Pecha Kucha from Kennedy HS

Here is the Slide Show presentation Jen led us through at our last meeting.

Hello

I am so excited to be part of this blog. I am hoping to blog often and have student input. As of now, I am without a computer at home, which is really putting me behind on my work load. However, I will prevail. Happy to be here!

Documentation from last week's workshop

At our last workshop on December 7th, several project teachers brought samples of their Studio Thinking tools and templates to share. Having student work samples to review generated great conversation. Thanks for sharing!

Follow Up December 7th meeting

I want to publicly thank the Elementary group, Nancy, Stephanie and Liz S. for sharing their practice, student work and assessments with me. I thought it was a valuable experience.

Diwali Bowls- Incorporating Studio Habits

I am now focusing my lesson plans and my own thinking to reflect using the vocabulary and practice we are adapting through this project. After we completed the line lessons we moved to a Social Sciences-based lesson which incorporated Understanding the Art World by showing the students video clips about the Indian celebration of Diwali along with a power point slide show highlighting Diwali art, artists and designs. The students Envisioned their designs using pencil sketches in small sketchbooks and Persisted by transferring designs into small pinch-pot bowls they had made in week 1 of the project. They Developed their Craft using clay (model magic), pencils/paper, sharpie marker and water-based marker. We shared our bowls and are working on critiquing skills for a Reflection piece of Studio Habits of Mind.

Lines- Culminating Projects

Last month I posted the introduction to the Lines project which encouraged students to explore art elements, lines- in particular. They Developed their Craft by exploring lines with different media including markers and pencils culminating in printmaking using ballpoint pen styluses and drawing into styrofoam master plates. The students ranging in grade level from Kindergarten to Third Grade used their Science topics: K-birds, 1-trees, 2- clouds and 3- moon as the themes of their drawings/prints. They Observed nature and Understood the Art World by looking at the artworks of other artists. They also Envisioned by sketching their ideas first and Persisted through to printing and hanging their finished products for a public display of artwork for Report Card Pick Up day.

Studio Habits of Mind -- Incorporating All 8 Habits

Beginning Print Making for my first graders was their first look into developing a craft they may want to focus on during the school year or in other art classes.

First, I had the students come up with their own design for a tree. Once they came up with their idea, we worked for a week on contour drawings and ways they can use contrast to emphasize the depths of their prints.

 

Next, students drew their images onto foam sheets and cut them out to create the stencil. The stencil (or shapes they created) were adhered to the front of a paper plate. Students next choose the color they wanted for their tree and rolled the brayer through the ink. They then transferred the ink onto the paper plate using the brayer. After inking the stencil, the students place a piece of paper over the stencil and press down with a leaf press to make sure ink fully saturates the paper.

After leaf pressing, the students pull off the paper which now contains the image from the stencil they created.

Through this art project, which encompassed two studio classes I was able to incorporate the 8 SHOM into this lesson plan:

Develop Craft : learning new tools such as a Brayer, foam sheets, and ink.

Engage and Persist: to create a tree that fit the space of the paper plate, understanding size and composition.

Envision: understand the placement of the shapes.

Express: every tree was unique and they all conveyed different forms of movement.

Observing: looking at the roundness of the paper plate, and incorporating the environment of nature in the art piece.

Reflect: discussion and critiques after the art work was complete, having the student interact with their piece and others around them.

Stretch and Explore: created an ice breaker and had students move around the class like tree,moving their arms back and fourth over their head.

Understanding the Art World: students were introduced to Vincent van Gogh and Ansel Adams.

Studio Structures - Students at Work

Students at Work is one of the studio structures within the Studio Thinking Framework.We've been visiting your classrooms to observe the physical studio space in your building, see students at work and witness your practice. We feel very lucky to be invited in. Thank you for opening your doors and thank you to your students for letting us ask questions and take pictures.

Catherine Tanner: "Everyone needs a white piece of paper. This is going

to be your little sketch book. You can look out the window at the trees"

Intense observation. This kindergarten boy in Catherine Tanner's class

stared intently at this butterfly for a very long time. He was enthralled.

There is remarkable concentration and focus going on at Lincoln Park

H.S. in both Beth's and Didi's classrooms. Students are disciplined

and honest as they provide feedback to each other in an informal way.

Beth walks around the room and talks to students about their work. Beth says,

"Remember you want to have your ink bottles up in front of you. I know it’s

hard so practice as much as you can. By tomorrow we’re going to phase 2.

You’ve got time to experiment. If you need to spread out, you can. Like I said,

practice as much as possible."

A student says to another student at their table

Student: "Your hair is not like that. You’re more smiley than that.

It’s looking less and less like you. Your eyebrows don’t go like

this." (she points downward)

Beth: "Take time to look at your distinguishing features."

Didi leans in to examine an image.

Didi: "I need a bit more information. What is it that you

want to show?"

Didi: "A sky scrapper?"

Student: "Oh, I can go up."

Didi: "You might have to glue this on to make it stronger."

Students at work in Didi's Studio Drawing class. Students are

creating 20 different cards based on a theme.