Art Spirit

Long standing misconceptions about anything...

I think I am at the point, here in October, that all of this is now my new normal.  I haven't resisted this new normal. In fact, my embracing of my new schedule, my new socially distanced way of teaching, my cart full of art supplies with my computer balanced on top of it all and all of the rest of it has been a full on and  all in endeavor.  I'm here. And what still gets me up everyday is  the potential and the realization of the creative process in us all. It is our humanity. It is a gift. This cannot be taken away. The privilege of being part of this outweighs everything else.  So there it is.

Here's what I can control:

What materials and processes all of my students experience.

How often (which is very often) I spray 730 ( our district's disinfectant). I even spray it on the watercolors and surprise ! Blue is still blue!

The ways I connect with students through Zoom and in-person.

How I give feedback to students through our LMS.

The way I enter into my own creative process. AND how I give that to the students.

Here's what I can't control:

Long standing misconceptions about anything.

What other adults do.

The weather. 

 

...even though today the weather is lovely.

 

Live Bear Camera

I’m trying to think if there was anything amazing that happened. Anything new that may have taken place. I’m not trying to be ironic or sarcastic, even though I appreciate the well placed language of both. Reflecting on last week, it was really the challenge of teaching skills especially through video conferencing. The challenge was how accustomed to doing this practice a very particular way, I have become. This week I learned the value of pointed and targeted learning.

I learned the essentials of knowing exactly what we were going after and working to get the students there. Targeting the learning for one day is a challenge. This is nothing new. But what is new is the real need to drill down to what is essential in the hour for the students to know, understand and be able to do. This is difficult for any one pre or post Covid-19. For art education, in culture of personal voice and choice targeted learning was always, always a very soft target. Meaning if students did or didn’t ‘hit’ the target there was always tomorrow. Now there is just the time we have together and tomorrow they are doing something else. I want my students to end class with the confidence in what they are being asked to do. Not confusion. So, we are going very slowly. We are practicing the skill, and practicing again. We are taking 20-30 minute virtual studio time ( also known as screen breaks) where students work with their camera on or off but they are still in the class. I check in. We talk. We continue. Just more focused and more targeted. 




Also I have been screen sharing Live Web Cams with my students as they come in to start class with the video conference. Here is my favorite. You’re welcome!

Its like teaching.

So, first week is in the books. Well, begun. I think. In the weeks leading up to our first week with students I kept trying to create metaphors and analogies to frame what we teachers were all about to do. On my runs I would think of Remote Learning as the route we had all been on before we were simply taking the alleys instead of the main streets. When I considered how we would make art, talk about art, look at artists, talk at our ‘tables’ ( Zoom Breakout Room)I thought about how we would be in a virtual studio space working side by side in ‘real time’. I thought about how being in a Zoom Meeting with students is like being on a big (sometimes Magic) bus. With everyone doing what they do all the chaos of the video frames, bringing their pets in gradually. With the first week of Remote Learning came all the frenetic energy of the first week of school. I see the students every other day. One thing I found particularly challenging this year is keeping track of my students in which class they were in… I know. But really from March to May when I would hear from a student or see them online I would have the context of them in my day and their ‘world ‘ within the art studio. This is how I placed them and remembered where they were in the courses that I teach. So this week, I put names to Blocks. I teach six Middle School Blocks, four 5th grades and one 4th grade Remote Only group. We really spent the week building rapport through activities designed for the student to tell about themselves. My Middle Schoolers created Self Portrait Mind Maps and the elementary level students did a simple Google Slide about themselves. We will look at all of the Google Slides and Mind Maps in each class as way to celebrate them and see their art work. This is a similar thing I would do in person. I suppose what is different here is I am seriously slowing the process down. Sure, there is always someone who would like for it to go faster. I understand that. This week and going forward I really want the students to feel that sense accomplishment that comes from making something with quality. Slowing down is a first, real step.

tuning in

7th grade
Painting

It is like being out on a road trip, somewhere in the in middle of no where and I’m trying to find an AM radio station. AM radio is tuning in and out. Words are spotty. Songs are distant and vaguely familiar. It is all wholly distracting. 

Don’t get me wrong. I know all of this is serious business. I’m glad there is so much discussion about schools and school safety. 

I have to be clear headed and clear eyed. By the end of August, I will be seeing my students. Either in-person, remote or some sort of hybrid. This is certain. And when I see them, I will be happy  they are safe, they are with their families and healthy. So how do I proceed with my thinking about and puzzling over our studio classroom when it is certain to change several times throughout the school year. I’ve said before,  we are teaching in some way ( in-person or remote) this school year. I’m thinking about how to frame this school year. How will I know that the students are learning, applying and experimenting? How will I challenge and engage them? 

More process. Deeper and more frequent applications of different materials. Perhaps students are set up with their own kits. Then using those kits they working within a series of 3-4 iterations of a particular concept. Art is a foundational tool. A device with which students can and do work through concepts. Within these concepts the students always ( and I love this) speak their truth, their self out to the world. This is the frame. No matter what the concept is the students always make it theirs. My job is to help them make the concept their own. To understand that they have a voice that is unique and unrepeatable. And needs to be spoken. I think I’m getting this, I’ll tune into materials. I will tune into concepts. I will help each student locate their visual radio frequency.

virtual open studio

7th grade
Painting

Combine an implicit constructivist environment ( in-person learning) and an explicit constructivist environment (remote learning).
 


Here’s the gist:

Consistent  virtual open studio time blended learning and meaning construction for student artists. 



Here were my questions:

How can we create a feel of in-person interactions with remote learning? 



How can I facilitate studio collegiality of an in-person learning environment in a remote setting? 



Remote is not in-person however, might we clean the glass enough that they begin to reflect one another? 



Here’s my thinking:


I was creating short 3-4 minute video demonstrations. My students were making the work and posting what they’d created. The quality was all over the map. And there wasn’t the feel of working in the studio together. We were all missing it. Starting with my painting class, I implemented an open studio on Google Meets that was 1 1/2 hours. I said to the students that they can come, work on their paintings along with their colleagues. I let them know that they didn’t have to stay for the entire time or come at all. It was optional. It was so surprising when the students started to come in to the Google Meets.

Soon, out of a class of 25 students, I had about 20 in attendance. Many of them stayed for the entire time. We really didn’t talk that much. there were conversations here and there. Mostly the students came into see one another and work alongside one another, virtually. Inspired by this attendance and experience of virtual studio time, I started to schedule more frequent open studios with all my classes at all grade levels. We  all met for about 30 minutes twice a week. I met many, many pets as well as parents through these open studios. I think what everyone ( including me) needed was time to connect through working in the studio (virtually). 



Artists of all levels and ages are social through their work. Students / artists whom are otherwise fairly quiet will talk and talk about their work when they feel they’ve connected with a like mind. An implicit constructivist environment is all about connecting like minds. The virtual open studio created space for connecting through art making. This connection through art making is an implicit constructivist environment. Students are creating meaning as they are connecting with one another while making art. Student work did not magically improve or evolve over night. We incrementally created our community in a virtual setting and we moved from explicit ( stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt) to implicit (essentially or very closely connected with; always to be found in) constructed environments. This happened because students were able to see one another and work side by side (virtually). Sure, we did reflection using Google Classroom, Ted-Ed and FlipGrid along with many other strategies, this is the big picture. Students needed and came to virtual open studios. This fostered overtime deeper thinking, resilience in process and meaning construction within their work.