Capitol Hill - Art Show
Is this coming Friday 4/4/14
Opening Reception is 5:30-7:30
800+ pieces of student work!
Please come celebrate their efforts and applaud their accomplishments.
Huge thanks to Darcy Petersen who has devoted more than a month of efforts to bring all the art together and prepare it for hanging. Big thanks to those parents who helped her.
This is my first CH event and I am excited to see it all come together.
I am pleased to share all this student work with you the parents and community. I have sincerely enjoyed working with these students, your children.
Thank you.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Organization for the school-wide Art Show is underway.
As I am new to this school I am having a parent show me the "ropes" about how all is done. (At my previous job I did do a school-wide art show, so I have some idea of how this all works).
Capitol Hill Art Show is April 4, 2014, so now is the time to gather all the student work and get it matted and mounted.
ANYONE willing to help, please contact Darcy Peterson, (3rd grade parent). She is the lead on the whole show.
Other art shows are in the works.
ARTS TAX - thank you.
Myself and 2 other art teachers have been meeting and planning how to thank and show the larger Portland community the results and benefits of the arts tax. Our goal is to get K-5 student work out into the community somewhere during the month of May. I have done some legwork and have secured several venues, the meeting room at the Hillsdale library, Umpqua Bank in Multnomah Village (a couple weeks in May) and a downtown store Boys' Fort (date to be determined). Anthropologie in the Pearl is giving it a second thought as well.
As art teachers, we whole-heartedly believe in the benefits of a visual arts education, regardless of a persons' future career. In the meantime, we want to share some evidence of the students' self-expressions.
So stay turned.
Students at Capitol Hill have produced some good work this year in their brand new art program and I am determined to get it shown, locally at CH and in the neighborhood of Multnomah and Hillsdale and downtown!
I guarantee you will be positively impressed!
Thank you for your support.
As I am new to this school I am having a parent show me the "ropes" about how all is done. (At my previous job I did do a school-wide art show, so I have some idea of how this all works).
Capitol Hill Art Show is April 4, 2014, so now is the time to gather all the student work and get it matted and mounted.
ANYONE willing to help, please contact Darcy Peterson, (3rd grade parent). She is the lead on the whole show.
Other art shows are in the works.
ARTS TAX - thank you.
Myself and 2 other art teachers have been meeting and planning how to thank and show the larger Portland community the results and benefits of the arts tax. Our goal is to get K-5 student work out into the community somewhere during the month of May. I have done some legwork and have secured several venues, the meeting room at the Hillsdale library, Umpqua Bank in Multnomah Village (a couple weeks in May) and a downtown store Boys' Fort (date to be determined). Anthropologie in the Pearl is giving it a second thought as well.
As art teachers, we whole-heartedly believe in the benefits of a visual arts education, regardless of a persons' future career. In the meantime, we want to share some evidence of the students' self-expressions.
So stay turned.
Students at Capitol Hill have produced some good work this year in their brand new art program and I am determined to get it shown, locally at CH and in the neighborhood of Multnomah and Hillsdale and downtown!
I guarantee you will be positively impressed!
Thank you for your support.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Grades were just entered this weekend and for most students their only mark is in "effort."*
Effort is quantified by observation of how the student uses his/her class time. Are they talking to friends frequently, getting up and wandering around, or are they diving into the challenge of the assignment? Students usually get excited at the beginning of the project and then settle in to the real work of getting it planned and done.
"Effort" may seem nebulous, but really it isn't as in art class there is so much tangible evidence of work effort. Remember when you were a kid and your parents would say "quit wrestling before someone gets hurt," and then one of you got hurt? I used to be amazed that the adults somehow knew it was going to happen. Now we know the secret of watching and predictability.
Just standing and observing the students at work tells almost all of the effort story.
What if a child says "I'm not good at art"? After all my years of teaching I am confident that every child can learn art and definitely improve his/her skills. Art is one of the most learn-able, concrete skills in the K-5 curriculum. I like to use the analogy of "personal best."
EVERYONE improves at their own rate, as long as they participate and TRY.
That is why "effort" is so important in art and everywhere else in life.
*Some of the other visual art grade level requirement were recently shared with us K-5 art teachers. This year's curriculum certainly touches and will touch on all those understandings, but hasn't been organized to teach them directly.
Effort is quantified by observation of how the student uses his/her class time. Are they talking to friends frequently, getting up and wandering around, or are they diving into the challenge of the assignment? Students usually get excited at the beginning of the project and then settle in to the real work of getting it planned and done.
"Effort" may seem nebulous, but really it isn't as in art class there is so much tangible evidence of work effort. Remember when you were a kid and your parents would say "quit wrestling before someone gets hurt," and then one of you got hurt? I used to be amazed that the adults somehow knew it was going to happen. Now we know the secret of watching and predictability.
Just standing and observing the students at work tells almost all of the effort story.
What if a child says "I'm not good at art"? After all my years of teaching I am confident that every child can learn art and definitely improve his/her skills. Art is one of the most learn-able, concrete skills in the K-5 curriculum. I like to use the analogy of "personal best."
EVERYONE improves at their own rate, as long as they participate and TRY.
That is why "effort" is so important in art and everywhere else in life.
*Some of the other visual art grade level requirement were recently shared with us K-5 art teachers. This year's curriculum certainly touches and will touch on all those understandings, but hasn't been organized to teach them directly.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Here is a resource to get lost in:
http://www.creativitypost.com/arts
I have another essay in the works, but until then....lets see what the experts have to say.
