I really enjoyed the lesson where music was used. I use music in the classroom but not in the lesson.
I never really thought about using it to go along with ideas for them to draw. When that lesson was shared with the class it really made me think of some ideas for my classroom.
Any song can be used in a lesson if you pick one that tells a story or a time in someone's life.
I also liked lesson about making the head dress to show the personality of the student and pulling in Greek mythology.
I agree with Roxanne, Josh's lesson was the one that I enjoyed the best. Using music to and art to explain some of the harsh realities that are going on in the world today is something that I never would have thought about. It was also great because it incorporated another subject into an art lesson that really goes hand in hand. I was thinking about stealing this lesson.
For me the most beneficial thing is not one lesson or idea... it is all the little tips that people have...where to get slides made, which materials work well, putting the best slides first and last,etc. If I had to pick one idea, though, it is for students to use a very personal approach in choice of concentration. This came across in several lessons and in particular I recall the story of the student who was missing a hand and who chose hands as the focus of his work.
Like Ellen, I generally pick up little tips from group discussions that I find them beneficial in my class no matter what level art class it is.
I found Robert's suggestion to make projects personal to the student and then after looking over the information downloaded for us has given me ideas on how I can improve many of the lesson's that I already have, this now gives them a different direction for the students to take them in and more ownership for the student.
Roxanne, I wouldn't say that your lesson was weak. Personally, I think that all of the lessons are good. I don't know how mine will stand up to the rest of the class, but I feel that all of the lessons talked about will be good ones for everyone to have. Mr. Urban and Mrs. Hightower, do we get a copy of everyone's lesson?
Yes, everyone will receive a CD of all the CLIA lessons and all the museum papers of everyone in the class. You should receive it on Wed when we return to Upstate.
I'm with Suzanne on this-- I could not take notes fast enough during Roberts slide show. It was very enlightening to me to see all of the different techniques and mediums used by the students. I hope to incorporate many into next year's upper level classes.
Ellen is right too. All of the little pieces of information are adding up. In addition to what we are receiving during this course, I hope that we take back a support system for the questions that will arise during the year.
It is hard to pick one lesson, but the most beneficial one for for me was Mr. Urban's slides about his AP students work. Making the concentration personal, as several have commented, will help me in the future. I must add, I enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Hightower on how AP Art is judged.
It is hard to narrow down all of the ideas into just one good one. I thought that almost everything that I heard was good. I especially like Robert's idea of making the concentration personal. It seems so obvious now but I would have never thought of it.
I agree with Suzanne in that I enjoy group discussions and I tend to take more from those times than presentations. I really enjoyed the discussion that came from our table trying to guess what score each portfolio would receive.
Bomar...I would be honored if you stole my lesson!
As Roxanne wrote, "Any song can be used as a lesson;" I, too, enjoyed Josh's lesson. But what was that song, Josh????? I'm so out of it and old school!!!!! I am glad we are getting the lesson plan.
Like Ellen, Brant, and Suzanne commented it is not just one lesson or idea, but all the little tips, shared presentations, and lessons that will help us in our classrooms.
By the way, Roxanne your lesson was good; I think we all have our doubts about our own lessons. And Bomar, your lesson will be as valuable to us as everyone's lesson has been.
To comment on volunteer 1's fear of being out of it musically...I too am so way far away from music that might make sense to students. But then so were my fellow college students and they were only a few years out of high school themselves. One more reason why it is great to get together with a dedicated group of teachers and share ideas.
To narrow it down to one is probably going to be difficult. I am currently playing with A. Beard's idea about transfering images to clay. It is going to be fun. But the best idea for me was Lourne's blogging ideas. I have been toying with that same idea for a while too and am going to steal his plan as soon as possible to integrate into my advanced courses. Also, I thought I might add some blogging on process documentation. I really want students to photo, video, or write about the processes they use in creating their art. Hey, reflections help them make better decisions!
