Balloon Instillation Project Con't

The experience of making a work of art with my peers was a beneficial one for me. I really enjoyed the notion of creating hot air balloons over a community to represent applied art concepts for children. I thought that this project was especially effective because each of us had different ideas for what art for a child meant and expressed that through decorating our balloons. No two balloons were similar and when they were all put together, it really created a cohesive sense of childhood and art. I would definetly enjoy an experience like this in the future because it feels good to be a part of a group like this and to contribute in helping make something, that I feel, is really benefical to learning art.

Balloon Instillation Project

My experience of working collaboratively has added greatly to my understanding of what I learn through art. Most of my previous art experiences have been individual and this project was the first time I would in a group to contribute to a greater art project. This experience has shown me that there are ways in which you can learn from your peers in art and many good ideas come from others who inspired me to create something of my own. The balloon instillation project inspired me to try and take a collaborative approach of teaching art in my classroom. In this way, the students will be able to work together, yet still contribute and embrace their own creativity, imagination, and different learning styles. I think by doing this in my classroom, it will help instill a sense of community, improve self-esteem, and help students interact with others they may not have otherwise.

Creating a Collaborative Work of Art

Creating a collaborative work of art can be a very rewarding experience. It is beneficial because when you are working with other people, there are many ideas that are arosed and group is able to react to and inspire each other. Ideas can come abou that probably would have never been thought of if one was creating an art project on their own. Another benefit of working with a group is that there are always people around you to work with, to help you and you are there to help others. It creates a great sense of team spirit and friendship. Creating a collaborative work of art, however, also has its limitations. When working in a group, you have to accomadate other people's ideas, which you might not agree with. When working on a collaborative project, things may not turn out the way you might have wanted them because other people's work is used as well as yours. This can be frustrating for people who are perfectionists in individualists and like to have their art work in a specific way. Overall, however, I think that any experience in a collaborative work of art is beneficial to individual's characters and their growth of artists.

Brooke Johnston, Age 12

For my child workshop, I had Brooke (age 12) make a scrapbook from scratch. Brooke was extremely easy to work with because she already had a very good sense of self. She did not need any encouragement with the project or the materials, but took to them very easily. Brooke was already previously interested in journaling and scrap booking so my main focus for this project was to further her interests in creating a scrap book journal for where she could express thoughts, emotions and memories in one place and where she could experiment with a variety of materials such as photographs, buttons, pressed flowers, magazine cutouts, etc. I was able to provide Brooke with these materials and she was very interested in using them and experimenting with them so I basically only had to sit by and be there if she needed any help. Because Brooke has two older brothers and is the only girl in her family, I thought a scrap book would be a good idea for her so she could have her only little project for herself and not feel so separate from her brothers. Because of Brooke's brothers, she also had a very mature mentality and was polite, excited and enthusiastic about the project. If I was to work with Brooke again, I would try to aim for a project that was more challenging for her. She enjoyed making the scrap book and seemed enthusiastic to fill it up, but the project seemed to be fairly easy for her. Overall, the project with Brooke went very well and I had a really good time working with her.

Special Needs and Gifted Learners Education

One of the joys and hardships of teaching is that teachers come across may different individuals with different learning styles, different backgrounds, and different abilities. It is important for teachers to recognize these differences in their students and accommodate all types of learning, but at the same time, we are encouraged not to discriminate nor ostracize students.

In the past, special needs students were separated from the other "normal" students, but of late, these students have been integrated into the classroom with all the other students. This helps for special needs children not to be ostracized from the rest of the group. Although an improvement, having special needs children in the classroom provides a further challenge for teachers. Special needs children need a different teaching approach because they have different learning styles. Teachers, however, should be aware that special needs children are not as incapable as one might think. Mostly, special needs children need to be taught more slowly and encouraged by their differences. Usually these children have personal assistants that pay special attention to them and their learning needs so the child can excel in the classroom.

Art is an excellent way to celebrate individual differences between students. Special needs children and children from different cultures and backgrounds can use art as a mean to express themselves. Because there is no "right" answer in art, children are able to embrace the things that divorce them from the other students without feeling self-conscious or insecure.

Puzzle Time 2

Since our group has finished our puzzle, we have been helping out group three. This group is having some trouble because they purchased a 1500 piece puzzle while the other groups purchased 1000 piece puzzles. While helping out group three, I noticed that they used some different techniques to solve their puzzle. Group three had separate all the similar pieces into different groups and each group member was working on a specific part of the puzzle while using these pieces that have previously been separated.

