New Paltz Middle School Final Projects

After getting some very sensitive secrets from our students, Melinda and I, along with our mentor teacher Kim Sturgis, decided to bring the focus of our lesson toward a more positive goal.  Students were to remember their secrets, and come up with how the bullying situation could be resolved, or how students could be an ally to those who are bullied.

We ended up getting some really great projects at the end!
Each grade did the project a little bit differently:

6th Grade: Brainstorm slogans and images that would help others recognize the issue of bullying and create a design for the front of a t-shirt.  The most successful projects would be combined to create a collage peace sign for a shirt that will be sold as a fund raiser.

7th Grade: Created wordle posters from words and slogans that described an ally and how they could be an ally for someone who is bullied.  The students each chose a place in the school to post their poster. A few chose in the cafeteria, in the hallways, and in the bathrooms.

8th Grade:  Students recorded video of different bullying situations and worked either alone or in groups to edit the film to create a bullying awareness video.  Some chose to change color, add quotes, and add music to the video.  

Overall, the students learned a lot...and I know that I did as well!  It was really exciting to see the changes to the original idea actually play out into something that I feel was even better than it would have been before!

Thanks Kim Sturgis for such a great learning process!

Lesson Presentation: Sell That Logo

Melinda and I have been working very hard to create a lesson plan to teach to our class.  In our lesson, "Sell That Logo", students were introduced to different symbols and how symbols are used in advertising.  Our lesson called for the students to work in groups, or design teams, which gave the lesson a realistic feel for designing at a design firm.

Preparing for the lesson required much thought and organization.  Because students were working in groups we needed a way for each student to keep busy while at the same time contribute to the group in a positive way.  We decided to start the class organization promptly as the students walked in the classroom.  Each student was asked to check out our bulletin board outside of the classroom so that they would have an idea as to what we would be doing in class that day.

Once students entered the classroom, they were given a post-it with a number that directed them toward the table that they would be working at with their group.  By doing this right away, it saved time and was a great way to mix up the groups that students would be working in.  

When the bell rang, we began our class by presenting a quick slideshow of different logos that were easily recognized.  We spoke about how symbols are used in logos to simplify an image, as well as how certain symbols have hidden messages inside.  

                                                           

After the slideshow, we discussed the topic of teamwork.  What does a team do?  What different kinds of teams are there?  We then introduced the term Design Team.  In a design team there is a group of individuals working together to create a design for a client.  In each design team we created 4 jobs that each student would take on.  We created posters about each job which were hung in the back of the room for reference throughout the lesson.

Graphic Designer:  in charge of final image chosen

Editor:  in charge of final text chosen

Team Manager:  in charge of keeping the team on task

Project Manager:  in charge of presenting the logo to the class

We allowed time for each group to pick the tasks that they would be taking on in the design team and had them write it down on an index card so that we could collect it and double check that each person was on task.  From there, we went on to a demonstration about how they would be creating these logos and presented the materials that they would be working with.  There was a quick demonstration about the exacto knives, and we presented our teacher examples.  We had one example deconstructed so that we could show the steps that we took to create it (ex. color, text, slogan).  The other examples were of the logos that we created for the different clients that we had.  

These examples sparked a lot of interest in the class and everyone was eager to start working.  So we asked if anyone had any questions, and let them begin work. 

The students had 15 minutes to sketch out a design, apply color, create slogans and determine text for the different scenarios that they had received.  The scenarios ranged from a client wanting a new logo for their restaurant to a client wanting a new logo for the President of the United State's airplane.  Every student got right to work at creating their logo, however many students felt rushed in the creating process.  If I were to do this lesson, I would certainly allow for more time for them to play around with different ideas so that the could be happier with the logo that they were presenting.  Here are some examples of the student's work.

At the end of the period, the Project Manager in the group presented the logo to the class, who were prospective clients.  After the presentation of the logo, the class were to fill out a "Client Response" worksheet about the positive aspects of the logo as well as what they could do differently.  Each response was very constructive and offered many good ideas for the presenting design team.  

