Proposal for Summative and Lineage update

I have been racking my brain and reading and rereading my posts. I have finally come up with something that I think might work, and would be something new for me to try out. I want to try out doing a mosaic with glass and mirror pieces on top of an altered background. I think that the fractured pieces will symbolize my thinking and discussions really well, because I tend to have a lot of smaller things to talk about that center around a single idea. I want to incorporate text of my own as well as from our readings, and others. I'm not sure if I will need a written narrative with it (Amy)? I think that what I am picturing in my head is going to cover all the elements. I do need suggestions of something smooth that will write on glass other than paint. I'm not sure what will work. I want this to be pretty good size, but I also want it to be an uncommon format, I'm thinking really tall and skinny or really wide and short, to show more of a journey. This is a very rough draft for my final, but I am happy to finally have an idea.

I will post my updated lineage as soon as I get back to school to get some supplies. I was not sure what I wanted to add until I got home this weekend, ant what I wanted to use is in my classroom! Will post soon.

Video Reflection

Video Reflection 2

The lesson I decided to do was with my art 1 class as they are starting a watercolor unit. (The class I recorded the first time is in the middle of a project.) I will start out the lesson by demonstrating different techniques. I will show them the usuals: wet on dry, wet on wet, graded wash, Drop color on wet color, salt, pulling paint with cardboard, tape masking, rubber cement masking. My reflections before watching the video are below.

Reflections (Before watching): I think the lesson went well. It was a fairly simple lesson to start. I did forget a few of the techniques until I looked at my practice page. A few of my students were a bit distracted during the demo and I had to stop one time to quiet them down. The students seemed to be really engaged once they started painting, but they generally are when starting something new. The other art teacher came in. Quite a few students got distracted once I have to look for something for her.

Reflections (During/after watching) – I think that I miss so much when I am demonstrating. I have 24 students in my class (mostly freshmen) and I have them gather around a 2 foot by 4-foot table. I notice in the video that my squirrels that generally hang toward the back of the group where I cant see them as well. They have 6 times that I counted that they are actually watching me in a 10-minute period. It is ridiculous.  Maybe having them stand or kneel right in front next time might help.  Also, I am fairly hard to hear on the video, I do not know if it is because I am quiet or if it because of the video quality. Also at the end I decided that I wanted them to come up with their own technique, so I told them, and they seemed apprehensive. Once they sat down I notice that there are a few that are not working as well. I’m not sure if it is because they do not know what to do or if they just do not want to work. I sat down at my desk for a while to let them get started. It is fun seeing some of the faces they are making as they paint. They loved the salt and the rubber cement it seems. One student in particular seems to really enjoy it, I didn’t notice before, but she started a second sheet of techniques. The other teacher came in and asked me a question. I had to go into the closet and find something, some of my students stopped working, but more students than I thought didn’t notice, and kept going. I am glad that I have some that kept going.  I stopped the camera after that.

Other reflections: A couple days after the lesson, I am looking at their practices of their large watercolor I think there is something more I can do. I need to go over the fact that they do not have white. Also, I think that it would benefit them to start on watercolor paper from the beginning. It responds so differently, and they are having problems making it look the way they want.

Week 11 Responses

Reply to Adair:
It doesn't surprise me at all that most of them wanted to talk about outside improvements. Students are more alive outside and so much learning can take place without them knowing. I also really like how you took them for a walk around the school. That gives them the chance to look and think about more improvements they would make.

Reply to Slamme:

You continue to amaze me. I am so intrigued by how you get these responses from your students. There are days that I cannot get my high schoolers to say one word unless it is about what fight happened over the weekend. My VTS skills are not as advance as yours, but I feel like your students really benefit from reading an image, and so could mine.

Responses to posts week 10 (A little late, sorry)

Response to Adair:
Adair, I really like this lesson. I think your students will really enjoy putting input and it will give insight into what they enjoy doing in school. I can't wait to hear how it turns out!

Results of Questioning

So, my lesson went amazingly!! They had so much insight. We started talking about war and huge things like that and got down to small local laws like noise ordinances and curfews. We discussed moral issues versus legal issues and my students were very vocal about making laws based on religious beliefs versus what is best for a country as a whole. It was fantastic. Some things that I would change after reflecting would be to find some crazy laws to bring up that local town have had in effect for years and are outdated. I also think that talking about and reflecting on their part would be to come up with stories as to why those laws needed to be created. It could make for some interesting writing!! We talked a very long time so I had more time to prepare for the next day. I printed off random black and white photographs and had them cut apart and glue together and add text to them, here are the results:

This was the one day project. They are going to be working on a longer "Public Message" piece after this.

Why?

My lesson that I am going to be going over is my starting unit over protest/public message. I am going to stay with the same class that I did before because I feel like it is easier to track my progress and goals. I think that I change personalities throughout the day depending on the class so, I think this is the best way to go.

So WHY? Why am I doing a unit on public messages? It goes right along with the reading, question everything. One thing we will talk about is what is "right and wrong." I am going to borrow from slamme the subject of laws and whether because they are laws, does that make them right? We will talk about examples and hopefully explore some laws. Then I want to talk about current events. I also want to ask them why we need to be interested and involved in what is happening to the world around us. Finally, it is my plan to introduce Barbara Kruger and do some Kruger-inspired one day activities.

I ask myself, why do my students need to know about this? They need to know and experience their own voice. I want them to think about their own beliefs and discuss them without fear of being judged. They need to learn to appreciate other people's views as well as their own, even if hey disagree. They will run into this all of their lives. What is the "art" lesson (according to standards) that they are learning? I am going to be talking to them about making imagery and text work together.

Over all, I just want them to question their own beliefs, to sit down and think about them. Are their beliefs the same that they were 2 years ago? Are your beliefs YOUR OWN? Or are they someone else's that you regurgitate? Can you see the other side of your beliefs? Can you fluctuate in your beliefs? There are so many questions that I want to talk about with them, but I think this fits into what we read this past week.