Enjoy.
I have another essay in the works, but until then....lets see what the experts have to say.
Enjoy.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Monday, November 25, 2013
"Art makes you smart"
Here is an article published in the 11/24/13 New York Times about some research and data collected from school age children who went to an art museum, some for the first time. The information validates some of the goals of teaching art:
FOR many education advocates, the arts are a panacea: They supposedly increase test scores, generate social responsibility and turn around failing schools. Most of the supporting evidence, though, does little more than establish correlations between exposure to the arts and certain outcomes. Research that demonstrates a causal relationship has been virtually nonexistent.
Here at Capitol Hill we are trying our own small experiment to see if the new art program has a measurable impact on a certain area of learning. I won't say anymore at this point, but if there is a difference in the specific test scores after my targeted projects, I'll be certain to announce it.
- critical thinking
- increased social tolerance
- historical empathy
- (my personal favorite) divergent thinking
FOR many education advocates, the arts are a panacea: They supposedly increase test scores, generate social responsibility and turn around failing schools. Most of the supporting evidence, though, does little more than establish correlations between exposure to the arts and certain outcomes. Research that demonstrates a causal relationship has been virtually nonexistent.
Here at Capitol Hill we are trying our own small experiment to see if the new art program has a measurable impact on a certain area of learning. I won't say anymore at this point, but if there is a difference in the specific test scores after my targeted projects, I'll be certain to announce it.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Talent verses Learning
Without writing a complete research paper, I wanted to speak to my core philosophy of art education.
I believe that skills, understanding and creativity processes are totally learn-able. I have not always understood this as wholeheartedly as I do now, but have been convinced as I have seen it happen consistently and repeatedly during my many years of teaching.
I hate to say it in writing, but I went to school in the 1970's when the approach to art education was to provide opportunity and let students "create," explore and see what happens. While I enjoyed exploring, I remember even then wanting and asking for some systematic instruction, other than just "go for it."
As an artist and teacher (though I did not get my art education degree until 16 years ago) I have always taught art as a series of steps in a process. I did have to answer in my mind, was art class to be offered with an elective attitude, as in students can come but only try as hard as they feel like? Or were the activities and exercises in class requiring mandatory participation? I had to reconcile my early training with my belief and commitment to art education, and to my teacher/parent/adult observation that successfully participating in any endeavor requires strong work ethic and that strong, solid, consistent work ethic is key to successful adulthood.
In my MAT program at L+C I learned about Vgotsky's zone of proximal development, and that theory articulated why I should require students to participate in art class.
Vygotsky's Example of the ZPD
Vygotsky (1978) provides an example of the zone of proximal development by illustrating how two children of the same age chronologically (10 years) and mentally (eight years) solve a given problem at their developmental level. Vygotsky’s example suggests the two children should arrive at the same solutions to the problem, but when the children are given the opportunity to solve the problem with assistance (social interaction and the child’s active participation in the problem); it shows that one child can solve the problem at a twelve-year-old level, and one at a nine-year-old level.
more on Vygotsky
As a teacher sets up learning opportunities along with instruction, students master those skills and expanded understanding and are able to do more and more complex and sophisticated visual communication. They learn and grow.
Society often sees art as difficult or ambiguous, but my experience with students is that they learn it quite quickly, and even abstraction and emotional art forms make complete sense to their youthful minds. Kids are good at art!
...and I am happy to bring it to them.
Without writing a complete research paper, I wanted to speak to my core philosophy of art education.
I believe that skills, understanding and creativity processes are totally learn-able. I have not always understood this as wholeheartedly as I do now, but have been convinced as I have seen it happen consistently and repeatedly during my many years of teaching.
I hate to say it in writing, but I went to school in the 1970's when the approach to art education was to provide opportunity and let students "create," explore and see what happens. While I enjoyed exploring, I remember even then wanting and asking for some systematic instruction, other than just "go for it."
As an artist and teacher (though I did not get my art education degree until 16 years ago) I have always taught art as a series of steps in a process. I did have to answer in my mind, was art class to be offered with an elective attitude, as in students can come but only try as hard as they feel like? Or were the activities and exercises in class requiring mandatory participation? I had to reconcile my early training with my belief and commitment to art education, and to my teacher/parent/adult observation that successfully participating in any endeavor requires strong work ethic and that strong, solid, consistent work ethic is key to successful adulthood.
In my MAT program at L+C I learned about Vgotsky's zone of proximal development, and that theory articulated why I should require students to participate in art class.
Vygotsky's Example of the ZPD
Vygotsky (1978) provides an example of the zone of proximal development by illustrating how two children of the same age chronologically (10 years) and mentally (eight years) solve a given problem at their developmental level. Vygotsky’s example suggests the two children should arrive at the same solutions to the problem, but when the children are given the opportunity to solve the problem with assistance (social interaction and the child’s active participation in the problem); it shows that one child can solve the problem at a twelve-year-old level, and one at a nine-year-old level.
more on Vygotsky
As a teacher sets up learning opportunities along with instruction, students master those skills and expanded understanding and are able to do more and more complex and sophisticated visual communication. They learn and grow.
Society often sees art as difficult or ambiguous, but my experience with students is that they learn it quite quickly, and even abstraction and emotional art forms make complete sense to their youthful minds. Kids are good at art!
...and I am happy to bring it to them.
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