IPP: Week 2 - Dichotomy of Evidence and Data

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• The Dichotomy of Evidence and Data
  
  
  
  
  • Read Beatty – Intro, Chapters 1 and 2
  • Create one Artist’s Journal Page that illuminates your thinking and learning from this reading, both visually and verbally, take pictures of it and Upload the Image. (If you chose to create a “digital” artist’s journal, or if you would like to create an analog and digital hybrid of your pages, please feel free to do so!
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  • Read Reeves- Chapter 1
  • Create one Artist’s Journal Page that illuminates your thinking and learning from this reading, both visually and verbally, take pictures of it and Upload the Image. (If you chose to create a “digital” artist’s journal, or if you would like to create an analog and digital hybrid of your pages, please feel free to do so!
  
  • Please post a picture of your artist's journal page that illustrates your interaction with Chapter 4 in "Ahead of the Curve".  While you read the text, write down some reactions that you have.  Then, use image, text, drawing, etc., to illustrate what you were thinking.  When you post the image of the page, please write some supporting narration to help us understand. 
    While reading, I couldn't help but to think about how, in the name of equality, teachers in my building are asked to do the same as everyone else in terms of assessment. Two common formatives an a common summative each semester. And how that has proven to be a challenge for the area of art because we struggle against having to do the same thing at the same time as other art teachers (we have 6 in my building alone.) And I wonder, Why? I mean really, why? I know the theory behind it, and it sounds good. But we don't have a state test. We don't have benchmarks. Priority standards are a matter of opinion. So, really, why so much sterness and seriousness to do the same thing just so we can compare results?  Major work to do to make all this theory fit our discipline...and it is not going to look the same as everyone else. Ainsworth speaks about it in terms of the other subjects and I want to speak to some one just as knowledgeable about art ed as well. Someone who can straddle both worlds and help me with my questions. 
  
  
  • Discussion Questions on Blackboard:
  • What is your most preferred method of collecting on-going information about your student’s performance? Is this data that you can give to someone outside of our field? Why or Why Not?
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         My most preferred method of collecting on-going information about my students' performance is first and foremost the art work they create. However, even though for years, I have said that projects are both the way students learn and are also assessed (what I think of as an integrated assessment after reading the Beattie book), I still don't think I really ever thought about them in the same terms as other assessments. The creating is the heart and soul of what it means to be an artist, so in truth, I never really looked at it in the same way I would other assessments. This may also be a result of the curriculum too, where one project related very little to the next. There was no real opportunity to demonstrate growth. We didn't work consistently in one medium to demonstrate developed skills. We flitted from one element/principle to the next. We were asked to create formative and summative assessments that were strictly selected responses that could be entered into our Mastery Manager test program that could generate reports about student performance in relation to our standards. I used formative assessments constantly to assess the foundations of student understanding. I would assess vocabulary comprehension, basic skill techniques, aesthetic opinions, etc. In truth, what told me the most about what my students were taking in (learning - not regurgitating or winging on instinct) were exit slips. Whenever I needed to know where my students were at in order to prepare an experience for the next day, I would give an index card, post-it or other small paper and ask anywhere from 1 - 3 questions or give them a small creation task. These told me so much more about what my students got out of class that day. Best formatives. As far as summatives, I hated giving the multiple choice final exams, but loved the "performance events" where I had students reflect on what they created over the course of the semester. They would select a piece to tell about their successes and challenges, what they felt they learned over the semester, and what they still needed to learn to get better. Hearing in their own words what they learned was so much more meaningful and helpful as I designed learning events for them. 
         No, I probably could not give this type of data to someone outside our field. Maybe not even someone in my department, truthfully. It is hard to relate what they were saying if you did not experience the class. In countless conversations about common assessments, and therefore common lessons (kinda hate that idea, but understand the theory behind it. still it just makes me feel icky), people outside art can not understand why we can't teach concepts the exact same in the same order. Why sometimes some standards will align with others, but don't have to. They can not comprehend why we might not want to match these up the exact same between the 6 teachers who teach in my building let alone district wide between the 15 art teachers. It is incredibly frustrating to be asked to do everything the same so that we can compare data in a subject that isn't tested for EOC, or MAP, or any other state wide test. We don't have the same investment in the results. (Over the years, there have been multiple advocacy groups that have fallen on both sides of the 'Art needs to have a state test' debate and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. Does it legitimize what we do? Or does it mean we go through that many more meaningless hoops in order to prove our students learn in a way that isn't very authentic to our discipline?)
  
