Visual Arts and Writing Strategies Workshop, Nov. 1

Thanks to all of you who were able to join us for the workshop last Thursday. We had a great turn out and covered a lot of ideas. We wanted to touch base with everyone regarding the workshop and our next steps.

You Have 7 More Minutes 

We sensed many of you were a little frustrated with the amount of time we were able to commit to the collage activity, and this was confirmed in the reflection sheets. We know we presented some complex information and tried to squeeze it all into three hours. This is a common challenge for us and we want you to know that we try to give as much time as possible to the critical components of each workshop. 

In this workshop we,

Reviewed a Sample of Teacher Reflections from the Art Institute PD
Reviewed the Metacognitive cycle/hologram
• Incorporated Contemporary Art by watching Art 21's piece on Arturo Herrera 
• In small groups, created new language systems to communicate events of the CPS strike through collage 


As a large group, shared back Internal Verbalizations 
Transitioned to writing activity through multiple written and visual examples of Stretch & Explore
In a large group, engaged in word games and writing strategies
Developed individual writing samples

Why Collage and Writing: Where we are Heading

The Inquiry Question for this workshop was, "How can we develop a new visual sign system to communicate our experience?" We used abstraction and appropriation in both the visual arts and writing to illustrate how the arts support deeper levels of understanding. Then, through the recording of internal verbalizations, individual writing samples, and Studio Thinking reflection prompts, we recorded the critical thinking processes. This process of using visual arts, writing, and Studio Thinking reflection is our main focus for year two of this project.

After reviewing materials and data from year one of Studio Thinking, it was clear teachers were ready to move beyond labeling of Studio Habits to a more complex use of this framework. With our evaluator Cynthia Gehrie's help, we are seeing how Studio Thinking connects to Critical Thinking and Common Core. The Studio Thinking Reflection template we have presented in the last two workshops is the tool we propose using to capture this connection.