Valerie Slams San Diego!

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Valerie Xanos, art teacher at Curie HS, for being accepted to participate in the Museum of Contemporary Art's "Curriculum Slam!" at this year's National Art Education Association annual convention to be held in Sand Diego this March.

Olivia Gude is facilitating the "Curriculum Slam!", which highlights how teachers engage their students with the contemporary by embracing the spirit of inquiry and innovation. Valerie will be presenting work from her classroom connected to Fletcher and Harrell's Learning to Love You More project, as well as representing our work within the Studio Thinking and American Art project.

As Valerie continues to work with this project in her classroom, we will gather documentation of the students working on their LTLYM assignments and photographs of their final pieces. This documentation of the students and their work will be the focus of her Pecha Kucha at the NAEA "Curriculum Slam!" The image below is from a LTLYM workshop Valerie co-led at a conference for teachers last fall.

Possibilities and Ideas for our Teacher Exhibition

We had a wonderful work session in mid January with DiDi, Liz Chisholm, Valerie, Viera, Rebekah, and Roxane. They had so many inspirational ideas and have put some critical thought into your Exhibition. A lot was covered and I still need to go through my notes to pull out some more details to share, but I wanted to bring the rest of the group into some of the things we talked about.

During the work session, we went around the room and shared what we were working on and/or thinking of working on and had a great dialogue about adaptations and possibilities that stemmed from these ideas. Here is just a quick blurp about what people are thinking about:

Rebekah talked about an avalanche/pillar/tidal wave of cut-up mandates/guidelines that are all connected into one large piece (she brought in an example her students did). She is really interested in working with the mounds of paper that are apart of her life.

Liz wants to work on the voice of teachers in a video of interviews and she wants to coordinate panel of art teachers presenting Pecha Kuchas. She is interested in, among other things, really exploring the Role of the Art Teacher. Please see her blog posts and email with details regarding this.

DiDi really wants to incorporate the ST student reflections and how students told her it was the first time a teacher asked them how they felt. She's going to work with a couple of students and a past student in creating something around the idea of "nest."

Stephanie is working on a personal piece of art that resembles wiping the fog off a windshield in order to see clearly as a metaphor for how ST has allowed her to focus on her teaching amidst all the other extras.

Viera was still organizing her thoughts about what her contribution will look like, but she is interested in demonstrating the rigor of the art teachers' practice and the expansion of students' minds and their personal growth.

Roxy wants to collect to-do lists from the group and create a piece out of the lists and the materials in their to-do lists as a demonstration of everything that art teachers do beyond teaching art. She also wants to create a piece from a sign system she uses in her classroom to track student behavior (in a classroom management sense).

Valerie wants to contribute to as many collaborative pieces as possible (i.e. Rebekah's manipulation of mandates, Liz's teacher interview, etc.)  and is working on individual pieces- small paintings of bonded and brutalized birds as a metaphor for how she currently feels trapped as a teacher. But, she also wants to include positive imagery - small paintings of birds breaking free from their bondage.

This is just a beginning to the conversations we had. It's going to be amazing! We are so lucky to be working with such a great group of teachers.

There is a lot to follow up on and I will do everything I can to coordinate most of that. In the mean time, PLEASE give us an idea of what you have been working on or plan to be working on. As we move into securing a space, we will have a better idea of what we can accommodate. More details on that will be coming VERY soon!

what I want you to help me with part 2

HI- me again.
The other aspect of the exhibition I want to make/spearhead is a video/audio piece. 
I would like (Matt will help) to interview a lot of art teachers, both those in this group and those outside of this group.  I want to ask you a few questions that center around the role of the art teacher and what we do on a daily basis and why it is important.  I don't want it to be cheesy or vague, but rather informative and personal.  I will then piece together the voices and answers from this and get some help editing from some art education students... (interns).  The video would be something you can listen to (with headphones?) in the gallery space.  To go with your voice I would maybe film your room and your school/it's location.  I would also LOVE it if you could set up a tri-pod/camera in one spot in your room and let it run/record you for as long as the battery will last throughout the day.  Then we can make time-lapsed, sped up videos of what art teachers do all day long (since no one seems to know...) :)   I am picturing using this footage behind the voices of teachers in the interview.  The voices do not need to match the teacher in the time-lapse.  This would represent our collective role in the lives of our students and our solidarity.  You can choose to have your face shown in the video or just have your voice heard.  It would be edited of course so you can even curse if you need to. ;)
Please let me know by commenting on this post or e-mailing me, if you would be interested in one of the following ways to contribute:
1. ask art teachers (music and drama) included, or really any teacher in your building, and others you know in general, if they would be willing to be interviewed. Get me their name and e-mail address or phone number.
2. volunteer to be interviewed
3. commit to setting up a camera in your room or having a student film you.
4. find someone who will edit footage for free
5. all of the above!

