Last and final blog

This semester I have learned a lot especially in this class through experience in the field as well as watching others perform lessons. I really enjoyed the lesson activities in class. I think that everyone had many opportunities to learn from others. It also brought to light many things to think about like classroom organization, guidelines, standards, how to cause student interest, how to talk to a class  using invitational language, how to organize your own self, how to prepare for lessons, and what materials work best for a lesson. I definitely also learned how to introduce a lesson and get students involved and participate. I feel that opening up with artist images, asking the students what they see, observe, what emotions they get, and how they feel about an image is an awesome way to really get students involved and develop their understanding of visual images and culture. I also think that physical warm up activities are a great way to get the energy flowing in a classroom and that it is also a great way to invite students to loosen up, feel free, get creative, and get into it. Many of the lessons I liked this semester also involved not so common materials like the puppet lesson as well as Tanya's 3-d lesson with the foam boards, push pins, and mystery boxes. I feel that those were the most exciting lessons that we did in class. The teachers were having fun and were really excited about it which made everyone excited. What I also noticed was that no one really wanted to stop working which is an excellent sign of student learning and engagement. I definitely plan on snagging some of the lessons student's posted and using them in my own classroom some day with slight modifications. In the end, theory and practice really taught me a great deal and I feel that it was my most productive and interesting semester yet.

Student teaching next semester

I have recently received e-mails about student teaching next semester. My placement back at Ketcham is still pending. I am not sure what is going on about that. However, I was told that I would be placed at Vails gate High Tech Magnet School in New Windsor. The teacher e-mailed me saying she received my resume. She wanted to meet me so a couple of weeks ago I drove down there. The school seemed to be in a nice neighborhood and it was very welcoming. I went during a parent teacher conference night. While I was waiting to meet with the teacher I roamed the halls looking at the artwork that was hung up. The school is a K-5 school and I got the feeling that many of the students were of latino and/or African American descent. When I finally met with the teacher I took a look around her classroom. It was very well organized, had many motivating and art related posters, a lot of student artwork, and many supplies. She wanted to talk to me about coming in to student teach in the spring. She expressed her concern that there is only one week of school, then spring break, then the rest of the weeks. She did not want me to feel as if she was just throwing me in. She seemed very friendly and that she had been teaching for quite some time. She went over what the students would be working on in the spring which was basically form, texture, and space. Then she showed me the schedule. Many of the classes are bilingual classes and 2 are special needs. The bilingual classes are taught in spanish all day and then they get their 45 minutes of english in the art classroom. I thought this was fascinating and I am really excited about it because I am Cuban and it is a great opportunity for me to learn from students as well as practice my Spanish. Overall, I am very excited.

Surrealism in the classroom

During the presentations Tanya and Jennifer talked about how they taught surrealism in the classroom. Recently I have been working on a surrealism based lesson and when I heard that they had done this I immediately became interested. They said that they had a great outcome from it. The students were definitely really involved. One student even said it changed his/her perspectice on art because they did not know that art could consist of nonsense. I personally find surrealism fascinating and wanted to connect it to my body lesson, the one that is about the body and its extensions. In the lesson I am having students paint surrealist landscapes based on their dream, but they are also painting with a physical body extension like the artist Stelarc. I would also be teaching them about Salvador Dali. What concerns me about this lesson is whether or not I should show more surrealist painters or just keep it simple with Dali examples. I do not want to over complicate it, but am unsure if maybe instead of complicating it the lesson would be more interesting. Though I do feel that the lesson itself is a bit complicated and will need a great deal of explaining and visual examples. Explaining what I mean by an "extension" might be difficult. Not only would I be showing Stelarc but I also found child artists who have artificial hands (prosthetic hands) and they still are able to paint and even paint with their false hand. I think that the idea of adding a physical extension to the lesson really could challenge the students. Also the idea of painting a dream is an imaginative extension of the body. A concern I have is that maybe the physical extension does not relate to painting a surreal dreamlike landscape, however they are both 2 extensions. But should they relate?

