December 1^st: Final Lesson plan presentation and printmaking

In Class on Tuesday December 1^st, the last lesson plan presentation was shown. The group did a lesson on the fall season, and the artwork they did with it was really cool. I think that this would be a great lesson plan for showing and explaining to smaller students how and why the weather changes, and the effect it has on our surroundings. 

            

            For the rest of class we were given the option of either glazing our clay projects or doing a printmaking lesson. I decided on doing the printmaking, and I made my little sister a pillowcase with “Live to Dance” on it for one of her 16^th birthday presents (which is today). 

                                                                    20x20x20

20 contemporary artists

1.)    Lucian Freud

2.)    Matthew Barney

3.)    Jeff Koons

4.)    Damien Hirst

5.)    Frank Stella

6.)    Gerhard Richter

7.)    Rita Ackerman

8.)    Jose Bernal

9.)    Vitto Acconci

10.)  Albert Oehlen

11.)     Janet Biggs

12.)   Artur Barrio

13.)   Anish Kapoor

14.)     Richard Prince

15.)    Bruce Nauman

16.)    Ida Applebroog

17.)    Chantal Akerman

18.)   Vanessa Beecroft

19.)     Dan Christensen

20.)   Keith Haring

Artists of different backgrounds

1.)    Anna Ancher

2.)    Frida Kahlo

3.)    Romaine Brooks

4.)    Vanessa Bell

5.)    Lee Krasner

6.)    Juan Munoz

7.)    Luis Royo

8.)    Pablo Rey

9.)    Gloria Munoz

10.)  Gaston Orellana

11.)  Kelly Church

12.) Carla Hemlock

13.) Aguilar Family

14.)  Joe Fedderson

15.)   Ira Lujin

16.)  Augusta Savage

17.)  Renee Stout

18.) Alma Thames

19.)    Joyce J. Scott

20.)    Cauleen Smith

20 non-traditional artists

1.)    Andy Warhol

2.)    Saarinen and Bandel

3.)    Guzlon and Lincoln Borglum

4.)    Edvard Munch

5.)    Salvador Dali

6.)    Abed Abdi

7.)    Louis Amateis

8.)    Woody Van Amen

9.)    Silvio Apponyi

10.)  Kate Vogel

11.)  Italo Scanga

12.)   Ginny Ruffner

13.)   Rick Mills

14.) Dante Marioni

15.) Casbas Markus

16.)  Tammy Garcia

17.) Rupert Deese

18.) Nampeyo

19.)  Toshiko Takaezu

20.)   Edith Heath

                   November 17^th and 19^th: Presenting our lesson plans

           In class on the 17^th, two groups presented their lesson plans. One covered the way that Earth revolved around the sun and caused the changes of seasons, while the other lesson taught about various holidays celebrated around the world. For both lessons we were given the chance to make art and learn about ways to incorporate our lessons into the classroom. Dr. Johnson critiqued as they went along, and people in the class gave positive feedback to the presenters.

On the 19^th, my group and I presented. Before us another group presented about the symbols and history of Native Americans, and showed us ways to make paint and colors from various natural resources (such as grass, roots, and berries). We were then given the chance to carve our own Native American symbols (or symbols that we felt best represented us) into a piece of carving pad. Then we picked one of the nature based colors to fill in the carving.

For our lesson plan we focused on Winter Holidays around the world and the traditions of various cultures around the world. We used countries such as Ethiopia, Iran (Persia), Australia and China to emphasis and show the different ways of celebrating the holidays. It was a lot of fun creating the PowerPoint and showing the different foods and decorations these countries used. It was also a lot of fun to compare them to our traditions here. We set up 3 different stations to highlight and emphasis the lesson: a station to make holiday cards with various greetings in foreign languages; a station to create an ornament; and a station to draw something that symbolized the holidays for you.

It was brought to our attention that this lesson would need to be tweaked so that we could include students with different backgrounds, or for those who do not celebrate the holidays. I could see how this could pose problems, but I also believe that if you set up your environment in your class as one that is warm and accepting to all students (like a judgement free zone) then kids will not feel so self-conscious and aware of their differences, or view their differences as a hindrance. I also believe that you have to find appropriate and engaging activities for students who do not celebrate holidays, and do not make them feel like they have to justify or explain their reasoning behind why they do not celebrate.

All in all though, it was a fun lesson plan and I am happy that we are now done with it J.

Week of November 10^th and 12^th: how to critique art and working on our lesson plans

In class on November 10^th, we looked at a PowerPoint about the various ways to critique art, and the different techniques that artists can apply in their pieces. In terms of technique, we talked about how shape, light, use of lines, and symmetry can all be used in positive ways in art. With such techniques, you can sharpen or heighten the detail of your piece, along with drawing the viewer’s eye to a certain aspect of the piece. I thought it was coo how symmetry and light can play such a huge rule in how the piece is perceived, and the way that so many people can either see or not see the same thing in a piece.