About the Exhibition and How you can help me out- please comment

Hello Group,
I wanted to reach out to you via both the blog and possibly e-mail.
I am interested in contributing to/organizing 2 different aspects of the exhibition and I need your help.
The first idea is that I would like as many of you as possible to sign up to be part of  
a panel of speakers that would each give a brief talk on what I imagine will be the day the exhibition opens.  I am modeling this talk on an exhibition I go to every year of artwork by Michigan prisoners sponsored by the Prisoners Creative Arts Project.   Each year a gallery in Ann Arbor hosts close to 100 works of art by incarcerated men and women from across Michigan, and in conjunction there are panels of guests that discuss and speak about related issues to the audience of gallery goers. It is very moving to hear the voices of those who are linked to the work in different ways.  It deepens the art and I often find myself looking at the exhibition again after hearing the speakers, seeing the work with new eyes.  Also, I am really into TED talks...

The thing that I want to explore in this exhibition is the voice of the art teacher in general, and specifically the voices of those in this group speaking about some aspect of their teaching practice.
I am interested in having as many of you speak as possible. I am picturing our main audience being other teachers and then parents, friends, teaching artists, students, administrators.  What do you want to tell them about your work and what you do on a daily basis?  I would like the speakers to be limited to around 2-5 minutes each with time for questions after everyone on the panel has had a turn to present.  The presentations could be in the style of Pecha Kucha where 20 slides (or so) come up automatically and advance automatically.  This would keep the talks moving but we do not have to use this format. I originally imagined we would all present something related to Studio Thinking- what we discovered, got better at, threw out, think is brilliant or bunk or obvious.  BUT you can certainly suggest a different topic.
What would you possibly talk about if you were on the panel???
here are a few ideas to get you started: (remember that this would be a little nugget of a talk and should therefore be very focused)
1. how has this 3 year group study/journey changed your teaching or helped it evolve?  What have you learned about yourself as a teacher or about your students?
2. how do you incorporate or include Studio Thinking in your classroom? What is useful about it for teachers?  Does it align with what you perceive your role as art teacher to be?
3. present another practice you have honed or explored since we started 3 years ago such as a Close Read and it's results
4. present a nugget/body of work/PPT. that you have already presented to our group in some way but that you feel needs to be brought to a larger audience.
5. ask a question of the audience related to teaching, art making, CPS, student growth.
6. speak about why teaching art is so important and/or about your role as an art teacher
7. speak about how your role has changed for worse or better over the years
8. describe what you do in one day

PLEASE RESPOND back to this post and let me know what you think about this panel idea.  If you are interested in speaking let me know via commenting on this post or e-mailing me directly what topic you want to work with and maybe a working title for your presentation (which would ideally include images).  The wonderful Matt and/or myself can workshop it with you as the date gets closer.

Thanks for reading!

Guerrilla Blog - New Stuff

Got some new work from Guerrilla Students at Curie. Currently working on Postcard Art Exchange with artists around Chicago and Beyond. 

check us out!
guerrillaart4.blogspot.com
guerrillaart5.blogspot.com

Next up: Appropriated Art and Creative Writing (with the brilliant Polly Mills)

Altered Road signs (made by Guerrilla students earlier in the year) will be hitting the SW side courtesy of Good Things Grow Midway. Stay tuned.

A tribute to an art teacher

This is a moving tribute from a student to her beloved art teacher. It's not just art. What is it we art teachers do? FULL TIME art teachers are needed. We need to stay connected to our students. Watch this video.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kenzo-shibata/student-paints-art-teacher-after-death_b_4467620.html?utm_hp_ref=chicago&ir=Chicago

Here's an article on a study done on how looking at art and discussing it promotes critical thinking.