Selecting just one idea/lesson over another is very difficult because there are sooo many to choose from! I must agree with Suzanne's comment about Robert's approach of personalizing lessons to enhance student interest is a very good idea. If you think about it... the lessons which seem to be the most popular amoung this group deal with "music and student relations with the world" and "Greek Mythology and designing personalized headdresses"! Not only are students learning a little about History, they are also learning a little about themselves! Just think what could be done with existing lessons if personalization was twisted into the lesson in some way. Also, I agree with Lourne's idea...Jim@WadeHamptonHigh is right on with the idea of intergrating photos, videos, and writing into his art program. Wouldn't it be wonderful to keep in touch with each other via viewing our student's accomplishments for this upcoming year by internet? Since I am new to AP Studio Art, it would be great to stay in touch. Thanks to each of you for a wonderful experience!
Like the rest of the group, there were so many tips of knowledge and pearls of wisdom. During our first two days of training, there were many ideas I found beneficial: grading system, notebook of syllabi, Robert Urban’s slide show of student work that made it, scoring the portfolio, and how to pack and prepare for AP with best slides first and last/best work first last and middle. I could use more practice with scoring entries with take-home examples to increase my retention and accuracy. At the museum in Columbia, Mary Lou alluded to how she keeps her students focusing on the same activity and goals through a variety of different venues by changing locations and activities often to instill the information and promote the highest level of concentration. Well, it looks like Mary Lou and Robert have many members to their fan club besides me when it comes to this question. Like Bomar, Roxanne, and Suzanne, I am looking forward to copies of everyone’s lesson. Sherry-I agree, choosing a lesson is so-o-o hard in such a rich land of lessons. Did you see the inspiring lessons in the book Mary Lou gave us called Engaging the Adolescent Mind? Some are so bizarre that they are charming “kitsch” like the Personalized Pen Portraits on page 66 and Revisiting the Famous Rhino on page 98. The Pop Art Warhol influence on page 62 is a great variation. Jim-Sometimes, my students are quite shocked that art has reading, writing, history, vocabulary and thinking. How do you help your beginning students to overcome the shock? If any of the Photo Shop fanciers are available for our next class, then I would love to learn more about how to use the software. There are folks getting a lot more out of that program than I am. (My posting may seem out of order by several hours for I kept being booted off the network).
Personalizing Art One reason I enjoy teaching high school art is because of the developmental stage of adolescence. It is a time when established laws HAVE TO BE challenged. If the adolescent does not challenge them and blindly accepts what parents/society dictates, they will not be able to make the laws a solid part of their character. In other words, it is the teen’s job to reexamine the learned rules and rationalize them in his/her own mind. Only then can the teen reach actualization and move into secure adulthood. With all the wild and crazy things teens do, they often seem totally void of morals, but I have always felt that teens are the most moral people of all. They think about right and wrong quite a lot more than adults do. Adults seldom question their behavior or that of others. After all, they know what they are doing and have done it like this for ages. Teens, on the other hand, constantly question. Ok, so they have a 50/50 chance of choosing either side of an issue, but at least they think about it. For this reason, I believe it is the job of an art teacher to provide the student a safe avenue for exploration. No other discipline has the tools or the freedom to allow teens to truly search their souls as the arts do. Assignments should always challenge student to engage in moral debate and self contemplation. It is the most necessary form of mental exercise for this stage of development.
That was my speech for the day. To answer question #4, I found the viewing of student work extremely interesting and helpful. It was interesting because it was so personal. My favorite one was the student who had lost a hand. Not only is he a good artist, but he is also very intuitive. I was floored when I saw that the colored lines were not connected to the hands of the “viewer”, but around the person the disembodied hands were touching . . . Seeing such student work was helpful, because we have a tendency to loose perspective when seeing nothing but our own student’s work. We begin to see the ups and downs of the student more than the work.
Josh's lesson really reminded me of a lesson that I do with my upper level students. I instruct them to think of a social issue that they are passionate about, and they create a social awareness collage to make the public more aware of their issue. I really think that introducing this project with Josh's song would be a great idea. Students respond to music, especially when it comes from their genre!
