Buoyancy- Our Journey through learning to be art educators

Buoyancy: Able or apt to stay afloat or rise the top

Journey:

•  Image of child has evolved over the course of ART 205 & 307: from simple, innocent, vulnerable and “empty vessels” to an image of children as having different learning needs, a vast collection of personal experiences; resilent; and strong and capable.
•  Role of art: art is accessible to every learner and can reach every child in a way that other subject matters may not be able to.
•  Art teaches us how to relate parts to the whole and the whole back to its parts. Art teaches us how to take risks. Teaching Art requires discipline, skill as a teacher; background knowledge in art and in child development and patience.
•  Art education has been seen as a skill set for workers, a leisure activity, and is now understood as an opportunity for the wholistic development of the child.

The Balloons

•  Full balloon represents the fullness of children’s experience
•  Papier-Mache as a process: layering like the layering of children’s experiences and how these are built up and strengthen the child.
•  The puzzle pieces are like the parts that make up the whole; the completed puzzle image is like the whole with its parts.
•  Balloon flight risky.
•  Balloons require a skilled operator to be able to take flight.
•  Regardless of why you are in the balloon (to advertise, in a competition, or as a leisure activity) in the end, it always about the experience of being there.
•  Importance of being a reflective, reflexive practionner.
•  The relation between the learner and the teacher (balloon and its navigational tools)

The landscape

•  Past experience and current experiences: as you are further up in the balloon, you are looking back; your no longer there; you are looking at where you were and where you are going.
•  Looking at the landscape is like the looking and listening that is required of the reflective/reflexive practitioner.

Class Instillation

The experience of working on the instillation together as a class has been a very positive experience. I felt like we all connected to the theme right away and no one really opposed it. Most people had some input on what they wanted the instillation to include and everyone pitched in on bringing some sort of supply. We were all reluctant to break apart our puzzles, but I think we found a good compromise. Everyone has control over their own balloon for the most part so this allows for more personal touches in the work. Working with other people is great because the ideas end up being richer and more well thought out. This group work brings together all of the things we learned this year in a fun and all encompassing way.

What we learn through working collaboratively...

Working collaboratively added the following understandings about what one learns through art:

• Making art requires the artist to co-operate with the materials and the content. When working with other people it adds the dimension of working with another person's ideas about content and materials.
• Making art requires developing ideas to a place that is personally fulfilling and fulfilling to the viewer. When working in a group we have to please and incorporate each other's ideas to where the group is comfortable.
• Through art we learn a lot about ourselves. When working in a group we learn lot about other people.
• When making art we need to learn new skills to execute our ideas. When working collaboratively we learn skills from others which contribute to the project at hand.
• Making art requires time management. When working with others we have to manage several people's time and learn to do tasks on our own as well as in a group.

Our notions of visual art as a solitary activity come from several places. The first might be from the dawn of capitalism. Society revolves around individual success in a capitalist society. "Everyone is for them self" We are taught to make our own goals and to always work for our own interests. When looking at art as a individual activity, this context makes sense. It does not make sense when looking at it from a historical perspective. In the past arts and crafts involved the whole community (homemade textiles, quilting, public spaces, memorials, historical portraits). Today the artist is encouraged to show their own personal ideas as opposed to the ideas of the group. The stereo typical image of the artist is one who is cooped up in their studios working away without leaving for human contact for days.

I personally believe that an artist cant develop their ideas to their full potential without collaborating their ideas with others. Through engaging with others we have more inspiration and view points to refine our work. Collaborative works of art are fulfilling because you learn to be a flexible thinker, a team worker, and to be open to new and exciting ideas. Some of the limitations could be that personal ideas get lost and people who feel they aren't being heard become disengaged from the group. It can also be discouraging when not all group members are equally engaged in the activity. One less excited person can bring the whole group moral down. There is a delicate balance that must be achieved for collaboration to be positive. When this balance is found beautiful art can be created.

Moving Beyond Western Middle Class Cirriculum

Learning in, through or about art changes when we move beyond standard, Western European based, middle class curriculum in the following ways:

• We become perceptive of other cultures and art can become more diverse, colourful and cultural.
• We become perceptive of each student's special gifts and needs and our lessons will be more accessible to all learners.
• From a new view on art we are opened to new possibilities for materials and subject matter in art.
• Through art we can learn about other circular areas or interests outside of the traditional western ideas.

