1. How do you read a book?
When I read I usually read in bed or when I’m traveling on a train or plane. When I’m at home I have a whole set up ritual I go through. Usually I find myself a snack get a big glass of water and change into comfy pants. That’s how I usually read a book. 2. In thinking about how to teach, what is your opinion about the presence of absence of the teacher? Sugata Mitra, studies how children teach themselves. For example, by placing computers in remote villages in India, and asking the children questions, then leaving them… https://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_how_children_teach_themselves?language=en. Sugata Mitra style really appeals to me as it’s how I teach myself so many things. Any questions I have I usually go to the internet to see how other people have done it or what the experts have to say. I’m not sure how I feel about allowing kids to access the internet during exams. I think it’s an important skill to learn how to teach yourself. I think it leads to lifelong learning. If you can’t figure things out by yourself then you are forever dependent on others to help you and that’s never a position I want to be in. 3. How do you think about helping students become better artists? What does it mean for a child to be an artist? What does it mean for an adolescent to be an artist? I really want my students to have a lot of independent time in class to explore what they are interested in. I was thinking maybe I’d allow them to submit ideas of what they want to do for their AP portfolio and explore what they really want to do. What does it mean for a child to be an artist? I think it means to be a researcher. As a child you are exploring, learning and experimenting. To be an artist as a child is to be curious. What does it mean for an adolescent to be an artist? I think it means to be a researcher and executor of ideas. I think that by adolescents you are still doing all the exploring, researching and playing but you usually have some more concrete ideas you are exploring and you use art as a way to search for more answers or express yourself. 4. What other ideas do the authors stress in thinking about how to teach? Remember your students art work isn’t about you. Don’t try to decide for your students what you are going to teach them. Teach them about working artists. Steal your students’ ideas and make them into lessons Allow your students minds to wonder and find their place. Allow students to play and don’t make it so serious. Make your classroom all about the work. The process of art. DO HAVE A CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN Remember no two students are alike and won’t have the same experience no matter if it’s considered the “best practice.” Teach your students the basic skills they need techniques, critics, skills but allow them to do what they really want to do. 5. There is an interesting section about process and product. In your experience and practice as an artist or teacher, how to do think about the relationship between product and process? The book talked about fighting against the pressures of the school, parents and outside sources to have all your student’s produce polished works and allow your students to create their work. Student agency is so important. We have to fight back our own fears we have if the students make work we don’t understand and still allow them to make what they desire to make. We can continue to help them with knowledge we do have technically or find artists who do similar skills to what the student is looking for, but we can’t let our fears hinder the students experience. 6. Classroom management is an important issue for teachers, especially beginning teachers. The authors describe 14 aspects of classroom management. Write a response to one or two of them. 1. Consider never using the term “classroom management” 2. Ninety percent of a good learning and teaching environment has to do with curriculum. 3. You do not need to expect the same norms of behavior as are appropriate in other contexts. 4. You should be extra collaborative with teachers and staff around this question. 5. Make your own rules but make as few as possible. 6. Make your rules serve the art-making and the discipline, or be clear that they are about something else. 7. Don’t drive yourself crazy. a. Accepting that the classroom is my space too is important to me. I love for my students to be happy and excited, but I need order and to protect my own sanity. I feel like students usually pick up on if today is the day to play or the day to work. I’m actually shocked how sensitive and intuitive some kids can be. I think for me having pretty solid ground rules is important. 8. Be flexible. 9. Involve students 10. Avoid appealing to external authority 11. Don’t escalate conflicts unnecessarily. 12. Do not allow yourself or others to use art0making as a reward or to deny it as a punishment 13. You are a role model. You are not a role model a. This idea relieved a lot of anxiety I was having about being front and center for a lot of students. “The only role you should model is you.” I think sometimes I require permission to be myself because I always assume people would rather have someone else. The book had a lot to say about being spontaneous and that’s impossible if you aren’t being yourself. 14. Be yourself 6. The authors also write about artistic influence and exemplars. In the history of art education this has been a huge topic. Some theorists claim that showing students artistic models or exemplars will discourage or stunt creativity. How do you think artistic exemplars should be used? YES artistic examples need to be used. Art is just as academic as any other subject and we have a history and a culture that needs to be examined and shared! We need to know who has come before us so that we can build off their work or steal bits just for ourselves. I find that most artist carry a past artist close to their heart like a token or talisman who guides them through their own art making process. To deny a student anything that could help them or connect them to the art world is wrong. If the resources are available to me they will be available to my students.
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Myleka Bevans
Classwork for Art 450 Archives
December 2018
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