  
  • Discussion Questions on Blackboard:
  • In your Artist’s Journal, create a list of the characteristics and qualities of art making and art education, then decided whether or not it can be measured.
  For some reason, comprehending what this list was asking for was difficult for me. In general, I think what I value about making art may be different than what I think an art student learning to make art should be assessed on.
  
  
  • Expression & Communication
  • Confidence
  • - in mark making
  • - in skill
  • - in voice
  • - in self
  • Originality
  • - fresh voice
  • - new perspective
  • Inquisitivity & Curiosity
  • A "Stick-with-it-ness" 
  • - tenacity
  I think all of these are difficult to assess externally unless you ask students to reflect on these things and write a statement that you can assess.
  
  

IPP: Week 1 - Introductions

Illuminating Process and Progress:

Making Learning Visible

Week One Assignments:

• Artist’s Journal introductory experience

   

My AJ and I first met on a very special day back in 2012, but before I tell you how we met, let me tell you how we came together. It was back in the Spring of 2012 or maybe even 2011, when destiny started to pull our threads together. A pixie-like woman was presenting at an art conference on the magic of sketchbooks and art journals in the art class. Her enthusiasm for the transformative and inspirational nature of the sketchbook couldn't help but be contagious and it consumed me with AJ fever. That very next week I ordered sketchbooks from the Blick spring sale catalog in hopes of spreading the contagion to next year's art students.  I excitedly dreamt of all the possibilities and potential these blank books held inside. The next school year rolled around and a new set of future artists came through the door, taking their place in the studio and settling in. As we got to know each other, they realized I was...let's say, "enthusiastic" about lighting a creative fire in them and I wasn't above using dramatics as kindling. One day as they entered, I announced it was a very special day. A day that would be the beginning of a transformative journey in the studio. And just like the woman bouncing all over the conference room, I, too, was bubbling over with excitement. I rolled out a draped cart and donned my official artist's beret. Twirling my invisible artist's moustache I called each student up and "knighted" them with their artist names and bestowed upon them their own sketchbook with a deep bow. Each AJ was now property of the student artist and they could use it as they saw fit. Sometimes I would give them investigations (assignments) and sometimes I would just tell them to do something - anything - in the book -- To Be Brave. it was theirs to do with as they wanted. If they filled it, I gave them another one. This was their textbook and the expectation was to have it with them always. As we started to work in the AJ's, I realized I needed one too. I needed to be brave and I needed to reawaken my artist's habits. This is the book I ended with last year and the one I plan on using as we work on Illuminating Process & Progress. Perfect size to carry anywhere and take notes or do a little sketching. 

• Aesthetic Inventory
• Create an aesthetic inventory uncover and make real, your Aesthetic.  If you would like a challenge, try to create an anti-aesthetic inventory. 

Having the most problems with blackboard this week! Sheesh.

Well, this assignment was both fun and infuriating all at the same time. I realized that a lot of what I find beautiful and what I want to emulate is hard for my hard to create. Interesting to feel that same sensation I felt as a beginning artist of frustration and disconnect between head (mind's eye) and hand. I also find that I have an eclectic aesthetic and it was difficult to record so many images in one limited defined space. ( I think that is why I am sooo addicted to and attracted to Pinterest. Infinite gigabytes!)

So, what I ended up doing as I was stumped about where to begin and pondering how to fill the blank whiteness that was glaring at me from my aj, was do what I always tell my students. just do something so that the white is no longer white. So that you have created something to alter, to change, to cover, -- just begin. So I started collecting images that speak to my three general rules about what I like. It has to connect and speak to the hand, the heart, and the mind. (And I totally stole that from another artist, Shea Hembrey, who broke down my thoughts so well.) 

What you will see in my AJ is what I see as a starting point. I plan on going back into these images and finishing them up with some layering of drawing, colors, and text. What a fun place to begin!

     

I'm attracted to:

• color
• rawness
• a sense of time
• nostalgia
• layers
• cheeky defiance
• edginess
• delicateness without being fluffy or weak
• whimsy
• playfulness
• boldness
• subtleties
• mystery
• unusualness

And that is probably just the beginning of a very long list, but where I'm at now! 

• Discussion Question:
  • Tell about an assessment that you have encountered, either good or bad, and discuss what it is about the experience that makes it a “bookmark” moment.