Overall, I think that this lesson was very successful and opened up many opportunities for follow-up lessons.  Every student was really interested in the topic and I think that by allowing students to work in high-pressure, realistic circumstances gives them a taste of what a real job may offer.  

Final Fieldwork

So my fieldwork at New Paltz Middle School has winded down, and I think that it was very successful.  Ms. Sturgis allowed Melinda and I to really engage with the class and the teaching process.

For our lesson that we taught the class, we began with the theme of bullying, which was being taught throughout the grades 6-8.  From that theme, Melinda and I came up with the idea of using the website Post Secret as inspiration.  Each student would write a secret they had about the theme of bullying, leaving it completely anonymous.  Melinda, Ms. Sturgis, and I filtered through the secrets and typed them up to make sure that they were appropriate and anonymous.  The next class students would be handed out a different secret which they would depict on a poster that could be displayed around the school to remind students that bullying truly does happen.  Some examples that we showed the class were taken from Post Secret and we also created our own example to show the class.

"Any time someone said something stupid I'd write it on a post-it, and put it on the back of my door & laugh about it later."

We showed a few different youtube videos that really grabbed the attention of the students.  The students even gave input as to what youtube videos they knew that we could screen before showing other classes.  The Bully Project is an upcoming movie that uncovers the many ugly and sad aspects of bullying.  It also shows students that bullying really does happen, and they can make a difference to put an end to it.

As an introduction to the project, we agreed that post cards depicting the secrets with a focus on a positive solution to bullying was a good place to start.  These post cards would then be posted around the school.  Each grade would then branch out into their own projects.
The 6th graders would begin working on life-size silhouettes that would be displayed around the school that would be placed where bullying may occur.
The 7th graders would be using the website Wordle to create an image from different text about bullying and their feelings about the subject.
The 8th graders brainstormed as a class, because the focus of their project was a video project depicting bullying and how it can be stopped.  Students could take inspiration from the situations that had been presented through the Post Secret cards.  These students' videos will be shown on the morning announcements.
Ms. Sturgis found a video that we showed for inspiration for the video projects was this:

The students were really excited about these projects and were very engaged in the topics that were being discussed during class time.  Bullying is a very serious subject and all of the students were very respectful and serious about the discussions.  I think that this lesson has a high impact on students and is important to present in all schools at all grade levels.

Tim Lefens: A.R.T.

Today I went to a lecture presented by Tim Lefens, the creator of the A.R.T. Program.  A.R.T. stands for "artistic realization technologies".  I was first introduced to this program in the course Art for the Exceptional Child, where we learned about art for students with disabilities.  

In this lecture, Lefens spoke about a few of his theories.  many dealing with the way that we as artists live our lives.  

1.  Death Bed Theory:  What painting would you want to view hanging across from your death bed?  Is it something beautiful?  Peaceful?  This made me really connect with what I believe art is.  I have always been a firm believer in creating art for the beauty of it.  As an answer to this, I would like to have a large colorful painting, that would submerge me in its beauty, which is a concept that Lefens spoke of as well.  Losing oneself and letting go of oneself when it comes to creating art.  It should be every artists goal to completely let go and not be held back by anything when it comes to creating. 

2.  Truncated Pyramid Theory:  Over the years we have diminished what "great art" is.  We have cut off the top of the pyramid and the only thing left is the "joke art" according to Lefens.  I feel that this is a bold statement because I feel that many artists still today grab my attention and inspire me through their works.  I can still go into a museum and lose myself in a work of art.  

3.  Double Funnel Theory:  Lefens describes creating art as a double funnel.  One needs to diminish themselves to nothing.  To cramps themselves so when they are completely compressed, they can expand and let go larger than they ever have before.  One needs surprise in order to get the free feeling of a masterpiece, and by letting go to create piece, this can be achieved.  

Lefens states that one cannot be drawn in by anyone or told by another what great art is.  For each person it is different.  Different people are attracted to different things.  We are all individuals.

He then brought all of these theories back to his program of A.R.T.  All of his students are severely limited (quadriplegic) when it comes to mobility, and the use of a laser allows them a sense of freedom.  The smallest movement when the right distance away may create a large motion on the wall.  The ability of choice allows these people freedom, something that they are not always given because of their disability.  

