Classroom Commotion: High School Students Are Choosing

I have once again reinvented the high school visual art elective class. Leave it to me, right before bowing out of my position at Doulos, to have yet another grand idea of how to improve the high school class. The new system I have devised is based off of the Teaching for Artistic Behavior model of arts education that I have been researching. In a nutshell the TAB methodology is a choice-based model where students rotate through modules based on their personal interests. I did not come across very many examples of this being played out in other high school classrooms, but I think this is mostly because in the "average" high school there are already choices of different visual arts classes a student can take. However, Doulos is not able to offer that. That is what originally lead me to my adoption and adaptation of this particular classroom structure.

One of the main things I hoped to address and tackle with this new model was having a conglomerate of students at various levels of experience in the visual arts. Because our school only offers one visual art elective block per semester, I could have the full spectrum of students in my class at any give semester. This model allows my students the freedom to choose mediums, subject matter, and a selection of learning targets from a given list. I won't bore you with all the details, but essentially now my little group of high school art students are evaluating both their artistic interests and goals and pursuing them!



We're still working out all the kinks, but so far we are off to a great start! It's my hope that in the years to come this model can be maintained for the art "department" at Doulos. I would love to see what the TAB model might look like at younger levels, because it melds so well to the expeditionary learning principles we uphold at our school. I am a self-taught artist myself, and I firmly believe every student has the potential to unearth their creative identity if given the time, space, and resources. I'll be sure to post some more photos of the sketchbook assignments these high schoolers have been working on!

Classroom Commotion: Finally in Mi Propia Aula!

All throughout last year, work teams and hired hands worked endless on finishing the second floor of our new elementary building on the Doulos campus. You can see the first phase of the building, finished during the summer 2012, here. This new building added 8 new classrooms to our campus. Because of this huge change, at the end of last year our whole campus of classes PreK-12 went shuffling around. One of the amazing results of this was that our visual arts department (aka ME!) was given its very own classroom!

WAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!

Yes, believe it or not, the past three years I taught out of the cave  basement closet behind our amphitheater. This little spaced acted as my storage room/office. To teach my classes I traveled around campus to various rooms totting all my art materials in boxes galore. For my elementary classes I met my students in their guide classrooms, for my middle school classes I coordinated a fixed classroom generously lent to me by another teacher, but my high school class often ended up floating around to where ever was most convenient for that week.

However, all that has changed now... I excitedly present to you... (drum-roll, please)...

THE DOULOS VISUAL ARTS CLASSROOM!

The view from the front. And yes that is a projector hanging from the ceiling!-- another amazing blessing from the art resources coming up on the school budget circulation last year.

The view from the back. I only have space for the 5 tables and chairs in the actual classroom space, and when there are 20+ bodies in there too...it's pretty darn full!

My little bookshelf at the front of the room with the only wall space for a decently sized bulletin board. That door to the side is not the entrance, it is not actually a functioning doorway anymore.

Inside a little hallway by the bookshelf I have this life-saving storage cabinets. Most of the supplies fit in there.

My new little office across from the storage cabinets. The rest of my supplies are crammed in here on the shelf, along with easels, and a sink. Yes, indeed, that is a toilet under my desk. This little room was once a bathroom. I think the toilet still works actually...

So as you can see my new classroom isn't grandiose or abundant, but it IS a dedicated visual arts space, which is a HUGE step for the arts at Doulos. I can't tell you how much having this classroom has radically changed my teaching and even my work habits in general. I know that God is gracious in letting me sample this new stage in the arts program; I feel blessed to inaugurate the space.
My class load per week increased this year (like teaching 8 curriculums at a time wasn't already enough!) and honestly if it wasn't for this classroom, I don't think I would be able to handle it. I am so grateful to have a place to belong on campus now, and to have my students understand that the arts deserve a place on campus also. Years of begging advocacy has finally sprouted some fruit.

And this is why it's all worth it.

Student Work: Art Gallery 2013

Our 2nd annual Doulos Discovery School Art Gallery came and went and oh what a night it was.

If you remember last year's event, our gallery was centered around year-long projects done by the HS elective students. After last year in my reflections on the whole process and endeavor of putting on a gallery for the first time in my own and the school's history, I realized that it was such a special time of celebrating the visual arts. I immediately knew that the following year needed to include ALL grades so that more students, families, and community members would feel welcome to celebrate with us.

So starting at the beginning of the year, I collected the exemplary work from all the art classes that I teach (K-12)  and from various projects. When I would hand back artworks to students and there were a couple I thought worth keeping for the gallery, I would pull those student-artists aside and quietly ask them permission to hold on to their artwork. Each time their expressions were so excited, but that kind of contained excitement like they didn't want me to see how much the really were thrilled by the idea. By May I had about 6-10 works from each grade.

