I am so excited because in a scant 48 hours, I will be in San Diego at my first NAEA conference. . .At which, I will make two presentations.
My first conference experience will be on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. wherein I will make presentation #1.
No pressure.
I would LOVE to meet some of my online buds. The details about them are below, and I would love to see you there. But, if you can't make it, please drop by before/after and say, "Hey!"
Presentation #1
Critical Multiculturalism through Student-Led Filmography
Saturday, Room 32 A/Upper Level, 9 a.m.
Handouts and presentation outline are here.
Presentation #2
Collaborating to make Art Accessible for High and Low Budget Programs (co-presented w/Cheri Lloyd)
Saturday, Room 32 A/Upper Level, 2 p.m.
Handouts, presentation, and full lesson plans with visual and PowerPoints here.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Technology Applications in the Art Room
I'm in the process of wrapping up a professional development course I taught entitled, Technology Applications for the [Visual Arts] Classroom. The course was open to anyone in my district, but I had a special emphasis for Art teachers. While most of you bloggy-readers are pretty tech-savvy, I thought you might appreciate some of the hand-outs from the course. The handouts are pretty nice compilations, and they have lots of fun links. Additionally, I put together some of the student handouts I use when I teach Digital Art in the classroom and shared them with the course participants (and by proxy, you). Enjoy!
Me Reviewing Animation in the Classroom Via ScreenCast-O-Matic:
General Handouts:
Project-Application-Based Handouts:
Print-Outs to Turn Into Classroom Posters:
Me Reviewing Animation in the Classroom Via ScreenCast-O-Matic:
General Handouts:
Project-Application-Based Handouts:
Print-Outs to Turn Into Classroom Posters:
Monday, March 17, 2014
20 Best Art Education Blogs
Hey! A pretty cool thing happened: Artful Artsy Amy was listed by TinkerLab in a list of the 20 Best Art Education Labs. There are some pretty awesome blogs listed there, so I'm stoked to be a part of it. You should head on over and check it out!
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Image from TinkerLab |
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Making Contemporary Art Relevant to Students
I love teaching my students about contemporary artists. . .But, sometimes, the art and/or themes are so sophisticated it is hard for them to relate.
Check out this awesome interview between Jeff Koons and Pharell Williams; it is sure to grab the attention of your students!
)
Check out this awesome interview between Jeff Koons and Pharell Williams; it is sure to grab the attention of your students!
)
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Try a Little Tenderness
This morning, I found myself engaged in a lively Facebook discussion
about a recent blog post from an Art Educator. In the original blog post, the
blogger writes about a particularly trying day wherein there were several
disciplinary issues that merited administrative involvement. The post ends with
the author describing how she got ready to go home and watched her kids for the
last half or so of the final class and then jetted out; she described it as “teaching
in hell.”
The person who shared the blog post on Facebook just commented that she
couldn’t get her mind off of the post. I’m not gonna lie; it is a pretty brutal
post. There was no judgment from the person who shared the blog post on
Facebook; just awe.
Then, came the comments. Which, I just really hope the original blogger never, ever, sees because some of
y’all gotta calm down.
I’ve written before about how ArtEducators in at-risk, low SES, and/or troubled environments are much less likelyto author Art Ed blogs. The primary reason, in my opinion, is that the moment
any Art Ed author in a trying environment attempts to vent-write about
discipline and/or behavior management, a ton of “well-meaning” Art
Educators offer up the most basic, condescending, and
not-likely-to-work-with-troubled-kids advice (I call this "concern-trolling" btw). When you are literally fighting
your way through your day of teaching, the last thing you need is some teacher
who has no idea of what it is like to teach troubled kids (or who has a knack
for teaching troubled kids) to tell you how to do your job. Why can’t you just
say, “Man that’s rough!” and move on?!
One of my personal favorites is when I wrote about how frustrating it is when kids walk off with sharpies. One commenter explained how “all”
I needed to do was to ask the students to exchange their shoe for a sharpie. Oh, why didn’t I, who underwent
13 years of public school, ever think of this ever-so-popular method?! I mean,
honestly. Obviously, I’m aware of the exchanging a shoe for a pencil/marker method of
management; I think every teacher in America is wise to that tip. But, would
you like to know why teachers in low SES and/or tricky environments don’t use
the shoe-writing-tool method? The only thing real monetary worth that my students
wear are their sneakers; most cost upwards of $150 (the debate as to why poor
kids have expensive sneakers is a totally different issue that I refuse to
discuss here). These sneakers are vital part of their social hierarchy. I’ve
witnessed students knock over other students in the hallway and then steal
their shoes. My students don’t even like the bottoms of their shoes to get dirty. So, uh, no. I’m not eager to
start a secondary situation wherein I have to manage expensive sneakers that
are frequent subjects of theft just to manage a $1.00 sharpie. But, you know, I don’t really feel like I should have to
justify all of that in order to give a one-off “man, managing sharpies is a
bummer!” on my own blog.
