compliments one another and when teaching about the different arts I think that they should be equally represented and shown together because this way it can help to inform other artists about further possibilities.
I also want to mention performance art. This last semester I used a clown to experience art which I think that in a public setting may be a great way to involve the 'captive' audiences in viewing art work. I think that Performances can be a great guide into the opportunity of viewing of explaining art. Just as there is deconstruction in choreography where the choreographer creates a dance that shows how the choreographer comes together and can be taken apart performance Art can be either be a piece which uses human bodies for the subject matter or can use them as a way to showcase visual art in the form of a composer.

Blog NINETEEN!!

Child Workshop

Successes:
-Declan was able to use his athletic target practice skills.
-Declan learned different techniques of breaking balloons and taught his brother how to use one of them
-Rylan continued to keep trying even if the balloons couldn't quite break the balloons
-We created a feeling of connectedness by getting Declan to share his hockey stick with Rylan and when Rylan and I worked on breaking balloons with our feet
-Rylan told me about how he wanted to try baseball and then he practiced his throws.
-Declan spoke about his hockey tournaments.
-Both kids were able to express stories with detail about what they wanted to do or had already done
-Declan is trying to understand himself and his relationships with others so when he tested authority with me I decided to maintain our family relationship status and so I treated him in a respectful and silly way as we chose to make compromises.
-As we made our superheroes Declan showed a great understanding of symbol use, planning, motor skill with cutting, he cut out a heart for me which he used from recall from his art class, and he helped Rylan with cutting
-Rylan made his own character discoveries by acknowledging that a snake superhero cannot live with the bird an pterodactyl superheroes.
-Declan chose to look up on the computer what wings would look like and asked for help.
-Declan chose to combine his other interest in dinosaurs into the piece which is the Dewey concept of relating the work to the student or allowing for those opportunities to take place.
-Rylan would often recede into his chair and say he couldn't do it which just meant that I needed to offer him suggestions of help and with the classroom atmosphere remaining positive he felt safe and able to ask for help and questions after a while
-We took swing breaks so that the boys could release active energy.
-Though Declan was sick of the project he still helped me get to the end by using some pre-cut shapes and eyes and told me where he wanted to glue everything. this was exciting for me because it showed that he understand spatial awareness and was able to create a balance tri-fold.
-I learned how to make the project flexible and also that the time limits need work
-I learned about other things that Declan is excited about such as dinosaurs, paper airplanes, coloring, and trying out coloring tools like my smudging sticks.
-Declan and Rylan still wanted to colour and make art when the project way over
-Declan was able to visually represent himself as a superhero which is one of the Language Art requirements which is the ability to express yourself with the means of different media

Non -Successes
-Rylan had trouble with aim and with breaking balloons and was upset even though he continued to try
-Declan did not use the pre-cut shapes unless he was disinterested so I felt like I should have had more faith in him
-It was super messy
-Rylan was no where near using symbols and often decided he would rather tell me stories and got upset when he couldn't cut things out nicely. I think that next time I would take Rylan away from facing his brother at the table and he and I could have sat on the ground and colored in a background for the monster. There was so much white space that Rylan could have used for experimenting with marks. This way he would have stopped comparing himself to Declan and then when Declan was gluing on our superheroes I could have helped Rylan to pick pre-cut shapes to stick onto his head.
-I think that I will need more time next time to create such an in-depth project.


I think It would be fun to work with Declan in using Tri-folds that we have painted and make them into backdrops then we could make dinosaur masks which he loves so much and then we could work on video taping him and I as dinosaurs. we could make a story line to involve Language Arts and he could even use science to explore two dinosaurs that we would be in the story. Then after making a lesson plan I would sen him home with the video footage and then he could make it into a movie with his dad. I say this because his dad is and I.T. guru and would love to help Declan with this and the project is active which would suit him and he can work on learning how to make art for different functions and how to use digital media. Plus his dad is a specialist in Mac programing so Declan could work with a specialist to learn about the technology side. I would also make up a lesson plan to use for the computer program in Imovie so then that way I am not just passing off the assignment and he will be involved with family at home.

BLOG 18!

(I chose this picture because students who have any disabilities can be given the opportunity to surpass many of the handicaps that they endure by accessing communicating through art.)