This brings up central issues for educators:

• We must always assume we do not know as much as we think we do. This reminds us to be constantly looking for different perspective on our student's and what we teach.
• We should be well educated in all cultures and not confine our thinking to only one cultural pedagogy.
• Special cases in education remind us that not every student is the same and such, our teaching should be as flexible, responsive and varied as the student's needs.

Some of the things that succeeded in my child workshop included:

• Having Christian engage and become interested in art. Prior to my experiences with her she had not been involved in art experiences on her own time.
• She learned some skills which she had not known before such as:digital photography, powerpoint, iPhoto and fashion design.
• I believe I picked a topic which connected to Christian's interests.

Some things that did not succeed were:

• Christian could not focus for long periods of time. I could not find a way to have her engage for longer. In the future I would try things like taking breaks to go outside or having music playing or changing the task frequently to keep her attention.
• I did not have enough time to do a good job at introducing the projects. In future I would plan my lesson better so that I could explore everything with her more easily.
• If I were to work with her again I would have had more evocations and provocations to peak her interest initially. As well I would find ways to keep her engaged and excited.

Community Based Learning

Community based learning is most often voluntary by the participant. This ensures that it is learner focused and not curriculum focused in most areas. It usually has smaller class sizes which makes the learning more individualized. In this setting children will be able to learn skills they may not be able to in school (swimming, music, skating...) as well as focus in on areas they want to learn more about. It can foster their talents and interests. Teaching in a community based setting allows the educator to develop their own program. They own it individually and can often tailor it to their philosophy and needs. There are exceptions where certain objectives need to be met, but the educator has an easier time because the learners want to be there in most cases. In a community based setting an educator can have more expertise in the area they want to teach.

Nicol Arts Museum Visit

Developmental Issues Grade 5-6:

• Obsessed with realism
• Able to discuss content and meaning
• In this step we could have students make sketches of their favourite work in the museum and show the examples of sketches by Marriam Nicol and Kent Ochhead. This shows students that the sketch is important to famous artists and can be considered important works of art.

Dream State (First Impressions):

• Examine the red and green hypnotic painting, "Dialated Garden" and the textured paintings including "White Threshhold"
• These works show the students the importance of teture, colour, pattern and even sound. We would have them give their first impressions and then have them look deeper into the pieces.

Play State (Analysis):

• In this step we would have students go on a scavenger hunt to look for the images of chairs in the different work around the museum.
• The teacher will pick a few to discuss in further detail to compare the different perspectives on the same subject matter.
• Back at school the student would create a paint by numbers for a friend to complete.

Research Activities:

• When looking at the Native art exhibit we would compare the artist's cultural backgrounds, their meaning and choices of mediums.
• There would be research done on Native culture prior to visiting the museum.

Metaphor State (Interpretation):

• In this step we would examine the comic book painting called "Bummer" by Chris Cran and compare this piece with "Scarecrow" by Maxwell Bates.
• In comparing these works the students would not know the title of the painting, but would have to tell us what they think it is about.
• One painting is obvious and one is not so obvious so their scope of interpretation changes.

Concept State:

• This section would have us examine the John Snow wood block prints and see how he used positive and negative space.
• Artistic process would be considered as well as content.
• Back at school the students would create their own prints.

Child Workshop Issues

Some issues that arose in testing my lesson plan:

• I started out by teaching Christian about how to take a photo and how to try different compositions when taking photos. I had her try close shots, shots from below and shots from above. We took several pictures and then loaded them onto my mac book. I had to prompt her to try new things with the camera because I believe she is used to just pointing and shooting instead of considering the picture first.
• When we loaded the pictures onto my computer we use iPhoto to edit them. She had never used the program before so I had to teach her the basics. I showed her how to crop, add special effects, change the colouring through things like saturation, exposure and contrast. I took a succession of pictures of her sliding down a pole on the playground so we used those to try different effects. She liked changing the colours and seemed to have a lot of fun with the process.
• Next, we took the altered photos and put them into Keynote where we added different animation effects and transitions to show her journey down the pole in an interesting way. She seemed a little less interested in this step. Christian tends to have a very short attention span and looses focus on tasks if they aren't changed or altered frequently. I found this occurred several times in our experiences.
• After doing the photography with Christian I sent her home with a disposable camera so that she could take some photos on her own. I was hoping that we could then take those photos and alter them manually with paint and drawing materials. When I got the photos back from being developed I did not see any photos we could do something very meaningful with so I just gave her them to keep.
• I was thinking about the things that Christian is into and remembered that she likes to play games on the computer where you put different outfits on virtual dolls. This lead me to my final project with Christian. I decided to explore fashion design with her so I brought some templates of different clothing items for her to colour in and design. She only spent about 10 minutes on this activity before she wanted to move onto something else. I decided after this that I would leave my lesson plan for her to do the rest at home.