And, that is the heart of the issue. Why do at-risk teacher-bloggers
have to justify all of the behavior management and discipline methods they
utilize before they are allowed to vent? Why, when at-risk teachers vent do
people feel the need to say, “that teacher has given up”
etc. etc. I’m not saying it is particularly professional to vent about your kids or administration online; there is a real fine line there. . . But, God help me, I have SO been there when it comes to needing to vent about a tough day. If you’ve never worked in a tough environment you have absolutely no idea how isolating it is for an Art teacher. Absolutely none.
etc. etc. I’m not saying it is particularly professional to vent about your kids or administration online; there is a real fine line there. . . But, God help me, I have SO been there when it comes to needing to vent about a tough day. If you’ve never worked in a tough environment you have absolutely no idea how isolating it is for an Art teacher. Absolutely none.
I’ve taught in at-risk environments for years. Let me tell you a bit
about it.
-Even in a “tough” environment, I teach some of the tougher kids. I am
less likely to teach a student enrolled in an opt-in program such as Band,
Chorus, and Orchestra (which requires parent buy-in to the educational system).
This does not mean that non opt-in program kids are “bad” (not at all!!), but
they are more likely to have been removed from a program, to have less support
at home, and are more likely to have disciplinary issues.
-Is there a transient kid that comes in to the school mid-term and you
don’t know where to put them? It is easiest to place them in Art because the
entry point(s) are more fluid. I average about three new students a week
because at-risk schools average more transient students.
-There aren’t enough Connections teachers at my school for students who
don’t opt-in to Band, Chorus, or Orchestra. This means that instead of teaching
each kid Art once a year (which is what is supposed to happen in my district);
I teach many children 2 and 3 times. While this is a pretty awesome opportunity to increase the visibility of Art in my building, these aren’t kids whom necessarily want to
take Art. . .So, that can be. . .Interesting.
-There are 1,000 kids in my school. My yearly budget is $500.
-My class size ranges from 35-46 kids. An Art teacher working at a
nearby school has 52 kids in one of her classes.
-In this era of Least Restrictive Environment or LRE (a really good
thing!), Art is often the only “regular ed” class that students with severe
disabilities can take. And, in my school, they take it repeatedly. I love
teaching these students and making Art accessible to them. But, make no mistake;
it is hard to ensure that you are meeting all of the demands of their IEP
and/or 504 accommodations while managing a class of diverse learners.
-One of the (supposed) contributing factors to poverty is the
break-down of family structure. People lacking familial support find it harder
to navigate our system and often find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty
(it’s really complex and these two
sentences don’t do such a great job of breaking this down, but stay with me).
Many of my students are extremely autonomous when they are not at school. There
are many single parent families and families wherein the parents work 2-3 jobs
and/or rely on the (very unreliable) Georgia public transportation. Due to
these reasons, my students find themselves responsible for their own care during
non-school hours. They wash their own clothes. They cook their own meals. And,
they frequently are the ones to take care of younger siblings and ensure younger
siblings make it to school. They also frequently walk long distances to
socialize and frequently socialize with much older relatives and their friends.
So, they feel as if they are adults. And, in many ways they are adult-like and
far more sophisticated than wealthier students. As such, my students do not
like it when some teacher, who they recognize as not being a part of their
culture, tries to tell them what to do at school. They balk. And, you know, I kinda get that.
-My students live in a food desert and have a hard time accessing food
with quality nutrition. . .And, they have been living like this since they were
in-utero.
-Another issue related to poverty is that some of my students have
exceptionally young parents and/or parents who were (or still are) under the
influence of illegal substances. If you combine this fact with absentee parents
(whether this is due to neglect or necessity), you have kids who are quite
literally raising themselves. They don’t have the same values I have because
their family is drastically different than mine (and probably involves far less
adults). This frequently causes cultural disconnects that result in students
receiving disciplinary infractions for behaviors they feel are “normal” or “acceptable.”
For example, in the homes of several of my students revenge is not only an
accepted behavior; it is expected and encouraged. These students are perplexed
when they are reprimanded for fighting a student for revenge, because they were
“just fighting to get revenge.”