"Special" Cases

I believe it is important to remember that no matter where art is being taught it will always remain a form of communication. I fell in love with the idea that when I was reading the article on special needs learners that students are able to release their emotions through art, they are able to communicate what they can't through reading and writing, and are able to learn and understand concepts through visual art understanding such as relating terms from art to the visual representations that they create or see in famous art.

I found through reading this article that the stimuli and time taken to create art work is the aspects that that are often the most manipulated when working with students. This is seen through the manipulation of the surroundings, textures and rhythms for students with visual impairments, organization and flat surroundings for students who can't be over stimulated, time fluctuation and repetition for students who are slow learners. Most often the environment as well as the time for projects to be done are what changes the most for these students however in the cases of student who are ESL or hearing impaired they are often on the same developmental level as students that are their age (despite emotional set backs and at times these do not even occur as they are more excited and willing to celebrate their successes)

These students show art educators the power of art as a communication tool, the adaptability of art as a means for teaching other material, the way that art can be accessible to all learners. These tools are important to recall when a teacher is stuck in a formal education setting and they have a student or student(s) who are struggling with learning how to write, or how to associate words, or are unable to create images. These skills can be used for students who may falling behind, as teachers can have their art work assessed by therapists and can even be assessed by the teacher so that they understand where their art making developmental level is. This understanding can also help reach students who are emotionally disabled or who have expressed emotional trauma and are unable to talk about their problems or journal about what has happened to them.

Considering that art is ultimately one of the most accessible ways to evolve in early education teachers should understand how to adapt their lessons, classroom environments, and methods of instruction so that students can achieve greater and greater levels of understanding art and thus will be able to apply their knowledge to other areas or remain skilled at using artwork as a means of communication.

BLOG SEVENTEEN!!!

Community Based Education

In Community-Based learning environments where learning is concentrated around a specific objective or subject matter, students are able to obtain a completely rounded education in that field.

I believe that organizations who create community-based learning experience often try to hire specialists and because their focus is on one subject the students will be able to learn about so many different aspects of that material, while receiving personal attention from individuals who are professional or else well experienced or even in cases of volunteers willing to know as much as possible about the projects and forms of attacking the lessons.

I believe that this is a great opportunity for children to experience Art in Community-Based settings because this way they will learn about art as a solid and unique unit which is often lost in school settings where art is often lumped together with other subject matter. This is not to say that art is made for art sake in fact it is quite the opposite because in these settings students would be allowed to take projects in the directions that work best for their developmental skill level and personal interests because they are not trying to get a mark in these places and rather are there for the experimentation and experiences. The pressure it taken away as well when there are no marks involved and there isn't as much weight put into a final product. This will often let students create without fear or more importantly the need to please others it if for their own growth.

Plus generalized teachers cannot necessarily assist student who require further instruction or even student who require a challenge as they are not experts in the area of study. This can alienate students who are gifted and those who are challenged or perhaps need a different style of instruction. For example a generalized teacher says that things like 'that looks good'. An art teacher can bring up ideas about technique, creative response, further options or ideas, and suggestions, while giving praise for the aspects of art which the student has shown that they understand.

In these schools students are often allowed the possibility of working with materials and tools which are not offered in schools such as carving tools and stone, or silk screens, or even clay as kilns are not in all schools.

Students can learn about specific style techniques and about art history which they may not be able to hear about in a public education system as often very little time is awarded to art studies.

Teachers in a community based setting are able to work with student who are present for the very reason of learning about that one core subject matter and are often interested in learning about that experience. This way student will not have as many student who are disinterested. Often class sizes are much smaller so teachers can better assess their students and meet their personal needs. These classrooms often have support staff as well which can be a great success because the teacher can focus on assisting students rather than about the material clean-up and administrative issues. Teachers in these settings are able to teach the one subject that they specialize in and therefore can be better and more responsible teachers and they will be passionate and encompassing in their teaching and will not have to try to mix art into other subject matter and thus accidentally losing its relevance.

In Community-Based settings there is no curriculum and specific set of rules like there is in formal education. There are teaching mandates but teachers have the teachers have the flexibility to teach what they wish to teach about without having to worry about making sure that curriculum expectations and outcomes are being met. This would help to make a class that is based on student guided learning because the teacher has the freedom to accept the needs of the student over the content of the lessons.