Art Makes You Smart-New York Times

Dreams, Culture and Music 'n the Hood

On Nov. 15th, Matt visited Paula at Little Village World Languages High School and observed her revisit a Close Read of Faith Ringgold's quilt Dancing at the Louvre (1991). Using worksheets they had completed earlier in the unit, the students reviewed each step of the Close Read. Paula made adaptations from various versions of the Close Read strategies presented in this project and generated these prompts for the students to work through. Paula spaced the prompts out on a two-sided sheet of paper with enough room in each section to allow the students to fully articulate their thoughts.

1. CREDIT LINE INFORMATION. Students copy the credit line information and review that this can be examined for contextual clues. 

2. DESCRIPTION, I SEE... Describe all that you see. Images. Lines. Textures. Color. The elements and principles of art. USE ADJECTIVES. BE DESCRIPTIVE AND DETAILED.

3. CONTEXT, WHAT ARE THE CONNECTIONS. What do you know about the artist or about history at the time the work was done, that helps you understand this artwork?

CITE 2 PIECES OF EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXT HANDOUT (included later in this post).

4. INFERENCE, IT LOOKS LIKE…Guess what the artist’s message is based on the clues you wrote about in the description and what you know about the artist or history at the time the artist worked. What’s going on? What is the mood or the message? Back up your guess with evidence. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS? WHAT HAVE YOU BASED YOUR OPINION ON? 

5. JUDGEMENT, IS IT SUCCESSFUL? Did the artist communicate what she wanted to you? Is she skillful? Do you like the artwork? WHY OR WHY NOT? WHY DO YOU THINK THIS? YOU MUST GIVE A REASON AND BACK UP YOUR THOUGHTS.

You can watch Paula lead this Close Read process at this YouTube link.

Here are the two pieces of text Paula provided the students to facilitate their contextualization of Faith Ringgold. It was great to see this part of the research process given over to the students and to see which sections of text they highlighted or underlined. 

This process of unpacking Faith Ringgold's work is the connected to sewing and quilt-making studio activities. The students came up with different themes they wanted to represent in their quilt, i.e. Dreams, Culture and Music 'n the Hood, and in small groups created individual squares to be sewn together for each theme. The end product will be a quilt close to 3' x 5' that will be displayed in a local cultural center.

Interesting Curating: Art and Appetite

The Art Institute has a new exhibit about food and art.

Since we were talking about curating ideas, this new exhibit looks great. Has anyone seen it? I want to soon. My friend said it was fantastic. I love the connections being made with it, beyond the art world...



http://extras.artic.edu/artandappetite/recipe/cooking-with-the-curator?utm_medium=email&utm_source=promotional-xxx-2-nonmem-aa-opens-judy-barter-video&utm_campaign=nonmember-promotional-xxx-2-nonmem-aa-opens-judy-barter-video&utm_content=click-thru-video-xxx-2-nonmem-aa-opens-judy-barter-video

Studio Thinking Teacher Exhibition Preparation

On October 28, our learning community came together to collectively imagine, dialogue and envision possibilities for our upcoming Teacher Exhibition. The Exhibition provides the opportunity to tell your stories as art teachers and teachers who use the arts by highlighting the intricacies, the in-between spaces, the essences, and the complexities of your daily practice in and out of the classroom. This is your narrative to tell.

From "Learning to Love You More"

The clip below, "Maxine Greene on Teachers College: Its People and History," served as a spark to our idea generation for the Exhibition. In this clip, Greene discusses the ideas of being "wide awake," imagining possibilities, embracing others and various perspectives, being awake enough to be enraged to resist, and other wonderful ideas. 

These are some of the ideas the group generated. We should continue to revisit these ideas as we move through the year. What else do you want to say? What else should the Exhibition entail? What don't you want the Exhibition to be about? We encourage you to imagine possibilities and share them with the group as they come to you.

As Kate and Matt listened to your thoughts and reviewed the conversation, these are some of the emerging questions we are hearing as a way to tell your story:

What do you wish you were teaching?
What are you not teaching?
What do you think others think of you?
What can't you leave at school? What do you bring home with you?
What do you bring into the classroom from home?
How does your vision of teaching compare to your lived experience?
How do you transcend the times and think of new methodologies?

Learning to Love You More Workshop

Last week when our Studio Thinking learning community met, we spent time opening ourselves up to imagination and possibilities by responding to several of the assignments from Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July's project "Learning to Love You More."