Community -Based Learning

Learning in a community-based setting is extremely beneficial to children for many reasons. One reason is that it allows the children to get out of the academic environment and explore their surroundings outside of the school. This allows them to have hands-on experiences outside the classroom such as observing art in a museum, or taking in different cultural aspects of their community that might otherwise be overlooked. This type of learning is beneficial for the teacher as well, as it not only lets the teacher provide a different means for teaching, but it allows him/her to have their own experiences teaching and learning what works best for the children outside the classroom. Community-based learning allows for the teacher and children to explore different settings, different mediums that might not be available at a school and enables the classroom to meet new people and explore different works of art that can only be found within the community and not in the school.

Museum Art Program: Ages 8-10

1. Dream State (First Impressions and Descriptions)
- Aesthetic Dev elopement: Journal entries describing initial reactions of works of art, emotions provoked, memories remembered, thoughts and descriptions.
- Foundational Activity: Use journal entries to create poem based on initial reactions, emotions, thoughts, etc.

2. Play State (Analysis)
- Aesthetic Development: Pick a theme ie. Family and use the theme to have the child find a work of art that coincides with that theme.
- Foundational Activity: Find within the group a person with the same or similar theme. Describe why the different paintings coincide with that theme. Make a list of different characteristics.

3. Research
- Aesthetic Development: Have the class arrange for a guided tour of the museum with a member of the museum staff.
- Foundational Activity: Split the class into groups. Each group receives five descriptions (made up previously by the teacher) and are required to match the descriptions with the paintings.

4. Metaphor (Interpretation)
- Aesthetic Development: Select one painting or one characteristic of a painting and have the children describe how they interpret the painting.
- Foundational Activity: Change a specific object within the work of art and get the children to describe how the meaning of the art has changed with the different object. ie Switch a cigarette to a pen within a painting, how does the meaning of the painting change?

5. Concept (Judgment)
- Aesthetic Development: Keeping with the theme, have the children choose a work of art they did like and one they did not hand explain why for both.
- Foundational Activity: Within small groups, share with each other reasons why they liked or disliked the works of art they chose.

Museum Experiences

The most meaningful experience of a museum that I have experienced was my visit to the War Museum in Hull, Quebec. This visit was so meaningful to me because it successfully depicted aspects of WWI and WWII that I have already been previously interested in. The characteristics about the museum that are most memorable to me were the tomb of the unknown soldier that was placed in a solitary room with a skylight and when 11:11 am comes, the skylight is positioned just so the light hits the tomb in a beam of sunlight. I did not get to see this phenomena, but the knowledge that that happens gave me comfort and happiness that unknowns soldiers who were killed are still be recognized and appreciated to this day. The second aspect of the museum that hit me hard was the exhibit of war propaganda. There were hundreds of different posters that encouraged people to fight for their country. This exhibit is also a good example of how art can be used to provoke, encourage and sway individuals. The War Museum was so enlightening for me because it incorporate a subject I was already interested in and made it into a visual display that I was able to take a lot from.

Preparing Unit Plans

The main issue that arose while preparing my lesson plan was my lack of knowledge of my child as an individual. I have yet to meet her, and only know the characteristics of her personality and learning abilities that I have been told. This lack of knowledge, on my part, has made it difficult to know if my unit plan will be successful.

Furthermore, I do not think it is possible to anticipate every detail of the situation I will be working in. This cannot happen because there is always the possibility of spontaneous learning, which is highly possible with my plan of taking my child to an art exhibit. The reaction of my child to the art that is shown to her may completely change the process of the project I have so far planned for her. I realize that I need to be prepared for many different circumstances that may arise during my unit plan.

The only measure of safety I feel that accurately needs to be addressed is how the child feels about traveling outside her home with a stranger. Of course, her mother will be present, but I want her to feel comfortable enough to leave her home with me and experience an art exhibit. I do not know if the child has had similar experiences before, and there is the possibility she will shy away from this suggestion. For the rest of the project, I feel the child will be safe considering I am only working with one child, therefore my focus will not be distracted, as well as, her mother will be there supervising as well. As for materials, I now have the knowledge of hazardous materials as providing in Nadine Kalin's chapter, "Don't Run With the Scissors".