1. Why were you assessed?

2. Was the experience positive or negative?

3. To what degree did that assessment help you? And if it did, how did it help?

I subjected myself to the National Board Certification process. Honestly, some of the best professional development I've done. Got me to focus and reflect on what makes a good art teacher and how my actions effect the learning of my students. But it was hard, stressful, and a little bit unnerving. So, both a positive and negative experience. It is a serious of 4 intensive portfolios that have you documenting and reflecting on certain parts of your teaching process and then taking a series of tests (10 I think) covering the content you should know. The one that has stuck with me the most was the performance test where they send you a bag of materials and you have to create with just what they give you. And the rules for this are SO specific and meticulous and there is zero room for a mistake or you fail. Point blank. So it was really unnerving to have to create to such specifications without them aligning to the natural way I create. There wasn't a pencil listed on the supplies, and I normally have to sketch something out before I begin, and I couldn't do that! It definitely made me think about the feelings I create in my students when I set up certain parameters to my projects. The whole process made me think about how I structure my assignments and whether they relate or build off of each other, or if students see relevance in them, and if they are worthwhile in the big picture of life. Art can be so much and I want my students to experience that and feel the power of art in themselves. I thought that before I went through this assessment, but feel I have a much better idea of how to execute my vision now.

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LTC 8740 - Read & React Day 5

Class: Teaching Students of the Conceptual Age

9:00am - 11:45am · Lecture

read:

Chapter 6 Eisner
Chapter 6 Freedman
Visual Literacy White Paper
Part One Pink and Play chapter

Watch:

Daniel Pink’s interview with Oprah: www.oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/Six-Senses-of-Right-Brain-Thinking-Video

Read & React:

I couldn't help but think of my current job as curriculum content leader as I read these chapters - how could I not since I oversee the way we write curriculum, what goes in the curriculum, and the training that goes along with it. How I wish I could go back and start my work at the beginning knowing everything I know now. 

I keep pondering my upcoming situation against what I am reading. I agree wholeheartedly with what both Eisner and Freedman wrote in terms of the types of things and methods in which art should be taught. What keeps running through my mind is the new situation in which we will be updating the curriculum I first oversaw. In this new phase - Curriculum 2.0 we like to call it - we are integrating the Common Core skills, ISTE technology standards, and 21st C. skills with the subject's standards and building a curriculum based lightly on Understanding by Design. What I have been struggling with is all that information has taken me 5 years to accumulate, how do we expect teachers with no to little exposure to these things write a strong curriculum? And as I read, I can't help but read these passages through the lens of someone who is thinking, "Maybe we should read THIS before we begin...or THIS....or THIS!" How will they ever have time (let alone a crazy interest) to read all these fabulous things?! (I do, after all, have the glorious excuse of Grad School!) 

On top of it all, I'm struggling with the additional requirement of making the assessments for each curriculum unit common - meaning we will all give the exact same assessment (and I believe it is truly desired that we are teaching the same way / thing in preparation for that assessment.) I keep arguing that in art that takes away the spirit of the content (not to mention the soul of any good teacher!) and waters it down to a prescriptive recipe of an arts & crafts rendition of art. It takes away what I believe to be truly essential and beneficial to an arts education. And now, here I see multiple references to my thinking in Eisner and Freedman's texts (Eisner p.149 - "One of the marks of professionalism in teaching is precisely being able to make the adjustments or to create the improvisations that will render the materials effective.") I keep rolling over and over in my mind the statement in Eisner's book at the beginning of the chapter, "They are, in effect, laying out an agenda for the development of mind." I don't want to be responsible for the watering down and dampening of students' creativity, ingenuity, curiosity, sense of adventure, and love for art and the creative experience! 

It (curriculum) also has to provide teachers with an opportunity to 'plug in' where they see themselves. The lesson can be as cool as can be, but if the teacher doesn't take ownership of it, tweak it here and there so it becomes HIS / HERS, it is really dead in the water and students smell blood like a dog smells fear. I remember my own beginning teaching experiences where I would get a lesson from another teacher, and truly it was better to use it as a lesson seed rather than the whole kit and caboodle because it was never an authentic experience the students could relate to - mostly because I had yet to relate to it. 

I also just had a similar reminder within my PLC where we had to work collaboratively to put together what our PD committee called covertly a B.A. Unit (bad-ass unit). We were supposed to take something we already teach and pump it up using the things we had learned in PD about 21st century skills, technology, collaborative learning, and project based learning. We took my favorite unit (art history - another topic, why do we have just 1 unit on art history?!) and what I had been doing, the Gardner Art Theft and tweaked it. I thought it would be awesome b.c we had 4 minds and sets of hands working on it instead of just one. Nope. Wrong, wrong, wrong. People weren't invested because it wasn't there unit, because they weren't comfortable with technology, because we were all at different places as teachers! We couldn't just drag those of us that were lesser up to be a part of what was greater about the others. They had to construct their own learning (how novel!) Great idea in theory, but not so great in practice.