We then moved onto the ways that people can critique art. There are three ways to critique art:

1.)    Realism: does the painting look like similar to something we would see in real life (like does the horse drawing have the features and look of a horse)

2.)    Emotion: does the image convey the contents emotion

3.)    Does the piece conform and use the principles of art.

We also discussed how art critique does not have to mean something negative, and that it is okay to incorporate these rules into our classroom as long as we set the precedence of politeness.

In class on the 12^th, we were given the class period to get with our groups to work on our lesson plan projects. We were all assigned a group to work with, and within that group we had to create 4 lesson plans that were similar in subject, and that all tied in the TEKS and other requirements for a lesson plan. My group decided on teaching about Winter Holiday celebrations and traditions around the world. I chose the celebration of Diwali, and tied that into the subject of culture and world history.

Week of November 3^rd and 5^th: Discussion and going over what is due for the rest of semester

                        In class on November 3^rd, we started discussing the last pages of our textbook. During this class period, we talked about arranged marriages and how we would handle this situation along with any other cultural situations that could arise in our classrooms. After a little bit of questioning and discussion, we came to the agreement that as Teachers it is not our job to step into such personal matters. We do not have knowledge about their culture, and often times it is such a personal thing to discuss, it is best to leave it up to the parents and their communities. We should however be open to our students and create an environment where they feel safe to come to us with any problems, worries or concerns they may have. I believe that no matter what your personal views are, you should never make your students feel like they are not welcome in their own classroom, or that they should not feel comfortable talking to us about their life.

            In class on November 5^th, we played catch up. Since the end of semester is nearing, we talked about what all would be due over the next couple of weeks, and the requirements and expectations for those assignments.

Week of October 27^th and 29^th: my second absence and various topics for discussion

     I was not in attendance in class on the 27^th. Due to a prior commitment for an organization I am in, I had to go help set up for an event.

            When I came back to class on the 29^th, I soon realized that I had missed basically everything that was important for the month. There was an extra credit assignment that was given were we could go watch a documentary in the sub about sexual abuse and what consent means. In class, we spent the most of our time discussing this time, and detailing what consent means to us. After this, we moved onto the topic of the school system (no idea how we made that leap) and the differences between public school and private. 
 We touched on the fact that our major is often ridiculed by our peers as being “an easy major” and the consequences this can have on our careers and the view of teachers.

I know that I am way too quick in apologizing for my major. When my friends tell me that they are engineers or business majors, I always say I am education and that “It isn’t as hard as y’alls though”. I realize that I need to stop apologizing or talking down my major, and realize that what I am focusing on is just as important as other people’s paths.

 Week of October 20^th and 22nd: more clay and discussing Disney

            During class on October 20^th, we continued to work on our clay projects. While we did this, Dr.  Johnson started a discussion about the impact Disney had/ can have on children. He had assigned us the homework of working of watching a Documentary called “Mickey Mouse Monopoly” which covered the topic of how Disney movies can allegedly change the way children can view what a healthy relationship is when they are adults. I personally did not fully agree with the argument. I do agree that we are exposed to images and ideas that help mold our views of the world at a young age, but I do not believe Disney is the root of the problem. I know Dr. Johnson was more arguing the point that Disney can be a ring in the ladder of our social views, but even then I slightly disagree. In the end though, I think it is should be left up to the parents to decide what they are comfortable with their children watching. For example, my parents would let me watch Disney all day every day, but would rarely let us watch anything above a PG rating until we were about 13-14. Also, the schools I went to were strict about what we were allowed to watch. Disney movies were never played, along with movies that could possibly shape the way students viewed their role in society (like boys feeling like they always had to be the hero or could never ask for help, or that girls always had to look certain way). In all, this discussion was quite awkward, and I spent the majority of it hiding behind the shelves where the clay wheels were.

            Class on October 22^nd was spent finishing up our clay projects, I had decided on using a coiling method. It was easier than I had anticipated (though Jessica did give me quite a few pointers) and I was able to finish making a coin holder/bowl by the end of the class period We were then told to put our clay on a shelf to let it dry.

        Week of October 13^th and 15^th: The beginning of clay

During Class on October 13^th, we had a quick discussion with Noemi, our TA. Since Dr. Johnson was away, she led our class in a discussion about our assigned readings. We talked about how we could discuss the problems of the environment in class, along with how we would handle such topics as homelessness. As we discussed I thought about how I would personally handle such topics, and I concluded that the best way I could help was by always having supplies in my room for those of my students who did not have basic resources such as food, clothing, and cleaning supplies such as towels and soap. After discussion, Noemi quickly discussed what we would be doing in class next period (clays) before letting us out.

