20 FEB 2015

[visit #6]

Last week, I noticed that some students--one boy in particular--were having a hard time staying motivated with the digital drawing. I took that as a sign to move on from the book covers to the collages. With collages we could tie in appropriation and finding inspiration from sources other than drawing, as well as meet core state standards.

I taught the students a couple different tools that they could use to create their collages: crop, transparency, brightness, contrast, and resetting a picture. They were then given the following project instructions:

Unfortunately, I prepared way too much material and wanted to show them too many processes. I spoke far too long and ended up taking most of their work time. That was not what I wanted to happen! I am seeing that the students need a little exposure to principles and then time to play with that before moving on to other processes. 

As I dismissed the students to their seats (using one of the strategies I learned from observing Mrs. Stone), it became obvious that we had spread ourselves too thin on too many ideas. The students got lost in too many processes. One of the main skills I wanted them to develop as they made their collages, finding appropriate images to use to communicate their concept, was clearly not scaffolded sufficiently. They were having a hard time following the process, even though they seemed to understand the process when I asked them to explain it to.

Much of the remaining time (which wasn't much) was spent answering the same question. 

Thinking back on this week's class and the sheer amount of time I was asked the same question, I should have gathered their attention again and shown them all the process again. *UPDATE: A few weeks later, one of the students found a simplified way to appropriate images from the internet. His eyes lit up when I asked him to share that process with his peers! I think I will continue to ask kids to help each other!*

Once the students started to understand how to find and copy images, we learned as a class the importance of appropriately using internet search functions especially with images. We had an unexpected and unfortunate situation where a young boy was searching for images associated with "Stone Fox" and ended up encountering inappropriate images. So, be careful with Google imagery! We will have to go over strategies to make searches more focused! What kinds of strategies are there for making searches better?

One strategy that I have thought about already is to brainstorm details from the book with the students. Make a list of important events, characters, or settings instead of leaving the students unsupported when looking for images.Many of the students wanted to use book covers (possibly a carry-over effect from last week?) and exact images from the books. In the case of the student who came across inappropriate images, helping him to pick out imagery or symbols like dogsled, native american, friendship, etc., would have yielded appropriate images, minimized exposure to other images, and tied into lifelong learning goals.

Although the atmosphere in this class was not frantic (unlike a previous failure of mine!), I could tell that these students needed to either (1) be at their desks and follow along with me OR (2) have the chance to explain in their own words more completely. I plan on exploring those in the next class I have with this amazing set of students!

12 FEB 2015

[visit #5]

A couple weeks have passed since the last time I went in and worked with Mrs. Stone and the kids; our schedules worked out such that it was a good place to transition from combining art, technology, and math to integrating reading and writing with the art and technology. 

We had known from the first day that we wanted to work on integrating writing because the students had a hard time writing, especially with persuasive essays, picking out details, and quoting from articles.

The question I had was how to integrate digital art naturally with reading and writing.

As we brainstormed and I looked for ideas on the internet about ways to integrate these subjects naturally, I was drawn to a few different ideas of the students that all seemed to relate back to having them complete a book report. The students had read a few books in class recently and many of them were doing their own free reading with other books. Some of my favorite ideas of infusing art into the core curriculum included creating book covers and collages, both of which would allow them to pick out specific details of the story.

I decided that it would be best to begin with something they know how to do with the computers--illustrate digitally. The idea is for them to eventually expand on the book cover that they create, create a digital collage based on the story, and then to make a slideshow presentation so they can present to the class.

I tried to implement some instructional strategies that I had been learning of keeping instructions short and no more than 5. Giving directions like this kept me focused on the objective of the lesson and really listening to see what the students were understanding. Below is a screenshot of my simplified instructions, followed by some examples of the work students set out to create. Keep in mind that one of my previous lessons included more than 10 steps for the students to follow--way too complicated.

Adam was so interested in illustrating his book cover
that he began to make his own typeface.

Interesting elements that could use some refinement.
Pointing to the character shows concrete thinking.

I love this student's exploration through type and his illustration of the basilisk.

Marissa chose to copy the cover of her book and
wrote an insightful summary to the side.

One aspect of working digitally that I had not anticipated being a problem was precision and accuracy in typing. I had forgotten that students know much more how to speak than to write. When we asked them to share their digital work with Mrs. Stone, myself, or other students, small errors were common. This means that I have a small number of the book covers the students created today.

Other than the sharing difficulties, the students seemed to work well today. The overall feeling in the classroom was less rushed and felt calmer than previous days. I attribute that at least partially to being less rushed going in to the school and having a longer period to work since we did this on a Thursday, not a Friday (early-release). That really helped me to calm down and not try to cram too much into a short period of time like I think I had been trying to do.

Each time I teach these kids, I feel more comfortable in working with them but also see my weaknesses more clearly!

30 JAN 2015

[visit #4]

After last Friday's meltdown, I realized with the help of my mentors that I was focused on teaching skills and lessons instead of teaching the students as people. I got distracted trying to get lesson material integrated naturally while I tended to rush forward with barely a glance at where the students were.

I have to admit, it was shocking to realize that I put the lesson ahead of the children in importance. In the work I have been doing for the last three years in various educational settings, I make a point of putting the people first, regardless of the problem or the material that needs to be solved or taught. But I was missing that component with these students. With all of the demands teachers have placed on them, what has helped you to stay focused on who really matters?

In order to change this focus, we started out with a discussion on respect--both toward other peoples's art and toward their ideas. The students shared some great insights into why that respect is so vital and showed good emotional maturity as they recognized how the lack of respect toward their peers' work had caused difficulties. I felt like we were connecting on a level beyond that of technical skills!

From those difficulties, we went to a scene I compiled from an assortment of the students's previously created images (see below). When students saw their work displayed in a new format, they got really excited. It was awesome to see the kids happy and interested in this drawing.

We used their image to dissect and understand ideas about perspective and dominance. By using the students's own work, their creative community and learning environment were fortified.

One thing that I am still trying to understand is how to integrate true artistic practice and experience into the technology we are using. My digital expertise has to do with photo-manipulation, and I am unsure of how to encourage creative thought and practice within technology at this level of development.

As I have come to the above realization, I decided to try a creative prompt for the students to respond to. I wanted to tie in some art that could help the students process the difficult experience of last week without them feeling threatened or upset. 

This is the prompt I ended up presenting to the students: Imagine you are a robot who is having a bad day. What would you do to make your day better?

Here are some of the student responses:

Robot - by Adam

Popsicle on a Hot Day - by Eva

Really Bad Day to Good Day - by Trey

Robot's Bad Day - by Joseph

by Hattie

by Caitlin

Looking at these pictures, I feel that the students were able to express themselves more freely with the prompt rather than with the strict technical skills I was trying to teach them in previous weeks. I think this is great! However, some of them had content that I was unsure of how to react to. What is appropriate? What is not? Here are some of those drawings, each one chosen for different reasons:

Burning Man

I do not want to react poorly or overly aggressive when seeing or hearing ideas or content that is out of line. But then again, how do I balance that and still creating an environment of creative openness and trust? I believe part of this depends on the school, and part of this balance depends on me. However, looking back, I'm still not sure how I could have responded more effectively and less evasively.

In conclusion, I think the prompt is a good idea that I want to incorporate into future projects, but I need to think about more possibilities. I was partially unprepared for the scope of ideas the students would draw from. 

Now I think we are ready to move on to other ideas and other integration. Eventually, Mrs. Stone and I want to teach them how to give presentations, possibly book reports, with this technology. Now it's up to me to think about how reading and visual art can naturally integrate on a level that these students are on.