Artistic Thinking - Week 11

 In at least 250 words, describe what your creative process is like:

Usually, I am not an artist of plan.  I rarely draw sketches first.  I envision my general idea in my head and then jump right in.  Sometimes this gets me into trouble with composition and spacing, but most of the time it works out better than I could have planned.  After I have my idea, I find a space to work.  Sometimes this is at a table or a desk, sometimes it’s on the floor, and sometimes it’s on a couch or my bed.  I gather all the supplies I think I need and surround myself with it.  Most of the time I have music playing.  Sometimes this style is more somber and calm, other times it has more energy, depending on my mood, or time of day, or weather, or art I am creating.  Usually I like to work by myself with no one to distract me.  However, I always have my phone by my side.  But that still gives me a layer of protection from the real world because I don’t have to respond to text messages or answer phone calls while I’m working if I don’t want to. 

            My ideal working moment would be:  On a rainy afternoon, I have no other homework or anything to stress me out and loom over my head as priority, I have nowhere to be, no one I need to call or email, I have an idea I have been wanting to draw or paint and finally have the change to get started, I have calming music playing (with poetic lyrics, of course), I have coffee sitting next to me, and unlimited time to work. 

I did the visual exercise drawing with a “unitask” approach.  Since I normally have music playing, my phone by my side, and the computer open while I draw, I put everything away and had no distractions for this drawing.  I didn’t really feel much of a difference, as far as quality and overall feel are concerned.  It cut back interruptions, which I’m sure helped in efficiency a bit.  I understand that some artists/students need perfect quiet with no distractions while they create work, but in a classroom setting I feel like that is hard to come by and not conducive to discussion between students about their processes and work. 

What work of art have you been wanting to create but haven’t had the time?

I am interested in making a body of work under the umbrella of IDENTITY (however, many big ideas are integrated within this idea of identity).  In short, I would like to make memory maps representing an idea I have labeled “Intellectual Construction.”  Essentially, I believe our individual identity is made up of three parts of intellectual construction: memory, perception, and systems.

            Memory, the first part of intellectual construction, is simply ways we store and recall things we’ve sensed.  “Recalling memories re-fires many of the same neural paths we originally used to sense the experience and, therefore, almost re-creates the event. Memories of concepts and ideas are related to sensed experiences because we extract the essence from sensed experiences to form generalized concepts.”  Nerve cells in our brain communicate by sending electrical signals, which trigger the release of chemicals across tiny gaps called synapses.  When a few signals are sent over a short period of time, temporarily, this creates part of our short-term memory.  When signals are continuously sent, this creates part of our long-term memory.  First, we break these new concepts into their composite parts and store the memory by attaching it to related memories.  When we retrieve this concept through various triggers, the brain is decoding the stored information to regain meaning.  In short, memories capture and maintain the essence of an event.  Therefore, how reliable are memories?  Are they just based on my perception?  Perception, the second part of intellectual construction, evolves from day to day.  How does my perception (based off of my memories) compare to reality?  Is there such thing as reality?   The third part of intellectual construction is a system.  A system can be a set of beliefs and ideals that allow us to process our world.  Within the concept of a system is the idea of mapping.  A map is a rational, systematic, construct of understanding the experiential space we inhabit.  A map changes our perception from the particular to the abstract. A map is, in essence, an abstraction of an experience (a memory).  Ultimately, the three parts of intellectual construction form a symbiotic relationship wherein each part informs and transforms the other.   

            This leads me to the idea of a memory map.  I would like to create a series of drawings and paintings, constructing a physical manifestation of an experience (a memory), using the rational, systematic format of a map.  I will focus on techniques including, perspective (2D and 3D), light, space, line, color, and layers.  I hope this series of work will be an investigation into the formation and evolution of individual identity.  

           

Get started...

What insights did you glean from the process of developing craft by doing your studies?  How will this information translate into your classroom practice of helping students develop craft?