In class on October 15^th we started working on our clay project. We were given the parameters of creating whatever we wanted, as long as we used either the wheel or coil method. I started off the first day just tinkering around with the clay and getting used to the feel and build of the clay. The wheels filled up quickly, and quite honestly I was too lazy to start coiling. So I spent most of the class period flatting the air bubbles out of the clay and making random shapes out of my pieces. However, by the end of class I decided that I was going to try to make something with both methods.

      Week of October 6^th and 8^th: Presenting our Projects and Discussion    

            In class on October 6^th, we turned in our “Unsung Hero” Project. For this assignment we were given a name from a list in our textbook of rarely spoken of or “unsung” figures in our history. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I was assigned Dolores Huerta. She worked closely with Cesar Chavez and helped create the United Farmers Workers or UFW. She has worked tirelessly for causes such as immigrant, farm workers’ wages and women and children’s rights. For this project I struggled to think of a creative piece that could capture all the work she has done, and the impact she has had on minorities and women’s lives. I finally decided that the best route for me to take would be to create a piece that could symbolize the work she put into Delano Grape strike of 1965. During this protest she helped organize the workers into a protest that peacefully demonstrated for minimum wage for their labor. Keeping this in mind, I began to work on my piece. Using a green poster board, I shaped it to the shape of a dollar bill. I then put the dollar sign in the middle of the dollar, with drawings of grapes on either side of the sign. Then I lined the boarder of the dollar with the cut out figures of various male and female workers. They all had a protest sign, and were left faceless to symbolize how mistreated they were by the labor system. To me this had the effect of making them seem voiceless, when in actuality they were quite willing to fight for their fair wage.

 This is the final look for my unsung hero Project. I broke Popsicle sticks in half to make the picket signs. This was a fun project to research and make an art piece for. I think this is a great and fun way to introduce students to facts and people about various aspects of history.
 Below is what my memory water color project ended up looking like. For some reason, when I used some of the techniques- such as the alcohol trick- it did not end up working on my paper. Perhaps it was because of the texture of my paper? Either way, this was also a fun project to do in class, and it could be used in other classrooms for a nice icebreaker.

 Week of September 29^th and October 1^st:  Water color project

            During the class period of September 29^th, we were given time to finish up our water color projects. Over the weekend, I had finally decided on the topic that I wanted to paint. I chose the time in 8^th grade (which was really the whole year) when I was sick. I had gotten H1N1- or Swine flu- but instead of getting better I got worse. It turned out that the virus had done some damage to my digestive system and I know struggled with keeping stuff down. Because of this, I spent a lot of time at home and away from my friends, which was one of the many reasons why we stopped talking that year.

            Drawing this painting was hard for me (because my drawing skills are sub-par at best) but it was fun/challenging to draw something so personal to me. 

My sketches of my memory: this one shows my mom and I at one of the numerous doctors appointments I had after getting the flu.

My first idea for my memory was to draw about my first day of  school. However, I struggled to show how this was a significant memory to making me the person I am now, rather than showing how embarrassingly I reacted on my first day.

Week of September 22^nd and 24^th: My first absence and turning in our first project

            I was absent for class on September 22^nd. I became ill with a stomach bug. Since I was going to an elementary school for the first time the next day, I decided to get a doctor’s appointment to make sure I was not contagious. Due to this, I was not in class when we discussed pages 102-126.

            In class on the 24^th, we turned in our photography project. For this project, we were instructed to take pictures of a minimum of 5 things that we encounter or see on our way home. Since I live on campus, I decided to use pictures of landmarks and objects that I see on my way from Round Rock to Texas Tech University. We were told to get creative in how we showed the pictures, taking care to make sure that it still looked like a map. In the end, I decided to base my project design on board games. I used the theme of candy land to make the map outline of my project. I felt that as an elementary school teaching giving out a similar project idea, this would be an easy and nice example to show my students on how to do their maps.

We did not talk about what we did, but instead turned it in and began the other part of our class.

During class that day we also started learning about water color techniques. We learned styles and tips that would enhance or eventual water color projects. Such simple and cheap items as rubbing alcohol and paper towels can alter the texture and layout of your paintings. This was a cool lesson, and is something simple yet fun that I could incorporate into my classroom.

            After learning about the 4 styles of water coloring, we then moved on to learning about our next project: painting a significant memory. I struggled to come up with one that Dr. Johnson approved of but we finally agreed on one.

