You're it!

Last May I had the opportunity to attend the TEDxGrandRapids Livestream for Education event at Kentwood Fine Arts Auditorium. As we prepare for this school year, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on one particular speaker that has stuck with me throughout that day and over the summer.

The theme for this year's event was "Tag, you're it!" That feeling was all around as we were encouraged to engage in conversation throughout the breaks in the day, participate activities like decorating lunch bags for the Kids Food Basket, or while listening to the speakers illustrate the power of being "it" for someone.

Although I took away great messages from all of the speakers who discussed ideas both big and small, it was Simone Ahuja's story of Mansukh Prajapati that had the most impact on me.

Rather than write about it, I think it is best watched here:


I am sure that there are moments within this that stuck out to you, too. As an art teacher, clay is a media we use for so many things. We use it to make decorative sculptures, molds, functional items... but not until I saw this story of how this material was "reframed" did I see what an impact it could have on a community and change their lives.

As I prepare for the start of school in the next few weeks, I am going to think about this story and how I can reframe my own situation to include innovative and creative solutions that help students find their potential and explore their ideas. I am going to share this story with my students and encourage them to embrace the moment they are tagged to be "it" for somebody.

What are you doing to prepare yourself for the upcoming school year? What pieces of motivation are you bringing with you to help foster learning in your classroom? How are you going to be "it" for your students this school year?

Getting to the Core of Arts Standards

As the summer winds down and another school year starts, many of us are looking for new and engaging lessons that both capture our students' attentions as well as teach them valuable skills that they will use to grow as an artist and person. When I am developing lessons, I use many factors to determine artist, material, and subject being covered. I consider what is being taught in other content areas as discussed in this past post, I also consider the student population and what they are interested in learning through the use of Google Forms discussed in this past post, and I pour over the Michigan Content Standards and Benchmarks that can be found here.

Just as all subject areas are moving from various State level Standards and Benchmarks to the Common Core, the Arts are also being revamped through the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. This group consists of teachers from various Arts disciplines who are working together to create "the Next Generation Arts Standards." In addition to including videos and documenting the progression of their work, the group is also looking for contributors to add to the discussion. You can find more information about this on their wiki as well as see that Michigan is being well represented in the Visual Arts group by 2012 NAEA Middle Level Teacher of the Year, September Buys.




Some pieces of information I found particularly helpful when looking through their site was the draft for the Overarching Framework as well as the Review of State Arts Standards. I highly recommend giving them a look if you are as interested in developing curriculum using outcomes as a guide via backwards design.

Even with these guides, the possibilities are endless as far as what and how we teach Visual Arts. It is hard to know what is the right way because there are so many different ways to do it. What are some things that you use to help guide you through the development of lessons? What lesson do you do each year that you feel is able to hit all of the marks both with content and artistry? If you have any helpful suggestions on how to create and execute lesson plans, please share below.

Connecting Classrooms

The most powerful lessons are often the ones that include students making connections among what they are learning in one class with their other classes and outside interests. Some of my favorite lessons are the ones that allow students to learn a topic they are discussing in Math, Social Studies, English or Science with an Art twist. It gives students the opportunity to use prior knowledge and scaffold their learning in various classroom settings. 

One resource that is helpful for finding these connections without having to pour over hundreds of pages of content standards for every subject area is the Michigan Education Library. In their M.O.R.E. (More Online Resources for Education) section, they allow you to search for lessons by content area, standard, resource type, and audience. They also allow you to quickly look through content standards in order to link them up with others for the most impact. They have lesson plan ideas and samples, too, which are helpful when deciding what types of lessons you want to connect with other subject areas.

Turning to the other teachers in your building is also a helpful resource when deciding how you want to integrate your curriculum to cover what is being taught in other classes. For example, I know that in 8th grade History they discuss the Civil War and Slavery. I use this as an opportunity to have students in my 8th grade Art classes create Anthropomorphic Jars based on the Southern Slave tradition from that time period. We also look at how cultures from around the world and in different time periods have used Anthropomorphic Pottery as a way to express their culture before students create their Jars to reflect something about their personalities. By tapping into prior knowledge, students are able to add various view points and context to the discussions had in class as well as the overall effect of the work created. Here is a video of the project from start to finish:

There is often the push for other teachers to integrate Art into their curriculum, but I really find a lot of success when I integrate other curriculum into Art. It allows me to connect with other teachers, giving students a different perspective on a topic that may have struggled with in the other subject. It also allows them the opportunity to learn more information from varying viewpoints.

What is a lesson you have used that coordinates with what is being learned in other classes at your school?