Casz Epp Art Ed Visual Journal 15-16

This Blog is for tracking my progress in my Art Ed Classes this year. The journal is very much that, it's a live track of my learning. It will be utilized as a resource as I grow as a teacher.

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Final Reflection

This last quarter of the year was a ride. With many things not going according to plan and misunderstandings being made, i struggled, but Adam has been a great partner and the rest of the class has been understanding and we all are in a better place because of it. 

As we come to the end, the EDTPA is being written, covering the whole unit, our unit plan has been revised and ready to turn in, and the eportfolio is near its 2nd draft.

I am glad we spent time in the class covering rubrics, it didn’t seem like something requiring a lot of care, but it did and i like how they have turned out. The teaching philosophy helped a lot, thinking about how a class should be, to me, allowed me to apply a lot of the theories into my teaching to add reason to how the classroom works and will look. My sketchbook activity also helped a lot, learning my mistakes on a rather difficult artist/ idea in class allowed me to adjust just hours before i taught. this kind of adjustment is important, as a teacher if i see a mistake or find something to change i can apply it to another class of students right after.

I wish we had as rigorous of a workshop for lesson plan building as we did for rubrics, it seemed many of us were struggling with the demands of the format, many were unsure what goes where, but after 4 waves of feedback, 12 weeks later i think we have got it. but it felt like something 2 full days could have benefited the class, since they were the pinnacle of the course. I wish, time wise, that we had more time for everything, it all felt so cramped, it went by so fast, but i learned a lot, and when i get to student teaching, i know i will be looking back here the whole time triple checking myself.

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Studio Thinking Ch 14

We are reading this chapter as a continuation of our conversation on Thursday about how to make our Lesson section on Art-making a bit better and more professional.

1- What ideas did you find in this chapter that are helpful towards your artmaking instruction? Use clear references and/or quotations.

working with students of different skill levels is one Adam and I have seen a difficulty in the classroom. Jim Woodside, from the reading, worked with a student that was behind, and got the student to think large shapes first, and then work down to finer details. (observe, reflect, develop, craft: technique)

2- One of the things we want you to improve is the section of your lesson called "Teacher Instruction (demo)." We need that this section includes more clear instructional strategies. This chapter explains how you can keep these instructional strategies closer to your lesson objectives by using studio-thinking habits of mind and designing strategies that speak to those studio habits. Based on this, rewrite this part of the lesson to name clear instructional strategies that are relevant for your objectives and art making.

[Kiki Smith Lesson]  Instructor will start the art making portion of the lesson by defining: Relief Print, Layering, Brayer, and Linoleum Cutters. Followed by demonstrating how to properly carve into an easy cut block, use a brayer, and how to properly apply ink to the block for printing. Instructor will end by demonstrating how to Chine-collé. Instructor will meet with each student to confirm their idea fits the criteria for the lesson prior to allowing student to start next step.

3- Another thing that we want you to improve is how you write the part of "students at work". This part needs to include more clear step-by-step tasks (Christine spoke of task analysis) of how students will do the project. Additionally, it needs to include ideas of how would you maintain engaged in learning objectives students who struggle, lose focus or require differentiation. The chapter again offers instructional strategies geared towards offering further guidance and deepening students learning. Based on the content of the article, rewrite your lesson section "students at work"

[Kiki Smith Lesson]  Students will have 10-15 mins to finalize ideas and meet with instructor to have their idea approved. Students will receive an easy cut block to carve into and start printing. Students will have the option to print multiple prints, but need to use the calibrated ink pens and tissue paper at least once each on their print they turn in. As students work, instructor will ask what and how the academic language of: Entity, Chine-collé, Line Weight, Counter Line, Gestural Line, Representation, Abstract, and Layering, is being used in their print

4- Does the rewriting of these two parts require of adjustments in your objectives and assessment criteria. What would be these adjustments? If not adjustments were needed, how the rewriting of these two parts aligns/is reflected in your objectives and criteria?

While writing these parts, i found myself having to adjust the criteria to make better sense and so they can be more clearly reflected in the lesson.

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Art Education for Democratic Life & Future's of the American Classroom

To find Gude's Art Education for Democratic Life 2009 Lowenfeld Lecture go to:  https://naea.digication.com/omg/Art_Education_for_Democratic_Life Futures of the American Classroom can be found in D2L readings.

As we asked you in the previous discussion, we would like that you extract two central philosophical ideas from these two readings that you feel close to your own teaching philosophy. Using a student-centered model, based off lived experiences

From Gude, i think Modeling Democratic Communities of Discourse is an idea i support in my classroom. to have students feel comfortable to express how they see things, and to openly modify interpretations or ideas based off that of their peers is very healthy in an art room. it is healthy out of the art room too! students working alongside each other to refine ideas and to form stronger understanding of their world is something i envision starting from my classroom. by giving them the space to learn about collaboration and respecting ideas of others can teach students the skills to be better humans and better artists.

Also from Gude, Knowing and Not Knowing as Democratic Responsibility is something that fits right with my previous connection. to know you are not done learning, to know there is much to be understood about art or the world can be seen as a scary thought, or at least an intimidating one. Students often say they can’t draw or they can’t work with their hands that well, because they are scared of risk, they have been conditioned that making mistakes are bad. In my classroom knowledge wouldn’t be everything, students would be free to experiment make mistakes and can reach out to those needing help.

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Studio Thinking Ch 15

After reading Ch. 15 of studio thinking, an Engage and Persist style of critique looks to best fit the lesson and will be beneficial to the students. We gave the students 60 to 90 minutes to work, and many of them were at various levels of done. the 2 i have selected to talk about here show this gap of completion. Both students said they had completed the work, both can do more to improve the work but one has more room for improvement than the other. in class we had the students get up and talk about their works, we had students reply with feedback and used each piece presented as a way to look at the academic language being used, as well as ways to improve art making. A question we could have asked was, "what is something you'd do differently?"

I think we have done very similarly ran critiques as to what an engage and persist critique is, though we can had more constructive feedback from students, but all together we have a critique that gets students to look and talk, and they know they will be presenting so they try to work a bit harder.

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Visual Learner 15

Using the lesson of Trenton Doyle Hancock, we can set up 2 bulletin boards, 1 that informs the crowd of the artist, and the lesson, and another used to provide an interactive live lesson bit.

this can use the students work to describe the academic language used and taught to bridge the gap and allow the parents to feel more connected to the students and their class.

A few things to include:

How Storytelling through art can be abstract

Students understanding and use of Line Weight and Pattern

Trenton Doyle Hancock's use of imagery and abstract art to tell narratives in very visual ways.

these are important in understanding much of what was taught throughout the lesson. Storytelling can be seen as just depict the characters in key moments of the story but it can also be detailing the environment the story is being told, riddled with clues and hints at what the story is about leaving it open to interpretation.

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Kenilworth Open Studios

Adam and Myself held a open mural, we invited anyone that came near to draw, some stayed for long periods of time, others just drew a shape or a face. but HUNDREDS of people, kids and adults participated in this 8 panel mural. 

This activity was inspired by Trenton Doyle Hancock. We were thinking of doing like this in our classroom for the lesson, but being the first lesson we were not positive on the effect collaborative work had with our kids. so we went on with a smaller activity in the classroom. with the success from this event we are planning to do another at IDEAL for their Art Night.

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Random Sketches from class

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The Homeless Crate This was a quick commercial made for my remix class, Art 309. the project had us research an issue in our neighborhood, and create a solution. my issue was homeless people attacking people late at night downtown. a fair percentage of assaults and muggings are by homeless people, they lure you in with a begging look, and when you're close enough they grab what they can and run. 

We had to talk to people, interview locals, and tweet our responses. this video was my solution i designed, the Homeless Crate is a supply drop, keeping the homeless at bay with supplies to care for themselves and family. the hopes would be the crate can also be used as materials to build a home for the homeless by the homeless.

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Making Bronze 4

In Art 212, we were to make a video to show our identity or a mood. My video, aimed at the gaming community, showcases the turning point in my gaming career. 

Video remixing and Video editing has grown as an art form. Showcasing ideas, remixing imagery or even highlighting a specific theme in a work all affect the communication that happens when watching an art video.

I use this and others like it to highlight my streams and to share the best moments of my efforts to my audience.

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MAM: Nature and the American Vision

This exhibit showcases the works of various artists painting the once beautiful landscapes of America. the artists called themselves the Hudson River School, and were widely considered the country’s first national artistic movement.

artist like: ALBERT BIERSTADT, FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH, THOMAS COLE, and LOUISA DAVIS MINOT worked with writers and poets to capture the untouched land and document the beauty only a few others could say they have witnessed.

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Cultivate: WI ART ED

This show was a group show with each artist being an Art Educator in Wisconsin. Some local from UW-Milwaukee, some from UW-Madison even UW-Parkside had an artist.

the work varied from fibers to jewelry to furniture to sculpture. attached are some of my favorites from the show.

its interesting to see the work from Jamie Bertsch (UW-MKE), as i’ve had her as a teacher and she’s shown some work of hers before.

The Mousetrap was one i enjoyed the most, it reflects on the use of smartphones, we are rats, uncontrollably drawn to social media and the act of showing off for other rather than experiencing for ourselves.

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5/5/16 -- Day 8: Casz - Kara Walker

LAST DAY!!! :D D: *both happy and sad*

So we started class with a review session on the academic language and the ideas Kara Walker represents in her work, contemporary issues. i then led a demo on how to cut paper safely since again we have destructive students and sharp tools. Students worked with Adam and Myself to plan out their silhouette drawings, and we supervised the students to ensure a safe environment.

We talked about Art Night, many students initially said they were excited to go, but today they seemed less enthused. We will have to see how many of our students show up.

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4/28/16 -- Day 7: Casz - Kara Walker

This was a heavy topic. Today we used Kara Walker to talk about Rape and Sexual Assault. I lead a lecture on maturity and informed the students that full cooperation was needed, the few I figured that would act immature and disrespectful did, and i talked with them many times to finally get a bit of respect from them while talking about Kara’s work. We used her topics to talk about contemporary issues. which then students had a provided list to start from and Chromebooks if they wanted to do further research on a chosen topic or on one of their choice. 

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4/21/16 -- Day 6: Casz - Kiki Smith

Artmaking with this class has consistently gone quicker and smoother than intended. It leaves room for Adam to catch the students that missed classed to catch up a smidge. i led a demo on how to cut the block safely since we have destructive students and sharp tools being used. SAFETY IS KEY! Today we were worried that we wouldn’t have time, the kids were taking a LONG time on cutting their blocks. but once the class was done carving, they printed and worked on their narratives while the work dried. they enjoyed the Chine-colle and most have expressed joy towards their work, even those that do not care for art a whole lot. SCORE!

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4/14/16 -- Day 5: Casz - Kiki Smith

Today is my first day leading the class, students were interested in the teacher samples Adam and myself had made, so it was easy to get talk about the artmaking, but they were getting too comfortable with us, Adam and myself struggled to get the class to focus. The packets had minimal notes and responses written down. it was their 3rd packet and the class was expressing lack of interest in them. the older or more advanced students still put full effort into the packets, but the 6th graders or those not really excited about art left parts blank even after multiple reminders that the packet was a part of the grade.

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4/07/16 -- Day 4: Adam - Fred Stonehouse 

As students were working, Adam and I addressed the direction of coloring in shapes with color pencil. some students were going all in one direction, which is ideal for a smooth texture, but a few were switching, which can be more comfortable. So we mentioned students can change directions, they just have to move the paper. students were happy with this new method of coloring.

A critique was held and students had many nice things to say about each others’ work.

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3/24/16 -- Day 3: Adam - Fred Stonehouse

Adam Started the class with a drawing exercise called exquisite corpse. Each table of 3, we had 2 absences so Adam and myself filled in too, rotated paper around to have 3 students collaborate on 1 drawing. the student that drew the head got to keep their drawing.

Adam used this to talk about juxtaposition and segwayed into Fred Stonehouse’s work. Though, Fred has more meaning behind his work, the class took on the ideas very strongly and could not wait to do it themselves.

The rest of class time was used to talk about the works of Fred Stonehouse and form ideas for the art making part the next time we meet.