Studio Projects

The studio projects that were done this semester were very useful not only for putting out helpful ideas of art projects to do with children, but for discovering what worked and what did not when it came to creating the projects themselves. The painting and drawing project presented to our group was interesting because we were able to create a picture of an animal by looking at a picture, thus given the opportunity to practice drawing in realism, but the project also allowed the flow of creativity in the second part of the project. The painting portion enabled us to create our animal in a different position and/or setting and therefore gave us the chance to create a painting from the imagination. The sculpting project was also beneficial. Our group was required to place our hands in a mystery box, feel a certain texture and then recreate that texture while sculpting a monster. Not only did this project allow for full creativity in creating a creature of any kind, the incorporation of a texture made us think objectively about how to recreate that texture in a creative way. This exercise also made us think about different kinds of textures that could be made from different kinds of materials encouraging us to explore different materials that might have not been experienced otherwise.

These studio projects allowed me to learn about the different ways of creating art and that there is no standard procedure to follow. Art can be defined in a plethora of ways which makes it so useful and fun, especially for children. Art projects is an excellent way of promoting a child's imagination, as well as being a successful way of teaching a variety of subjects and/or concepts.

Breaking the Grip: Drawing Beyond Anxiety and Visual Realism

I have little drawing history. As Kalin describes in her article, however, my tendencies towards drawing have not been as positive as other art students' may have been. I have had these negative feelings towards drawing because I have never been very good at creating a realistic picture through drawing which is often how good drawing is viewed. Growing up, I was never taught how to properly draw or been inspired to draw. I only had art classes up until grade six and after that I never had the confidence to try my hand at drawing. Kalin's chapter reassured me that drawing does not have to meet up with conventional expectations of realism, but can be experimented with. With this experience of drawing and with the information gained from Kalin's chapter, I feel I will be able to help a child with drawing anxiety by accepting the child's individual creativity. I can introduce the child to different forms of drawing and reassure them that realism is not the only form of drawing and their individual style will be embraced instead of judged.

Questions I will ask my child's parent about her learning characteristics:
What are your daughters initial reactions to drawing?
Is she willing to attempt drawing and experiment with this kind of art form?
Is she aware that there are other ways of drawing besides using a pen or pencil?
Does she feel like her drawings may be judged or that she is not drawing "properly"?
Would she feel more comfortable drawing in a collaborative project or engaging in individual projects?

Dcumentation and Peer Teaching Projects

Documentation is an important factor in teaching and a child's learning. As a teacher, documentation can be challenging because you are only one person trying to document an array of other people. It is useful to have parent volunteers or teachers aids, then, to help with the documentation process so no important aspect of a child's learning is missed or overlooked. Documentation can also be challenging for a teacher because your main focus is to teach the children and enable them to learn from their art experiences. Documentation can easily become a distraction for the teacher and is one more thing that a teacher must plan and prepare for along with the learning activity itself. Volunteers, again, come in handy when larger projects that require documentation are being done.

The peer teaching projects that we did in class were beneficial because it enables us to take on the roles of the teacher and the student. As a student, we were able to see what worked for us and what did not, as well as, what could be improved in our peer teacher's lesson plan. As a teacher, it was a good experience to create a project and have the experience to teach it to peer students. By teaching, I was able to see how the project was understood by my peer students and their reactions to the project which I can use to improve or change my project. I would incorporate peer teaching in an elementary classroom as a way of integrating the arts into core subjects. Students could gather themselves into small groups, similar to what we did in class, and teach each other different, simple projects of art relating to other subjects. i think this will give the students the opportunity to test their confidence and their creativity by teaching, and I think the students will have fun with it because it is a different kind of assignment and because it uses artistic concepts, the students will mostly likely have fun with it.

Themes, Cross-Curricular Connections and Daily Drawing

Benefits of having integrated art forms taught in the classroom are that children are able to learn and experience concepts such as math and science, which as often viewed as dull by children, through more exciting forms such as art. Limitations of the integrated arts however, is that art is often viewed as not as important as core subjects and learning through art may be looked down on from the parents if the objectives of the art projects are not fully understood. For me, it is more difficult to come up with art projects that incorporate different kinds of learning than a simple art project. I find that integrating art and other subjects can have limitations in creativity. These issues may present themselves in the classroom, but through more experience teaching and being used to being in a classroom environment, I am confident that inspiration for integrated art ideas will be plentiful. It is just significant that I explain to doubtful parents how art can be extremely useful in the process of learning other subjects. I am addressing these issues now by learning about the benefits of art and integrated art. I came up with a project that teaches geometry though art using tessellations which I am teaching to my group tomorrow and I am hoping it will be successful, but as mentioned before, I am not as confident that my art project will be as fun as the previous projects taught in art and painting, sculpture and media arts.