It also made me think of an Art I lesson that I do where students create line designs based on songs they are listening to. I play a range of music (everything from country to rock to classic) and they doodle different lines as they listen. They are supposed to suggest the moods of the music through their line designs. This could be taken to a higher level very easily!
If I can figure it out, I'll attach some examples!
Lourne, thanks for showing us your blogger page. I have been looking for some ways to get more technically savvy with the upper level students and that format is great. Only problem...my district blocks this site. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to do something similar on an "educationally" approved site?
I went down to re-read several of these comments, and remembered something. You know it would be a great resource to take some of Robert's slides and convert them to powerpoint, flash, or an adobe PDF. But not just as slides, but take some of those really good comments that he made during the slideshow and put them in the notes. I don't know if he has digital copies, but I for one, would love to see that as a resource for me and my students.
I agree with others who stated it is just too tough to decide on one favorite lesson. There were so many great ideas gained from all of the presentations. The headdress lesson was a wonderful way of getting students to really think about symbolism. Lauren’s information about blogger was also very beneficial. What a wonderful way to get students talking. However, I think the lesson that will benefit my teaching is Robert’s lesson of getting students to work with more personal ideas. Even though I teach middle school at the time, I still think my students would benefit more from subject matter that is more personal to them.
My comment is in response to Mary Catherine’s lesson idea for incorporating music into a line design. This is such a wonderful expansion on a simple idea. I always have each of my classes complete a line/shape design and am always looking for ways to expand upon this lesson. I love the idea of creating the drawing based on genres of music. I will definitely try this as one of my first lessons of the new school year. I think even my middle schoolers well enjoy it!
Tangent: Education could be going through a much faster reform in this age of communication if we didn't live in such a litigate society. It is a shame that teachers find themselves walking tightropes between regulations and creatively engaging the students in a time when student drop-out rates are increasing. I wish that we could add a course on responsible computer use instead of taking away opportunities to authentically engage students. I'm done now, thanks.
Mary Catherine, I wouldn't discount changing the district policy. If sites like these can be used as an example, they might- just might- be convinced that Blogspot's educational opportunities far outweigh the liabilities. I also understand that techs, as a group, aren't so willing to take recommendations from non-techs. However, you are an educator of the gifted/talented and that may have some pull. The difference between Myspace and Facebook is that you can have administrative rights over the community that you set up. I'd approach this from the education side and pitch it to the higher-up educators. I think it is worth a shot at least.
As I type, I'm wondering if someone at the D.O. is simultaneously pulling the plug on the site now, leaving all this pointless. In the event that the site is going to get filtered, I share your interest in alternatives.
I enjoyed Robert's lesson where we did the drawing, 2D and 3D versions (although I needed more time:) I think that doing the same project is different ways is a great way for them to see that there are no right or wrong answers, but that some choices are definitely better than others.
About the blog...I started one for my AP students last week. I hate to think that my district will block it. Lorne, do you think that we should be proactive and share with "them" the educational benefits to avoid the possibility of a block?
I felt that the lesson by Robert, distinguishing the three AP portfolios, was extremely successful and a great idea to help get students started in an AP class. Not only was it beneficial in helping to discuss the differences between the portfolios, I feel it is a great way to introduce students to the concept of utilizing thumbnail designs to inform future projects. These small sketches can provide endless possibilities for students to stretch one idea into many, which I believe is a great form of problem-solving.
To Jim, I highly recommend having students reflect and respond to their work. After each lesson, I develop a self-evaluation that students must complete about the composition, process/technique, and craftsmanship of their work. This forces students to think about the choices that they made throughout the artmaking process and I find that it helps them to determine their own successes and difficulties. Often times, students are so honest about their lack of effort and will state that it should affect their final grade. This reflection also allows me to determine if the project was successful and whether it provided students with an experience that I felt was challenging and meaningful to each student.
34 comments:
I really enjoyed the lesson where music was used. I use music in the classroom but not in the lesson.
I never really thought about using it to go along with ideas for them to draw. When that lesson was shared with the class it really made me think of some ideas for my classroom.
