Sorry, couldn't help but make the cheesy posting title. Anyways, I've heard a lot about this site this semester and didn't quite know what to expect. I was pretty pleasantly surprised. Actually, I really loved this site. First things first. The classroom is cluttered, yes. But in one of those magical cluttered but you can find what you are looking for ways. There are really unending art materials in there. I probably can't go into more detail without talking about Jude. Mr. Jude seems to have this whole crazy space organized and filled with materials. I was pretty sure I was going to like this site in the first 5 minutes we were there. Here's what happened: student needs canvas, Jude pulls out a canvas of a student who is no longer in the program and says to recycle it, student scoffs, Jude proceeds to give mini-lecture on the fact that you should not come to expect a pristine canvas in art or in life- that's simply not how it works. Beautiful. It is apparent to me that Jude has a wealth of materials in his classroom not because he has an enormous budget or mystery donors, but because he is smart and resourceful with what materials he does have. He was smart with his students, encouraging them to follow their own projects and ideas, all of which blanketed under the unit theme of beauty (for the upcoming gallery presentation). He also went on a rather large rant about American Indians- which he laughed and said we'd call him an eccentric in our follow ups for this class- but in all fairness they are making murals about the American west and the native populations.
I liked the mix of students. They were excited about making art, and using their creativity to head in their own directions. I also liked their relationship with Jude, asking questions about materials or procedures and cracking jokes.
All in all, once again this semester it all comes back to- the teacher makes the classroom.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
WVSA
WVSA turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Elana and I visited Jude's class and helped out for the day. Jude is a very laid back teacher who really knows his stuff and treats his students according to their age. This is something I have not seen in a while and it is very refreshing to see. I have a feeling that many in the education field might frown on some of his practices and mannerisms while teaching. He was a great example of how to teach art by my standards. His personality and teaching style was very successful in his context and is something that is usually not taken into account in the field of education. He gave demos and started students paintings and made very stern yet joking digs at students from time to time which were effective and acceptable due to the relationship he and his students have formed. Jude was not plagued with the level of fear or tenderness that can often be seen in many teachers or just education in general. He presented himself and interacted with his class in a comfortable and honest way. Because of this behavior he was able to build effective relationships with students that I have not seen much of in DC so far. His dry sense of humor and relaxed demeanor really allows him to interact with his students on a more productive level. He did not only focus on art and started educational discussions on other subjects such as history and culture. This really gave me hope since I hope to go beyond art in my classroom as well. Instead of getting caught up in many of the educational standards and rules he appeared to be having a good time and getting his students to have fun while pursuing the creation of quality art. The art was being produced for the real world (CVS) and was not catering to school system standards, curriculum, and grades. This reminded me of how my extremely successful underfunded high school art class was conducted. We all focused on getting projects done that were for shows, contests, public spaces, and commissions. There were no textbooks, DBAE, or VTS but just straight proactive creation of art with a purpose beyond ourselves. The fact that Jude had set something up with an outside source such as CVS caused me to remember such successful art education. The students came in and really practiced art instead of talking and doing little gimmick exercises like CR's at Wilson High. The students can clearly see CR's and other exercises for what they are and become offended and give up. However if there is someone who really knows their subject, practices it, pushes their students to create art without a lot of strings attached the students will respond. I see this in Jude just as I did in my high school teacher. Of course this is a lot of things to draw out of one visit but this class was very noticeably different form what I have been used to over the past two semesters. The students were amazingly well behaved and mature and this I feel is directly related to Jude's respect for them. While many of the students had disabilities he treated them with more respect and with more normalcy than many teachers observed so far with non disabled students. Overall the students and the teacher were exceptional and a breath of fresh air.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Peabody 2
I can't remember who described Peabody as a looking like a fairy house but there are certainly several fantastical elements to the room. I really enjoy the environment the teacher has created! All of the classrooms there have unique and fun environments. The teacher is clearly comfortable with a lot of activity and background noise. Most of the students are very independent and will take the given materials and project and experiment with it to push it to their own unique creations.