I found this lecture very interesting and very inspiring.  It showed me that I should not be drawn to a certain type of art or to create a certain type of art because that is what is being asked of me.  I need to stay true to my inner artist and create the type of art that I love.  

Tim Lefens wrote the book Flying Colors and also has a website.  Check it out for more information about A.R.T.

Network Publics and a Response to Danah Boyd's Article

For many teens, social networking is a must in order to keep in touch with friends and be able to stay in the social loop.  I find it interesting in the article that it is stated that "Although the luster has since faded and teens are not nearly as infatuated with these sites as they once were, they continue to be an important part of teen social life"(page 1).  I actually believe that these sites are more popular than ever.  Majority of students with access to the internet, have social network sites and I believe it might be rather a normality of daily life which creates this view that the interest is not as high.  It is not a new thing in other words, and because so many people are involved in it, it is not as abnormal and fascinating to explore anymore.

The social networks explored in the article are Myspace, Friendster, Xanga, and Facebook.  All of these sites allow teens to have accessibility to others connected to such networks as themselves.  They are allowed to delve deep into the lives of their peers and search them.
The idea of Network Public was brought up in Boyd's article, and the meaning of this is "a collection of people who may not all know each other but share 'a common understanding of the world, a shared identity, a claim to inclusiveness, a consensus regarding the collective interest.'"

Below are different properties that separate unmediated publics from networked publics,
Persistence: This is the fact that information posted online can be replicated, copied, or reproduced. Enabling communication, but also extending the period of existence of any speech created
Searchability: We may not be able to find one another in a town or state, but by a couple of clicks on a keyboard, a person can be found within seconds. Words or things they may have said can be found just as easily
Replicability: This is similar to Sweeney's article about cloning. Anything in the networks public can be replicated/repeated or copied. It can be made over and over or be used again and again by different individuals
Invisible audiences: This can cover parents, community, administrators, anyone who has access to the internet. It is virtually impossible to know all of those who come across our path online. 

I have been taught throughout my life what is appropriate to put online and what is not.  However, certain sites do not give the option.  Many students have changed their privacy settings so that they are not searchable on search engines such as Google, however on these sites, they are susceptible to searchablility from their peers, who have access to view their network.  I believe that many of these teens do not understand the concept of virtual privacy and many of them find out the hard way through internet bullying.

There is actually an instance that came up in my fieldwork, where a student was threatened via a social network.  These are very serious matters, and as a teacher, is something very important and fragile that we need to pay much attention to.  I feel that it is important to not only teach students the importance of privacy and information that they may reveal on these networks, but also see it as a harmful tool that may increase issues in every day life.
In our fieldwork, Melinda and I are working with the concept of bullying and using websites such as postsecret.com and thebullyproject.com that will help students to see what these ways of networking, although at times very exciting, can also have a dark side.

Presentation Summary

After giving our class a presentation about the topic of "Hybridizing Symbols",  both my partner Melinda DiGiovanna and I felt that overall our presentation was solid.  We created a powerpoint exploring different symbols that our society sees in every day culture and used artists Ryan McGinness and Mambo (Flavian Demarigny) as examples of how symbols can be used in to convey a message in a simple visual fashion.  We felt that both of these artists were strong examples because of their use of symbols in their artwork and the way that they display their artwork.

We began our presentation by asking the audience (our classmates) what different symbols were and why they knew what they stood for.  Working in a simple to more complex fashion seemed to really draw more interest in our topic.
We first used Ryan McGinness's piece "Duality" as an example, and asked audience to look for symbols, then link those symbols to what the meaning of the piece is.

The audience pointed out a number of different symbols represented in this work such as people, handcuffs, holding hands, and intertwining snakes that all represented a connection or a bringing together.

The other artist that we explored was a graffiti artist named Flavian Demarigny, who goes by the alias of Mambo.  We used a piece from an installation assembled in Lyon, France.  Mambo collaborated to create artwork that combined symbols in the form of street signs.  

The audience pointed out a flower, a hazard symbol, as well as the surroundings of where the sign was placed.  All of these details contributed to what the sign might stand for as well as why the artist chose to bring attention to this area.