Practice Study 1) Blue Print/Map of Childhood home – location of specific memories

Practice Study 2) Web map of a memory or memories – making connections

These studies are more about creatively moving the mind, rather than honing a specific artistic application.  These two practice studies have given me enough material to get started on my first piece.  I have recalled several memories and made connections between them.  I have created a general concept and structure of these memories. 

Read and React 

Rosen Chapter 4

This chapter discusses the igeneration’s need to multitask.  Psychologists have found that “compared to focusing on one task at a time (“unitasking”), multitasking most often leads to slower performance and increased errors… However multitasking in real life can be very different than doing two tasks together in the laboratory.  For one thing, there is often unlimited time to perform tasks in the real world… it may take them longer to do their work but they will do it just as well.”  The fact is, whether multitasking hinders performance or not, igeners will do it.  Evidence is showing that they need to multitask.  While this style of work may not be ideal in the classroom, I believe it is extremely practical for the “real world.”  Often times in an occupation you have to be able to do several things at once, if anything, you must be efficient.  Working on several things at once might be the most efficient work style.  In which case, those who can multitask will succeed.  Data has shown that people who multitask are capable of adding 46% more useable time during the workday. 

Understanding that this generation will multitask, and that it may be beneficial to foster this style of learning in order to better prepare them for work after school, our education system must adapt to meet this very real need. 

Due to the increase in technology and the overwhelming access to media and visual imagery, it is possible this has “encouraged frequent attention shifts and intense multitasking.”

“Media users are learning at a young age how to juggle multiple activities, use time efficiently and use existing technologies in creative ways, albeit sometimes not as originally intended.  While there are drawbacks to media multitasking, there may be advantages as well.”

Knowing this is the way students work, “we can no longer assume that students can be forced to unitask without a loss of attention.”  We must adapt to their style of learning, in order to keep students motivated and engaged in learning, not bored and uninvolved. 

This chapter ends with 3 things educators can do in order to maximize motivation while also maximizing learning:

1)    Learning environments should allow students the opportunity to multitask, keeping in mind that the students will self-regulate their multitasking when necessary.

2)    Learning environments should minimize the possibility that two or more tasks will be multitasked when those tasks might share basic human mental resources as this will increase dual-task interference.

3)    Learning environments should allow for teachers to interrupt students, for students to interrupt other students, and even for students to interrupt teachers when appropriate, as long as the interruptions are constructive ones that enhance the learning process.

Hetland Chapter 5, 9

Chapter 5

Learning to Develop Craft: Using Art Tools, Materials, and Concepts

“Developing technique was emphasized as an intended learning in every studio class we observed.  But we almost never saw technique taught as an isolated skill.  Tools, materials, conventions, and skills were introduced in the context of larger projects that required students to ‘think with these skills,’ rather than as tricks to be mastered for their own sakes.” 

This chapter focuses on the development of craft in the areas of technique and studio practice.  We are introduced to a few art educators and their classrooms.  One educator, Beth, takes her students through the use of color theory and the color wheel.  “She lectures on the color wheel and its history rather than just letting students learn through trial and error so that students will see that painting is scientific.”  I liked that the teacher does this because she shows that there is reason behind art, its not just ideas floating around in the rainbow cloud of someone’s mind.  There is truth and fact to art. 

            Another teacher discusses the importance of encouraging students to see themselves as artists.  One way he does this is by having the students keep a portfolio throughout the semester.  “They see the work they’ve produced.  They see the history of the process.”

            I think it is important to note, “Technique is not something that constrains.  Rather, acquiring technique gives students control over their works.  And as students acquire technique, the begin to ‘think’ with technique.” 

Chapter 9

Learning to Observe: Seeing Beyond the Ordinary

            This chapter discusses the importance of true observation, in this case, through the use of the viewfinder.  In general, students are taught to look closely at the following:

            -The model or source from which they are working

            -Their own artworks as they evolve

-Art processes modeled and artworks created by the teacher in demonstrations

-Artworks created by other students

-Artworks from contemporary or historical artists

Specifically, in this chapter, students are asked to look through a viewfinder with one eye, “So that they can learn a new way of seeing—seeing the world as elements in a composition… Looking through the viewfinder helps students learn to see objects as only lines, shapes, and colors in a frame.” 