She was very knowledgeable about teaching methods and dealing with different types of students learning styles. She also told us a lot about the Reggio Emilia and how it wasn't a specific method like Montessori but a way of life an ongoing process. You don't get certified for Reggio Emilia it is an ongoing process.
Peabody
My first day at Peabody was not typical. The teacher was preparing the children for a field trip at the American Visionary Art Museum. She was explaining a pamphlet she had prepared for them to do there. She was also reminding them about what to expect: bring a bag lunch, what they would be doing, what the museum looked like, where it was, what sort of things to expect to see.
The Art League in Old Town ALexandria
I went to a couple classes that are taught by the Art League in Old Town ALexandria. They hold most their classes in the Torpedo Factory on the Waterfront but the classes I went to were held at Springwater Studio, about half a mile from King Street.
The classes I went to were called Design and Composition Fundamentals and Design and Composition Applications (basically a follow up to the first class). I really liked the instructors style of teaching. The students are mostly middle aged women and are mostly taking the classes for fun, to learn a new hobby, or as a social activity with friends. They are all very interested and eager to learn, with an almost childlike excitement with some of them. Most of them have no background in art at all.
The instructor was careful in her choosing of words to discuss and critique the classes' assignments. She has a very thoughtful and methodical approach to teaching as well as she is very good with words and articulating her thoughts.
She teaches what is (academically) considered to be good design. Things like the golden rectangle/golden ratio, the rule of thirds, "sweet spots". In critiquing the assignments if something doesn't really look quite right one way she rotates the paper so you can "read" the same design in a different format and often opens up the eyes of the class as to a better orientation for the composition. She uses this opportunity to explain different things about how the eyes see and "read" compositions, what is typically visually pleasing and what is not.
Her homework assignments are interesting, they seem simple enough but I know after watching the critiques that the students take a lot of time and effort to complete these things which sound so simple. For example the homework they were assigned last week was this:
Using 4 black squares (any size) in a white 5X5 square illustrate these words; bold, tension, happy, congested, and increase. And from watching the critiques I am sure the students are learning a lot about design and composition through these exercises.
SAIL take 2
I went back to SAIL today kind of expecting the worst. Last week had been pretty crazy and the kids off the wall. In the first class today the kids were "red hot" (that means good). They are finishing up their inventions to go on display and they really buckled down and got to work. The teacher was also much less sarcastic and the student teacher did a lot of the talking. It was also not as hot in the room so I didn't feel like I was going to pass out the entire time.
The second group was not as smooth. The kids were much rowdier and we had a hard time keeping them on task. There were some emotional meltdowns but it was all dealt with fairly well. These kids did have some interesting inventions but not a good grasp of structural integrity. A lot of the pieces were falling apart and we did some emergency surgery via super glue.
Like I said before, this is just a normal art class. It has a lot of energy and the teacher has a sense of humor, but it is not exactly what I would envision for my own room. I hope to have fresh air and/or windows, less yelling, and I will very much try not to sharpen my verbal claws on my kids.
The second group was not as smooth. The kids were much rowdier and we had a hard time keeping them on task. There were some emotional meltdowns but it was all dealt with fairly well. These kids did have some interesting inventions but not a good grasp of structural integrity. A lot of the pieces were falling apart and we did some emergency surgery via super glue.
Like I said before, this is just a normal art class. It has a lot of energy and the teacher has a sense of humor, but it is not exactly what I would envision for my own room. I hope to have fresh air and/or windows, less yelling, and I will very much try not to sharpen my verbal claws on my kids.
Capital City #3
Today I observed a 5th/6th grade class, a Kindergarten and a Pre-K class. What was most interesting about this visit was my conversations with Ms. Stroman about Capital City and the Expeditionary Learning culture. There were four things that stood out to me: the concept of culture, commitment to service, student assessment, and an expeditionary learning project.