Today's powerpoint presentations

I  enjoyed today's presentations very much. There were a lot of great discussions going on and it was really great to see what everyone else did. It was also awesome to hear about the differences between schools, students, and environments. What I found really interesting was the diversity in classes we were sent to. Some students were sent to Viscom classes, which I had never even heard of before. Some were sent to graphic design, ceramics, AP classes, photography, and sculpture. It was really was also realy refreshing to see that some students even got to observe glass blowing classes. I definitely got some really great ideas for lessons too from seeing what others did. One in particular that stands out was a painting in watercolors lesson that incorporated using wax paper and saran wrap to create different effects with the paints. The final paintings were beautiful and I feel that it is a great way to teach color and texture. Another great lesson was Joe's in which he taught graffiti. I respect him for teaching something that was completely new to him, but since he knew the kids were interested in it he taught it anyway. The student's drawings came out pretty awesome and he said that they were all really into the assignment. Overall it was really great to see what everyone else had done, what problems they had, what things they learned, and what schools and classroom environments they went to. Everyone had such different experiences and I think that we all learned something from each other. Watercolor and saran wrap video demo

joe and davids lesson

I really thought this lesson was very interesting. I feel the directions and guidelines were a little confusing as well as steps to do in order. When they were explaining things in the demo I thought that they needed to use more invitational language and use less complex words. Some vocab words that were used I didn't even understand so therefor I immediately was lost. However, one thing I really liked about the lesson was how they were able to connect art and reality. For example, they used mugshots and criminal description. They talked about how sketch artists listen to and draw descriptions of criminals in order to come up with a picture to help find them. I thought that this was really awesome because a lot of people have the attitude that art isn't important or it's just a class they have to take in order to pass. But actually art is important and here is one major reason why. We are able to catch criminals or missing persons through art.

The actual lesson and assignment of pairing up with a partner and drawing their memorywas challenging. First it was hard to think of a memory because it is such a vague task. We have so many memories, which one do we choose? Second, I found the work sheet to be a hassle, distracting, and complicated it even more. I was trying to describe my memory while also drawing things which got very confusing. The packet was a really well made packet, but I think it should have consisted of questions we could ask our partner about their memory like "Where were you, who were you with?" etc. And many of the vocab words were way too complex and some even irrelevant to the assignment. It would have also been helpful to sketch out our memories first before we described them, and used pencil. However, I really thought it was a good idea but needs to be more developed an worked out in order to have the effect and success it could have.

Comic Phobia Lesson

The last lesson taught in class was theme based on phobias and they carried out this theme using comic art. I thought that this was a really interesting fusion and has a lot of potential in being an awesome lesson. I felt however that it should be a requirement to make props for the comic. Working in groups was nice because it was great to share ideas. I felt really rushed however because there were so many things that I thought had to be done in one class period. There was the narrative, the 3 different shots that had to be used, a quick sketch of the pictures that were to be taken, prop building, and photographing. It was a lot to think about and a lot that had to be done in one day. Plus it was unclear what had to be done in what sequence, how much time we had, and what we had to accomplish in one day. I feel that the lesson should have been more clear, broken down, and scheduled out. Our group had the most fun in propmaking and overall everyone was really interested in the assignment. Also, the presentation was lacking in how to set up shots and take photos. The demo was really quick and simple and should have had more on photography and perhaps explanations of the assignment. However, I really enjoyed the activity and liked the introduction of the comic. I think that this would be an excellent assignment in a high school classroom, even middle school.

