Portfolio

http://issuu.com/christinecover

Final Presentation Slides - Constructing Your World

I chose several of the main slides from my final presentation.  Here they are:

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.

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.  

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

Big Idea Book - Guess Page for Kate Stieren

Blog Entry #2

Self Portrait Victor Brauner, 1923

Inspiration images:

BIG IDEA

Identity

What is a self Portrait?

Artist Background:

Victor Brauner was part of the Surrealist movement.  He rarely painted himself with two eyes.  He either obstructs one eye or paints it as a mechanism or wound.  In 1938 Brauner lost an eye while trying to break up a bar fight.  

Essential Discussion Questions:

What do we know about Surrealists? What were they often trying to communicate in their work?

What do we know about this artist's personal history that would change our view of this painting in comparison with his other paintings?

What does the image communicate to the viewer when an eye is obstructed?

What is important about "eyes?"  (In a painting why is it important we see both eyes, why is important the figure does or doesn't make eye contact with the viewer, etc)

What can we say about ourselves through self-portraits?  How might we do this?

Activity:

Create a self-portrait in which you add or subject an important object or body part.  What would you like this to communicate to the viewer?  

Artist Journal Entry 

Big Idea pages 3 and 4

Identity