Blog Number 4!!!!!

William Morris: "I do not want art for a few any more than education for a few, or freedom for a few."

Answer to Question 4
I have to admit I felt moments of hope slipping away as I read about the students in the Emerging Expertise Developmental stage. This group scares me to say the least in the way that even as an adult who is not well versed in art I can still feel these struggles.
Ultimately as the quote goes I would like art to be freedom for my students and I would like all of them to have the opportunities to grow as much as they can. Most of all I want Art to be enriching for them and it will be so hard to keep this alive when these students are feeling so inadequate.

My first thoughts when I read about this age group was to teach them one point perspective. I realize it may be really early for 9-11 yearolds to be learning this but if they are struggling so much with creating realism then they will have rulers to help control their drawings plus it is an easy trick that can help them to create shapes that fit within the spaces that they are trying to work with. In the article it said that students who are working with three dimensional structures find relief in that it is easier for them to create a piece that they will be aesthetically pleased with. I think that we would work with three dimensional work. I would want them to feel like they can create and then I would slowly convert the projects from completely 3D into 2d projects. I mean like perhaps making a head out of clay then making a 3d face on a slab of clay, then using paper use plasticine to create the dimensions of a face and the rest will be painted onto the paper. Lastly the face will just be painted. I know that these are advanced projects and I fear that they will compare theirs with their friends but I feel that if they can make these transitions then the idea of drawing 3D will help them. I also have an idea which may or may not work. When looking at these pictures I have seen that alot of them look like impressionist work. I think it would be valid to show students that their work resembles that of famous art work done by famous impressionist artists. This may give them confidence.
I believe that lastly if we work on a project as a group the children will be able to see that most of the group is struggling with two dimensional drawings. This way they can support one another and through peer critiques they may be able to help each other with sharing their celebrations and losses. Plus if we create an enjoyable and safe community within the art class it can keep students interested in the environment of the art class.
Ultimately I want to create projects that will give the students faith in their ability and also so that they will want to continue to engage in the atmosphere of the classroom. I would also like the projects to reflect the struggles of these students as they feel the transition from child to adult. I believe that if we make projects that talk about fairness, responsibility, and friends. These are the issues that they will be struggling with and I want to open the floor to them.

I believe that assessment will help their confidence if prepared properly. I would want to discuss with my class that it is not the final product that matter it is 1.) the effort, 2.) the experience that is recorded by the student, 3.) the reflection of their ideas in their project, 4.) the level of understanding what was required in the project, and 5.) what the learned from their experience. Most importantly too I would want to allow students the possibility to keep furthering their marks so for example when this article spoke of students being unsure of whether to use a new piece of limited paper to fix their project or to find out how to fix their project without it, I would give marks and celebrate students who were able to make innovative choices which will help them to be problem solvers.

Answer to Question number 5

For my class I believe it would be important to understand first of all what age I have and where they are on the developmental scheme of artistic representation. Next i would try take the time to do orientation projects where I can find out about my students artistic abilities and their levels of understanding. This could help me to see if the students have learning disabilities, but I would also take into consideration the list of coded students that each teacher is given.

What I hope to learn about first is what kind of skills do they already know about. Depending on the age of my students I could; ask their last teacher, I can ask the students in a forum setting where we meet each other and talk about projects that we have made in the past, I could set up a round table of stations where students could have twenty minutes at each station and I would have a painting, drawing, and clay station and see where each students strengths are.

With the knowledge of where my students skill sets are already developed I would either decide to continue as a class or I would break the class into pods depending on how differentiated the skill spectrum is. In a perfect world my class would be on the same page, however I know that students will have outside of class experience, there will be students who will have had art suppressed in their education, and there will be students who will not be supported at home. I know that my students will be all different and their learning abilities will vary. These are the important values that I want to have in my class:
-I want my students to have a new and exciting experience in each project. By this I mean that if students are exceptionally skilled or have already learned specific skills within a project I want to have projects that can be taken further or approached from multiple angles. I mean if we were making trees out of clay and I have students who are really skilled with shaping clay I would want them to perhaps make animals in their trees. This would also inspire the children who do not have as much knowledge to become more involved in their skill achievements so that they can also get to those further steps.
-I would want students who are further ahead to help teach those who need assistance. I believe this is important because it will help the advanced students to learn more while also helping the class community to be strengthened.
-What I think is important is to keep pushing the artistic abilities of my students by having them try new creative out looks and looking at where they can try new skills in each project.
-I want my students to be able to to work on projects that they find important to their everyday life. At all ages and all learning abilities art will be an opportunity for my students to use art to ask questions and help them explain their views on their social experiences.
-I want my class to work with a large variety of tools such as clay, mixed media, collage, painting, drawing, performance art, and collective projects.
-I really think that our class should work on critiques at an age. They should be able to talk about art and learn from how other people view their art. This way they can learn about how to talk about art, how to look at how other people problem solved, and how they answered the questions in art.
-I would like to use traditional art or famous art rather from different cultures to help explain techniques so that my students will feel the relevance of what they are learning and also so that they have experience with classical and famous art work.

For learning about my students I need to figure out how projects need to be explained to my students, how I can suit my assessments to help all students reach their potential and keep them enthusiastic is art, and also how to keep all of the students stimulated by their art experience. I realize that students with hearing disabilities will need visual cues, that students with attention disorders will need explanations that will help hold their attention, that students that have poor attitudes will need to be approached in a way that will help them to be interested in their art work.

I need to look into cultural backgrounds, domestic lives, and disabilities with in the class. I need to ensure that tools will be equally available for the students and that my class will remain open at all times to allow for more time, and for students to be able to access their tools as much as possible.