ambition

I was a highly motivated person in high school. Even if there was something that I did not want to do, I would still turn it in. I think it comes from my parenting and how we valued education. It was not just something that if we do well, we get an extra $20 every report card. We wanted to learn and were involved and interested in a wide variety of things.

I see some students in my field experience that do not participate, or are productive, or so anything at all other than just sit there. I think it is either they just do not want to be there, or they are not interested. But then why are they taking that class? is is required? was this the only option they figured they could stomach for the whole year?

I want to get these students involved and doing something. If i can connect anything to what they want to do and make art interesting then I should do it, but it is hard and at times frustrating, but that is they goal for all teachers. I also think that there is a valuable lesson even in the terms of "this is the assignment and you need to do it". It is called being responsible and taking care of what needs to get done.

advocacy

I will want to advocate for the arts in my district and show how important the arts are. As a teacher I can join groups that advocate for the arts and share ideas within communities. I think it is important for teachers to crank up their imaginations by sharing and brain storming and trying new things. You can get comfortable with doing skill lessons and teaching techniques which is probably what the school districts want. But you can take those skills to a new degree and make the project incorporate those skills in a new way. I see this happen where for example students learn about monocromatic color schemes where they pick on color and just add black or white. They can cathc on to this comcept pretty quick because it is not rocket science and after the first or second value scale they try they should get it. But take this project and make it unique. Make them think about a drawing and have them only use one shade at a time and then build everyday with a different shade so they can see the image becoming more and more elaborate. It is also good for teachers not to get stuck in their own ways. I hope to have enough different projects I can do so I do not have to repeat anything for a few years. I think students can get involved in advocating for the arts by appreciation and even becoming involved within the school in more than one field of art like theater and music. They can get more ideas and show to the schools that art is very important to their high school lives.

collaborative artmaking

The community is something that I will want to incorporate more into my classroom because looking back on what I did as a student, there was very little community collaborations in my art curriculum. We had a very supportive community as far as the arts, and we were right by the art center of Des Moines, but I never felt like we did much within the community. My artwork was enjoyed by the community when I helped build and paint set pieces for our musical. I do remember doing collaborative art project within our classroom. One in particular was life size plaster figures that represented high school students. My group kept on fight though and my teacher wanted me to be the peacemaker. That was interesting.

There are many benefits to collaborative artmaking. New ideas get tossed around, people have to cooperate with each and listen, they have to work as a team. It is just never fun when you are suppose to work as a team and one of the members does not hold up on their part. I like the part in the RWR that said people are willing to accept a decision and make better decisions for the good of everybody if they participate in the decision making process. That is very true and an excellent and applicable lesson to teach students in the art room how to make decisions that are for the good of the whole ( or in this case for good of the project). It gets kids thinking beyond what they like and can see art as a bigger idea.

I think when I teach a lesson that incorporates collaborative artmaking I will have an element of the project that the student will be responsible for making their own unique piece and then figure out how to incorporate it into the bigger puzzle. Its fun to see your own piece participate in something bigger and grander than what you could have imagined.

Disabilities

ok. So I look at it like this. We all have something that enables us to preform at a certain level in some aspect of our lives. Therefore we ALL have some sort of a disability.

I have been around and have worked with young people with physical and mental disablities ever since I was in third grade. My dad worked at a children's habilitation center where young people with major disabilies lived. We would go every week to do activities like art projects, relay races, take them bowling, ect. I remember learning how to use sign language to sign to this one boy named Mario who was bound to a wheel chair. It always gave him a huge grin on his face when you would sign "M" to him and motion with your hands a smiley face. That's how he knew his name.

I also took part in Best Buddies in high school where you were paired up with a disabled student and talked with them about school, take them to events, and participate in the Special Olympics every year. My junior year I had Ben who had down syndrome and my senior year I had Nick who had some physical issues but I never knew what. Both of these boys were fun and energetic people. They enjoyed hanging out with other students that were in their school and had tons of school spirit. It was so much fun seeing them at football games all decked out in school colors. I do not keep intouch with them but at times, I wish I still did.