The Body- Our Lesson

The other day Justin and I conducted our lesson on the Body as a Canvas in class. As nervous as we both were I feel that it went over pretty well, but definitely in need of improvement. The opening activity  to teach symmetry was fun and very effective. It got the class moving and interested right away.  I wish we had developed more of a discussion during the presentation by asking thought provoking questions to the class, getting them to think about the techniques of the artist (Judith Braun), make observations about her work, and offer insight about the images we showed. I feel that I rushed through this part and it would have been helpful to take it slowly and really observe and talk about the work. The demo went over smoothly, except it was unnecessary when Justin washed his hands. This could have been fixed if we had wet papertowels already on the table. We also should have clarified the directions, informing the students to first create an abstract fingering, followed by a more figural defined fingering. Also clarification on time to work and time for the lesson and clean up should have been more clear in order to avoid confusion felt by the students. Setting up the room was a challenge in itself. Only 2 students could work per table, therefor we had to utilize the back two tables, move them into view, and stagger all of the tables to make the classroom navigable. The 2 back tables alienated 4 students in the class. This is not something I had considered, but was brought to our attention later so placement of the tables is definitely something I need to keep in mind when setting up a classroom. When everyone was working I was trying to walk around, distrubute my attention evenly, answer questions, but also just let the students work. I tried not to budge in or bother anybody when they were intently working, but when I saw something interesting and innovative that a student was doing I had a mini conversation with that student about it. The butcher paper was definitely a distraction and should have been ripped beforehand. After the lesson and clean up we had some leftover time for a quick recap and questions concerning how the students felt during the activity and using a new part of their body. Overall thought I think it was a fun lesson that the students were excited about doing. They seemed interested in the working process. A few students told me later on that they really liked the activity and thought it was a lot of fun and they learned a lot about using another part of their body to create art.
Judith Braun video

Yesterday's lesson on Cindy Sherman

I thought yesterday's lesson was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed learning about Cindy Sherman and having a review of photography angles. I also liked how they included genres into the lesson, but what I found interesting was how they tied in artmakin with the construction paper and the making of props into a photography based lesson. I am not really a fan of photography probably due to the fact that I'm not very good at it so at first I wasn't really too excited about using a camera. However, when it was brought to my attention that we could hands on make something I jumped out of my seat to get my hands on some paper, scissors, and glue. I had a lot of fun with it. I chose comedy as my genre, did a straight profile angle , and made glasses, a nose, and a mustache as my prop. I also really enjoyed the teacher samples because I thought they had a lot of personality and added some fun to the lesson.

I noticed some people aroune me got done early though if they chose to not make a prop, so I would suggest making it a requirement for the lesson. In terms of the finishing early, I think it is a could lesson to always have something to do after if the students finish early. I also agree with what was said in class about how there should have been more materials, especially tape because I could have used it. I feel like having more materials could enhance the artmaking process, but having too many can be overwhelming. I do feel that they were lacking in the amount of materials though.

Preparation, Oh Boy...

I then began thinking about the artmaking process.... I did not want the assignment to be too easy for them. My teacher told me that when I was to go shopping for the supplies to buy candy and things that could serve more than one purpose, meaning had multiple possibilites to use to build and decorate the cupcakes. When I went shopping at Wal-Mart I was overwhelmed with the amount of possibilities and found it difficult to limit the candies to only 5-6. After looking over all of my options and lurking up nd down 4 candy aisles, I chose green twisty peelable twizzlers, pretzels sticks, marshmellows, green and orange candy corns, and Halloween body part candies. After getting my cupcake mixes, frosting, and supplies I went home and began baking. I made the cupcakes multiple colors using food dye, waited for them to cool, then began making my teacher sample keeping in mind that I had to think of different ways to utilize the candies and pretzels. I then started to organize my supplies. I packed the cupcakes in tins, mixed my 3 frosting colors, seperated them into cups for the tables, covered them with clear plastic wrap, seperated and divided the candies into little baggies so that I could easiy drop them on the tables before class to save time, packed some knives, paper towels, put everything together in a bag, and packed it into the car. I made 2 posters. One showed images of the 2 artists and the other showed examples of cupcakes monsters- ones not to do and ones to do, and in this way it showed the students what I was looking for and different options of how to use the candies.