A couple of days before that, Valerie Xanos, Kate Thomas, and Matt Dealy led a couple of workshops around reading visual texts such as those found in LTLYM at the CTC Young Adult Literature Conference held in St. Charles, IL.

On Friday night, we led a discussion in which we introduced key concepts brought forward by the LTLYM project and facilitated a hands-on experience for teachers to respond to LTLYM prompts. These assignments included:

16. Make a paper replica of your bed.
33. Braid someone’s hair.

38. Act out someone else’s argument.

54. Draw the news.

70. Say goodbye.

Then on Saturday morning, we once again began our workshop with a discussion around the importance of practicing our ability to critically read visual images/texts. Valerie then led a rich presentation aided by this slideshow (click on the link below the Close Read image to see the entire Powerpoint).

Close Read: A Visual Disciplinary Literacy Technique

Paperwork!

I really think that the stress of paperwork and grading at the end of the quarter has made me physically sick. I am in so much pain from upper back and arm muscle spasms (massage therapist says typical of too much computer and stress) and I feel ill, poisoned, just really awful. Trying to take care all day despite having work to do. Work, rest, work, rest.  The paperwork at school is just overwhelming. I'm working so hard to keep up and NOT let it affect my class and curriculum. Experiential and involved teaching is time consuming. It's the most important part of my job. But to do that and all the crap is killing me.

Our ways of teaching are so thoughtful, active, experiential. How do we do that and all the ridiculous nonsense CPS requires? Constant rewrites of curricular paperwork, evaluations, ABOUT the paperwork, long redundant unit plans on top of lesson plans, on top of other similar stuff, wasting time with long meetings, and then more and more paperwork... DESPITE our contractual protection of no increased paperwork. We are mandated to do so much at Curie.

I just wonder how long we can keep this up and still be good teachers in the classroom. Sorry for venting, but I know you all feel this way and are struggling too. Maybe it helps for us to talk about it.

Curating idea - Painting with Video

I don't know how we could do this, (any of you computer geniuses?) but talk about a super cool way to curate images! I use them as an example of guerrilla art with my students. I would love to be able to do something like this. Don't know how... but "imagine the possibilities!" (quoting Kate there)

Sweatshoppe  is the group that does this. Here is a little write up about them.  http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/sweatshoppe-video-paint-europe-with-electronic-rollers

I've uploaded their video, and here is their website: http://www.sweatshoppe.org/

Teachers After Hours

Did I post about this yet?

I have a blog where I keep track of brainstorming, ideas for art, ideas for curriculum, improving teaching practice etc.  I keep this because
A. I keep losing slips of paper where I'd write "brilliant" ideas (see Seinfeld episode, lost joke)
B. Can access anywhere and want to keep track and develop ideas, flashes of inspiration
C. Documents how much freaking time teachers work outside of the classroom (especially the obsessive ones)

I'd love for feedback. You can feel free to make use of my brainstorming... but I'd love to hear your ideas or inspirations in response...

http://teachersafterhours.blogspot.com/

Does Anyone have a SHoM Intro powerpoint?

Has anyone created a powerpoint that explains SHoM?

Gives definition of each habit?
Photos that are examples of habit?
Student Reflective Writing for each habit?

I want to train students more effectively.  If someone already has it, that would be awesome!

Are we still putting that kind of stuff on Google Drive? Or on blog?

Close Read Experience

Hi, just wanted to share experiences with CR so far.

After I showed them the powerpoint on CR strategy (I taught the steps then we practiced it as a group), I had students practice on their own looking at an image I provided. I included some artist background with the image to help with the context step. Later I have students do their own research regarding the artist.

They looked at an Elizabeth Catlett image and used a form I made (both uploaded to blog).
I had them try this without any help. I was interested to see how they did on their own.
Results:
Students who are used to doing critical thinking in other classes did great (as expected). The IB students handled it like pros. They learned the strategy and were able to apply their usual critical thinking skills to analyze the artwork very well. I found their responses to be very enlightening. As soon as I get a chance, I will upload a few examples.