So what I keep thinking about is, 'How do I lead a team of curriculum writers to write something with these visionary and multitude of goals in mind?' How do we write something that allows for freedom and professionalism of the individual while still prodding in them the spirit of growth, curiosity, and creativity we long to see in our students? Perhaps I have just stumbled upon my graduate project...

All of that and I haven't even written out my thoughts about Pink yet...More to come later!

LTC 8740 - Read & React Day 4

Class: The Social Life of Art

9:00am - 11:45am · Lecture

Read:

Chapter 5 Freedman
Chapter 5 Eisner
A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change 

Freedman - 

I was thinking either during last night's reading or perhaps the night before that it would be great if a local museum (perhaps STL's CAM or the Pulitzer or even the MillyKemper) would do a little training for art teachers to help break them into Post-Modern art and what elements or characteristics of post-modernism it is important to consider teaching our students. I was enjoying the parts that Freedman was pointing out these very things, but I was thinking of my teachers in my district,  mostly quite veteran teachers who show little interest in understanding or viewing contemporary art. They have mentioned they would like to know more about it, but don't really understand it. And I completely understand that. There is a lot to understanding post-modernism and you have to stick with it and let it continually seep into your roots before it effects your understanding. It is frustrating to keep 'learning' about something and having to wait for your understanding to catch up.  From my statements until this point you might think I know something about post-modernism, but I don't - unless by 'something' you mean enough to fit on the head of a pin. 

I like capturing the snippets Freedman lets us in on. I may be making connections in this regard where there are none, but for example, I like where she lets us in on the idea of 'suggestiveness' (p.90) in visual culture. I've been aware of this somewhere in my periphery, but hadn't thought about how much it might effect the viewing of post-modern art. This idea of making connections through suggestions, wow. Yes! Need to pass this on in my teaching more directly. 

p. 93 - "students who have been taught how to critically analyze written texts cannot be assumed to transfer those skills when viewing images."  - RIGHT. So, if we are asked continually to emphasize reading and writing we have to be strong teachers and advocate for those skills that coalesce and teach our students VISUAL literacy and how to read visual images and in turn, how to communicate using the power of visual images. 

p. 101 - Kerry, you're backin' me up girl! We are doing our students (& by extension our society) a disservice if we aren't teaching them to interpret visual images and how to view images critically. I can not state strongly enough that we, as art teachers, should be doing this! (and theatre teachers should be teaching media classes...) Few teachers would argue, no. But plenty would cop out of stepping up to the plate and tackling the teaching of it. (sorry for the mixed metaphor!) I'm feeling a little discouraged when I think of some of my teachers I've been working with, sorry for the negativity everyone!

LTC 8740 - Read & React Day 3

Class: What is Art and what should we be teaching?

9:00am - 11:45am · Lecture

Assignment: 

Read - 

Chapter 3 & 4 Freedman

Transmediation as a Metaphor for New Literacies in Multimedia Classrooms www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/semali2/index.html
Kittleman’s review of Serra’s MOMA Art exhibition www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/arts/design/01serr.html?scp=1&sq=richard+Serra+Man+of+steel&st=nyt

Read & React

 I like how the image of Fine Art in Las Vegas, where "everything is fake" is seemingly odd. It reminds me of our VTS today where the lamps stood out as being oddly 90's modern in a room of classical furniture (and hundreds of dogs amongst interior grass.) I personally envision the artwork of say, Mr. Brainwash fitting in better there. (Mr. Brainwash and his work is featured heavily in the documentary "Exit from the GIft Shop." I HIGHLY recommend it if you haven't seen it. Talk about a great conversation starter about what is art and who are the artists...) p. 50

Watch street artist, Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash share his story and his creative journey as he takes over an abandoned industrial warehouse space in the center of Hollywood, CA before his massive Art Show 2012. 