In addition to all of those, my spring elective students still completed independent study projects that involved research, short-term goals, and a final culminating product. We learned a lot about all the resources available to this generation via the inter-webs. Each students got to personalize their pursuit based on their own interests and abilities. And you better believe they were wide ranging! Two students studied architecture and 3-D models, one studied surrealism films, one studied Cubism and distortions, one studied caricatures and emotions, and another did digital nature photography. It was a lot to keep track of, but they took amazing ownership over their work and it was so fun to have such a variety of projects going on in our "classroom".

Once the gallery opening night finally approached, I was excited to promote it and set it all up. We were blessed to have an available space in the plaza across from the school campus. While there were some complications (if you want to know the story behind those, then ask me some other time), but it all came together beautifully. 

The biggest gift of the night was to see so many families there with their student-artists. We had a ton of people coming in and out, really taking time to look at the artworks. It was truly a celebration! I felt like the vision I had two years ago was finally taking form. I think the students really saw it as a privilege to have their work hang professionally in a community space and everyone there was so clearly proud of these student's creative powers!

Expedition Projects: Fall 2012

As an expeditionary learning school, each semester culminates in extensive and integrated learning units we call expeditions. Because I am a K-12 teacher, that means that I get to have a little hand in all the different expeditions, mostly through helping the guide teachers have some beautiful and relevant artworks to present to the community on our open house night. I actually enjoy this part of my job a lot. While there is plenty to teach about the visual arts as it's own subject matter, I like the challenge of finding ways to integrate the content of their learning expeditions into what we are learning as an art class. Here are a few samples of what the student's accomplished.

The third grade class in front of a mini mural they did of the ocean habitat for the sea animals they studied.

Each third grader studied a particular sea animal and how we help and harm them and their environment. In art class we did oil pastel drawings and watercolor resists of their animals that we later used as awareness "posters".

The first graders studied healthy habits and healthy eating. They made paper collages of a healthy meal option they wrote in the recipes for in Spanish class.

The kindergartners studied helpful and harmful insects. We did a few little projects with insects, these are just a few  mixed media buzzing buddies.

The fifth graders once again did detailed drawings of the endemic birds of the DR that they studied, but this year we took a different spin on them and used watercolors on our final ones and did close-ups of the field markings for each bird.

The sixth graders studied and applied the scientific method in various experiments. In art class we had a blast using the same process to study Jackson Pollock's works and research his unique painting technique.

I don't have an art class with the 11th graders this year, but I guest taught in their social studies class to help them create stencils that synthesized their reflections using written and visual expressions. For their expedition they studied cultural conflict and they used their learning to inspire these messages to their community.

GERMS! The second graders went wild with their  creative germ drawings from their imaginations. They each made up a germ villain and created a wanted poster for it for their programa de noticias de germenes.

Classroom Commotion: High School Outings and Junior High Mustaches

Sometimes I get really excited about some small detail of a lesson or some little moment in class when it all seems to fall into place. These are the quiet affirmations from God that I feel He gives me to encourage me in the work I do. It is very rare that anyone else is in the classroom with my students and I. But through these little gifts, I am reminded that the Lord is with me and loving the learning of my students.
Here are a two examples...

A few weeks ago my high school students were exploring drawing people en vivo, specifically practicing gesture drawings. I wanted to challenge them a little more so I gave them all oil pastels to work with rather than their comfortable tools of pens or pencils. As promised in our class constitution, we were due for an inspiration-seeking outing. So we headed for the central park for a few days. This year the high school elective class meets four days a week, compared to the one day a week allotted the previous years. I love that I can now really dig into concepts and techniques with these students AND give them class time to practice and develop them. Once we got to the park the first day, they took some time to warm-up and it was difficult for them to open their eyes to see and draw what was around them in such a busy place. But by the last day we were there I had to ask them to stop working so we would not be late in returning to school. It was evident that they just needed the time and space to find a groove and from there on they were hooked. We continued to work outside the classroom the following weeks in drawing landscapes around the Doulos campus.

The past couple weeks the sixth grade class has been working on a project on the Abstract Expressionists, with a focus on Jackson Pollock. We are integrating their science expedition on the scientific method by doing an "art experiment" about the differences between using a brush and throwing paint with other objects (like Pollock did).  We created a collaborative painting using brushes that will serve as a comparison to their other thrown-paint artworks they will do this week. As we were planning our procedures and materials, in accordance with the scientific method, one student mentioned off-hand that we needed berets or mustaches as we painted.  Of course I couldn't let that go unheard. When they entered the classroom the next day on their desks they found personal paper mustaches! Haha, so fun! We all (yes I wore one also) sported the mustaches all class and some even into their next few periods. That little detail lifted the whole mood of the class. They were very successful in mixing their two personas of artist and scientist, especially as we recorded our observations like scientists do but with an artist's eye and art vocabulary.

