I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who exhibited, contributed to, or visited this exhibition. It was such a fantastic experience to be a part of. I loved the chance to be part of the team of curators and see such exciting and varied responses from our extended community of teachers and artists. I will really treasure this experience, and the people who supported us, as one of my Jeju highlights. It was a big personal leap to show my work in public. SOOO I have been doing things. I think I have made art.
As part of the Creative Unblocking 1 task I have made actions on to paper. I let go of the ego and the concern and the feeling of not being enough. I let it go and just did. I just did work. I let myself have a moment where I refilled my jar. I was just doing more and thinking less. I was reactive to a surface, exploring the things that I was interested in at that moment. Taking risks, making mess and moving on... and it felt fantastic. Is it perfect? No. Am I in love with it all? No. Is that important? ..YEIN..? (Yes and No) Synthesis: the combination of ideas to form a theory or system. Art Analysis is a skill that my students are still working on so I thought I would share how I have tried to teach them, in order to see if anyone else can help me. All feedback, suggestions, and ideas are welcome. I love looking at the work of other artists, and have a genuine interest in what the artists have done and why, but I do not see the same passion ignited in my students. They see it as a 'task' rather than a valuable step. We used to do the 4 step analysis, but the students would not engage in the synthesis aspect so here are a few things that I have done to try and encourage it... 1) Unpicking the research According to the IB command terms, when students write an Art Analysis they must "Break down in order to bring out the essential elements or structure. To identify parts and relationships, and to interpret information to reach conclusions." (IB Command Terms). First they must break down into essential elements or structure then identify relationships then interpret information to reach a conclusion. I have created a prezi where I modelled how I would research an artist's work to Diane Mayer. Pablo Picasso. 2) Post-it note practice. I find that some of the answers that I get show an understanding of the media, or the concept behind, but are not showing the how they know. They do not sythesise the information to show a real understanding. For example: "In the piece "We Don't Need Another Hero" Barbara Kruger is looking at gender in equality." instead of "Kruger expresses her stance on gender in equality in "We Don't Need Another Hero" by showing a girl pointing and being impressed by a boys muscles as this reinforces the idea that women are presented as weaker and unequal in society." To aid this I ask them to use post its. One for the point that they are making, one for the one evidence that they can use to prove it, one for connection between the point and the evidence. 3) Chalk Talk This is a "visible thinking strategy" that was developed by us to help the students to look at the artwork and justify their question and raise new ones. The aim is for them to look at what the artist has done and respond using only the three pens, not verbally. The idea is that they either say a feeling, ask a question, or answer a question. The students are still developing these skills. Any help would be greatly welcomed.
OK so I have decided that I will put these up on the blog, and paraphrase the tasks. I think the book is really cool and don't want to copy and paste the whole thing.. plus I am talking about how I was creative and hope that people may give me other ideas too :)
Creative unBlock Project No.1 [scroll down for the pictures] I can't wait to update you on what I have been up to since my last post. I am a changed woman. My creativity is revived.. Is what I wanted to be able to say. I am sorry to say that I have done nothing. Big Old Ops. All the work for school, for students, for their projects, none for myself... but I did get AMAZING support from people. I want to thank you all for that, knowing that I am not alone in this and that I have amazing people who can offer ideas, guidance and share their own solutions has been great.