Exit Through the Gift Shop

The first paragraph of the section on judgment of quality is new information for me. I find that tidbit quite interesting ( bad taste in the mid 19th c. was in the home, where women dominated aesthetic decisions, and good taste was in men's institutions such as museums, academies, and design schools.) What a reversal from today where women are generally considered better at aesthetic decisions in the home (only perhaps bettered by, to follow the stereotypes, gay men) but still not valued as highly perhaps b/c of the reason that women were the decision makers there. p.51

p. 52. I wonder what Lowenthal would have to say about Pop Art and its influences on the art and culture of today...Hmm.

p. 53 - Can we coin a new term? Artiness? I Like to follow u discussions with my students about what is art with what is Good Art? (or what we sometimes like to refer to as Art with a capital A.)

p. 56 - METAPHOR! Vindicated!

p. 68 - "approach visual culture...with an eye towards trying to understand what the artist is trying to "say". Somewhere in here I started thinking about Ai Weiwei and  his new heavy metal video. I can't understand the Chinese it is in, but the visual images are understandable. Or are they? To a certain level yes, but I'm also confounded by some of the metaphorical, symbolic meaning and then of course by not undergoing the experience myself, I am only trying to understand what I can imagine. By viewing his example of visual culture, I can gain a deeper understanding of his interpretation of history. I want to "decode the artist's intentions. understand what was in the artist's mind" so that I can have a better understanding about another part of the world and other facets of human behavior. 

Too Many Thoughts as I keep reading Freedman! I will have to come back to them tomorrow. Sleep must happen tonight...

Transmediation as a Metaphor for New Literacies in Multimedia Classrooms - 

This is a fabulous article about our form of literacy and gives weight to different types of text.  I am thinking I will need to have our district Content Area Literacy teachers (who are getting ready to help train our secondary Fine Arts teachers in Common Core) read this! I can't help but have a split point of view when I read articles like this written by teachers / experts in other disciplines such as ELA. 1) I get a feeling of validation and a little boost, but it is quickly followed by a question of why do we always give those "other" areas more authority? 2) I get a little defensive and territorial and think Dang it! We (arts teachers) are the experts in transmediation! Why does no one listen to us when WE say it is important? Why do we constantly get pushed to the margins? Why are other subjects celebrated when they incorporate non-linguistic representation as a "strategy" and we are patted on the heads and told, "Isn't that nice?" with a saccharine smile? I am infuriated by the lip service and the play nice lectures and the "know your place" attitude. 

Kittleman’s review of Serra’s MOMA Art exhibition - 

I am a fan of Serra's work, having seen quite a few public sculptures in St. Louis. I am stymied at the "compliment" Kimmelman bestows on Serra, "These shapes and experiences are new," - stymied by this being  "about the best" compliment that could be given to any artist. I'm not sure if it is because I disagree with that sentiment in relation to Serra's work or if it is because I disagree with the idea that could possibly be the best compliment an artist could receive (must be the art teacher in me.) 

It is interesting after reading about how to interpret art and why it is important to teach students to interpret visual images, to read an interpretation of art and compare my own interpretations of an artist's body of work. I always find it interesting that in so many art reviews there is such a lack of imagery. Not a single image to invite the reader to make their own interpretations and judgments in this article. Perhaps when it was freshly published it had an accompanying slideshow? I often marvel at how online articles - such as this - disassociate the images from the text. They are separate spaces on the site. 

While reading tonight, I couldn't help but think of a comment from Rusty at lunch. "Print is dead." This idea that we see so many visual images all around us, do we even need text to understand what we are communicating? Can we rely on dialogue and images? I may be paying closer attention to this thought now as I interact with my world.

LTC 8740 - Read & React Day 2

Class: Examining Beliefs about Art

9:00am - 11:45am · Lecture

Assignment:
Read
Chapters 3-4 Eisner
Chapter 2 Freedman
Terry Barrett:
1. Principles for Interpreting Art www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/3193496?origin=api
2. About Art Interpretation for Art Education www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1320749?origin=api3.Images, Power, and Politics
If you haven’t read it: Barrett’s Interpreting Visual Culturewww.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/3194015?origin=api

*Tomorrow: Bring in 2 objects, one that you consider art and one that you believe is not art!

I'm going to try responding to tonight's readings with quotes that stood out to me. Otherwise I over process and babble. I swim in my own head and bounce around too much. It is taking me forever. Kathy, please let me know if you want more from me, please.