Lights, Camera - Conversations?

At this time and age, technology is a growing part of our culture and societies around the world. It is important that students are aware of situations outside the classroom and media is a big part of that. Creativity and art through media allows students to experiment with less traditional forms of art which can be used throughout their schooling and throughout their community. It many different forms of media are introduced to children, there is an opportunity for children to find what they like and what they are good at within this particular art form.As mentioned in a previous blog, interaction with surroundings are important and media is a great way of experiencing this kind of interaction with the environment. Forms of media range from camcorders to photography.

Don't Run With Scissors

Obviously safety is an important issue with any kind of activity provided for children. In the chapter, "Don't Run With Scissors", Nadine Kalin demonstrates how teachers can provide a safe environment for children, physically, emotionally and socially. During the workshop I will be having with a child, I will be able to establish a sense of security with the child because I will be in her own home and one of her parents will be present at the time in order for the child to feel more comfortable. The child will be able to take her time because the project will be done on a weekend when I have nothing else to do and neither does she. This way the child will not feel rushed or pressured to have the project done in a certain amount on time. Through the stages of creating the project, I will be present to work with the child a provide positive feedback and also help with the areas the child is having trouble with. Communication is important so the child feels comfortable with me and a connection between the two of us is built. Since the project with the child is not a craft, her own ideas will be more than welcomed and I will do my best to encourage her creativity by making suggestions and reacting enthusiastically if she comes up with ideas on her own. It is important that even though she is a child, I will be respectful of her art project, her ideas and her home and will not pressure her into anything that she is feeling uncomfortable with, but simply encourage her toward new ideas and ways of creating.

Criteria of Experience

As an art educator, it is important to respond to the individual needs of the children who are being taught. Children develop mentally and physically at different times and it is significant that the educator recognize these differences in development in order for the child to have a firm grasp on the lessons taught at their own level. Dewey describes the process of internal conditions of learning which involve experience, growth of learning and interaction with the environment. It is the educator's job to provide positive experiences for the children in an environment that is safe and inspirational for the students being taught.Attitudes that are positive toward learning should be worked for and good habits developed in the children should be strived for. It is also up to an educator to judge what kind of teaching is detrimental and what kind is successful with each individual child in order for the teacher to have some understanding of what the individual is going through mentally, physically and what needs need to be met for that individual. Educators should be able to utilize the social and physical surroundings to create experiences that are worth while for the children.

Approaches to Elementary Art Assessment

We assess learning in art because it is a way, like in any other subjects, of letting children know our expectations of the projects that have been assigned. If children are able to self-asses in art, it can translate to other subject areas. For example, art is an excellent way to develop creativity and allow a child to realize their personal potential. Because, there is not a "right" answer in art, it allows the child to push the limits of expectations and experiment. These experiences can be translated over to other subject areas such as English, science and social studies. Because art influences a child's imagination, their imagination can be used to create stories, test different hypothesis or make creative projects to display what they have learn in other subject areas. Skills developed in art class can also be transferred to life experiences. At home and at play, children will be able to realize their potential in different activities outside of school. They may be able to make up a new game to play with their friends or receive the courage to join a sports team or club they may not have been confident in their contributions before. Art and art assessment is important for a child to develop different creative skills and let their imaginations run free.

Art Education in Contemporary Classrooms: Issues and Practices

Art is important to teach as a core subject for many reasons. Much of the world is made up of art or references to art, artists or specific pieces of artwork. In order for children to indulge themselves in this major part of society an understanding of art must be developed; "the study of art is essential for an educated understanding of the world." (Day 39) Usually the teaching of art to children involves only the children making art or crafts. A more informative approach to learning about art, however, is to have the children not only make art, but discuss it, observe it and read and write about. It is this way that the topic of art will become more wholly understood. The creativity and uniqueness of subjects addressed in an art class is different from other core subjects. Children are able to express themselves creatively and individually unlike those subjects of math and science where only one definite answer is accepted. It is important for teachers to set time aside in the curriculum in order for children to embrace all these mentioned experiences. Art needs to be treated as a separate subject with sufficient supplies, space and an informative instructor so children can gain a strong sense of art and benefit all the characteristics and knowledge that come with learning art.

