All fired up!

Freedman and Eisner – Numero Uno

I read Freedman first, mostly because it was daunting after what Dr. Unrath said about it being dense; she was not wrong. This chapter, although and introductory chapter was full of information. However, after taking my time a reading slowly I didn’t stop highlighting. The most important part that I highlighted came from page 15, “Currently, students may gain more information from images than from texts.” This made me think about the symposium when we heard about the new common core standards and visual literacy. Students are bombarded with imagery, and from early on we learn to relate what we have already seen to new things we see every day. That is how our brain works, through relationships. So it makes me think, how can schools say that the arts programs are the first to phase out when we run out of money? It all relates to me back to Pink’s book that I will reread soon, that the country is looking for creative thinkers and problem solvers more than information and computer gurus.  Also, form page 13 I found this  as ironic and Freedman, “immense commerce surrounding the production of visual culture, which depends on so much learning about appreciating art , and yet results in so little money being given to art education.” That directly pings off of what Ken Robinson said about who is making the rules and regulation of education… Not Educators! So much more I found interesting in the chapter alone, but, I needed to read the other chapters and should go to sleep at some point tonight.

While reading Eisner I couldn’t help but feel like I had read the same things twice. Whether it be mirroring what Freedman said about the art developing conative thinking or like what Pink stresses about the society and workforce of today needing people who are creative. It is amazing to me that so many people know this and write about this and yet it is not catching on.  I really enjoyed this quote from Eisner from page 12, “Seeing is an achievement, not merely a task. It is the result of making sense of a part of the world. Learning to see the qualities that constitute a visual field requires a mode of attention that is rarely employed in “ordinary” living.” I thought this was powerful and coincided beautifully with what Eisner said about visual culture and how we have to learn to be visually literate in this world. Understanding imagery is not instinctual, it is learned from the beginning, associating something visually to what it feels or tastes like as a baby to looking at an advertisement and assessing exactly what the emotion they are trying to achieve to sell you their product. I feel like a broken record saying this but, with all of this imagery, why do people take the arts for granted?

Both of these readings got me fired up, and ready for a discussion tomorrow. I think that it is our responsibility as the new art educators to show the importance of what we teach and bring a new thinking to the students we teach. You are not just gaining your fine arts credit. You are learning how to function in your visual society!

This is my personal art history. (Sorry for it being sideways) I made it into a newspaper-like poster, since like a newspaper this carries history. The main big idea from this is self-discovery, I think. This caused me to think about my own stages of development and how I have evolved in my own artistic talent. I first saw my passion and possible career path in art when I was in high school. I didn't know what exactly I wanted to do with art but I knew I didn't want to do anything else. As I took classes throughout high school and college my love of art grew dramatically. I love art and cannot wait to teach it to students and hopefully let them discover a love for it as well.

Reflection

Theme 1: Viewing and responding to art.

In art classrooms viewing and responding to art is very important. Students will always need references and jumping off points to make their own art. When we viewed the artwork in class the first or second week it brought to my attention how important it is to critically discuss artwork. Students will need to gather big ideas, themes, moods, and subject matter in the artwork. Another way we responded to artwork was through the process of VTS. VTS is very helpful in viewing art for all ages. By utilizing this tool students as well as I will learn much more about works of art than by simply viewing the art and having a brief discussion. Students, especially younger students, need to have a chance to view art to help them in their own projects. 

Theme 2: Developing art curriculum.

This course has taught me that A LOT of thought has to be put into making art units and lessons. When we start with a big idea and have to connect to that theme all throughout the whole unit, it is very challenging. Even the smaller lessons have so much planning that has to go into them. When I was observing the classes at Oakland Junior High I observed the teacher getting her preparations done very quickly. This told me that she made her plans for the lessons ahead of time. While I didn’t have a great experience in the classroom one thing I learned from the teacher is having the weekly schedule up on the board for the students to see all throughout the week. I think this would be very helpful  in trying to keep the students on track with the projects.

  

Theme 3: Teaching art.

Through my observations and participating in TIger Artists I’ve learned that teaching art is a process. It’s not just a day to day “Hey we are doing this today” kind of curriculum. Plans have to be thought out and preparations be made to have successful lessons, classrooms, and projects. To go along with having successful lessons and classrooms you have to have good classroom management. The students in art classrooms have a general idea that Art is a blow off subject. The class I observed did not have very good management. I could just tell that the teacher did not have control over her classroom. The teacher had no consistency, which is very important , and let too many things slide. I do think that the art room should be a fun environment but it also a learning environment. You can’t have students putting lotion in other students hair (yes, this actually happened) and simply say “you can’t do that” and let it go. The students need to know that you are in charge otherwise you will never get anything you want accomplished. You also need to be as consistent as possible. You can’t send a student to the office one day and laugh at a student the next day for doing the same thing. If you want your students to get the projects done and have them successful classroom management and preparation is very important. 