Any song can be used in a lesson if you pick one that tells a story or a time in someone's life.
I also liked lesson about making the head dress to show the personality of the student and pulling in Greek mythology.
I agree with Roxanne, Josh's lesson was the one that I enjoyed the best. Using music to and art to explain some of the harsh realities that are going on in the world today is something that I never would have thought about. It was also great because it incorporated another subject into an art lesson that really goes hand in hand. I was thinking about stealing this lesson.
For me the most beneficial thing is not one lesson or idea... it is all the little tips that people have...where to get slides made, which materials work well, putting the best slides first and last,etc. If I had to pick one idea, though, it is for students to use a very personal approach in choice of concentration. This came across in several lessons and in particular I recall the story of the student who was missing a hand and who chose hands as the focus of his work.
Like Ellen, I generally pick up little tips from group discussions that I find them beneficial in my class no matter what level art class it is.
I found Robert's suggestion to make projects personal to the student and then after looking over the information downloaded for us has given me ideas on how I can improve many of the lesson's that I already have, this now gives them a different direction for the students to take them in and more ownership for the student.
Yeah I wonder Bomar if we do get a copy of everyone's lesson??
Because I am all for that although I don't think my lesson was as exciting as some of the others offered.
Roxanne, I wouldn't say that your lesson was weak. Personally, I think that all of the lessons are good. I don't know how mine will stand up to the rest of the class, but I feel that all of the lessons talked about will be good ones for everyone to have. Mr. Urban and Mrs. Hightower, do we get a copy of everyone's lesson?
Yes, everyone will receive a CD of all the CLIA lessons and all the museum papers of everyone in the class. You should receive it on Wed when we return to Upstate.
I'm with Suzanne on this-- I could not take notes fast enough during Roberts slide show. It was very enlightening to me to see all of the different techniques and mediums used by the students. I hope to incorporate many into next year's upper level classes.
Ellen is right too. All of the little pieces of information are adding up. In addition to what we are receiving during this course, I hope that we take back a support system for the questions that will arise during the year.
It is hard to pick one lesson, but the most beneficial one for for me was Mr. Urban's slides about his AP students work. Making the concentration personal, as several have commented, will help me in the future.
I must add, I enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Hightower on how AP Art is judged.
It is hard to narrow down all of the ideas into just one good one. I thought that almost everything that I heard was good. I especially like Robert's idea of making the concentration personal. It seems so obvious now but I would have never thought of it.
I agree with Suzanne in that I enjoy group discussions and I tend to take more from those times than presentations. I really enjoyed the discussion that came from our table trying to guess what score each portfolio would receive.
Bomar...I would be honored if you stole my lesson!
As Roxanne wrote, "Any song can be used as a lesson;" I, too, enjoyed Josh's lesson. But what was that song, Josh????? I'm so out of it and old school!!!!! I am glad we are getting the lesson plan.
Like Ellen, Brant, and Suzanne commented it is not just one lesson or idea, but all the little tips, shared presentations, and lessons that will help us in our classrooms.
By the way, Roxanne your lesson was good; I think we all have our doubts about our own lessons. And Bomar, your lesson will be as valuable to us as everyone's lesson has been.
The song in Josh's lesson is "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
To comment on volunteer 1's fear of being out of it musically...I too am so way far away from music that might make sense to students. But then so were my fellow college students and they were only a few years out of high school themselves. One more reason why it is great to get together with a dedicated group of teachers and share ideas.
To narrow it down to one is probably going to be difficult. I am currently playing with A. Beard's idea about transfering images to clay. It is going to be fun. But the best idea for me was Lourne's blogging ideas. I have been toying with that same idea for a while too and am going to steal his plan as soon as possible to integrate into my advanced courses. Also, I thought I might add some blogging on process documentation. I really want students to photo, video, or write about the processes they use in creating their art. Hey, reflections help them make better decisions!
Thanks Volunteer1, I look forward to trying all the lessons in their form or some other form.
I wondered how everyone is doing on their drawing??
Where are you at with it and Mary Lou is there a way we can post our work?