In the entry of the school their is a Green Building project. It was not a project that I observed in the making but a final product displayed at the school. What is unique about the expeditionary learning is that projects last for long periods of time and encourages students to apply subjects like math, environmental studies, and/or art to real world projects. In this particular projects students were to work with Green concepts to design a single floor of Capital City. They drew preliminary blueprints, researched green school buildings and then proposed their own design for green improvements. These designs were to include 5 improvements (solar paneling, recycled materials, dual flush toilets, etc.) with the possibility of being presented the CCCS Board. To complete their projects, students had to increase the size of their blueprints to scale, and create a 3-D model of their proposal. It was an indepth project and had kids working with relevant material.
Projects at CCCS encourage service to the community. Some of the projects that students make are sold and the proceeds donated to the cause of the students choice. Usually they give to an organization related to the project they were working on. For example, there will be an upcoming unit on the Chesapeake Bay and students will donate the money they raise to the a local oranization that does DC watershed clean-up.
Assessment is different too. There are no A,B,C,D grades. From pre-K thru grade 4, students receive either an E, an M, or a B, plus a narrative description of the child progress. These letters correspond to whether the child is exceeding, meeting or falling below the expected range of performance. In 5th grade, students are assessed on a scale of 1-4 plus a narrative. Teacher make these assessments based on student Progress, Social Responsibility, and Effort.
And finally, Ms. Stroman talked a little about the culture of caring. A pre-K student has a serious emotional meltdown when he was not able to play today because he had other work to do. He was not being punished but was very upset and could not catch his breath because he was crying. Ms. Stroman encouraged him to breath like her, slow and deep. Then she asked the class if they could help. The whole class breathed slow and deep with Ms. Stroman and the distressed boy. Eventually he calmned down, and Ms. Stroman asked another student to tell him why everything would be okay. A classmate explained that he could play another day. They will be back to play. This is an example of how students are taught to care and have compassion for the members of the group.
Expeditionay Learning is talked about in An Ethics of Excellence by Ron Berger.
In the entry of the school their is a Green Building project. It was not a project that I observed in the making but a final product displayed at the school. What is unique about the expeditionary learning is that projects last for long periods of time and encourages students to apply subjects like math, environmental studies, and/or art to real world projects. In this particular projects students were to work with Green concepts to design a single floor of Capital City. They drew preliminary blueprints, researched green school buildings and then proposed their own design for green improvements. These designs were to include 5 improvements (solar paneling, recycled materials, dual flush toilets, etc.) with the possibility of being presented the CCCS Board. To complete their projects, students had to increase the size of their blueprints to scale, and create a 3-D model of their proposal. It was an indepth project and had kids working with relevant material.
Projects at CCCS encourage service to the community. Some of the projects that students make are sold and the proceeds donated to the cause of the students choice. Usually they give to an organization related to the project they were working on. For example, there will be an upcoming unit on the Chesapeake Bay and students will donate the money they raise to the a local oranization that does DC watershed clean-up.
Assessment is different too. There are no A,B,C,D grades. From pre-K thru grade 4, students receive either an E, an M, or a B, plus a narrative description of the child progress. These letters correspond to whether the child is exceeding, meeting or falling below the expected range of performance. In 5th grade, students are assessed on a scale of 1-4 plus a narrative. Teacher make these assessments based on student Progress, Social Responsibility, and Effort.
And finally, Ms. Stroman talked a little about the culture of caring. A pre-K student has a serious emotional meltdown when he was not able to play today because he had other work to do. He was not being punished but was very upset and could not catch his breath because he was crying. Ms. Stroman encouraged him to breath like her, slow and deep. Then she asked the class if they could help. The whole class breathed slow and deep with Ms. Stroman and the distressed boy. Eventually he calmned down, and Ms. Stroman asked another student to tell him why everything would be okay. A classmate explained that he could play another day. They will be back to play. This is an example of how students are taught to care and have compassion for the members of the group.
Expeditionay Learning is talked about in An Ethics of Excellence by Ron Berger.
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