As an installation, the audience determined that viewing many signs as opposed to just one allowed the viewer to stop and pay attention to their surroundings, or to just play with the idea of signs and how society is so trained to view signs by shape and color, that we often do not even really pay attention to what is depicted.  By creating a play on the normality of street signs, the viewer is tricked to pay more attention to what the signs are saying.

After our presentation, the class evaluated Melinda and I.  We had high ratings for our teacher presence and the engaging quality of our presentation.  Many students wrote that we had great starting questions and really caught the audience's attention with the selection of our artists.  

Most students felt that we did a good job at researching our artists and theme as well.  However, many felt the need for a deeper exploration of the artist's background.  Melinda and I did our best to incorporate enough information while still budgeting our time to explore the theme.  It is amazing how fast 10 minutes goes by!!!

Lastly, was the synthesis of the artists and themes.  Although many loved our choice of artists, many were lost about the theme of hybridizing symbols.  Some students pointed out that our theme would work if we simply switched out hybridizing symbols with recontextualizing symbols to make it more clear.  

Overall, it was a very successful presentation of our artists and a great teaching/learning experience!

Thank you everyone!

Update from New Paltz Middle School Fieldwork

The past two weeks at New Paltz Middle School have been quite exciting.  Ms. Sturgis has allowed Melinda and I to really become active in her classroom.  She allows us to work with her students and help out where we can.

Last week, we were there for our first "A" day.  The 6th grade students are working on a self portrait exploration through collage and text.  Students were in the process of cutting out images from magazines, and they were encouraged to lay out their pieces to see how many more images and words were needed to complete the project.
Ms. Sturgis introduced the directions to her first class and asked if Melinda and I would like to introduce the same project to the following two classes.  Melinda and I took the challenge and the students responded really well to our teacher presence.  After working hard for the class periods, the students found it fun to have a little friendly competition during the clean up.
We pointed out what table was doing a great job at cleaning up, and that they were going to get first place.  The other tables around quickly followed the table in the lead and the classroom was clean in no time.  The first table that was seated quietly a their cleaned up table was awarded first place.  The allotted time for cleanup was 5 minutes, and the students scurried to clean up in just 3 minutes.  This was great because Melinda and I wrapped up the day by telling them the next step of the project as well as asking what some students were using in their collages!

Day 1 of Fieldwork at New Paltz Middle School

When I was at the middle school level, it did not seem much different than other years.  I went to a Kindergarten through 8th grade school, where all grades were in the same building.  I feel that each year I grew a little more, but I never really realized many of the changes that we as students underwent.

With the proper classroom management, I feel that an art classroom can be both a fun and learning environment.  The teacher who my partner, Melinda DiGiovanna, and I are placed with, Ms. Sturgis, handles her classroom with both patience and interest.  Many people warn aspiring teachers about the middle school level, for it is a time when students are undergoing many changes, physically, mentally, emotionally, and behaviorally.  Ms. Sturgis seemed to create lesson plans that addressed many topics and things students might face at this level such as identity, pop culture, and liberty.

Having a sense of identity is very important at this age, it will shape who you will be and grow from for the rest of your life.  At the 6th grade level, Ms. Sturgis as well as another teacher in the school. shaped her lesson plan around identity exploration.  In one class, the students had just finished a project about the "Elements of Art".  After learning about these, students experimented with line, shape, color, space, value, texture, and form.   The second class that we saw, students were creating a name poster for their locker.  A locker is a very personal place and this project allows students to create a name tag that personally expresses themselves.

In the 7th grade, the lesson was based around liberty.  Students learned about collage and were to create a "collage word locker project", where students depicted a word that described themselves or a close friend and incorporated collage in some way.  Ms. Sturgis encouraged the students to use the whole piece of paper for their artwork, and after they were finished, Ms. Sturgis scanned the work into the computer and printed out multiple copies for the students.  Each student picked two others besides their own to matte on a larger sheet of paper, that would be laminated and taped to their lockers.