One art educator tells his students “Paintings don’t have to be seen as what they represent; rather, they can be seen as simply a surface of colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and forms.” 

Blog Post #5

I have been fortunate in that I get to observe a great art teacher at Gentry middle school.  Her 7th grade class is unbelievably well behaved and talented.  That is to say, I haven't witnessed a specific classroom management situation that needed to be "handled."  Therefore, instead, of listing a specific moment, I'll list what the teacher does in the classroom overall that I think pre corrects that kind of behavior. 1) The teacher is well organized: She has lessons planned out well with materials and resources readily available for student use.  This is especially helpful in that the class is only 45 minutes long everyday, so students need to maximum time to be working on their projects. 2) Her behavior expectations are clear:  Students have routines in the classroom of putting their binders and books on the shelf as they walk in the classroom (no distractions), sitting at their assigned seats, listening to directions, getting to work, cleaning up materials and desk area well when class is near over, double checking their work is put away and stations are clean.   3) The teacher is very fun, witty, sarcastic (which I aspire to be all those things):  She allows students to see her having fun so they know they can have fun in the art classroom, while at the same time lets them know when it is time to be more serious and diligent.  I think the classroom has a great balance of work and play!  This also allows students to feel less confined and surrounded by rules. In my classroom, I would hope to implement these three classroom management strategies in order to create an artistic, fun, challenging, supportive, community environment in the art classroom.  I think it would be important at the beginning of each year to outline the basic routines and principles of the classroom and behavior expectations so students know how to respond and act in the classroom.

Week 9

What are the possibilities and limitations of using games, immersive social networking, and virtual worlds in the classroom?  Support your opinions and ideas using the assigned readings, additional research, or classroom experiences.  Your response should be between 500-1000 words.

(Rosen 5, Second Life PDF, Brooks-Young 6, 9)

“It’s a change for all of us who aren’t actors to play [with] masks.  And to think about the masks we wear every day.” – G. Salmon, “The Future for (Second) Life and Learning.” 

            I believe as a whole, when dealing with the idea of digital representation of an individual, whether it is through a character in a game, personal social networking sites, or virtual avatars, the main point of discussion is identity construction.  As far as classroom use, the concept of digital and virtual environments could be a positive tool in student learning.  Chapter 5 in Rewired, discusses the idea of total immersion as when all senses are being used to integrate a multisensory, realistic learning environment.  This type of learning is “Composed of concepts that are all interconnected, based on learning through the senses…The addition of realistic sensory information helps to activate areas of the brain that would be active if the learner were actually engaged in the real-world task that is being simulated.”  Social networks might be critical tools in taking a step closer to the idea of immersion.  This type of environment could also allow more opportunities to  “provide educational curricula, open additional channels of communication—between students, teachers, and parents—engage the students.” Students are already engaged in this type of communication, as they participate in social networks outside of school on their own time.  By merging their lifestyle with classroom structure “A teacher is able to foster a sense of community that is continually shifting, allowing for the development of subgroup relationships within the context of the larger classroom that would be impossible in out school-based educational system.”

            Avatars, Second Life, and New Media Art: The Challenge for Contemporary Art Education, takes the idea of digital and virtual worlds, such as the program Second Life (which is referred to as new media art) and discusses their ability to foster meaning-making in the classroom. “The characteristics of new media art do not simply show the function of technology, but also critique and creatively explore those functions as meaning-making systems within human systems of communication.”  The creation of avatars is regarded not only as a virtual interface, but also as a form of art.  Furthermore, this cultural interface is loaded with human experience and identity. “When examining these avatars, obviously, the identity converted into data information, does not have a real body.  What is behind the visual surface is the question of identity in cyberspace… Cyberspace is not a place without stereotype, but rather may deepen the stereotype…These bodies are unreal and exaggerated and perpetuate particular dominant cultural narratives.  Art educators can develop curricula that explore these issues to help students think about the meanings behind avatar creation to generate a critical, social consciousness.” 