To allow children to fully experience the benefits of learning art, the instructor must acknowledge the individual skill level (Day 46) and children who come from cultures that may be unfamiliar to us Canadians (Day 54). If these conditions are achieved successfully the children will, hopefully, continue to express themselves in some sort of art form, developing their own style as they grow older and influencing other students, smaller children and adults alike. It is noted that we can all learn from each other, no matter what skill level, age or background we come from.

Puzzle Time 1

Brenda started our puzzle by separating the colors. The basic color scheme of our puzzle is the man picture is blue and the background is red. The picture is of a man's face made up of other smaller pictures. I found it interesting that Brenda's first notion to solve the puzzle was to separate the colors. I love to do puzzles and when I do, my first act is to turn over all the pieces. Then i find the border pieces to put together so there is a frame of reference to make the inside of the puzzle easier to establish. Brenda eventually started looking for the border pieces while I continued to separate the colors but I found it interesting that the other members in the group only took a small pile of puzzle pieces from the bag at a time, whereas I would have dumped the entire contents out first.

Ps. Thanks to Brenda for purchasing our puzzle!

Understanding The Learner

Discussion Questions
5. As an educator, I must create a holistic portrait of learners in the classroom. To do this I must research and learn as much as possible about the background each child is coming from. This includes family status, cultural influences and the learning style that is best suited for the child. I need to ask the students many questions in ways that are not intimidating for them, but so they feel proud to talk about themselves and their individual differences. I must encourage the uniqueness of each child and allow them to realize that their individuality is special. I need to encourage them to be themselves and help them to discover who "themselves" is.

6. Knowledge of holistic development is important in providing appropriate instruction for my students because it is vital to acknowledge different abilities of different children and to realize all aspects of development influence how a child learns and presents themselves through art.

Childhood Preconceptions

The biggest preconception I hold about children is the range of their ability. I have a hard time recognizing what a child can and cannot do and a lot of time I find myself underestimating their abilities. This misconception of children has now been discarded since reading Sylvia Kind's article about children's art entitled, Windows to a Child's World: Perspectives on Children's Art Making. The previous notion of underestimating a child's capability would affect my teaching in ways that would be disadvantageous to the child since the work provided would most likely be not challenging enough. The problem with this is that children would easily be bored and different skills, not only involved in making art, but in all aspects of learning would be left undeveloped. Sylvia Kind described an art-making environment where a teacher needs to be aware of a child's intention and encourage their creative ideas. i realize as a teacher, I need to be conscious of every child's individual ability and recognize how each child learns. I need to understand "what art making means to [each child]" (Grauer, K. & Irwin, R.L., 16).

Early Art Experiences

One of my best experiences with making art, was not in school, but in high school I went on a school-based trip to Ottawa called "Encounters with Canada" for a week. While on this trip there were various activities we took part in that had to do with the "arts and culture" theme of that week. One activity we were required to take part in involved using pastel crayons and water color. We had to draw a picture with the crayons in a certain shade and then paint over our drawing with the opposing shade (ie. draw in red, orange, yellow and paint in blue, green, purple, or vice versa). This art experience was memorable to me, because it was the first time I was able to express myself though an art activity being taught to me versus me simply coming up with an idea on my own. I remember expressing my morbid side by drawing an autumn tree with yellow and orange leaves and branches amongst red human limbs and spots of blood, painted over in a dark blue shade representing the night sky. It probably seems strange that this daunting scene is my most memorable art experience, but it was the first time I realized there was no outline of required elements to art making and any subject matter is accessible.

In school, art was not my favorite subject, I think because I was not challenged with the notorious craft-work teachers provide that allow for little or no creativity. It was not until high school that i began to take interest. I never really had a negative experience with making art, but over the recent Christmas break, my mom (a Grade 5 teacher) was making Christmas crafts with her kids and the school had brought in a special lady to teach the grade 5's how to make a photo frame with "JOY" written inside. Although the activity was meant to be a craft, the lady (who I cannot remember her name) really irritated me with the rigidity of the craft. I was helping three girls and one of them did not want to put sparkles on her frame so I told her she did not have to, but this lady came around and said the little girl needed to have sparkles. Another child did not want to have the white border around the words "JOY" so again, I told her she did not need to have the border until the lady imposed and insisted she did. The whole experience really bothered me and this craft lady and I definitely clashed. I could not believe the solid structure she imposed on the kids, especially because the children were around ages 10-11 and I think were hitting that point where they are craving to be a little more creative.

i love james and the giant peach