I believe that now every detail of situations can be anticipated. Planing breaks for play is important for a responsive teaching approach because it keeps the student focused and energized for the task at hand. There are no safety issues that I could see arising.

Emily Carr

My most meaningful experience in an art gallery was after high school when the Emily Carr exhibit was at the Glenbow Museum. Emily Carr had always intrigued me as an artist. I had basic knowledge of her work before I visited her exhibit at the Glenbow. As I was going through the gallery looking at her paintings I was amazed at the variety of painting styles she tried in her lifetime. I had only ever seen her later work and liked to see her experimentation stage. As I moved through the gallery I was inspired by her craftsmanship, and ability to capture the beauty of Canada in her paintings. The most meaningful part of the show was when I listened to a presentation about her life an experiences as an artist. I learned that she was not always the easiest person to get along with and she was a teacher for most of her life so she could pay the bills. She had lots of mental health issues in her life and had unusual pets. I really connected with her story and it was the first time that I ever explored the person behind their art. In relation to Dewey's notion of a "good" experience this gallery visit allowed me to be interested in artists and art history and the story behind their work. I my art school experience this has helped me to find meaning in all the ut.

Sculpture Documentation

Vince showed us a sculpture project which included an animated provocation of acting like our creatures, developing our own character based on Greek myths, and exectuing our project in wire and plasticine.
The project was very open ended and creative which made it fun and engaging.

Integrated Art Documentation

Chenelle developed what I thought was a very well balanced and exciting plan for an integrated art lesson plan. She incorporated both LA and Art. She had us use poems and song lyrics as provocation for our themes and final products. It developed both LA concepts and art concepts very well.
Part of the process was listening to our music on shuffle and drawing blindfolded whatever we felt from the song. This was very fun and loosened us up and allowed us to just feel the music.
We used both oil and chalk pastels in all of our drawings. I felt this was a great medium to use as it was freeing and fun. We were allowed to experiment and try the medium before we started our project and were also encouraged to do thumbnail sketches of all our ideas.

Our final piece was based off our favorite song and lyrics to that song. We were encouraged to share our ideas with our peers which would validate each student in their experience with the project.

Drawing

My drawing history started when I was really young, as for most people. My parents always had art supplies handy for me to use. In kindergarten I was always drawn to the art stations, however after that I don't remember doing much more drawing in elementary school. Grade six had more art involved in the classroom and I always tried to incorporate drawing into my other projects. Grade seven was really the first time when I realized I could draw fairly well, and also enjoyed it. I had a great art teacher who showed us the basics of drawing well which boosted my confidence. I was always insecure about my drawing ability until I was shown the skills to do it well. Using different drawing mediums also encouraged me to continue drawing on my own time. When I continued in high school I wasn't shown any more formal drawing skills so when I started university I felt I had missed alot. It took a while to get back into it and I felt like I was in grade seven all over again.

Reflecting on my own art journey as a drawer can help me become a better teacher. Seeing where I was feeling insecure will help me prevent these insecurities in my classroom. In Kalin's chapter it talks about preventing the drawing activity from becoming a performance. When it becomes a performance, children will be worried about what others think of their work. At the age of 10-12 this is especially relevant because they will be comparing their work to the more realistic work of their peers or art they have seen. To confront these insecurities children should be exposed to artistic works which are not realistic. They should engage in drawing exercises which are provoked by memory, emotion or music. Sketchbooks or journals which can be a private exercise as opposed to a perforative exercise are also valuable. Collaborative drawing is also important as it allows students to become less attached to their work and focus on teamwork and learning from each other. Expanding the drawing possibilities is essentially the most important step in allowing students to become comfortable with drawing.