Throughout adolescence, the formation of a student’s identity is fluctuating and slowly becoming defined as they grow older.  New media art can help students grasp this idea of identity construction and lead to “Critical discussions about aesthetics and visual culture relating to identity.  Further, students can consider the reasons for their self-representations in cyberspace.”  New Media art can serve as a “Connection between art education and technology, and, further, art education and current socio-cultural issues.  Exploring ways to bring new media art into art education will enable art education to ‘speak’ in a new language through links with technology to consider and create the future.”

And here is my avatar: 

Creativity Project -- Book 2

Creativity Project - Book 1

Blog Entry #4 - Overview of Art Education

Reading Assignment: Assessment in Art Education, Beattie 
Chapters 1, 3, 7
Response Questions:
How will you know what your students have learned? What does successful learning look like? What kinds of evidence and feedback do you and your students need and
how can you get it? What different assessment strategies will you utilize in
your unit plan? 

Assessment is "The method or process used for gathering information about people, programs, or objects for the purpose of making an evaluation... [classroom assessment] is an integral component of quality teaching.  Pre-assessing for prior knowledge through instruction, reassessing, reteaching based on assessment findings, and final assessing are all part of sound classroom teaching practices."  

Based off of the information in Chapter 1, I believe the best way to know and understand what your students have learned, to identify successful learning, and to attain evidence and feedback of student learning is by drawing from the Principles of Quality Classroom Art Assessment.  Principles of Assessment I will be sure to implement in my classroom are:

1) Assessment is student-oriented and teacher-directed - Be sure to encourage student participation in the conception and crafting of the assessment tools
2) Assessment supports, rather than interferes with, instruction and course objectives
3) Assessment is multi-layered - No single assessment criterion or strategy will give the art educator the breadth of information he or she needs in order to ascertain a student's artistic progress
4) Assessment is continuous 
5) Assessment is authentic
6) Assessment focuses on both products AND processes
7) Assessment provides opportunities for students to revise and make changes in products and processes
8) Assessment is responsive to different types of knowledge and to expanded notions of intelligence and creativity
9) Assessment is concerned with student's preconceptions and misconceptions - "In order for the art educator to build on students' prior knowledge and mediate appropriate instruction, information needs to be gathered concerning what misconceptions and preconceptions students currently hold.  Such information can be gleaned from pre-assessments, assessments implemented before an art program begins."  
10) Assessments are crafted to ensure fairness for all students
11) Assessment is criterion-referenced and compares students' performances to past performances
12) Assessment is responsive to collaborative and cooperative learning - "In the art-making process, teacher and student both actively participate in decision-making, and students frequently help each other rethink and rework images." 

Chapter 3 discusses different TYPES/STRATEGIES of assessment.  Drawing from my own experience as a student, I would implement a few of the discussed forms of assessment in my classroom, some of which I felt I best learned from as an art student and art-history student.

1) Web questions - I believe it is important for artists to make connections and meaning between topics and ideas.  Webbing and mapping can be successful tools in which students write open-ended responses to a specific topic that allows the student to make connections and the teacher to better see the students' brainwork and learning style.  I believe it also alleviates the pressure of a right or wrong answer and perhaps allows the student to feel less prohibited.  
2) Interpretive Questions - These types of questions require that students explain the meaning or significance of information.  Students are given introductory material followed by a series of questions or tasks based on the material.  This can be presented in the form of block questions.  These are questions that can assess a wide variety of sills in a sequential and cohesive manner.  
3) Essay questions - As much as students generally dislike essays, I believe they are important because they ensure the student fully understands the material.  When a student has to answer a question drawing from their own knowledge without being given pieces of the answer, it means they have to form an answer by drawing connections of what they have already learned and present this knowledge in a well-thought out cohesive format. 
4) Questionnaires and Inventories - I believe that this type of assessment can be successful in assessing art-making processes and techniques.  