Suggestions included: Start a class Start a drawing a day challenge See more art Look for the inspiration in the every day Take LSD (this was a joke) Make time for it Sign up for a masters long distance at SCAT or OCA Find what gave me passion before and revisit it Don't worry about the 'should' as much Start the artists' way All fantastic, none followed.. I have made these steps: Bought a car (so I can finally get places) Told myself that it was ok that I still wasn't doing anything. Made more excuses than work. I have been creatively using more EAL resources in my lessons following recent PD, but just not artwork. Talked about this problem with lots of creative people, from different fields and places. Made a new GalPal GREAT START, JESS! Well, I am not all doom and gloom, I am going to try again, and this time I have a secret weapon- my book Creative Block has arrived. I am committing to doing each task and reflecting. I did like the fact that I had written the last post, but I also felt so awkward and exposed. That faded. Keep commenting and giving advise. Thanks team. I have been struggling with this for quite a while, but listening to a podcast this morning about how this artist, Jay Dart can not help but record all his ideas on his way to work made it really hit home: I am not creative anymore. Anymore? Maybe I never was? Maybe it isn't something that I can get back, because I never had it. An ex told me that my roommate Witty Hearts was more creative than me. It was such a hard thing to hear. I tried to say it wasn't true, but it was. I love her work and all that she does, but she was able to balance her intellectually stimulating job with her artwork and I wasn't. I am already making excuses. She is. She is more creative and has a really cool line of cards and art goods that she is constantly making. She has not done a degree in design, is completely self taught and is passionate. Something I lack.
I am passionate about my job as an art teacher; harnessing my students creativity, developing their ideas, pushing them to justify the ideas better. I am excited by what the next project will be, how I will use the skills and resources available, developing art as a language, and the English language component of the classroom.. but that is not me as an artist. I am not creating, barely even resources anymore. I have no fire in my hands anymore and feel like the connection between them and my brain is gone. I do not know what I want to do any more. For the past few years I have struggled with this. I have been feeling such a disconnect from myself as an artist. I think I have given so many excuses; "I am an art teacher so that's enough, right?" or "It's really busy being a teacher and I need a break" or "No one else does it so I don't feel like it is something that I want to do alone" or "I can't drive and so I can't get anywhere for classes" What it comes down to is that I am not comfortable enough to try. I am not happy. It has not always been like this, I was always the "arty one", in class and at home. Ben was scientist, Daniel was sporty, I was arty. Why am I not feeling connected to this now? I have done bits for friends, painted some portraits and have really enjoyed doing them, and having something that needs to be finished, but I am not doing anything else. I haven't even started a portrait since I moved. Even as I write this I am scared to publish it. I am scared to let it be seen, let it be seen that I am not who I feel I should be as an art teacher. Perhaps that is part of the feeling of being an imposter that Danielle Krysta has mentioned in her book “Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk [and other truths about being creative]”. I havn't read it yet. I am not sure if my inner critic is telling me it will not be good enough or if I just do not have the energy to do it anymore. ..Then I think about what I do with my time and it is shit. I procrastinate, I watch Netflix far too much, I listen to podcasts, I don't exercise and I complain a fuck tonne, and swear a lot too (but I will deal with one vice at a time.) I have the time and I need to make sure that I do it. So why bother posting? Well, I am trying to force myself to get up and do something about it. I want to make art, I want to do things, I want to be happy, basically, like any addict (or person with an issue) I think I need to admit it. I need to make it public so I do something about it. I need to have some sort of accountability, something that I have said I am doing, so I have to say that I have corrected it. I know I will not be the only one, and I have wonderful creative friends who could help me.. but I know I need to get out of this rut. Or at least try to. Fingers crossed.. Quizlet: Fantastic to help with building vocabulary#credstoDQueva #CredstoMCRivest This was a website that I started to use in Berlin Brandenburg School, Germany. We had a very international demographic, so this was a fantastic way to give extra support to the ones in the lesson that needed it. + They are really easy to make and really easy to adjust too + Range of images - Not everything you have to pay to add in your own or from the internet + Students can test the knowledge themselves differently. You assign the study set and then they can add choose lots of which 'game' to use. (see image below) + Makes vocabulary fun + Can add in competition. Real Time Digital QuizI have taken the information from Quizziz and added some more of my information.
Quizizz allows you to conduct student-paced formative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students of all ages. The salient features include:
#credstoVJansen #credstoMMurphy
This awesome resource idea was shared with me and so I thought it would be good to share too.
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AuthorTeacher of Art in an EAL setting Archives
June 2018
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