The benefits of peer teaching included:

• Having real experience teaching a module that would directly relate to what I may teach in the future.
• Trying a lesson plan and seeing how the different aspects either help or hinder the experience.
• Receiving feedback from peers on both the experience and the way I personally taught them.
• Improved communication of the lesson plan.
• I was able to learn new ideas from peers for other lesson plans and approaches to education in the art classroom.
• I was able to see the scope of the opportunities for integrating other subjects into the elementary art classroom.
• I was exposed to new mediums and provocation techniques which I can use in the classroom.

How you could incorporate peer teaching into the Elementary Art classroom:

• Have the students teach their peers about their culture and the art that it involves.
• Network with other art teachers to peer teach throughout the year to talk about ideas.
• Have the students talk to each other about their ideas.
• Put students in groups or pairs when working on projects so they can bounce ideas off each other and the stronger students can support the less confident students during projects.
• Have students ask each other for help.

Documentation

The importance of documentation to teaching and to a child's learning:

Teaching:

• Provides a memory, and evaluation a final report or an archive of the work and progress in a classroom.
• Provides a document of the teacher and child with their combined thought processes which improves communication.
• Enables the teacher to revisit learning experiences.
• Helps teachers stay close to the learning in their curriculum and helps improve the design of future curriculums.
• Improves sense of listening
• Helps recognize the value of other's point of view and interpretation.

Parents:

• Allows parents to witness what occurs in their child's classroom and see what their children might not be able to verbalize.
• Parents feel more welcome in their child's school when they see the documentation displayed.
• Strengthens home/ school relationships.

Children:

• Children will benefit from the increased awareness of their teachers and parents to their school activities.
• They will be validated and accounted for.
• Their voice will be hear through the teacher's increased listening skills.
• Curriculum will be more geared specifically toward their learning which fosters positive school experiences.

Challenges:

• Interrupting the flow in the classroom to document.
• Choosing a method of documentation that works best for the classroom situation.
• Finding time to document effectively where the information is still fresh in mind.

Strategies to address challenges:

• Chose a time each day where there is a break in the class activity to jot a few notes.
• Have a camera handy to snap documenting moments during the day and organize daily.
• Experiment with different documenting methods and organization to find the most successful one.

Important things to document:

• Deep joy, engagement
• Silences
• High Stress Moments
• Dead zones
• Avoidance
• Criticism
• Interaction
• Panned and Spontaneous provocation
• Arrivals and departures.

Media Art Documentation

Keeley introduced to us a lesson plan that included making finger puppets that represented our family and then creating a powerpoint presentation with photos that we took of our puppets with digital cameras. The intended outcomes of the project were to investigate family history, create a representation of our families and learn how to use power point to display our information. My impressions of this project was that the art experience was lost. The finger puppets were too small to allow for very much originality or creativity. The medium became very juvenile and the outcome looked a bit crafty. I could see 10-12 year olds feeling like this was a "kiddy" project and not feeling their artistic abilities were able to grow or be validated. As discussed in class, I believe making the medium larger (sock puppets) or using real people as the subject for the photos would create more success in this area. Also, the use of power point was well suited to the desired outcomes, however the artistic aspect of this could have been emphasized a bit more as far as discussing composition and design aspects. If more time could be allowed, using student generated backgrounds instead of images from the internet would be better. At first the power point experience was challenging as my Mac support Keynote. Adjusting to the new tools was a little frustrating, but I was able to figure it out in the end. I experimented with transitions and custom animations to make the presentation a bit more exciting. This lesson has a lot of potential, but I feel could use some reconsiderations as well.

Integrating art and other subjects...

I have noticed that many of my peers have been integrating different subjects into their lesson plans. Many times these lessons have been seamlessly integrated but sometimes it can be a "stick on" assignment where the secondary subject matter becomes secondary and not fully integrated. The benefits of integrating secondary subject matter into art lessons are that it becomes a basis to validate arts education within the curriculum. It pleases administration and allows the secondary subject matter to become more interesting for the students. By pairing art experience with any other learning experience it allows there to be more time for each lesson and therefore can provide room for more positive results. Some issues that may be encountered are seaming together to different subject matter and curriculum objectives, having one subject dominate over the art experience or having the lesson loose meaning. In the classroom these issues will present themselves through the attitude of the students (if they are bored or acting out, it is not going well), if there is confusion from the students or if the end result is vastly different from your predicted outcomes. In the classroom when these issues come up, depending on how serious, they must be taken into consideration and the lesson must be adjusted accordingly. If i is really not going well, the lesson should be reconsidered and continued another day to prevent frustration from the students. If dealt with in an organized manner, integrating other subjects with art can be very rewarding.