In the beginning of the lesson I talked to them about the 2 artists, asked questions about what they saw, talked about how food can be used as a medium, and explained what I wanted them to do for the lesson, what supplies they had, showed them my teacher sample, and talked about the difficulties I had with designing my cupcake. However, I noticed that during 5th period the kids were getting restless which made it a bit challenging. Some started talking over me to each other and I could tell they were eager to start working- which was good because I could tell they were interested and it killed my fear that I would just hear crickets... So I wrapped it up saying what I had to say and let them start to work.

What the kids created really surprised me. Some thought of ways to use the candies in ways I didn't. They were so excited about it too! Some even said it was the best day of art ever. Not only did they get to PLAY WITH FOOD, work with it, mold it, design it, etc. but they also got to EAT IT. When some students were done early with one cupcake, they made another. It was really awesome to see them so interested in something. They expressed to me how much fun they had doing it and I was so excited because EVERY SINGLE STUDENT participated which was something I had not observed in any of the other classes I observed before. Overall it was so much fun, I would definitely do it again. Yes, it was a lot of preparation, but I think that for a one day Halloween lesson it was worth it. My teacher even complimented me on how organized I was which I was happy about because that was the most difficult challenge I had.

What to do??

I began looking up artists who use food and thought this would be a great way to introduce some new artists to the students. I found this amazing artist named Ray Villifane who carves these INCREDIBLE pumpkins---> awesome for Halloween. I then found another artist (the name escapes me right now) who uses food such as rice, food dye, beans, vegetables, fruit, etc. Most of their images were also Halloween related. I introduced my teacher to these artists and then told her my idea, which I was soo nervous about because I was afraid she was going to say no considering food is not really allowed in the art classroom. However, she gave me the ok provided I was EXTREMELY careful about organization and clean up. I introduced the idea to her for the students to work with food, specifically with cupcakes and candy. I told her I would provide everything. She asked me what kinds of candy I was thinking and what exactly would the students be doing with the food. I informed her that the students would be using this new material (food-- cake, icing, candy, etc.) to create Halloween cupcakes like skulls, witches, zombies. She told me that I had to narrow this down, make it more simple. We then narrowed it down to monsters. The students would be creating monsters with the food materials. However, I had to narrow it down even more because I was thinking they could create their own colors with food dye- mixing red and blue to make purple, but my teacher said that would be too difficult for them considering they JUST learned about the color wheel and it might be too intimidating.  Therefor, I was told to make some colors and have only 3 colors available. Also, I had to limit the number of candies and food I would be providing to the students to about 5-6. So the formula was 3 colors, 5-6 candies on each table, knives, table cloths, cups to hold the frosting, cupcakes, napkins, visual imagery, 2 artist examples, 2 posters, me, and 2 classrooms full of high school students.
Food art

My lesson at Ketcham

After a few weeks of observing the students and working with them, I realized more and more that many of them did as little work as possible especially in the studio classes. The first period class was better at getting their work done, but more sluggish, quiet, and less active considering it was first period.  By fifth period the students were wide awake, loud, loved to talked to each other, curse, bring in food, goof off, etc. Knowing that I had to teach a lesson, and fearing that what I would try to teach would be totally ignored I began thinking about what I wanted to do and what materials the students would be working with. I was just so scared of getting up in front of the class, talk, ask questions, and hear crickets or the students would do absolutely no work that day, or talk over me. So in order to solve this problem I talked with my mentor teacher. She told me that I had complete freedom to teach what I wanted and let her know what materials would be needed and when I wanted to do it. I chose Halloween. I wanted to do something really fun that would get the students really motivated and excited, especially since it was Halloween. The thought then occurred to me "Why not work with food on Halloween? What do high school kids love more than food, especially on Halloween, and especially right before lunch, and ESPECIALLY since so many kids skip breakfast because first period begins at 7 15 am." So... I began formulating and thinking... and thinking some more. How could I make this work????