Eisner:
"the teacher is someone who designs situations that build upon what students value or know."
YES! I am so constructivist it hurts. How can teachers not be, really? But I think about those veteran teachers (How many years defines a veteran teacher, I wonder? I've been teaching for 12 years and I think this year I just finally feel "veteran".) who kind of forget that they have new students every year and have to show kids how to do things. It is like they forget that it is a constant process that has to be renewed and reinvigorated. That we have to light the path for students to explore, offering survival skills. Sometimes I feel like Lenny Kravitz's character in The Hunger Games, or like Woody Harrelson, having lived through experiences and sharing what I know, but the students are Katnis and they have to win the game for themselves, experiencing the pitfalls and building their own strategies.
The artistry of teaching that Eisner speaks about made me think of an interesting conversation I recently had with a group of teachers who admitted not knowing a lot about Common Core other than it was "bad" (they admitted they weren't sure why it was bad, only that Glen Beck told them it was.) So we discussed why Glen Beck, or even more rational better examples of intelligent conservatives would think Common Core was bad. I was trying desperately to stay away from politics and analyze the merits and demerits of CC. We discussed how it took away local control, and how it wasn't grassroots or led out by teachers, the unknown cost, etc. Although most of these objections seems uninformed to me, I couldn't help but think, "where was this alarm and uprising when NCLB rolled out?" Is it b/c of NCLB and its endurance that we are now seeing its results and are FINALLY objecting to these types of tests? The worry by those I do consider well informed is that by stepping up with more testing and programs such as CCSS, we are stripping the artistry from teachers. That by doing this we are turning our schools into more resolute factories (not gardens). That we are keeping our students from learning how to innovate - - maybe because they are not getting the chance to see their teachers respond to challenges with innovations of their own. I believe the CCSS to be a set of rigorous standards that students should be held accountable to, what I fear is that in this culture of fear of the test and performance anxiety, of political debauchery and subterfuge, of revenge politics and economic disparity, that schools, administrators, and leaders will set a path that leads teachers away from success, away from artistry. The right path is not the easy path, it is the difficult path - the one with challenges and unpredictable twists and turns. It is the one we set out to conquer, not to meander down. We need to square our shoulders, lift our chins, and march into the brink to face the future side by side with our students, and not apart from them. Train them to persevere when they encounter obstacles, arm them with knowledge, and provide a light of support. If we can do this, then I think we can use the CCSS as an aid, and not a battering ram.
 "A Man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" - Oh, man YES! love that quote. So glad to know the correct version and who said it. To excel, to push forward to do better. So great.
To paraphrase - artists have something to say, so do students, is fundamental to arts learning. Focusing narrowly on the technical aspects neglects matters of intention and leaves students out in the cold when it comes time to a) work as an artist on their own, or b)live in the world with art around them that subconsciously effects decisions, moods, and economics.

"It is not to cover the curriculum, but UNcover it." YES! That act of discovery for students is so crucial to their learning and I believe their overall health. Encouraging that sense of discovery and nurturung a curiosity can enrich a student's life for so many years beyond schooling.


Barrett Articles:
Principles for Interpreting Art - I am totally thinking of VTS as I read this, especially at the end as we see two different students at two different levels of aesthetic development interpreting the Wegman work and allowing it to access them where they are. I always felt like this was the most interesting step of the Feldman 4-step art criticism model, but always felt like it fell short. Wish I had had this article sooner! Good resource.
I have been thinking about which two objects I plan on bringing to class tomorrow all day. ANd now these readings are leading into what I've been thinking about. I start my year with an activity similar to this, but where students select from a series of objects I've put together and share why they think it is art or not art. I always selected a bank of objects b/c hs students seem to forget things quite easily if not completely hooked to the why - go figure. It was also a community building exercise and a vehicle for a class discussion about how we as a class and culture would define art. So, Ive been thinking about how I wish students would approach this exercise, and how I wish they would defend their arguments. And of course, Kathy the master of segue, has brought these very things up in our readings as we are supposed to be deciding what to bring. I find students often confuse items that can bring forth introspection or provide inspiration with art objects themselves - I'm thinking of natural objects such as flowers, or rocks, or trees. And then you throw in the likes of Duchamp or Warhol who challenged what we see as suitable art subjects or objets d'art. We often talk about intention, and did an artist plan for this to be a work of art, or did it fall in the lap of "art"? I like to throw in art reproductions versus a created piece such as a watercolor painting, a small canvas, and a museum postcard. So far no one has been brave enough to bring up the distinction between these items (wonder what would happen if we did this again at the end of the year after discussing types of art and maybe bringing up Barrett's principles?) I am super curious to see how these readings effect my classmates' selection of art tomorrow.

