Developing Responsibility

I’m trying something new this year. In an effort to provide my students with a sense of ownership and responsibility, (while also hoping to reduce the constant and never-ending output of pencils and erasers that I experienced last year) I gave all 57 of my high school students 3 of their very own drawing pencils (2H, HB, 6B), 2 markers, 2 blending stumps and 2 erasers. To hold their new supplies, the students created a personalized envelope from one of their decorative papers and received a penny folder from Staples to hold their work. These supplies are theirs forever!

The whole experience reminds me of when I was in 6th grade and received my very first art supply kit from my grandparents for Christmas. I liked how they looked, felt and smelled…even though I didn’t have the foggiest idea what to do with them! As I slowly learned how to use those materials, I felt more and more like an artist.

30+ years later, I'm extending the same ownership to my students with hopes that each one of them will feel more and more like an artist.

New Media

Last year, I taught high school drawing and painting for the first time in my 21 year long career. This year (number 22), I'm tackling new media, by taking my first group of students to the computer lab yesterday to get them started on our year long blog assignment! It was so exciting. I have 60+ students in my Creative Arts classes and they are all required to keep a blog. We're still in the process of building them, but so far so good! I was very proud of how they handled this and how serious about it some of them are already becoming. They may be "digital natives" being taught by a "digital immigrant" but we're speaking the same language...and I like it!

Teaching by Example

When I started developing and writing the Art is Elemental curriculum, I became frighteningly aware of the waste and wastefulness in my work life. It inspired me to take action in my classroom. Last year I invested in a bunch of IKEA dishtowels (79 cents each - they were 49 cents when I started doing this at home a couple of years ago.) I have the towels hanging by my sink. I change them daily (more so if needed) and I wash and fold them over the weekend to restock them on Monday. There are still paper towels available for the really gross jobs.

I wasn't sure if it would work or if it would really make a difference or not...but I gotta tell ya, IT DID! The kids use them, they feel much better on your hands than the cardboard-like paper towels the school provides, and it became second nature for all of us. My garbage can barely had anything in it at the end of each day (no lie!) and over the course of one school year, I figure we maybe went through 4 rolls of paper towels!! How crazy is that?

I was kinda expecting that I might lose steam for this endeavor, (people who know me, know that I'm a tad compulsive) but I stayed motivated by just looking at my garbage can! I think actions like this are a simple way we can teach by example. I'm about to start year #2 of my "resusable hand towel system", but this time I only need to purchase a few more! Reuse & Reduce, the investment has already paid off!

iphoto books!

Creating a book to document, celebrate or share your students’ work is easy and fun to do! If you use a mac, your iphoto has options built right in! If you use a PC, there are lots of resources, like Shutterfly, that will assist you in creating books using pictures you already have.

I developed a lesson for my sixth grade students that had them using Yann Arthus-Bertrand's Earth From Above photographs as inspiration. The students reacted and responded to several of his photographs and created their own interpretive tempera batik landscapes. In addition to being inspired by Bertrand's photographs, the students also learned a little bit about where his photos were taken and where those places exist on our planet.

I really loved the paintings and found myself drooling over them and their luscious textures and colors. My students enjoyed doing them too! My appreciation for Bertrand's work and my gratitude for the inspiration it provided me and my students, left me wanting to thank him directly. I had never made a book in iphoto, but I knew it would be the perfect thank you gift. Turns out, it's super easy to do and was only $39 for a beautiful, customized, 20 page, hard cover book! How great is that?

When we go back to school in September, I'm going to have my students sign it before I send it off to him! I think they will be thrilled to see their work published in a "real" book that's going to find its way into the hands of the artist they studied in class! It's not just good manners to thank the people who inspire you, it's also a good lesson for students to see demonstrated!

Click here to see examples of more students’ work. A complete PDF e-booklet of this lesson is included in the NEW Kiickstart Tempera Batik DVD, available this October!

Art in Our Schools

Over the past several months a committee at the New Jersey Department of Education has been reviewing the NJQSAC, DPR process. The goal of this review was to streamline the accountability process. Sounds like a good thing right? Well, I'm not so sure about that.

NJQSAC is the process NJ schools go through every three years to demonstrate they are providing the proper instruction required by the state. It's a lengthy, time consuming process that no one likes, but in my opinion, it's been kind of a "good nuisance", because it keeps art programs (and other special area programs) in the arena with the other core subjects. It validates and acknowledges all of the subject areas and their role in preparing 21st century learners.

If the changes they are proposing go through, the two tiers would be:

TIER 1 (STAYS MONITORED): Language Arts Literacy, Math, Science, Social Studies and World Languages. These content areas will remain as part of the NJQSAC District Performance Review.

TIER 2 (WOULD NOT BE MONITORED): Visual and Performing Arts, Technology, Health and Physical Education and Career Education. Under the new changes, these content areas would no longer be monitored through the NJQSAC District Performance Review.

It's a sensitive issue, because this is the first attempt, by any group, to prioritize content areas, defining some to be "important enough to monitor", and others "not as important".

A public hearing on the changes is scheduled for August 3RD at 3 PM.

Email the NJ State Board of Education Office

and ask that all nine content areas be included in the DPR under Items 14, 15 and 16 of the proposed District Performance Review.

Click HERE to send a message. You will be provided with an editable form letter.

What's at risk??? It's my concern that this type of change to the core content areas in the state of New Jersey will make it easier (and acceptable) for school districts to reduce course offerings and cut programs in the Tier 2 subject areas. In education, things that aren't "required" have a funny way of disappearing.

If students don't have to have certain courses to graduate, as required by the state, they're easier to cut because they are deemed as unecessary. I don't know about you, but since when has a holistic, well-rounded education ever been UNecessary???

got ideas?

Every creative person I know understands that the creative process is a circuitous route. Looking at seemingly unrelated things can give you some of your greatest ideas! I've noticed that my best ideas have almost always come to me when I was doing something else...like taking a shower, sleeping, working in the garden or by allowing myself to think around the idea that I'm hoping to find. It's harder to get a good idea when I have to have it NOW. Time, space and air help me. It's why summer is such a wonderful gift, not only to my stress level, but also for allowing ideas to flow freely. It's far less stressful to get lost when you aren't late for something, just as it's far less stressful to think around an idea than to think hard about it with a gotta have it now sense of urgency.

One of the best ways I know to "get" ideas is to be receptive and open to letting them find you. It requires us to relax, and believe that they actually will find us! There's action involved in this, it's not passive, but the action isn't in the form of a direct attack on getting an idea, it's done more in the form of looking at stuff, reading, journaling, sketching, talking, listening, making lists, writing things down, taking a nap, etc. - circuitous!

Today is the halfway mark of summer vacation. How lucky I feel to have a job I enjoy and the time to find new ideas to keep it fun!

when TRAsh becomes ART

The RMS Plastic Installations - JUNE 8, 2011

Inspired by the school-wide art theme, "Art is Elemental" the RMS students rescued plastic utensils from the garbage during their lunches from September to June. The dirty utensils were "thrown away" in a special container, and were washed and decorated - ready for their new life as Art.
Fifteen middle school students were randomly selected to participate in the installation project and created three temporary murals using over 1,200 decorated utensils and over 1,700 plastic lids! The RMS Plastic Installations speak to our society's reliance on disposable plastics.

Watch the video!

Click here to see more photos and to read the students’ statements.