My fieldwork at Roy C Ketcham

This semester I was assigned to Roy C Ketcham High School in Wappingers. I was familiar with this school because many of my friends went there back in the day and I had heard good things about it, so I was excited to see what it was like. My first day I was a bit nervous until I met my teacher. I knew her from my high school which was John Jay, about 15 minutes from Ketcham. However, I never had her an an instructor, but I knew she taught Photo at my old high school. Anyway, almost instantly I became even more excited and less nervous. I interviewed her, asked a few questions about the school and her classes, and came to find out that she taught 5 classes a day. Two classes were "Design Form," a studio class. The other three classes were photo classes, which were taught in a different room full of Mac computers attached to a dark room. I thought that this was great because I was getting to see how one teacher had to assume the responsibilities of teaching two separate courses and how she handled it. I was also told that the classes she taught were mixed grades so students in grades 9-12 were in the same class. I was also informed that many of the students had IEPs, and many of them were in the class only because they had to be. When I say this I mean that it was the only other elective they could choose if they didn't want to talk music  or home economics. Many of them were taking art because they thought it would be an easy class, which for some photo students was a rude awakening because photo is so technical and requires a lot of time.

Repetitious Compulsions

Last class 2 students performed their lesson based on the idea of insanity. I was very intrigued by the artists they chose for their powerpoint, especially Judith Scott. I was also able to particularly connect this artist to an autism lecture I sat in on a couple weeks ago in Professor Wexler's class. A speaker came in and talked to us about artists who are on the autism/ aspergers spectrum. I am really interested in this topic because I want to eventually work towards getting certification to work with students who have these types of disabilities. I find it extremely fascinating and am planning to pursue a career in this. Anyway, I was a bit distracted with the packet during the powerpoint presentation. I was trying to fill in the blanks and write down notes on all the information being given, but by doing this I was jumping back and forth from trying to watch the presentation and writing down things. It was a bit much. However, I loved the actual activity. I was so into what I was doing and working with new materials. I found it also very interesting seeing what other people were doing around me and what materials they were using. Overall, I was extremely motivated to work and had a lot of fun with what I was doing, while also learning different ways of working with the materials.

Postmodernism and Art Education

I was very happy to see that our class was assigned readings that had to do with postmodern principles. I have to say it was my favorite reading yet. I really, and I can't even stress it enough, love how postmodernism is being taught in our class. I am an Art History Minor, so I've learned about art through the ages and whatnot. However, the closest I got to postmodernism was perhaps in a History of Design class, but there is never enough time in the semester for teachers to get into what is going on now in the art world and more current artworks and principles. Therefor, I am really intrigued about learning about postmodern principles. So far I have learned so much and definitely really enjoyed the postmodern principles powerpoint. The images in it really make it so much more interesting and it is really helpful to see examples of "Confronting the Gaze" or "Juxtaposition." I feel that it is a really great aid in teaching it, especially because we can read the articles explaining it but the images and examples aren't there. Then after reading, the powerpoint reinforced the concepts even more. I really enjoy being able to see what it is the authors are talking about and I enjoy the powerpoints in class very much. I feel that it facilitates class discussion, gets people really interested, and overall we want to talk about what we see and feel and think. It is a very effective way of teaching and gets me really into talking and thinking about art.

The Art of Play

Last class, we wrapped up presentations on our Art Education Game. I really want to say that I found it to be extremely challenging, but very helpful in the construction of how we can create lesson plans. The assignment itself was very difficult- having to incorporate all of the guidelines and bullet points. It was somewhat intimidating when reading the assignment, but once we as a group started to take things one by one we began to break it down, strategize, and tackle the assignment at hand. Our group came up with modifying the game of MASH in order to build a lesson plan. I feel that I would actually use this game of chance when I am aiming to construct a lesson to teach and I think that the elements and "answers" I can get from playing the game could really make an interesting lesson. It was also a lot of fun and very helpful to see what other groups came up with. It's fascinating to see how everyone executed the assignment very differently, but all were successful in creating a fun, quick, and engaging way to come up with a lesson.