The 8th grade was just being introduced to their new unit on Pop Art.  For this project students find a headshot of someone who they see in popular culture today.  In the computer program of paint, students will alter the image using bright colors similar to the Pop Art style.  To educate the students about Pop Art, Ms. Sturgis showed her classes a series of videos about certain artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud, Andy Warhol and Keith Harring.  All of the videos that she showed were taken off of youtube.com, which I thought was a good tool because students often use it.  After the students viewed the short video clips, Ms. Sturgis passed out a hand out with pictures of each artist and asked the students to write down three facts about each artist.

Andy Warhol on Pop Art:

Talking About Art with Students

When I was younger, I found it easy to find things that interested me about artworks.  But what about the student who begins a lesson completely uninterested?  How can a teacher guide a student to ask and answer questions about an artwork?  Upon reading Terry Barrett's book Interpreting Art, he created a way for any person to seek answers to some questions to lead to the artworks meaning.

Barrett's formula consisted of combining subject matter (how one would describe the piece) , medium (what the piece is made out of), form (what its properties are), and context (purpose/history) to get the outcome of the meaning of the piece.

In class, we used a Bloom's Taxonomy chart to answer questions about an artwork.  I feel that this forced the viewer to ask questions about a piece of art.  It categorized different thought processes and allowed for an organized and better understanding of the piece.  This incorporates Barrett's formula in that all of the different categories of Barrett's formula can fall under Bloom's Taxonomy Chart.

These questions are a good starting point to talking about any artwork and always can generate a conversation about a work of art at any age.

Middle School Curriculum--James Bean

Adolescents understand more than we give them credit for.  In the article called "A Middle School Curriculum: From Rhetoric To Reality, Bean outlines different problems that middle school curriculums often have and how these problems can be sorted through and adjusted.

There are certain aspects of of skills that are proposed by the curriculum that many educators feel that are over the heads of adolescents.  However, the author states that they are fully equipped with the skills, however they do not always understand how to use them.  It is through this curriculum that they can use trial and error to find a way to utilize these skills.  In the curriculum now, they do not demonstrate the understanding of these skills because the curriculum does not allow for it.

"If we encourage early adolescents to be active democratic citizens, then we must engage them in looking behind the 'facts'" (Page 65).  This allows them to question things around them.  They are forced to look deeper into the information they are being fed by the current curriculum and question it.

This multi-dimensional curriculum incorporates personal and social concerns, skills necessary to explore these themes, and concepts of democracy, human dignity, and cultural diversity.  In these intersecting themes, spring different possible units that can help aid adolescents develop the necessary skills to grow.
Each of these themes work together to teach.  Now the curriculum is either geared toward elementary students, or adults.  By focusing on the general education aspect that taps into the common and shared concerns of early adolescents, the more students will better understand the world around them and the issues that people in the world face.

Surrealist Games

The idea of play is an important aspect for students to begin thinking in different ways.  It allows a no consequence way for them to express themselves and harness their true creativity.  Established artists such as Salvador Dali utilized play in many of his artworks.

"Automatism is the primary method of surrealism.  Solitary and collective automatic techniques, and the exploitation of chance are central to many surrealist games.  Surrealists soon came to realize the limitations of 'pure automatism.'" Spiral Workshop 2008.  

In beginning a lesson with play, in the form of a game, creative minds will be sparked into action and through the outcomes of such games, springs fourth many different and creative ideas that can be used in image making.  I find that chance is a great way for students to be able to create something.  Torn paper collages allow for chance to play a role in the image making process.  This is an example of Hans Arp's torn paper collage.  Different sizes of torn paper are dropped onto a sheet of paper where they are fixed with glue.

Different ways of using this technique allow for the artist to re-arrange and re-interpret the image and maneuver around the pieces to form an image.

Lesson plans can be derived from Surrealism Games utilizing chance.  The Torn Paper Collage allows students to use imagination for ideas of a project.  Drawing things other than reality can be hard for many students, however with this game, students are able to see that not all artworks are realistic and can be rendered and drawn from the imagination.

This is a drawing that taps into the imagination of the artist.  Although there are realistic qualities, the figure depicted is a creation of the imagination.