Popular Culture and Art

The range of media that children are exposed to these days is unending. It includes print media, television, movies, and the endless information available through the internet. Children are more tuned into advertising and pop culture more than ever. Popular media is a fact of our culture today and to a certain extent we need to be sensitive to what we expose children to; however we can also use the rich information available to our advantage as teachers. Popular culture has provided us with new avenues to discover art through advances in the way it is presented and in the way we can explore it. The internet provides us a click away from any piece of art work we wish to learn about. Movies are becoming more popular and lesser know film artists are becoming more mainstream. Advertising agencies are growing exponentially which provides opportunities for graphic designers. Popular culture brings information and communication around the world like lightning. This also allows artists to show their work more widely and allows the public to be exposed to new types of art.

Considering all of this it leads us to question what kinds of art media we should expose our students and children about. I believe it is important to show our children both historical and traditional media so that they can understand how the art today may have evolved and show them that all kinds of art are valid. On the other end, it is also important to show them contemporary and popular media so that they can think creatively about their own art. Showing art students a very wide variety of art medium and media will widen their imaginations and allow them to think creatively. "The More You Know the More you Grow!"

Classroom Safety

In Chapter 19 of "Starting With..." it discusses some guidelines for developing a safe environment in the classroom for your students. These parameters must meet the physical, emotional and social needs of the students while providing a meaningful art experience. Aspects of classroom management, discipline, student teacher relationships, classroom procedures and safety precautions should all be considered.

Classroom management:

• This includes considerations as far as what kind of environment the teacher wants to provide for their students. This environment is maintained through rules, consequences, atmosphere (noise level, music, treatment of students toward their peers)
• In my classroom I hope to have a fun atmosphere for my students to experience art, while maintaining a sense of order and emotional and physical safety. I would love to provide music for my students to listen to whether that be a classroom choice or allowing individual students to listen to their own music. Rules will be discussed at the beginning of the term, allowing input from the students as what they feel will give them the most positive experience. Similarly the consequences for breaking the rules will be discussed with some room for input from the students. Ultimately the final decisions will be made by me.

Discipline

• This includes considering the rules and consequences discussed by the class, understanding the role of the teacher in classroom disruptions, how to respond to misbehaviors and how to prevent these discipline problems,
• In my classroom I hope to have an understanding with my students that the rules and consequences are in place so that everyone can have a positive learning experience so that emotional and physical safety is always considered. When incidents do occur I will reflect on how my teaching has contributed to the situation. When I respond to the behavior I will be sure to do it in a way that does not bring negative attention to the student. Prevention of problems is the best solution to keeping the classroom a positive environment. Some things I can do to prevent disruptions are keeping a constant check on the energy in the room and making adjustments as needed to noise level, peer interactions and interest in the activity. I believe that discipline problems most often occur when the students are uninterested or invested in their projects, so ultimately having fun projects will keep the classroom under control.

Student Teacher Relationships

• Having a positive student teacher interaction includes fair problem solving, clear parameters for behavior, adequate time for projects, positive feedback, respect for differences, feeling of respect both ways and a nurturing atmosphere.

Classroom Procedures

• This includes having set routines for lessons including set up of materials, signals for students' attention, noise level expectations, movement boundaries, areas for materials, expectations for those who finnish early and cleanup procedures.
• I believe having expectations practiced and clear from the beginning as well as enforced every single time will create a positive learning environment for students.

Safety Precautions

• These precautions include art materials safety, understanding the physical abilities of the students, exposure to dangerous materials, storage of materials and classroom set up.
• For safety to be fully considered both the teacher and the students need to be educated about the risks and proper procedures of art materials within the classroom. The physical set up of the classroom is also important as lack of cleanliness can be a physical safety hazard.

Dewey in relation to the studio assignments...

According to Dewey a good experience has a goal for the community of the learner as well as a goal for the growth of the student. He believes that teachers need to give students the skills to function in the world as well as ones that will be valuable in the short term for the student. He also reminds us that each student is influenced by their current and past experiences. Our job as teachers is to open them up to new experiences in art and therefore in life. Finally he makes us consider what will be the best level of freedom or control in the classroom and what will be effective.