 

    Week of September 15^th and 17^th: Painting with a “twist” and more discussion

            In class on the 15^th, we finished off our discussion of the assigned reading (pages 77-101). This time in class we talked about what are basic rights of humans as pertaining Bill or Rights around the world. As a class, we agreed that as a Human being it is your right to pursue happiness, be treated fairly and justly. Dr. Johnson asked us what are definition of “fair” was, and we discussed how as a human, you should not be subject to harsh or unfair treatment, and should have the right to express your opinions and live life as you see fit. We talked about how this could have repercussions, since one person living their life as they see fit is bound to infringe on the rights and beliefs of another.

            I believe that as a human being, you should live life the way you want to, but to an extent. Once your beliefs and lifestyle start to harm another person physically, then you are not living a life that is fair and just.

            In class on September 17^th, Dr. Johnson had someone from Painting with a twist in Lubbock come and show us how to do it. Throughout the class period, she walked us through step by step of how to draw, paint and color in our piece (which was a drawing of Texas with a cowboy hat and a Texas Tech mustache), along with talking to us about different painting strokes and techniques. In the end, my drawing came out horrible, but I really enjoyed the experience. It was fun having someone come into our class and teach us another way to do art.

            Week of September 8th and 10th: Discussion and prepping canvases

In class on September 8^th, we discussed how history can be biased. In this discussion we talked about how when history in taught in schools, there can be “selective memory”. For example, we talked about people who are rarely discussed in classrooms. From Dolores Huerta to John Brown, classrooms have the tendency to leave out figures who could be seen as controversial. Dr. Johnson said that this was due to the fact that history books are written by people who do not want this stuff talked about, and I agree to a point. I am aware of how textbooks can be very biased when it comes to remembering how history went down (like how World War II is a huge focal point in classrooms, but the Japanese internment camps in the US are rarely mentioned in class, or the lack of pages on women and people of color). I also believe, that history is such a huge topic to talk about, and there are so many people to cover, that sometimes people are left out.

In my AP US history class in high school, I had a teacher who focused both on what was going to be covered on our test and on what he felt was important for us to know. I think it is up to the teachers (with the approval of their principal) on how much they want to deviate from the textbooks and curriculum, to teach their students about figures in history who are equally as important as the ones we learn about in textbooks.

In this class period we also were assigned a project called Unsung Heroes. For this project we were assigned a person who we had not heard of before (I was given Dolores Huerta) and were supposed to make an art piece symbolic of what they stood for, along with facts on our person. It was to be due on October 6^th.

In class on September 10^th, we started working on the canvasses that we would use for painting with a twist. We built our canvasses by framing two pieces of wood, and pulling a piece of canvas linen around the frames and borders. After making sure they were on tight, we stapled them onto the wood, and then went on to paint the canvases white. Then we let them dry for next week.

         September 1^st and the 3^rd: Discussion and drawing our future selves

            In class on September 1^st, we were assigned an in class group activity to sort through a stack of children’s’ book and analyze the environment seen in the books. We then discussed how these images may affect the way students view themselves and the world around them. Dr. Johnson also argued the point that students may lose interest in a book or lesson if they cannot see themselves in the book, so we should always strive to have diversity and varying themes for in class readings. While I agree with this, I do not believe that we can always make sure that every group and problem is represented at all times, so that we should try the best we can to include diversity in books, but also make sure that you stay on track with the lesson you are trying to teach. In the book pile were some children’s books that I used to read, like a book from the Arthur series and A Magic school bus book.

            In class on the 3^rd, we were given the task to draw what we pictured we would look like in 10 years, and also what we would want our classrooms to look like. I struggled with drawing the features realistically for my self-portrait, but I enjoyed drawing what I would want my classroom to look like. I want to be a special education teacher at the elementary level, and I know that I will want to have a bunch of sensory stations around the room. This helps keep the students engaged, and also can help them with learning motor skills and other techniques for daily life. It can also help to calm down the students, and is a great tool to get lessons such as music and art across to the students.

     First week of Class: August 25-27th

                   August 25th was the first day of class, and on this day everyone made themselves name tags. Using construction paper of the color of our choice, we then decorated them with pictures and symbols that represented who we are and our interests. We then went around the class and introduced ourselves and explained what we put on our name tags and why.

                     On the second day of class we discussed our first assigned readings. Mentioned in the discussion were the debate over Ebonics should be considered a language. Several (including myself) argued that it should not be, but our teach Dr. Johnson proved us wrong and explained why it is in fact a language and why it should be considered one. He explained how agencies, companies, and people  use the dialect in their daily lives, and I am now convinced that this is  a language. Anything that is spoken by groups of people should be classified as a language.