I noticed when I spent time talking with these boys about school, they had a positive outlook on their classes. These boys enjoyed being apart of the school community and I think that best atmosphere for them to go to school was one where they were accepted by others and participated along side them. Our school and teachers were always willing to involve students with disabilities in musicals, sports, ect. They took some classes with special needs teachers but often some where able to take classes with normal students. They were Incorporated, not pushed aside. As a teacher, I hope that the atmosphere I create in my classroom is that everyone is welcome. I think the best subject that could show off the talents of students with disabilities is ART!

cultural icons

I would have no problem of students using cultural icons in their artwork. Afterall, they are every where and reflect in our lives. I think I would do as the teacher was encouraged to do is to discuss a topic about an icon and bring up controversial issues that are relevant to students. It will get them interested and involved in discussing deeper meaing about an icon and also get them to talk about their artwork afterward. I think that it is important to make projects that have the students imput. "If we listen to our students, they will listen to us."

The images can tell us a lot about the students if we are aware and make good observations. I would try not to judge or think stereotypically about a student, but it I can get the students to discuss more to me about what and why they used this icon in their piece I could learn a lot and use it for future reference.

If a student used an image that represented a culture but was deemed inappropriate I would either talk to them about it and see if it can be a project that they write up a significance about that we could display next to the picture,. or talk to them and give them credit but let them know we might not be able to discuss it in class. It really depends but art is a form of freedom of speech and I think that we are too quick to point out thing that could be wrong. If it is offensive to you , then do not look at it!

GLBT

I like and agree with the thought that "good teachers teach about all different types of people." We are not doing our jobs if we avoid or try to leave out people's sexuality. I am in no position to tell students or give advice about their "sexual identy" but I am there to treat them with respect and provide a safe environment to learn. I would have not problem with students who "came out" to me because I support and have gay friends. I would show them the same respect I would give any of my other students and offer help and guidance just like I would to any of my other non-gay students.

To tell their friends and family is completely up to them. I had a friend that after he told me he was gay, he waited a whole year before he told his mom. When she did find out it was a huge relief to both of them because they could actually talk about it from then on. Every gay friend I have had has had a supportive family and community. I am shocked when reading about harrassment to the level of yelling and abuse within the schools to gay students. There needs to be some quick action by the community to get involved, educate themselves, and learn their manners. Its OK to have different opinions but that does not give anyone the right to harass and threaten others.

I like how the chapters talked about using non-threating and offensive language like "that's gay" because it is unnecessary. I also like the idea of showing examples of gay artist especially ones that are very familiar. I think it would be really great for the art teacher to provoke conversations about sexual identity but I think teachers just assume to keep taboo subjects like that out of their classroom. I would have no problem but would probably find other adults that would not feel comfortable allowing that to go on in their school especially in the smaller school district that I am hoping to teach in after college. That area just has not been exposed to issues such as GLBT but that would not keep me from teaching about all types of people.

discimination

First, I am tired of reading stereotypes about cultures and what the statistics show because they lead to more stereotypes. If we are going into the teaching world thinking that we know about this group because of the statistics we will make our own judgments that could turn into discrimination. I want so badly for the day to come when we stop looking at how different people are and start looking at how much alike we are.

Secondly, I strongly believe you will get out of your education what you want from it. It is not because you are this or that or male or female that you will do good in school or not. Every stereotype that was listed in this chapter I knew a personal account that contradicted it. I came from a high school that you could walk down the halls and hear four different language being talked between the students. I think I was most surprised at the fact that because our school was so diverse, we had very little discrimination between the groups. In fact, there was little grouping within your culture to begin with. I loved it. The fights and poor misbehavior issues came from the white students, or at least what I remember.

Thirdly, to answer the question given to us by our teacher,Yes I have discriminated against people, whether it be prejudging them or not even giving them a chance. As a culture, we do this all the time. It is like looking for context clues when you read a book. How do we read people? Is there any such thing as GOOD stereotypes? And Yes I have been discriminated against and you learn to pick your battles. I am not going to let someone tell me I cannot do something because they feel like I am incapable of doing it. Once again, I get most frustrated when people focus merely on our differences.

After that thought, it brings me to my last thought about this chapter. How do I demonstrate respect for cultural heritage as a teacher? What does that even mean. I respect people and by doing that would and should respect their culture. Does respecting another culture mean I become more familiar with it? Should I teach about in my class? Why can't we teach about people in the large retrospect versus this culture and that cultures. Guess what...the whole idea of "culture" sound to me like a bunch more stereotypes coming into our schools.