What People are Thinking About

Below are comments we collected from the teachers who were present during the Oct. 23rd workshop with Olivia. Who else can share their ideas? What questions or comments do you have regarding Chrissy, Deni, Jeanne and Jeanette's ideas below? Please let us know what you are thinking about...

I find as art teachers we are very isolated and we have to seek out communities to share ideas. These ideas seem to more receptive because we WANT to be in the community. Many teachers of core subjects are forced to be in these conversations. I am eager to get ideas and collaborate with art teachers I have long respected. I feel like I take away information every time.

I was pleased to discuss ideas with the teachers I paired with because I feel our students have similar pressures regarding the high school admissions process. They often feel they are wrongly assessed though they have many attributes that can't be measured.

I'm intrigued by the idea of how they are measured and how we associate behavior in relationship to color and numbers.

Our group also discussed the idea of behavior management in general. How students seem to feel the consequences of their peers. These are teaching opportunities we feel for them to work collaboratively towards a goal.

Takeaways

1) There are so many themes...how to choose

2) The themes we ultimately chose had a broad base for interpretation...

3) While I can't dedicate an entire quarter to the theme, I am excited to work with the 7th grade.

My 3-4 takeaways from the 10-23 event:

1.  Healthy relationships seem like a real need.
2.  Navigating the terrain between talking about issues, making art
about issues and then what?  Is raising awareness and talking about
issues enough?
3.  The quote: "All violence is the result of unmet need." is a basic
tenet of restorative justice.  I think naming the needs and then
finding/assisting students to find the resources to meet the needs is
a good thing to work on.
4.  Asset Based Inquiry is another good angle to pursue in the search
for solutions.

My takaways:

Wow, this is really tough work? This seems like it takes a long time? Lots of planning, contemplating, and thinking? It wlll be great to have this group to work with to figure this new way of teaching. I love the connections that can be made to contemporary artists and their work.

Interesting how the elementary kids have such issues with being silent in the halls. What must their life be like, constantly being told to do stuff that goes against their natural nature? How does this experience in elementary school influence how they behave when they get to me freshman year? They go from such control and structure to much more freedom, no wonder they struggle to handle it.

I am so glad to live in a place that offers opportunities like this. I am so honored to be included in this group and look forward to the journey ahead.

Why does life have to be so stressful, for us as adults, for kids, kids shouldn't be this stressed.

Art is so important to understanding life, each other, ourselves, the world, to make the world better, to make ones self better.

Every problem is a curriculum problem, how can I apply this to the problems I am beginning to have in my 4th period freshman art class?