Selecting just one idea/lesson over another is very difficult because there are sooo many to choose from! I must agree with Suzanne's comment about Robert's approach of personalizing lessons to enhance student interest is a very good idea. If you think about it... the lessons which seem to be the most popular amoung this group deal with "music and student relations with the world" and "Greek Mythology and designing personalized headdresses"! Not only are students learning a little about History, they are also learning a little about themselves! Just think what could be done with existing lessons if personalization was twisted into the lesson in some way.
Also, I agree with Lourne's idea...Jim@WadeHamptonHigh is right on with the idea of intergrating photos, videos, and writing into his art program. Wouldn't it be wonderful to keep in touch with each other via viewing our student's accomplishments for this upcoming year by internet? Since I am new to AP Studio Art, it would be great to stay in touch. Thanks to each of you for a wonderful experience!
Like the rest of the group, there were so many tips of knowledge and pearls of wisdom. During our first two days of training, there were many ideas I found beneficial: grading system, notebook of syllabi, Robert Urban’s slide show of student work that made it, scoring the portfolio, and how to pack and prepare for AP with best slides first and last/best work first last and middle. I could use more practice with scoring entries with take-home examples to increase my retention and accuracy.
At the museum in Columbia, Mary Lou alluded to how she keeps her students focusing on the same activity and goals through a variety of different venues by changing locations and activities often to instill the information and promote the highest level of concentration.
Well, it looks like Mary Lou and Robert have many members to their fan club besides me when it comes to this question. Like Bomar, Roxanne, and Suzanne, I am looking forward to copies of everyone’s lesson.
Sherry-I agree, choosing a lesson is so-o-o hard in such a rich land of lessons. Did you see the inspiring lessons in the book Mary Lou gave us called Engaging the Adolescent Mind? Some are so bizarre that they are charming “kitsch” like the Personalized Pen Portraits on page 66 and Revisiting the Famous Rhino on page 98. The Pop Art Warhol influence on page 62 is a great variation.
Jim-Sometimes, my students are quite shocked that art has reading, writing, history, vocabulary and thinking. How do you help your beginning students to overcome the shock?
If any of the Photo Shop fanciers are available for our next class, then I would love to learn more about how to use the software. There are folks getting a lot more out of that program than I am.
(My posting may seem out of order by several hours for I kept being booted off the network).
Personalizing Art
One reason I enjoy teaching high school art is because of the developmental stage of adolescence. It is a time when established laws HAVE TO BE challenged. If the adolescent does not challenge them and blindly accepts what parents/society dictates, they will not be able to make the laws a solid part of their character. In other words, it is the teen’s job to reexamine the learned rules and rationalize them in his/her own mind. Only then can the teen reach actualization and move into secure adulthood. With all the wild and crazy things teens do, they often seem totally void of morals, but I have always felt that teens are the most moral people of all. They think about right and wrong quite a lot more than adults do. Adults seldom question their behavior or that of others. After all, they know what they are doing and have done it like this for ages. Teens, on the other hand, constantly question. Ok, so they have a 50/50 chance of choosing either side of an issue, but at least they think about it. For this reason, I believe it is the job of an art teacher to provide the student a safe avenue for exploration. No other discipline has the tools or the freedom to allow teens to truly search their souls as the arts do. Assignments should always challenge student to engage in moral debate and self contemplation. It is the most necessary form of mental exercise for this stage of development.
That was my speech for the day. To answer question #4, I found the viewing of student work extremely interesting and helpful. It was interesting because it was so personal. My favorite one was the student who had lost a hand. Not only is he a good artist, but he is also very intuitive. I was floored when I saw that the colored lines were not connected to the hands of the “viewer”, but around the person the disembodied hands were touching . . . Seeing such student work was helpful, because we have a tendency to loose perspective when seeing nothing but our own student’s work. We begin to see the ups and downs of the student more than the work.
Josh's lesson really reminded me of a lesson that I do with my upper level students. I instruct them to think of a social issue that they are passionate about, and they create a social awareness collage to make the public more aware of their issue. I really think that introducing this project with Josh's song would be a great idea. Students respond to music, especially when it comes from their genre!