-There are epic cultural disconnects. Epic. I’m years into teaching in
at-risk environments and I am still learning new ways in which I can work to be
more compassionate for my students.
-It is hard not to get emotionally invested. Every single teacher hears,
“you can’t take what they say personally.” And, in a general sense, I don’t. At
the same time, no one wants to work in a place wherein you are frequently
called rude names and/or disrespected. For example, I don’t take it personally
when I’m told by a student, “you’re a bitch.” But, I don’t like that is a
regular part of my working life.
-Another part of emotional investment is that kids in at-risk
environments mostly have pretty sad life stories. If I were to get deeply
emotionally invested in all of my students, I would cry myself to sleep at
night. In order to be effective, I have to care, but I also have to create a
bit of emotional distance so I can do my job. I don’t want to avoid
disciplining a physically aggressive student who is acting out because her
mother died. . .Because, well, I don’t want to do her the disservice of not
holding her accountable for her actions. It is a tricky and very stressful
balance to maintain compassion with accountability.
You also have to take the time to know A LOT about your students.
I take pride in the fact that I am an effective teacher who runs a
really awesome Art program in an at-risk school. But, this has been years in the making. And, I have a knack
for it. I’m super organized, yet flexible, yet strict, yet my class is very
open-ended. I love my kids (LOVE THEM!), but I am also the first to hold their
feet to the fire. I don’t tolerate nonsense or lying. I have no problem calling
home and (as I tell them), “ruining the weekend.” They know not to even try
skipping my class or taking too long in the bathroom because I. Will. Find.
Them. And no one fights in my class
because the rule is that “If you want to fight in my class, you have to take me
on first, and I will press charges if you put your hands on me in an aggressive
manner.” Well, obviously, I don’t expect them to fight me. . .But, that level
of crazy is part of the balancing act I undergo to keep my classes running.
All of this takes a ton of energy, patience, experience, planning,
heart, and passion. Like, tons.
My second year teaching was my first year in an at-risk school. I was
also in a trailer. That first day, two kids got in a fight. The other students
pushed tables in such a manner that I couldn’t get to the fight to break it up.
Instead, I had to crawl over tables (in a dress) to get to the fight. The only
way I was able to end the fight was to physically restrain the one of the
fighters (who was kicking the other on-the-floor-immobile “fighter” in the
stomach) by forcing him to the floor and using my body weight to keep him
still. After the Football Coach showed up to help me move the students along to
their 2nd period, I discovered that a student had peed in one of my
chairs.
I sat down and cried. I called the district to find out what would
happen to my teaching certificate if I just quit (it would revoke it and end my
teaching career). I stayed for an entire
year. It was, without a doubt, the most difficult and trying year of my life. I
fantasized about quitting teaching altogether. I cried myself to sleep almost
every night. I thought I was a horrible teacher . . . It turns out, I was just
not-yet-equipped to manage such an environment.
A few years (and years of education and experience later), I found
myself working in an at-risk environment again. . .And, I’m good at it. But, y’all
it is still a daily struggle. I still doubt myself from week to week. . . And
some-days, I feel like I am “teaching in hell” just like the original blogger.
I have a million-and-one tips and tricks I use to make my classroomwork. I’ve written about it. A lot. Yet, I don’t feel the need to tell someone
what to do about their situation on their vent post. The reason is that the
writer is not seeking advice; s/he just needs a compassionate listener. Don’t we all need that? Don’t we all need
the opportunity to vent to a friend about that terrible kid in 5th
grade that drove you nuts today. . .And, then (two days later) don’t we need
the same opportunity to tell our friend about the “totally awesome thing that
the formerly terrible kid in 5th grade did today!”
Compassion, y’all. Please, just a little compassion.
One of my coworkers, let’s call him Mike, is the chorus teacher. Mike
goes above and beyond for his students, and works hard to make sure that even
kids with frequent behavior issues have the opportunity to shine in Chorus (if
singing is their thing). During one of
Mike’s best Chorus classes, his new iPhone went missing. It was especially
frustrating since Mike had his phone plugged in to the sound system and was
actually using it in class; there was no grey area (“I didn’t know the phone
was yours! Etc.). Even though Mike tried the “find my iPhone” app, called his
carrier, and pleaded with students . . . The phone was never uncovered. Mike’s
face was so down; it just about killed me to see my amazing coworker so upset.