Then there were students who were interested, learned from me, but did not do this often in other classes or on own. They did "ok". They certainly attempted to think deeply and write about their analysis and understanding. I know with a bit of guidance they will easily reach a higher level of thinking. (I'll also upload a couple examples of these)

Lastly, are the students who struggled with the process. They did not read or really answer the prompts given. They wrote the most basic answer they thought I wanted without really thinking about it. Sometimes they didn't answer at all. Perhaps did not listen or understand when I taught the process by example. These students all told me that they have not had experience in other classes doing this type of work and were frustrated at the level of focus I was asking of them. I can see they will need the most help and guidance learning to think and respond critically. Most of them were freshmen and sophomores. (also provide some ex)

So, I now want to think about the best way to facilitate improvement. Obviously repetition. I'm thinking of arranging heterogenous groups, with a student leader (higher level), a couple of mid-level students, and a couple struggling. If they work together on a few CR, perhaps peer teaching will make a difference.

What do you all think?

Close Read Slide Show

Valerie Xanos' slideshow on her Close Read strategy that she refers to in the earlier post can be viewed in two formats, as either the movie below or at this link to the slideshow (I am unaware of how to put an actual PowerPoint on Blogger). Some quality was lost converting the PowerPoint to a movie file, but the quality of slideshow link is nice. Thank you so much to Valerie for sharing her strategies.

Also, if you are unable to access the Close Read template on Google docs that Valerie mentions, here is what it looks like.

Close Read

I used the Close Read format extensively last year. I really like it and enjoyed the Context aspect of it. Before that I had used a more traditional and complex critiquing format (similar to Art Talk).

I've decided to combine the two.

What I like:

• Close Read works great for beginning students. It is simplified and it helps them break down the critiquing structure into bits that are easy to do. Gives them the confidence to find "clues" and make inferences. I tell them it's like being a detective.
• Context step helps them make sure they do research on artist, background and make connections. Love it!
• Not too intimidating for 1st year art students in HS. They tend to freak out if we ask for formal analysis as they do not yet have enough experience using elements and principles to create. That comes with time, to have the vocabulary and experience making decisions.

What I don't like:

• The judgment is way too vague, only referring to whether one likes the piece or not. An artistic judgment should include thoughtful responses and analysis of artist's intentions and decisions. Especially to use CR for student work, they need to think about their strengths and weaknesses regarding those decisions in order to make improvements.
• I've added prompts to make a more thoughtful judgment.
• Missing a formal analytical step crucial to more advanced students. This step should address the formal qualities of an artwork, decisions artist made about composition, elements, principles, etc. 
• I would add a step for advanced students.

So, with a little tweaking, I am continuing with CR.  The cool thing is, it's ALL THE RAGE in CPS. Mentioned in connection to CCSS and CPS preferred way for us to do units. CPS Art programs are strongly encouraging us to use CR. So when I include it in my unit/lesson plans, it hits those points and makes evaluators happy. Will help with my own REACH evaluation. 

I made a powerpoint to teach beginning students about CR. Once they get the hang of it, we use this method all year long. I've shared it with Every Art Every Child on Google docs. I don't know how to put a powerpoint on this blog. But maybe EAEC can do that?  Matt? 

Let me know what you guys do for critiques. I'd love to see other methods. Always learning...

Valerie

Installations by Osorio

As I was watching this Art 21 piece on Pepón Osorio, I was struck by some of his comments regarding installations and how they may be relevant to our Studio Thinking project as we prepare for our own exhibition of the artist teacher.

Pepón says, "I feel like I needed to say something that had to be beyond something on the wall. I need to create a space that is overpowering." Our work within the Studio Thinking project and how we consider promoting the artist teacher as connoisseur is definitely going to have to tell a story beyond what we display on the walls in our exhibition.

He is also very interested in provoking change, which is something that came up in our summer workshops and inspired the idea for an exhibition.  According to Pepón, he wants his installations to cause people to ask "who they are in relatinship to what they have just seen and to start a negotiation with not only the artwork, but with the public at large." 

Take a look at this clip and see if you find any connections with your ideas for an exhibition.

Watch Place on PBS. See more from ART:21.

Cynthia Gehrie's "Teacher as Connoisseur" Presentation

During our summer professional development workshops at the end of June, Dr. Cynthia Gehrie presented this slideshow in which she introduced, discussed, and reflected on the concepts of the teacher as connoisseur/researcher and critique/curation as a method to bring forward student feedback.

Take a look at this movie clip to see and hear her presentation.