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!