In response to the studio work I have done so far this year I believe my own painting activity has respond to several of Dewey's criteria for a good experience. The activity gave the skills and guidance for the student to succeed at the activity as well as in further painting projects. There was freedom for the student to include their own values and experiences. The meditation exercise will help them focus in the short term as well as relieve stress if practiced in the short term. The activity can be easily modified for any skill level or interest of the classroom.

The second studio project this year was the sculpture assignment. This activity functioned under Dewey's principles by giving them tactile building and problem solving skills. The new materials as well as the challenges with the medium will help them to create a sculpture in the short term but also foster problem solving skills for the future. The project gives the student a personal connection by giving them the freedom to come up with their own favorite creature. Freedom to create is very evident in this project but could be structured for those who need it within the classroom.

Peer Teaching Documentation

My first step in planning this activity began in the Doucette Library at the U of C where we were shown a variety of resources we had available to us to guide our lesson plans. I loved this experience and immediately started to explore the books and materials they had. I picked out a few picture books and a couple curriculum books for grade six art.

Prior to the Library visit I knew I wanted to incorporate a lesson with a guided meditation as provocation for the final product as well as a drawing and painting integrated activity. In one of the books there was a lesson for painting a tree, and I found a great book on imagination. Now my idea was growing. I decided to use the book on imagination as an opener to introduce the students to opening their frame of mind.

I asked my sisters to spend an afternoon with me painting so that I could try out the activity with them. The overall lesson included reading "Imagine a Night", introducing different painting techniques, teaching colour theory, showing photos of various artistic representations of trees, meditating an image of a tree, sketching thumbnails of the tree and finally painting a final completed composition of a tree. As my sisters were doing the mediation they started to laugh and I realized that it needed to be edited for "conciseness" and to take out all the "cheesy" bits. Overall it was a positive experience. Through this review with my sisters I cut down the meditation and focused more on materials and process of painting.

When I presented my experience for my classmates I was nervous but excited to do some painting. I walked them through the various aspects of the lesson and we got straight to painting. As we were painting many delightful surprises came up. Keely used her sponge in a different way that I had not demonstrated, Vince used exciting colours for his sky and ground, and Chenelle was excited that she could complete a project that was not as serious as her university painting class. As we painted I was sure to give praise for where the paintings took a more abstract approach. Part of this lesson was to emphasize that art can be good, even when its abstract. At this developmental level students are obsessed with realism. I wanted to make this lesson comfortable and successful for every learner. The result of this was with Vince's interpretation of abstract through his border, Keely's confidence in her painting result despite being new to the medium and Chenelle's excitement over being free to be more expressive in her work.

How to prevent spreading yourself too thin...

Scenario: Instructional methods and skills, mainstreaming of students, gifted and talented, special students, ESL students, visual teaching a learning, educational games.

Main problem: Spreading yourself too thin between so many high need students.

Questions:

1. Is this situation typical in most schools? This situation is very relevant in most schools. In calgary in particular, it is a city where many new students immigrate to. This makes it very likely that each teacher will have several student's in their class to whom English is their second language. Learning disabilities as well as gifted students will be found in every single classroom. There is always a mix of students with different family backgrounds, learning styles and challenges in all classrooms.

2. How can art teachers accommodate different learning styles and needs among their students? To accommodate all learning styles and needs in students, teachers must tier and scaffold their lessons. Every activity should have skill building exercises that lead up to the final experience in order to assure that every student has the tools to excel in their final product. The projects should be flexible in their level of difficulty and understanding level. Open ended results should be available to those who will have the skills to take it there, and a more guided approach should be available to those who need more structure.

3. Is it important for teachers to develop a range of instructional skills? It is extremely important that teachers develop a range of instructional skills. If a teacher can only teach the subject matter in one way, they will have their message lost on many students. The varied learning needs of students calls for teachers to have the same variety of instructional skills in their tool box for their students.

4. How can art teachers get the most of the visual nature of their subject? Art teachers can get the most of the visual nature of their subject by also using other ways of teaching it (auditory, and kinesthetic). Art is so accessible to all types of learning and can be taught in countless ways. To make the most of the visual aspect the teacher should try and develop the "artist eyes" of their students by exposing them to many different kinds of art and ways of looking at art. Teachers should foster skills in looking at objects and learning to observe accurately. They can used other kinds of "eye" to teach their student alternate ways of looking. Examples could be photography, microscopes, binoculars, magnifying glasses, or ways of restricting the student's vision.