Opening

This year I am once again working up a whole new curriculum for the HS visual art elective. Based on some things I have been learning personally as a growing "artist", I am trying to make this semester's elective class an opportunity for more experimentation and exploration-- I have even come to call the class "Liberating Our Creativity", because that's how I've been experiencing this personal search and process.

Our first couple days consisted in making a class constitution. Rather than coming up with rules myself, I wanted the students to decide what would make the class the most productive and safe for them to be open and motivated. I love what they came up with.

I am super excited to walk alongside these students in their search for their own creative habits and artistic process. Already they have impressed me with their openness and willingness to take on the assignments and challenges I've posed so far. 

Part of what this class is going to require is vulnerability among the students and myself. It is intimidating and scary to put your art work out there for others to see and critique. Especially when we are only en camino to having a developed identity as an artist. I have made a promise to myself that if I'm going to ask my students to open up their sketchbooks and introspective reflections to the rest of our class, then I need to step up to that challenge myself. So I present to you, my sketchbook...

Actually, hold on. Before I do that let me show you my inspiration for the following pages. If you will remember, this summer I was in search of my muse. During that time I discovered that another one of my "go-to" places for inspiration is antique shops. I love the histories and artifacts collected from all around. While making the rounds through the old stomping grounds, I stumbled upon a little display of antique goodies. 

And now here's what I've got ...

Student Work: High School Elective Art Gallery 2012

as promised, I want to share about maybe the most exciting art event Doulos has ever put on.

 (or at least that's my opinion :)

Last year, the school decided to actually have required art classes for some of the HS grades and maintain the art elective for HS. I was super excited to be able to spend the required classes developing skills and devote the elective time to more student-led curiosity and personal investigation of visual arts. My hope was to create a  mock independent study course where we studied how to develop a self-defined theme and use that theme to create a series of artworks.

It was a journey and process to say the least. At the beginning many of my students struggled with confidence or lack of exposure to what a well thought-out artwork or series could even look like or encompass. We dove head first into keeping a sketchbook of ideas. This habit is still one that I hope to work with my students with.






By the end of the first semester, they had chosen and proposed themes they wanted to explore and created a first piece to fit into that theme. Then the second semester, together we struggled through variation of the theme, use of materials, deadlines, and overall responsibility and dedication to their art.







I had a range of levels in this class-- some who could completely take ownership over this project and others who needed a hand held in every step of the way; some that had almost no visual art experience but ended up surprising not only themselves but me with their growth and talent via ownership and dedication; some whose ideas were as simple and basic as you can imagine but humbly accepted my constant pushing and shoving; some whose ideas were expansive but lacked follow-through.






They were frustrated at times, I was frustrated at times...they were joyfully surprised at times, and I was joyfully surprised at times. And finally, after some pulling of teeth and many deep breaths, we got it all together and celebrated with our community at our first ever Doulos Art Exhibition.

We had a great turn out of family, friends, and Doulos staff. A new plaza had recently opened up across the street and because of some connections our accountant had we were blessed to be able to use the gallery space for free! Praise God! It made the night that much more special because there was a sense of professionalism rather than just another school-based event.

As the students arrived and saw their work hanging up, I saw smiles and light bulbs flashing bright. The whole year I kept pushing them and telling them that we were going to have this gallery and it was a big deal-- they would always respond to me with confused eyes and "whatever" shrugs. It was like finally they saw what I was trying to help them see all along.

Already there is talk and visions for next year...and not just from me but from the students! I hope that God will allow this exhibition to be an annual event that Doulos can use to celebrate the visual arts of our students with the community.

Student Work: 5th Grade Endangered Birds, 4th Grade Coral Collages, and High School Identity Paintings

more from expeditions...

This 5th grade class is full of very enthusiastic learners. Their expedition was on endangered birds in the DR, specifically from our region. These kids really did become experts on the birds they studied and where ever they were on campus for the last few weeks their heads have been turned sky-ward looking to spot these creatures. For their art class we did detailed drawings of their birds and the used what we learned about patterns to pick out field markings that could be used to identify the bird.

Here are a few selections from their work-- including drafts and their final drawing

The 6th grade class once again did their study on coral reefs in the DR. They made mixed media collages based on some of the issues they were learning about that threaten the coral reefs (i.e. pollution, bleaching, overfishing, etc.) These were created during a study of work by Robert Rauschenberg. 

 

Lastly, three of my students in my 11th grade art class chose to integrate their final art history project into their final products for their expedition on cross-cultural relations. These ladies did a short study on a Latin American artist and used that artist's style and to create a work that communicated their own cultural context and how they straddle and grapple with all that forms their identities. I am very proud of what they came up with!