It also made me think of an Art I lesson that I do where students create line designs based on songs they are listening to. I play a range of music (everything from country to rock to classic) and they doodle different lines as they listen. They are supposed to suggest the moods of the music through their line designs. This could be taken to a higher level very easily!
If I can figure it out, I'll attach some examples!
Lourne, thanks for showing us your blogger page. I have been looking for some ways to get more technically savvy with the upper level students and that format is great. Only problem...my district blocks this site. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to do something similar on an "educationally" approved site?
I went down to re-read several of these comments, and remembered something. You know it would be a great resource to take some of Robert's slides and convert them to powerpoint, flash, or an adobe PDF. But not just as slides, but take some of those really good comments that he made during the slideshow and put them in the notes. I don't know if he has digital copies, but I for one, would love to see that as a resource for me and my students.
I agree with others who stated it is just too tough to decide on one favorite lesson. There were so many great ideas gained from all of the presentations. The headdress lesson was a wonderful way of getting students to really think about symbolism. Lauren’s information about blogger was also very beneficial. What a wonderful way to get students talking. However, I think the lesson that will benefit my teaching is Robert’s lesson of getting students to work with more personal ideas. Even though I teach middle school at the time, I still think my students would benefit more from subject matter that is more personal to them.
My comment is in response to Mary Catherine’s lesson idea for incorporating music into a line design. This is such a wonderful expansion on a simple idea. I always have each of my classes complete a line/shape design and am always looking for ways to expand upon this lesson. I love the idea of creating the drawing based on genres of music. I will definitely try this as one of my first lessons of the new school year. I think even my middle schoolers well enjoy it!
Tangent:
Education could be going through a much faster reform in this age of communication if we didn't live in such a litigate society. It is a shame that teachers find themselves walking tightropes between regulations and creatively engaging the students in a time when student drop-out rates are increasing. I wish that we could add a course on responsible computer use instead of taking away opportunities to authentically engage students. I'm done now, thanks.
Mary Catherine,
I wouldn't discount changing the district policy. If sites like these can be used as an example, they might- just might- be convinced that Blogspot's educational opportunities far outweigh the liabilities. I also understand that techs, as a group, aren't so willing to take recommendations from non-techs. However, you are an educator of the gifted/talented and that may have some pull. The difference between Myspace and Facebook is that you can have administrative rights over the community that you set up. I'd approach this from the education side and pitch it to the higher-up educators. I think it is worth a shot at least.
As I type, I'm wondering if someone at the D.O. is simultaneously pulling the plug on the site now, leaving all this pointless. In the event that the site is going to get filtered, I share your interest in alternatives.
-Lorne Brandt
I enjoyed Robert's lesson where we did the drawing, 2D and 3D versions (although I needed more time:) I think that doing the same project is different ways is a great way for them to see that there are no right or wrong answers, but that some choices are definitely better than others.
About the blog...I started one for my AP students last week. I hate to think that my district will block it. Lorne, do you think that we should be proactive and share with "them" the educational benefits to avoid the possibility of a block?
Ashley,
Yes.
I felt that the lesson by Robert, distinguishing the three AP portfolios, was extremely successful and a great idea to help get students started in an AP class. Not only was it beneficial in helping to discuss the differences between the portfolios, I feel it is a great way to introduce students to the concept of utilizing thumbnail designs to inform future projects. These small sketches can provide endless possibilities for students to stretch one idea into many, which I believe is a great form of problem-solving.
To Jim,
I highly recommend having students reflect and respond to their work. After each lesson, I develop a self-evaluation that students must complete about the composition, process/technique, and craftsmanship of their work. This forces students to think about the choices that they made throughout the artmaking process and I find that it helps them to determine their own successes and difficulties. Often times, students are so honest about their lack of effort and will state that it should affect their final grade. This reflection also allows me to determine if the project was successful and whether it provided students with an experience that I felt was challenging and meaningful to each student.
Post a Comment