Assessment in Art

Why do we assess learning in art?

We asses learning in art for several reasons: to meet provincial requirements for assessment, to give students, parents and teachers a frame of reference for the student's growth as a learner and to give the teacher a snapshot of how successful they are at communicating the learning content.

How can learning to self-assess in art transfer to other subject areas? Life endeavors?

Self assessment is a very effective way of understanding a student's learning. Depending on the developmental level (more so with older learners), students can be very self reflective and critical of their progress. This kind of assessment takes into account all of the past experiences of the learner and how they progressed from that point to the end result of the lesson. If this evaluation is done to have student's also reflect on how their learning affected other parts of their life, it can provide a very positive life skill activity for them. If students learn to notice changes in themselves, the world around them and others through their learning, they will be more successful in life. Taking part in self evaluations in other subjects would give students the sense of ownership they experience through art in English, Social Studies, Science, Math and other subject areas. This sense of ownership extends to create more successes in their learning.

Art Education in Contemporary Classrooms

'We can note in the literature claims that art will increase creativity, enhance personality development, improve school attendance, enhance reading skills, and stimulate the right side of the brain". This chapter points to the importance of the aspects of art making, art criticism, reading and writing about art, art context and the questioning of art in the elementary art program. To have a program of this scope and richness it requires sufficient time, supplies, expertise by the teacher and cooperation of all aspects of the school community. This kind of program gives students the ability and outlet for higher thinking. It takes them out of memorization, recitation and regurgitation mode. This chapter urges to include aspects of art that show observation as well as imagination, symbolic representation and emotional expression, emphasis on building artistic literacy and knowledge of many forms of artistic representation, understanding how the different artists were motivated to create what they did, and understand that art encompasses many different forms and expressions. Some challenges that teachers may come across in their classroom include different levels of learners in one classroom, the skills of her teaching, and mainstreaming of students. Using techniques like the organizational efficiency of the classroom, clarity of teaching materials, having experts in the arts help in the classroom, and diversifying art projects from their stereotypical holiday crafts. It seems that sensitivity is the common thread that runs through the many problems schools encounter with art programs. Having art programs in schools as a core subject is crucial to the development and satisfaction of students in their learning.

Puzzle Documentation

As we began our puzzle for the first time as a group I noticed that many of the group members took initiative in different aspects of the puzzle making right away. We all seemed to gravitate to certain tasks which were comfortable to us. I was comfortable starting by sorting out all of the edge pieces and the pieces in the box which had remained stuck together. Vince went to work on starting to construct the outer edges and Keeley dabbled in a few tasks. The activity began to relax me, and on that Monday morning it allowed me to slip into school mode in a way that was not too alarming. In the beginning stages of our puzzle building I notice my group has not became too frustrated yet and are seeming to enjoy the experience. So far what I can take from this experience to teaching is the idea that learners will tend to gravitate toward their skill sets right away and that as teachers we should monitor this carefully. If we know our student's skills we can also know where they can improve and where they will thrive.

Monday Feb. 8

I haven't blogged in a while about the puzzle experience but some milestones and roadblocks have come along. My group feels very behind and we are not completing the puzzle very quickly. Some of us are excited about it, but we quickly loose our motivation easily and become frustrated. I think Vince is the most positive motivator in our groups as he always has a positive outlook in the mornings. I am not sure if it is the puzzle itself which is so difficult or the lack of motivation by our group. I am not sure what it will take to get over the bump we have encountered but we have no choice but to keep working hard at it and know we still have a lot of time to complete it.

March 20, 2010

Our puzzle is coming a little quicker now but that is because of all the help we are getting. I find myself getting frustrated only after a short period of time. If I take small breaks during looking for where pieces go I am more productive. I hope we finish before the end of the year and that I start to understand what I am supposed to be learning from this experience.