Theme 4: Peer Units Review & Unit Self Evaluation.

The reviews of the unit plans were very helpful in my opinion. I really likes my unit plan but after hearing what everyone else had to say about it I think it made the project so much better. All of the opinions were insightful and added to the overall idea of the unit plan. I still like my unit plan, although, it still needed some work, and all of the suggestions really helped. 

Assessments

Art assessment is important because as a teacher you want and need to know what your students have learned from past teachers and what they are learning from you. Assessments can tell you what lessons and techniques worked with students and which ones need to be modified to help the students learn more efficiently. The types of assessments I have experienced vary a little. I have have portfolio reviews, formal critiques with fellow students and with my professor only. Also, the most stressful, an art review by all of my professors where I had to show and explain my work as well as be sure to art language correctly. All of the strategies worked for different reasons. However, the one that made me learn the most about myself was my sophomore review at UCM. I had to gather my 25 best pieces of art to show the art department and answer questions. This had to be done to be able to stay in the art department there. This assessment showed me that if I explain my work with what I know and feel instead of what I think they want to hear I can do a lot better. It also showed me formally that I can be a teacher and talk to students about art and that I am knowledgable. You don’t really know what you know until put on the spot and that is exactly what this assessment did. DIfferent students react differently to different assessment strategies. SOme students feel comfortable talking in front of people and so a critique can be a good strategy for them, but, for the students that get nervous in front of people (especially when talking about ones own work) a portfolio review would be better suited for them. Just because a student can’t get across in words what he or she thinks about their art doesn’t mean its a bad piece of art. I hope that I will be able to see what they have learned through their works. If their project turn out the way they are supposed to and they can tell me about them then I know I got the information and examples by correctly and the way I wanted to. If the projects don’t turn out right then I know I need to change something in the lesson plan. Successful learning should be when your students are successfully doing the projects assigned and are wanting to go beyond the guidelines you set forth. Successful learning should spark the imagination and interest of all of your students. The feedback my students will need is feedback on project on how to improve them and make them more of what they want. I will need feedback from my students about the projects. If they are enjoying the projects and if they think I am doing a good job with the projects. If they aren’t interested int he projects or are confused then I will need to change something. I can get this feedback through the same type of surveys that we all have to take after classes. (How did the teacher do in explaining the material, etc.) Or, I can get this information from how they are working. Generally when a project is taking a really long time to finish the students don’t want to work on it. On the opposite end of things, if the students are breezing through the projects they are just trying to get it over with. I think that in art it’s a lot of being able to read your students.  

Big Idea Book - Simplicity

 The Cover.

 My First Pages

 Chris' contribution.

 Palmers Contribution

 My Last pages.

The whole shabang!

Why teach art? DB #3

I've wanted to be involved in art and be making art for a very long time. I was always coloring, painting, playing with play doh, and all kinds of other things for as long as I can remember. But, being a teacher was something I thought I'd never want to do for some reason. Going through my high school career however changed that thought. I graduated with a class of 44, so obviously I went to a small school. At this small school what was stressed were grades in Math, English, and Science class. Art was never stressed and COMPLETELY optional. With the art class being optional there were a lot of students in there that were there so they didn't have to take band or choir. The teacher never paid attention to these kids and just let them be bored and sail through the class. Just thinking about this makes me upset again today. This is what caused me to think that everyone could and should be interested in art. Even though these students didn't seem interested there is always something in art to spark everyones interest. Not only that but students learning visually through art can help in their other content areas. Learning through my art curriculum can help the students become more creative problem solvers by showing them that maybe there is more than one right answer to their questions. It can show them that their individuality not only in art but in everyday life is a good thing. They will also learn that with some things (like everything in art) are relative. What this means is that what seems to be right and real at one point may be completely different when compared to something else. "Blue may not look as blue as when it is put next to orange." Learning the arts can teach students to express what is not said normally, that putting their feelings into something can create awesome results. Students learning through art has endless results in all aspects of life. Art is very important to learning about other time periods and cultures and will prove important in the future generations.  

Journey Map

This is my journey map. It shows my journey from elementary school (creative award) to my two years at UCM in Warrensburg to ending up this semester here at Mizzou.