He felt disheartened and betrayed by his students; he told me, “maybe I shouldn’t
be working here anymore.” Then, something kind of awesome happened. Mike
realized that the action of one student was effecting how he felt about all of
his students; Mike really didn’t like this. So, Mike spent the next day going
around the classroom and telling each and every student one really positive
thing he thought about that student. He was very honest and told me, “I had
more positives to say for some than others, but I found something positive to
say about everyone.” Mike was shocked when he started receiving little notes
from students telling him about the impact he had in their lives; the notes
were amazing. The notes said things like, “you made me realize I’m a good
person,” and “I didn’t know I had any talent before I met you,” and “you make
me feel like there is someone who cares about me.”
Heady stuff, right?
But, here is the thing: It is an
extremely rare person who can take a really bad betrayal situation and turn it
into a galvanizing, classroom experience. These people are rarer than diamonds,
and they are a combination of both raw talent and repeated experience working
with needy kids.
I have no idea if the original blog poster has been teaching 1 or 20
years. But, I do know that she is overwhelmed. It isn’t going to benefit her at
all for us to tell her how to “fix” herself or her situation. This person needs our compassion, and our
support. When she is ready for help –if she is ever ready for help- she will
ask us. And, before you worry about the students she is impacting . . . If she
is so unhappy that she is detrimental to students, she won’t return to this job
in the Fall. Trust me, if you aren’t cut out for at-risk environments you leave
(or you’re fired).
Teaching at-risk kids is not for the faint of heart; it takes a huge
network of support. Next time you read about/see a teacher who is overwhelmed
by his/her at-risk kids: Don’t speak negatively about this person or tell them
(or others!) what they need to do to “fix” it. Instead, take the opportunity to
be a part of the support network and offer them your compassion, ear, and
heart.
After all, us Art Teachers need to stick together.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
How-To Have the Most Engaged Class Ever
I had a revelation this week. Which, you know, is rare. . .
This has been a weird quarter.
My students have missed six days of instruction due to snow days, and I
missed two additional days due to pre-scheduled professional development. Due to this loss of instructional time, it has
been hard to get the level of “buy-in” I expect from my students. . . And, y’all, teaching 7th grade Art
in classes of 35+ is hard enough.
They have been really, really, really decent about working hard to cram
all of our content in a much tighter time period. But, I’ve noticed that to
accomplish this, the students have had to do more sitting, listening, and
small-artmaking than I would prefer. So, for the last project of the term, I
decided to de-organize things a bit. You know, because things had just been too
quiet, too simple, too organized.
Every year, the Washington Post hosts a Peeps Diorama contest, and I
typically have a few students enter.
This year, all of my 7th graders will participate. I have
never, ever, in my life seen this
group of students so actively engaged in Art. Every. Child. Is. On. Task.
Every. Child. Is. Happy.
Not only are they so (so!) happy, they are actively problem-solving,
they are creating are on a deep level, and they are driving their own learning
experience. And, this is all because I somehow lucked into something they find
interesting and significant: They like
to work in groups, and they like to have more choices when it comes to
creating.
Here’s what they are doing:
1)
We defined “diorama” (can you believe they didn’t
know what it meant even though they’ve been as they “making them things for
years”)
3)
They were tasked to assemble into groups
(Avengers Assemble!)
4)
They received a list of all of the topics they
have learned about in 7th grade Social Studies. They were tasked to
devise a group theme that relates to 7th grade Social Studies, and
construct a diorama illustrating this theme.
5)
Students were told they would receive 2 Peeps
from me, and they could purchase more on their own if they wished (they average
about 12 for $2)
6)
They had to sketch out their diorama and make a
list of all of the materials they expect to use. I provided glue, glue guns,
glue gun sticks, scrap cardboard, scrap fabric, construction paper, colored
pencils, markers, paint, glitter, sand, sequins, wire, 2 Peeps, and random
small pieces of wood.
7)
They began to build their dioramas
We are just two days in, and these kids are on-fire for this project.
Several groups even got together after
school to work on their diorama (what is this madness?!). Incidentally,
this problem-solving method perfectly aligns with how STEAM is being taught
across the country (just sayin’).
So, here is my revelation: Sometimes, you have to trust the kids to
know how to drive their own learning. You have to give them control. You have
to give them choices. I know this
revelation seems a bit obvious; a bit, “duh!” But, we often interpret student
obedience and complicit behavior as good and the means by which students learn.
. . Yet, students learn best when they are actively involved in driving their
own education. This means we sometimes have to take that really overactive
class of students (ahem 5th period, I’m looking at you), and give
them the opportunity to put all that kinetic energy to educational work.
And, dude, I can’t wait to show you the finished results.
Labels:
art education,
arted,
artsed,
diorama,
lesson plans,
middle school,
peeps
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