Overall, "Assessment initiates change in that it evaluates student progress and points out areas in need of improvement," which makes it a necessary tool for successful classroom learning.  

Artistic Thinking -- Week 7/8

iBrain Read and React

Due to the technological revolution, our brains are evolving at a faster pace than ever before.  Technology is changing how we think, feel, act, and the way in which our brains function.  “This evolutionary brain process has rapidly emerged over a single generation and may represent one of the most unexpected yet pivotal advance in human history.”  While technology produces many positive changes within our culture, it hinders others.  The focus on the Internet and other forms of technology is causing a drift in the brain away from fundamental social skills.  “With the weakening of the brain’s neural circuitry controlling human contact, our social interactions may become awkward, and we tend to misinterpret, and even miss subtle, nonverbal messages.”

            As an art educator is important to note that young minds, the minds of students, are at the most malleable state.  While they are the most exposed and impacted by digital technology, their brains are also in a state of growth that allows them to absorb that which is around them.  The young brain has the ability to be ever changing in response to stimulation and the environment.  “This plasticity allows an immature brain to learn new skills readily and much more efficiently than the trimmed-down adult brain.”  Young minds are morphing in response to their environment, which will eventually have a lasting impact on future generations through evolutionary change. 

Today’s young people have been labeled as “Digital Natives.” These digital natives have grown up never knowing a world without computers, Television, Internet, cell phones, video, cameras, text messaging, etc.  “Young people eight to eighteen years of age expose their brains to eight and a half hours of digital and video sensory stimulation each day.”  Due to the development of this new standard, “the neural networks in the brains of these Digital natives differ dramatically from those of Digital Immigrants: people—including all baby boomers—who came to the digital/computer age as adults but whose basic brain wiring was laid down during a time when direct social interaction was the norm.”  This difference in the evolution of the brain has led to a brain gap between younger and older minds, in just one generation.  What exists now is the formation of two separate cultures: “The brains of the younger generation are digitally hardwired from toddlerhood, often at the expense of neural circuitry that controls one-on-one people skills.  Individuals of the older generation face a world in which their brains must adapt to high technology, or they’ll be left behind—politically, socially, and economically.” 

The way in which younger people express and project themselves is evolving.  Instead of writing down personal thoughts and feelings in a diary or journal, many young people are writing these thoughts and feelings on the Internet for anyone to see.  Is this because they feel there is enough distance between them and their reader to keep them from vulnerability?  Is this because sharing facts about personal lives and personal thoughts has become the new social norm?   

“Natural selection has literally enlarged our brains.  The human brain has grown in intricacy and size over the past few hundred thousand years to accommodate the complexity of our behaviors.”  While the digital revolution and its effect on our brains increases social isolation and decreases interpersonal relationships, “it may well be increasing our intelligence in the way we currently measure and define IQ.  Average IG scores are steadily rising with the advancing digital culture, and the ability to multitask without errors is improving.”  However, with an increase in multitasking comes an increase in stress and attention deficits, as well as a decline in work efficiency. 

With the technological revolution come both inevitable positives and negatives.  Understanding and bridging the newly developed brain gap is an important step we must take that will require two major interventions:  “We need to help Digital Natives learn to advance their interpersonal skills and teach Digital Immigrants to hone their technology skills.  However, both generations must maintain and enhance their abilities to talk face to face, understand subtle nonverbal cues during conversations, and build empathic ways of relating to one another, off line.”  

Big Idea Book: IDENTITY

Blog Entry #3

Why teach art?  Why is it so important that all students have a Visual Arts and Visual Literacy education?

As one of the images on the NAEA advocacy page states, "Art teachers nurture 6 senses in developing Visual Literacy: The ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning."