April 2010

The final pieces of our puzzle were placed so kindly by Chennelle who took the time to finish it for our group! I was so pleased to see it was finished because it was really stressing me out that it wasn't moving along. Some final reflections on the puzzle experience include my realization that asking for help, accepting help and having a lot of input from others is crucial. Our group really had a hard time with our puzzle, but the rest of the class was very generous with helping us out. We could have not done it without them. This is true in school environments as well. As teachers we will have to learn to accept help from others, collaborate with other classrooms and even sometimes we (as in Chennelle) will just have to sit down and get it done for the betterment of the group. I also learned that I am just not a puzzle person.

Understanding the Learner

Understanding our students as a holistic learner means knowing how they develop cognitively, emotionally, morally, socially, physically, and aesthetically. Being able to create a complete portrait of each learner on these levels is impossible, but as a future educator I should strive to understand as many aspects of my students as possible. Not all developmental patterns will be true for all students as their unique circumstances will affect how their artistic imagery evolves. Each of the different aspects of a learner are expressed in unique ways and at different times, but are basically expressed around the same age patterns. It is important to know that the developmental stages are based on science and consistent studies. I can apply my knowledge as a teacher of older age groups (10-12) by understanding that in this stage the students are know as being in the emerging expertise level. This level is characterized by a longing and strive for realism. They begin to understand three dimensional space and atmospheric perspective. Their reasoning is becoming more adult like, their sense of right and wrong is solidified, they are greatly influenced by their peers, language skills are strong, their aesthetic senses are strong and there is a lull in physical growth. This stage is critical in the continuing of the student in art or their lack of interest in the subject in future. If students are not exposed to art making where they see ability to produce realistic work, or they do not experience "adult" art making that they can excel in which is not realistic, they will not continue in art. This is important to know so that experiences can be created for the students where they are shown that adult art can be a range of different styles and mediums, and does not have to include realism. They should be shown 3D projects first to build confidence, and slowly begin to be shown drawing skills which will give them the tools to draw realistically. All of these considerations will validate the learners so that they feel confident to continue in art.

Starting with...Chapter 2

Sylvia Kind raised some interesting information about children and their journey through art that I didn't know before. It talks about how art making activities early on are often kinesthetic and sensory based as opposed to story telling driven as it becomes later on in development. This will guide me to keep in mind that encouraging experimentation in art with our whole bodies and trying different movements early on will be successful and encouraging children in later years to explain their story telling. I have always known that for children art is a sensory experience and what feels good to children will often be what they pursue the most. This will guide my practice by making sure I proved many different materials for art making that evoke different sensory experiences. I also know that children create what they know. What they know is formed by their social and cultural experiences. As a teacher, we need to be sensitive to these different backgrounds and not homogenize our classrooms only according to developmental level. This chapter also talks about the fact that there are several different ways to learn any given task. I also believe this is true. Just as there are many different learners, there are also many ways of learning. As a future educator, I can keep this in mind by creating lessons that will be meaningful to the learner in the way that they learn best.

James and the Giant Peach

Some of the misconceptions I had before beginning to work with children included the view that they were simple minded and innocent. As I began to work with children these misconceptions were immediately erased. It is easy to see when children are given the right environment to thrive that they are very complex and capable of complex activities and that their experiences in life are often more complicated and diverse than we may imagine. In the context of art education and the role of the teacher it means that we need to consider that our students may be capable of more than we give them credit for. There must be careful consideration of the student's developmental skills before planning any project. This will make sure that the projects will be meaningful and enriching to the child's experience in art education.

The movie "James and the Giant Peach" shows insight into the child's mind and the limits of their imagination. Through this movie I learned that children often twist events into stories that they can comprehend, as in the case with James and the passing of his parents. I also learned that when children come into the class room they are often entering an environment in which they are not the center of attention any more. This is important to consider when teaching younger children, as they will be adapting to these new circumstances. Another important message in the movie was that friendship is central to a child's sense of confidence and self image. Establishing community within the class room is a key to allowing children to thrive. Another key idea in the film was that children should never be underestimated and they should be given individual opportunities to be independent, thrive and find their own triumphs. Finally, the message about how important family is in a child's learning was evident in the film. James' peach family was drastically different from his biological family. His biological family, his aunts, were portrayed as narcissistic and did not give James opportunities to be a child. His peach family allowed him to be a child, make friends and accomplish goals on his own. The peach family was his support and his aunts were just his relation. This shows us how vital the role of family is in our class room. Team work and encouragement are the tools that will support a positive learning experience. Family should encourage the child's talents and engage with them to create confidence in the learner.