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Our students' lives have been reshaped. They were abruptly pulled from school and launched into a virtual world of learning. They have seen fellow humans demand the end of systematic racism and abuse of power. They have seen loss of life and income. They have seen a nation divided. Their world will never be the same. No matter where you fall on the spectrum of each of these life changing events it is our duty as art teachers to allow and support our students voices. I can’t think of a better time than now to teach process, ideation, refinement, and reflection. Whether you are teaching in face to face, digital, or a hybrid model our students deserve their voices to be heard. As you approach the next school, I’d empower you to think about how you can empower your students to express their own artistic style/voice.
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Hey RQMS students. I hope all is well and I miss you tremendously. Artist Phil Hansen once said, “Perhaps instead of telling each other to seize the day, maybe we can remind ourselves each day to seize the limitations.” I feel that this is more true than ever. Our world has been shaken and we now find ourselves in an unique learning experience. Most of us have lost access to the traditional art supplies at school and may be completely limited in what we have at home. While at first these limitations may cause you to stop making art, I would encourage you to see what materials you have around you to supplement your art supplies. Prior to us leaving, one of my 8th grade students was grinding up grass to make a green watercolor paint. Other artists have used abandoned coffee as paint. The world around us can provide us with all sorts of different art materials. I’d encourage you to use this time to create art with whatever you have around you. Please feel free to tag me in Instagram @art_with_mr.beach or post your work to SeeSaw. Be safe and keep in touch.
We are two weeks into the 3rd quarter and we are in an art room! Let the media exploration and work begin! I have had a recurring trend circulating around me the past few weeks and it always brings me back to one of the three sentences in the three sentence curriculum, “The student is the artist”. Drawing was never my passion. I draw when I need to but it is not my go-to media. I had one drawing class at UNC and developed a small tremor in my hand during my teaching career. If I am drawing, rarely will I thumbnail sketch. I don’t keep a running sketch book and would rather collect ideas digitally. While I often feel like a fish out of water when I am surrounded by drawing artists, I remember that there are others that plan with blocks, materials, digital, and a variety of other media. As teachers remember that there are kids that do not draw in your class. How can you provide them with options to be successful without the need to draw?  I’m currently trying to add depth and complexity to my students reflection prompts. Here are the questions broken down by day. Tuesday (Big Idea):
 ThoughtsLooking for feedback: I currently teach 6th through 8th grade students in Colorado. Class sizes are 38-42. This semester I am teaching in a standard high school core classroom while my building is being finished. I am not allowed to do anything messy that might damage the room. Currently I offer my students cardboard sculpture, drawing with pencil, marker, colored pencil, blocks, digital art through their Chromebooks. This is only the second year that our school is in existence. Only a few of my students had me last year. The majority of others have not had art before or if they did it lacked freedom of choice. Up to this point in the semester students have covered the 8 SHoMs as well as the artistic thinking process and a few media demos. Many students grasp what it means to be in a TAB classroom (What do artists do? They are the artist! The room is their studio, with limitations) Those that struggle are really looking for guidance. Without completely giving them the answers as well as maintaining the TAB philosophy I created the attached Google doc. The doc has our required Know/Do/Show that are tied to Colorado Standards. I feel that this will allow freedom for those that get it while providing guidance that are still finding there way. I'm hoping that a few of you can take a look and give me pros/cons with this system. I really just need a second or hundredth set of eyes. I do know that I don't want to provide themes and feel that this may be where I need to go. Thoughts?  As a middle school TAB teacher, when I think of all of the teaching I do throughout the day the majority of it isn’t teaching art. Sure, I use art as a medium to teach the 8 SHoM’s. However, those translate to everyday life no matter what profession. I use art to teach students how to think and view the world through multiple lenses. I teach students how to put trust in themselves and own their quirks. I teach students how to redirect their energy into something more productive. I teach students how to learn based off of their interests while filtering out false information. I teach students to believe in themselves when seemingly no one else does(I always believe in them but they don’t always see that right away). I give them pointers and run demos but in the grand scheme of things “art” is such a small percentage of the actual teaching that I do in the day.   At the start of this year we were asked "When the year ends, how will you know that you left an impact with your students?"
Teaching art is tough. Large classes, students that may have little to no interest in our subject, and several outside influences beyond my control can add a huge amount of stress to my plate. Teaching with a TAB philosophy can add an entire new level of stress as well as new challenges. There are many students working on a variety of different projects. Multiple media is available. Students are constantly moving around the room. Classroom management and structure must be firm to keep these in check. Teaching with a DBA approach would make teaching easier on me but would ultimately be detrimental to my students. It could be easy for me to sit back and say “I’m doing my best” when things are not going smoothly. This week I’ve been tasked to look at my practice and evaluate how my teaching and TAB affects students’ learning and achievement. What is working well:
What needs improvement:
Things to keep in mind daily:
 Nirvana, Oblivion, Amnesia
Christine, 8th Grade Fellow art teacher Julie Uken-Rasmussen and I were chatting today about class structures in the Middle School TAB class room. That got me thinking. It’s the start of the second semester at Quist. For all but a handful of my students this will be their first art experience at Quist. Many of these students are also not used to a choice based classroom. Setting up strong structures will be incredibly important for these students to find success. These structures that need to be put in place are covered in our first “unit”.
We look at: *What is the first thing we do when we enter class and other routines?*How we take care of and use supplies? *How do we turn things in and use SeeSaw? *How do we share our thoughts and reflections on our work/experience? *How do we use the SHoM's and Artistic Thinking process? *How do we interact with our classmates? Quist uses a 3x3 unit planning system. My 3x3 for setting up these structures can be found here. In coordination with my schools policies I need to have my own structures to make sure that the class runs smoothly. Grades need to be entered weekly. I collect two data points as part of my weekly requirements. The largest percentage of points comes from student self reflections and goal setting. For goal setting, students need to have a plan (any of the following: sketches, idea board, reference material/video tutorial, verbal or written communication.) They need to reflect weekly (Vlog, Blog, Website, SeeSaw, or a Google Doc). They also need to post their work to SeeSaw. This semester I am looking for a mid work post and a final post. Students are "graded" on did I set a goal and show growth towards it, did I post to SeeSaw and did I reflect on my process. There is a participation grade "Engage and Persist" but that is weighted at 0% and mostly for my records on whom needs more attention and guidance. Grading is a huge can of worms and I may dive into this deeper in another post. |
Mr. Kelly BeachAs an art teacher, it is my goal that every student will leave my classroom with transferable skills that will allow them to be successful in whatever career path they choose. It is my mission to teach students to make careful observations of the world around them, find problems that need to be solved, envision a solution, and engage and persist through the problem solving process while constantly reflecting on their work and progress. Students are enabled to embrace their strengths and interests while sharing their own skills and ideas with their classmates. Through a Teaching for Artistic Behavior process, students embrace leadership positions and become teachers themselves. I feel that it is my job to encourage students to take risks, step outside of their comfort zone, explore new possibilities, and express their individual view of the world through the art making process. Archives
July 2020
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