Beyond the Classroom

Maia C's Photostream, Detroit Institute of Arts Flickr pool

With the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs Field Trip Grant deadline just around the corner (January 16), it seems timely to discuss taking your students out of the walls of your classroom and into the museums and cultural centers to experience Art. These offer students the opportunity to experience Art in the field with experts in the profession. Although it may seem intimidating at first, here are some surefire tips on organizing efficient trips that you and your students will enjoy:

• Plan ahead. This seems like a common sense thing to do, but it is very crucial to plan ahead for your trip. Make sure to research where you are taking kids and their policies for student tour groups. Requirements and expectations vary depending on venue. Some basic things to plan for is a schedule for the day, lunches, as well as what students will do to make up work missed in other classes. You will also want to plan for the unknown. Have scenarios thought out about what you would do in case of bad weather, a sick student, or if the schedule moves faster than anticipated. Being prepared helps avoid problem scenarios as well as gives students the security of a plan for the day away from school. 
• Ask for help. Parents are a great resource for chaperones. Make sure you give ample time for communication to parents about your trip and how many volunteers are needed. Divide students among parents by providing lists of the names as well as a list of expectations for behavior. It is important to be clear in your expectations of parents as chaperones and students as participants. If you are not, then you open yourself up to potential problems. 
• Partner up. When I planned my first field trip, I went with another teacher on my team. This helped me gain the experience and confidence to go it alone the next time. This also offers a great opportunity to pair up with a teacher from another content to make the connections between their subject and yours using authentic examples from the field.
• Communicate with your colleagues. Field trips offer an awesome opportunity for students to learn about a subject face to face. It can, however, be a burden on teachers when they have students missing work in their class to be gone for the day. To help lessen this issue, email teachers well ahead of the trip (more than two weeks prior) as well as the week before. Students should also ask for work from their teachers before missing that day so they can work on ahead of time. Consider allowing students time to make up missed work if needed during your class time; when teachers work together to solve issues of missed work due to field trips it eases any tension that could occur otherwise. 

What has been your most successful field trip? What are your favorite venues to take kids? Please post any suggestions you have about organizing field trips and where to take students to get the most impact.

Expanding Your Resources

During the Holiday season, Santa is not the only one making a list and checking it twice.

For many of us, reaching Winter break is also closely approaching the half-way point of the year and the materials we purchased for the projects planned. Whether you see students for the full year or for a smaller duration, the materials purchased for the year have been used by a good portion of students by now and (if you are like me) you are starting to strategically plan how much needs to be left in order to make it through the rest of the year.

In addition to figuring out how you might make the materials you have stretch out to the end of the year, many of you (according to a per pupil funding poll by the NAEA this year) are working with less than $3 per student. I happen to fall into that category and find that I am often having to choose between basic materials like markers, glue, and paper, forgoing the more exciting materials or projects like printmaking or Raku firing.

In order teach the projects listed above, you need the various equipment or materials to provide the experience. I used to complain and fret, spending hours upon hours doting over every last detail of my start-of-the-year order, worrying about what I was not getting. This mind set put me into a situation where I was looking only to the school district for funds (which have been cut consistently by the State), limiting the materials and experiences for a complete Visual Arts Curriculum.

It wasn't until I worked with my colleague, Jamie Kosmicki on writing a grant that I realized how much control I have over the funding opportunities offered to expand experiences for my students. Since the $1000 grant she wrote to help our High School students experience Raku firing with Paul Flickinger, I have been empowered to do the same.

Paul Flickinger at Byron Center High School, Spring 2010.

From using the resources listed in this LiveBinder, I have been able to have guest artists visit, take students on field trips, as well as buy additional materials and equipment. It has offered me a pathway to expand the resources in my classroom and as a result students have gained insight and skills that would have otherwise been left out.

During this Holiday season, I encourage you to sit down and make a list of the things you have not yet purchased due to the lack of funding. Organize those materials around a project and find the right funding source for you. If you are looking to start small, consider taking advantage of the offer by NEA through DonorsChoose of matching funds.

Good luck in all of your funding efforts to help bring more experiences to your students throughout the year. We are interested in your successes -- please post a project you have had funded in the past through a grant or fundraiser or a project you did get funded as a result of this post.