LTC 8740 Curriculum in Art Ed

Monday - June 3, 2013

Class: Overview of Course

9:00am - 11:45am · Townsend Hall, 109 · Lecture

Assignment -
Read:
Eisner Chapters 1 & 2
Chapter 1 Freedman
Imagination First - Intro and check out each spark

Choose one of the 21 Imagination sparks and demonstrate/describe how you would use it in an art class to promote imaginative thinking that leads to creative production, responding or presenting artwork.

Let me begin by reminding any dear readers that I am utter crap at summarizing. So if I ramble or detour, please forgive me. I will do my best to begin by summarizing what has been read and then follow up with my thoughts on what was read. These may be deep, they may be trying to figure things out, they may be an urgent response to the dead line or bed time soon approaching. And with that...I begin with day one, and "The Role of Arts in Transforming Consciousness" - chapter one of the Eisner book, The Arts and the Creation of Mind.

We begin with biological features, discussing the features of our senses and our nervous system (reminding me of our Studio Thinking discussions this afternoon) and the part they play in developing our consciousness. This idea of senses being what creates in us the ability to comprehend and gives us the ability to learn, setting us apart from the likes of that such as the chimpanzee. With the aid of the tools of culture (language, the arts, science, values, etc.) in tandem with the senses we are able to learn how to "create ourselves." [and to argue the point of these things in schools - how can we become a great society, a great civilization, if we do not see how to create ourselves? If we do not know how to form an identity? If we survive on impulse and action alone without thought to the why or the how or the impact we have? How do we rise above and do great things, be great, without self-realization? Isn't that connected to the great question of 'what is life?' How can we experience life without being a part of a culture, without being part of something bigger than ourselves? And how do we realize that without participating in the arts and recognizing that in ourselves? - - but perhaps I digress from the reading assignment.]

I liked his connections of schools to the different connections of 'culture'  - that the anthropological is a shared way of life, and that the biological is a medium for growing things - and that schools are indeed both. And that our classrooms are in turn, microcosmos of that, a shared way of life where things grow. So many teachers get into teaching and find the impact they have so rewarding, the leaving of a legacy, the sowing of seeds for tomorrow.

"A culture populated by a people whose imagination is impoverished has a static future. In such a culture there will be little change because there will be little sense of possibility." Is that why standardized testing isn't working? I couldn't help but make a note in my book asking "and why are the art specialists (in elem) then being pushed to the sidelines, relegated to such a small time slot only once or twice a week?" Why aren't we taking advantage of these knowledgeable people and bringing them in to the classroom as true Specialists, coaching classroom teachers in arts integration and how to engage students in seeing?

"Appreciation, though active, can be mute. Something else is needed if the products of our imagination are to make a social contribution to our culture. That something else is representation." I would argue that we need to spend MORE time teaching students to look, to appreciate, and not just how to mimic the words of appreciation. (seems similar to me how so many say they respect teachers and what they do, but then their actions or attitudes speak quite a different message.) We need our students to look to see the world around them in order to reflect and respond to what they see in the act of doing (or representing). It can not stop at appreciation, but consideration and importance given to it to properly scaffold what children, young adults, and beginning viewers need in order to design, create, represent what is in their minds eye. It reminds me of the Cherokee legend of the two wolves:

“A wise tribal elder told a story to his grandson one evening by the fire.  ‘Inside me, there is a fight raging between two wolves.  One wolf is anger, bitterness, self-pity, jealousy, and sorrow.  The other wolf is love, faith, hope, peace, forgiveness, and joy.  Both wolves are strong, and they battle fiercely – not just in me, but in everyone, even you.’

The young boy thought for a moment and asked, ‘Grandfather, which wolf will win?’

The wise elder replied, ‘The one you feed.’”

We need to feed the mind's eye and give it nourishment in order for it to imagine. 

For Chapter Two - Visions and Versions of Art Education. Eisner goes on to break down seven aims or purposes of art education: 1) Discipline Based Art Education (which sounds so much deeper than the way I experienced and saw it taught as student and beginning teacher - when did the E & P get such a prominent position of place?); 2) Visual Culture; 3) Creative Problem Solving; 4) Preparation for teh World of Work; 5) Cognitive Development; 6) Promotion of Academic Performance; and 7) Arts Integration. Interesting how I see these not as being exclusive but that each one contains pieces of importance that should be seen and contained in any good art program. It is no wonder why that at one time or another they each held prominence of place in the education system.