Considering that in our world today, images and video are literally everywhere, one would think that the ability to view and respond critically to these surrounding images would be of the upmost importance.  Furthermore, I believe it is important for students to gain knowledge in how to not just view the images and video, but participate by creating original images and video of their own.

However, in our education systems in seems that programs for the arts are often the programs that are the first to go when funding runs short.  While I would hate to see any program cut that can help reach kids where they are and incorporate their individual interests into the classroom, I find it a travesty that Art is the first to go.  Art is often misconceived as an unnecessary hobby.  Rather, I believe it is a tool that can be used to conceptually connect the different areas of disciplines: Science, math, reading, writing, etc.  Educating students to thinking critically and conceptually, as they do in Art, would lead to gains in other areas as well.

Ultimately, I believe teaching art is a job just as necessary and important as any "core" education position.  I personally have found meaning in it, meaning that I hope to translate to my students when I have my own classroom.

Parents Night Handout Example

Week 6

Week 6 Read and React

Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education

Paul Duncum

Duncum suggests seven principles for examining various forms of imagery.  These principles are: power, ideology, representation, seduction, gaze, intertextuality, and multimodality.  They are not intended to be fundamental truths, rather, sources from which “to create curriculum commensurate with the extent and complexity of today’s’ visually mediate world.” 

Power is the overarching principle that connects the others.  Power raises questions of “Who exercises power through imagery?  How, when, and why is it exercised?”  Due to the hierarchically ordered societies across the world, different groups display different degrees of power.  Therefore, images represent different agendas. 

Ideologies are represented through images.  This refers to ideas, ideals, beliefs, and values.  “It is a characteristic way of thinking, a style of thought, and interpretive scheme employed by people to make the world intelligible to themselves.”  Therefore, every image contains an ideology; even if that ideology is that there is no ideology. 

“Representation is closely aligned with ideology because it refers to how ideology is presented in visual form.”  It is important to look at not only what is represented in a piece of art, but also what is not represented.  For what is left out can be just as important or problematic as what is put in.

Seduction is used in a variety of ways.  “When images offer arguments that reflect back our own views, our own ideological positions, they offer the pleasure of confirmation… images are also seductive because they are sensory.” 

“The gaze concerns how we look at images and the circumstances under which we look.  It refers to our predisposition to see things in certain ways, what we bring to images, and the relationships we form with them.”  In the same way gaze can give power to viewers or subjects, it can also render them disempowered just as easily.  We must take into account who is doing the gazing, for what purpose, who knows about it, and who has the power because of it? “Considering the gaze is a way in which to understand ourselves as individuals and as a society.”

Intertextuality is the idea that “images draw from other sources, copy them, parody them, and, in turn influence other cultural texts.”  It is important to be able to make connections and associations from one idea to another, in order to understand the interconnectivity underlying bigger ideas. 

“Multimodality refers to the fact that there are no purely visual images; images never appear without words, music, or other sounds.”  Therefore we must take into account how our view of a visual image is being influenced by other forms of artistic expression at the same time. 

Digital Diet Chapter 2-3

            Chapter 2 discusses the importance of advanced search tools when using the Google search engine.  Using the general Google search only reveals those pages that have the highest PageRank, that is, they have the highest number of web pages that link to that page.  This creates to broad of a search.  Advance Search allows the searcher to narrow down exactly what it is they are searching for.  In the classroom, this would allow students to find up to date, relevant research.

            Chapter 3 explains the importance of social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious, and how to set up an account for further use.  Using this tool in the classroom not only helps students remember important URL locations, but can also allow students to collaborate.  “If students are working together on a class project, they could all be required to contribute information they have researched and the sources they have identified… the teacher and the students can create class and personal Delicious accounts, and then share these accounts with one another.” 

PINTEREST INSPIRATION BOARD:

http://pinterest.com/cjcover/art-work/

INSPIRATION SOFTWARE:

POPPLET:

INTERTEXT: