Regarding Education

6th year teaching. Primary school. Somewhere in Africa

[the-confused-muse]

obsessed with stories that start out silly and stupid and then turn out to be deep and heartbreaking in their beauty. like okay, make me cry at midnight while i reflect on the true meaning of friendship i guess

[mriree]

There's this one author in my country in particular

Half way through this scary story about werewolves, we pause to reflect how divorce affects children, and the class quickly goes quiet for 7minutes straight

[shelandsorcery]

What I've Learned About Teaching Art

I’ve had the privilege of teaching art in a variety of environments - from still life oil painting at the college level, to combining art with science and history in a museum setting, to guiding highschool students through creating a comics anthology. Through these very different settings, I’ve found a list of constants that, when I keep them in mind, help me deliver the most enjoyable and effective art education for my students. One of my core beliefs is that art is, at the heart of it all, something a student must teach themself, and that a classroom, workshop, or camp that wants to teach art is actually responsible for creating an environment and offering projects that facilitate that self-driven learning. With that on the table, here is the pantheon of truths that, if I can hold on to all of them, help me create that learning environment:

- Almost no one is inherently unable to draw. Additionally, everyone can improve at drawing. With the wealth of “traditional” media, digital tools, and thousands upon thousands of years of art history with which we can map the possibility space, it seems obvious that if someone wants to make art, then they absolutely can.  If they want to draw, then no teacher should ever, EVER tell a student that they “can’t.” The teacher’s role is usually to take a student who already secretly believes they can’t draw and help them see both the breadth of possibilities and the potential within themselves to improve whatever skills they start with. - Drawing is not always about making a beautiful image. The obsession with one kind of “good drawing” creates an artificial limit on who is allowed to draw. Sometimes being an art teacher is about expanding a student’s definition of art as opposed to pushing their frustrated and dejected pencil along a path towards a narrow goal. The reality is that even within pop culture we see so many gorgeous kinds of art! Beyond that, aiming superficially as an artist for a particular surface result will almost always create lesser work than creating an understand of underlying processes and theories that helped the “good art” come into existence. - Drawing can teach new ways of seeing. Observing with the intent of drawing can transform how a person perceives the world. So much of teaching art is teaching visual literacy, the literal act of reading meaning within visual input, whether that’s a still image, a film, a building or a natural landscape. When you motivate students to read visuals by providing them with new ways to understand creating visuals, you jump start their investment in visual literacy. - Drawing can help us think about things differently. Thinking can shift along with modes of seeing - what is a structural way of thought? What is a compositional way of thought? When you teach art, you must teach a student to look at things holistically and in granular elements - besides just enhancing thought processes moving between the two states, you can get much more discovery in the analytical and planning modes of appreciating and creating artwork. - Drawing from reference is as educational as reading. Learning to examine visual reference closely creates a new kind of literacy - visual literacy. Drawing from reference, especially with guided or motivated questions to be answered, can create an opportunity for modes of analysis that students don’t get to otherwise use. Developing visual observation and creating a practice of looking both closely and holistically can create a layered understanding of the subject. Even students resistant to traditional still life drawing processes can find benefit in using drawing to answer self-guided questions. - Learning by making art is a valid mode of learning. Making art can be a mode of learning that both alternates between input and output and creates a sense of ownership/agency in both modes. The hands on creative process is a kind of guess and check system that can be designed carefully to allow students to make a wide variety of types of decisions, and teaches them to create goals and investigate what processes will best allow them to achieve said goals. - Competition with each other or with some imagined ideal will deflate artistic potential. An art classroom cannot have winners and losers based on “quality” of final piece. Art education will benefit more students if it is process oriented. Quality, even in straightforward skills based art education, can still be subjective, and unless it’s an aggressive battle Royale for some exclusive prize, the intent of any art programming is not to find the single best but to encourage each student to improve. So don’t be a dick about it. - Art is a product of restraints. Material, process, time, subject or conceptual restraints allow for a kind of focused play. Giving students free reign is in itself a huge challenge of self direction, goal setting and prioritization. Making some of those choices for them gives them a chance to focus their own learning. - Materials change the kind of engagement. Diverse materials allow for diverse engagement. Just as subject matter can affect a student’s personal investment in a project, the material or method of art making can change their engagement. Changing between drawing and painting, reductive or additive sculpting, stenciling or stamping, will not only change the tactile experience of art making but will affect the modes of thought used to make creative choices. - Venue or audience transform art. Pressure to show, and to whom, can change students self imposed limitations. Defining an audience will change and add pressure to art creation. This can help students hold themselves to a higher standard, but can also frighten or overwhelm them. Audience needs can be a useful limit or influence on the direction of an art project, but audience pressure needs to be modulated to the response of each student. - Art is most interesting when it leaves the comfort zone of its creator. This can only happen in a classroom where students feel safe to take risks. Art, even when the subject matter is utterly anonymous or benign, can be a hugely risky-feeling process. Even the act of making art in a classroom environment can feel frightening; if we want students to fully engage, and to take the artistic risks that allow them to learn, we have to spend class time making the classroom into a safe space for the students. This probably needs to be it’s own post so I’ll leave it there for now and come back and expand upon it in detail in future. - Subject engagement transforms art. Students with something to say about their subject may push themselves farther. Caring about the subject can be a blessing or a curse for a student - deep subject investment can drive problem solving around how best to present it in the artwork, while deep subject investment can also overwhelm a student with self imposed pressure and even a large dose of imposter syndrome. Therefore it can always be useful to intersperse self selected subject matter with “boring” or at least not emotionally significant subjects, to relieve some of the pressure and allow students to instead respond to the process alone. - Ownership of a process will empower students. Whether they’ve designed a process, built their own materials or set their own goals, agency gives students investment. One of the most exciting things about art is that students have a lot of potential control and thus ownership - they will always be making choices, and those choices are potentially exciting because they directly affect the outcome. You can increase this sense of ownership or investment in the class by facilitating student-made materials, like sketchbooks or mark-making tools; or by facilitating student-led exercises or challenges or projects. - Demos will guide what others make and must be done carefully. Demoing can empower and at the same time overwhelm or impose limits on the viewers. Demoing must be designed to specific goals of each assignment. Eg: if you want students to use surgical techniques to explore value, or depth, or composition, whole you absolutely have to demo the technique didactically, you need to be careful not to be didactic about the results you want in relationship to the subject of exploration. Showing a wide range of potential approaches can help in classrooms where students can handle large info dumps, but often it’s better to demo the technique, get them trying it out without further instruction, and then redirect then to the topic of exploration as stage 2. - Material potential can power a room. Art supplies can be motivating all on their own. Getting excited about them can make it safe for the students to get excited as well. There are many different supplies available to teach art with, and trying different ones can add a lot of excitement to the room even if your topic of instruction is narrow. Getting excited about materials can change the mood of a classroom entirely. - Criticism must engage with the student’s goals or it will work against you. Setting goals, and then reflecting on them, is key to art education as so much of art is self directed. If you then ignore that setup and approach critique without listening to your students’ internal direction and goals and at minimum acknowledging them, they will not find your critique constructive. This goes for young children all the way to adults - you need to be in dialogue with them. - Open discussion and open ended questions will always help. Once you’ve found a way to make the classroom a safe space, group discussion powered by open ended questions can open everyone’s mind up to broader possibilities. One on one conversation also benefits hugely from open ended questions and encouraging students to reflect and investigate their own process and practice. - Letting students share their learning is important to help the class grow beyond your own limited experiences. Students will often still feel in competition with each other, so instituting non-competitive collaboration and sharing will be important to minimizing classroom tension. This can be demonstrated first with art games and developed into collaborative processes on more serious projects. - You can never clarify the instructions enough. Always repeat yourself, be prepared to repeat demos, have a written list of instructions and delegate helpers. Breaking projects up into stages can help with detailed instructions, but always show an overview first. Art is overwhelming and there is no process so simple everyone is automatically good at it. Accurate following of a process will often help students who are unsure of themselves prove themselves to be competent and your job as the teacher is to make sure they have everything they need to do that. - Techniques are best remembered when students use them to solve specific problems. Show how applicable to different problems a technique is during demos. Be prepared to reteach or to teach new techniques whenever students hit a wall. Encourage them to reflect over the techniques they have at hand to see if there’s a new way to use one that could solve their problem. - Art is mostly learned by doing. Material literacy is gained only through material exploration. If you spend too much time talking/demoing before they get to try the materials the enthusiasm can fade. If you have a student who is frightened of doing it wrong, the most important thing is to make a safe space for them to do it wrong, because that’s the only way to eventually do it right. These are all best case scenario tips - and while I’ve tested them all to know they work, it’s still hard work to keep everything in play in every classroom. I’m hopeful that having this written list will help me, and maybe by sharing I can help others as well. Art is a privilege to teach, but I believe it is incredibly important for everyone to get to learn it, in a safe environment where the effects of an art practice can be the most beneficial. Are you teaching a creative subject? What are some techniques or core values you bring to your classroom? Read the full article

[floralcavern]

I remember back in elementary school, in PE class we sometimes had to run 4 laps around the school’s playground. But, you see, I was what we call ‘a little bitch’. I fucking HATED running that much. And so, around the playground in the sidewalk, I realized there was a part of the sidewalk that jutted out, making you susceptible to tripping. So every time we had to run the laps around the playground, after the first lap, I would ‘trip’. “OH, WOE IS ME! Coach! Coach! I tripped and I hurt my knee! Send me to the nurse’s office, for I can no longer MOVE!”

This somehow worked every time. And since I ‘couldn’t walk’ or whatever, I got to choose someone to help me to the nurse’s office. I always helped a friend also skip out on PE.

[mriree]

Classic kids

[what-even-is-thiss]

For the love of god if your native language is different from the majority language of the country you’re living in don’t raise your baby speaking the local language. Either have each parent speak to them in a different language or only speak your native language at home. The kid will be okay. Get your native language in their head. You may think you’re helping them in the long term giving them the local language but no. When they’re an adult they’ll wonder why you never taught them your language. They can and will learn the local language in school. They’ll be okay. Produce more bilingual children. They are good for society.

[mistythedritten]

And also, being bilingual helps with executive function. Not all kids have to reach the same language development at the same time as everyone else, it’s okay to have your kid speaking in more complex sentences a month or so later than the “normal” kids.

[breserker]

I've studied the science linguistically but I'd like to put that aside. PLEASE teach your kid the native language. It can go so much deeper than "wondering why", it can create a schism-like pain when you know there's a heritage you have but all access has been cut off. Yes, ALL. If you're fortunate enough to visit the country of your native language but dont teach your kid, they will be miserable, quiet, and alone, and go through difficult phases of hating that heritage because the ladders were cut for them.

And in the United States, this starts young. I've seen teachers tell a Kazakhstani parent that she should tell her kid to speak English INSTEAD. The kid was 2 and a half. A friend's five year old told him "Dad this is America we dont speak Chinese". If you don't teach your kid your native language this country will wrest all pride and heritage from them by force. An occasional visit or two to the home country will not stop the bleeding.

The pain of not speaking the language of my heritage is something I don't wish on anyone. And that language is one of the most spoken in the world, imagine if your native language is rarer. What happens? What happens?

[mriree]

Education in your native language is important

[lone-rhapsodist]

Thursday was the last day of school before the half term break. It feels weird being off, knowing that there is not much work to do, and that there is actually time to do other things as well for once. Things are going well, honestly I cannot complain. We even managed to go out for a couple of drinks at the end of the day, just a few of us, just around the corner, and it was quite nice.

I didn't know that teaching could be like this. I can see why people end up staying at this school for a long time. I don't know if I'll want to be here forever, but I definitely want to stay as long as possible and enjoy it while it lasts. I can see myself wanting to try something different at some point and going into a different direction. But there is time to think about that, and in the meantime, there is much joy to feel and many experiences to live.

[saywhat-politics]

[parkchanwoohoo]

I love lying to kids. It's so fun. My coworker's daughter said she speaks 2 languages and I said I spoke 17,000 and she narrowed her eyes at me and was like "... no you don't" and it was the cutest thing.

The last time I saw her I told her I was a "half-magician" that can only do 50% of a trick, and I showed her how I can tear a piece of paper in two but can't make it come back together, and she got soooo annoyed with me. Absolutely adorable. Lying to children is the best

[jembers]

THIS^^

I work at am elementary school library and its so fun to tell the kids I live in the library!

"Where do you sleep??" On the couch of course

"Where are your pillows and blankets then?" Well of course I put them away before school starts! I can't teach you all in a messy room!

"What about taking a bath you have to!!" Oh well yeah there's a shower in the nurses office, the line to use it is pretty long in the morning with all the teachers trying to get ready.

"What? Why would other teachers shower here too?" You didn't know? ALL the teachers in this school live here, but I'm smartest because my room has a couch :)

None of them believe me but all of them HAVE to prove me wrong it's so fun

[myothertardisisonthemun]

I little bit of this is healthy I think. It's getting them ask questions and think critically. It's like how animals play fight with their young. In a world full of fake news, cultural pressures and people trying to sell you on nonsense, it's a key skill to have.

[mriree]

Kids will question anything that's out of the ordinary....they still can't get over me not having a TV

[sandersstudies]

One thing that I’ve found delights children is fully indulging a question on occasion. One a friend’s six-year-old said “what’s in your purse?” And I took every single item out of my purse and showed it to her and told her what it was and she just sat there attentively for the whole inventory because she genuinely wanted to know what was in my purse.

[mriree]

Sometimes what may seem to us as very mundane is the most mysterious thing to a child.

I have a wooden box that I had made. It has wheels. Big enough for some files, books, stationary, and other more bulky teacher stuff. I ask the kids to push it from once class to the other.

Whenever Im busy unpacking the stuff to get to the papers I copied for them, it's like I'm the archaeologist and they are the curious locals whom I've roped in the help dig out the temple....and now their curiosity has gotten the better of them, the down tools, and slowly start peering over and out of their desk to get a glimps of the hidden artifacts....

It's just a stapler tho...

Kids always just want to know what is inside anything. Indulge taking things apart and opening things up Infront of them for their education.

I donnu what this does to their brains or whatever, but it seems to be positive.

If the purpose of a rubix cube was to unfold into a small toy, like with kinderjoy, then that would be the bestest

[catchymemes]

[mriree]

Cool poster idea for class

[mriree]

So I was trying a new tactic this week.

Kids nation wide did a literature project where they had to identify elements in a specific genre.

What I learned is that kids couldn't/didn't know how they all came together in their head to make a story.

They think there is some kind of algorithm to a story. That a story is just a sum to be solved.

That's only partially true.

The can not willingly create out of nothing. The possibility of them being able to write something like what we've read is beyond their comprehension, but within their capability.

So I showed them how to write a paragraph. 5 sentences about 1 thing. Then we put 5 things on the board. The Who, the What, The Where, then When and Why.

I emphasised how what we want to create does not exist. We will take nothing and turn it into something.

A story is something that happens to someone. Somewhere. Somewhere. For some reason.

Put a theme on the board.

As I got suggestions we had a mind map going of the elements what to combine. I emphasised how the story does not start on the page when we write it. It starts here when we plan. When we create something....out of nothing. What we do on paper is taking what is in our heads, and with what I've taught you so far, put in on paper....

And in two days we created a story. Me and three classes. Each.

Mostly with my help on the board. But the suggestions and the thinking mostly done y them. They had major part in forming the story in their heads. Letting their imagination run controlled to achieve a common goal.

It was the most thrilling 3 days of teaching I've done in a while.

I believe. They will apply this method when they have to write a paragraph/ essay future grades.

[klapollo]

Obviously this is an adorable bit but I'm so struck by how different this is from so many little kid shows today like.......the muted colors. no background noise. no sound effects. you can literally hear Jim Henson breathing between his lines. Ernie is talking very slowly, meandering, letting the kids digest the info. it's a full minute before you get the payoff of it all. man

[mriree]

At some point in their development children lose their ability to tell stories.

This is not cool.

[memeuplift]

[mriree]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvgKoI3gTuc/?igshid=YTUzYTFiZDMwYg==

Lol

[weaver-z]

I think the only person I've met in real life with 100% career satisfaction was this gal I knew who was a presenter at a children's science museum and delivered every line like she was running a WWE match. Every time you passed the room where she was giving a presentation, you'd hear something like "WHO'S READY FOR CEPHALOPODS?!?" and the kids would go absolutely nuts cheering.

[mriree]

This is it people.

If you can do this.

You win.

[slkv]

sometimes you just have to rest. the world can wait. take your time.

[mriree]

In our profession this is key

[mriree]

My country has 12 official languages including SL.

Teaching and learning in your home language is a struggle. Everyone forgoes this for English.

According to our curriculum you must be versed in at least two if these languages.

If you are sent to an English school, the chances are small that one of those prescribed languages will be your native tongue.

That means, in most cases, the language thought at home language level is not your first language and neither is the second one. The latter is more likely to be the third language that you are learning....

And what makes it difficult; the chances are rare that the second language you are taught at school is spoken by someone in your house, family, or even neighborhood.

Seems like youve got the odds stacked against you, right....?

Enter me

Last week I recorded myself reading one of the stories I did in class with my kids. And I sent them home with a copy while sending the recording over WhatsApp to a parent group

Now they have something to read, and someone to read to them at home.

You're welcome