The question then that Eisner goes on to ask on page 42, "What, at this point in time, should art education try to achieve?" is an important one that every art teacher should ask themselves as they set out to teach.  He goes on to outline 5 principles that we should consider:

1) Art should be given pride of place to what is distinctive about the arts and not try to mimic the skills that are beholden to other areas. We need to celebrate and revel in what makes the art powerful and worthwhile. What is distinctive about the arts is itself of value. In today's standards and high-stakes testing it is sometimes easy to lose sight of this. What the Visual Arts do is teach students to make visible aspects of the world around them. 

2) Art Ed programs should try to foster the growth of artistic intelligence. We should stop separating the arts from "intellectual" subjects and embrace the idea that art IS an intellectual subject, teach it that way, and bring others up to thinking it is such. How often do we see students as smart in our classes to only later find out that they don't always perform well grade wise? Aren't we providing students with an outlet where they feel successful and haven't we known this all along?! Sometimes I get frustrated because it seems like we are having to justify what is distinctive about the arts. Is it because too many people had art teachers who didn't help students make connections or build relationships with them? When is it that students start to get the message that art is not important or fun or worthwhile? And who do they hear it from? I had a teacher who I would hear her tell the boys she didn't like boys so do what you want. How detrimental to not just that one person's psyche but to the reputation of art! It makes me hurt still to this day just thinking of the effect she has had on so many students. BUT, I digress. back to....

3) Art Education programs should help students learn how to create satisfying visual images, how to see and respond to what we call the arts and other visual forms, and how to understand the role arts play in culture. And as teachers we need to be highlighting for them how art is integrated all around them and getting students to reflect on that, demonstrate their understanding of how art is everywhere, and not just flippantly say, "Anything is Art." Maybe it is, but how to distinguish and differentiate and pull out the nuance and subtleties? How do we discern? How can we get our students to be more metacognitive? 

4) Art Education should help students recognize what is persona;, distinctive, and even unique about themselves and their work. (please see similar points and ramblings above.)

5) Art Ed programs should make special efforts to enable students to secure aesthetic forms of experience in everyday life. Yes. Yes! "First I see the hills in the painting, then I see the painting in the hills." How true this is. In my mind, I see a caveman, out on a walk alone as the sun is setting on the hills, when he is overcome by an aesthetic experience - seeing the paint in the hills and being compelled to record it for others.

Freedman, Teaching Visual Culture Ch. 1 - The Professional Field: Theorizing Visual Culture in Education

First, I want to start off by saying that I go see Kerry Freedman speak whenever possible. I get giddy when I see her walking around at conferences, feeling like I've just seen Bono. She is one of those people in Art Ed I could be a groupie for. Although not as energetic a speaker as Gude with a more academic demeanor, she is just as profound and inspiring. I'm hoping the reading lives up to my expectations. 

As usual, Freedman was great at outlining the theory behind art ed and visual culture introducing us to the importance of teaching visual culture in art. She highlights that today's students may learn more from images than from texts. She mentions the changing nature of our world so that the visual arts overlap so much of our social lives that we need to include visual culture if for no other reason than to help give it context and make better sense of art. The second reason she gives is the changing nature of what we consider art objects to be. In our post-modern world, the concept of "Fine Art" is changing and becoming more broad to include a wider range of 'artifacts'. 

Imagination first - 

SPARKS! so many ideas!

1) Hoarding Bits - collecting ephemera to record a day's worth of consumption, or to record their life from the bits that aren't supposed to be permanent, the idea of impermanence (oh what an existential project that could turn into...). These bits could be turned into some great sketchbook art pieces.

2) Mix Your Metaphors - This one really stands out to me because I keep coming back to this idea being so fundamental to the beginning viewer / creator. I like the idea of investigating metaphors in artworks, as well as literal interpretations, comparing the artist's choice in making meaning (VTS!). Then I would have a student create a self-portrait using metaphor to represent themselves. For guided practice, I would use Andy Warhol's shoe drawings. He used to create portraits of his friends as shoes (all drawn on the back of business cards). What kind of shoe would you be? How would the qualities of shoes be like your own personal characteristics?

3) Play Telephone - Eavesdropping. Record overheard pieces of conversations to use as prompts for sketchbook artwork inspiration.

4) Help out a Boobonian - How would you record a life, a history, through artwork or designed objects? Have students present their life in objects that they define as art. How would a time line of their  life look through objects? OR alternately, how would we record a period of history and show it through the art objects that have been made? OR how about giving language prompts and having students explore visual communication by translating it into a picture, icon, image of some sort?