Personal reflection to Chapter 4

Post your personal reflective response to Chapter 4 in relation to your teaching and artistic practice. Describe how you might apply the content discussed in Chapter 4 to your own teaching practices in the future:

Chapter 4 of Rethinking Curriculum

In this chapter I gleaned a lot about connections. To have our students understand and want to study art we need to cultivate an atmosphere where students can create connections. 

"It is the connections that students make between bits of knowledge that develop deeper understanding and avoid the pitfall of simply piling up more and more facts." pg. 28 Rethinking Curriculum. If students connect with a certain art piece then they will develop a deeper connection and appreciation. 

• Guide students to interpret art
• Assist students in studying the social, cultural and individual connections in artwork
• Teach students that art contains value, purpose and meaningful form
• Change can be an influential part of artwork

I can ask my students at the beginning of the semester: "What do you want to learn from this class? How can we learn together? What are some class expectations and rules we should agree on?" This can create an atmosphere where the students feel like they can add to the classroom management. 

Students can learn to interpret art by reading art critic's reviews and researching other resources. "Seeking significant and relevant connections to the larger world can deepen interpretation and remind students that artworks are produced and exist within a social context." pg. 45 Rethinking Curriculum. 

By basing art curriculum on key understandings, those understandings will become the primary focus of the lessons. Students will feel like their curriculum is relevant to their lives and will want to explore more ideas!

 

Week #2- Simplify with Mondrian

Since the New Year I’ve been thinking about simplifying. Simplifying my life and my future goals. For example I have a goal to create more art this year. This is a lofty and vague goal so I've decided to set a goal to create a piece of art each Sunday. This helps me break down my big goal into actionable goals.

When we cut out all excess noise, sometimes the purest form of language can speak to us. In this lesson students will analyze a still life and execute a drawing in the simplest form.

Simplify with Mondrian

• Students will analyze a collaborative still life and execute a Mondrian inspired drawing in the simplest form.

Artists: minimalist artists; Richard Serra, Agnes Martin, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Ryman.

Unit Objectives:

• Study Mondrian’s painting and recognize the artist’s stylistic choices such as abstraction, minimalism, color theory
• Investigate the class still life and select which parts to include
• Apply knowledge of his work and create a still life in the style of Mondrian

Key Concepts:

• Piet Mondrian limited his palette to white, black, and primary colors.
• His paintings are asymmetrical and balanced.
• The different colors create harmonious rhythms that stabilize the canvas.
• Students will recognize primary colors

Essential Questions:

• How did Mondrian progress to his abstract style?
• What creates a harmonious and balanced painting?
• How did the artist use composition?

Art Project:

Students will assist teacher in arranging a still life with objects around the classroom. Students will each choose a perspective and arrange their project around it.

From their perspective they will choose colors that represent the simplest form of the objects they are viewing.

Using black tape they will tape off sections on their paper according to where they want their still life. Using the simplest colors from their still life perspective they will color(colored pencils) in each section, like a Mondrian.

Summative Assessment:

• At the end of this assignment students will be able to recognize how to simplify in art.
• Students will be able to communicate their still life through abstract piece.

End of Unit assessment task:

Students will pair with a peer. Each will swap art pieces and align them with their perspective. Students will assess each other on how well they arranged their abstract still life on their papers. Students will add one compliment and criticism to back of paper. Students will also sign the back of papers to check off task.

Teaching Metaphor

Create a  metaphor for teaching or teaching/learning? Post your description and a visual response on the blog.

The Classroom as a Garden and the Students are as growing Flowers

A metaphor for teaching that I've always resonated with is acting as a gardener.

Being a teacher is like having a group of students who are your precious plants in your garden. You feel invested in them as you would your growth. I see my students as having incredible abilities and skills that when guided in the right direction, they will bloom and grow.

They are in the classroom, the garden, to learn and grown to be the very best they can be. As a teacher I need to keep the students free of weeds(intense criticism) and bugs(degrading atmosphere). I need to provide my students with water(resources to thrive) and enough sunlight(praise and confidence). I feel like I can help my students grow by guiding them on the right path.

Lesson based on a Work of Art-Modigliani