Some Hows of Literacy Instruction in the Art Room

How will you integrate critical literacy instruction in your discipline? 

One of the reasons I love art is for its almost innate ability to get people to think critically. On top of this inherent quality I think there are some great ways that you can enhance critical literacy in the art room and integrate it with your instruction. For starters you can seek out artists who challenge norms that many of your students take for granted. While discussing these artist's work you can talk about how they are conveying their ideas, how the students would convey similar or opposite ideas, and the merits and disadvantages of both sides of the issue. Another great way I plan on working critical literacy into my classroom is through the students own works. I feel like art is a great way to express an idea from many different points of view. By having students tap into ideas and issues that are intrinsically important, I can help them explore and express these ideas through a critical lens. 

How will you choose and teach vocabulary words?

Vocabulary instruction wasn't really something I put a lot of thought into before I took this class. I'm really glad I took this class because it's given me a lot of good ideas about how I can approach this important aspect of education. One of the main things I want to do for my classroom is have the elements of design terms displayed around my room with example artworks to go with each. I also plan on empasizing students use those terms while they discuss each others artworks. Besides those overarching things I look forward to creating some fun vocabulary games, I want to create hands on tools to teach vocabulary (like cropping frames, texture pallets,etc.), and on some of the students works I will have them write artist statement that include specific vocabulary words. Over all I just want to work at making art vocabulary an every day part of my classroom.

How will you structure opportunities for students to use oral language?

One of the big things I think a lot of students miss out on in high school are the skills to talk about art in a meaningful and correct way. You see it a lot in beginning art classes in collage. Students will just say "this is good, I like this," or, "I don't like that." But they don't know how to express why they like something or what about the work was effective or lacking. I plan to really focus on this in my classroom. I am going to, as much as possible, have group critiques so students get an opportunity to talk about art. I will model the meaningful ways to do so and help students to do the same. Hopefully when a student leaves my class they will have a firm handle on why they like something, and what exactly it is that the artist did that draws them in.

How will you support your students in writing texts and producing other representations in your discipline?

Well, producing representations is the name of the game in art. I plan to support them in that by being in the school. As far as writing texts go, that's a little harder. Like vocabulary it's something I didn't really think about much before this class, but I've gotten some great ideas. I said I wanted to do spoken critiques as much as possible, but that won't always be possible. The nice thing is this seeming downside actually sets up for some very relevant writing activities. I plan on having students write critique notes to me as well as critiques to each other. In some respect, like for a final portfolio, some of these written critiques could even be taken to a level 2 or 3 writing assignment. On top of these writing activities I plan on having students journal about their thinking processes, incorporate text into their actual art works, and write about the ideas and interests that are important to them in order to pull out inspiration for works of art. Beyond that I am looking forward to finding ways to incorporate literacy education into my art room in a variety of meaningful ways.

One of the Best Papers I've Ever Read...

So the prompt said to think of a writing assignment that I am very proud of. Well the first thing that comes to mind is a weird example. When I was in high school English we had a poetry assignment. Our teacher was super strict but super awesome. I remember doing the poetry assignment in my journalism class a day or two before it was due. I'm sure it was very angsty, very teenagery, and in the grand scheme of things not very good. Thing is though, I turned it in and the feed back blew me away.

My teacher took me aside after class a few days after we turned it in and said she wanted to talk to me about my poem. She took it out and said, "this is one of the best poems I've ever had turned in for this assignment, but..." There was a "but" but before we get to it, how cool is that! I was super excited and felt very very proud. But back to the "but." "But, Trevon there are sooo many mistakes." She proceed to tell me that she loved the poem, loved my word choice, my metaphors, and my symbolism but that the thing was riddled with spelling errors and small grammatical problems. She said that if I ever turned something in like this in collage that I would never have gotten this kind of feedback, I would just get an F no mater how great the poem was.

Being the rebellious teenager I was a big part of me was just really excited that I managed to pull off an A on a paper with so many mistakes, but her comments did get me thinking about the future. You see I didn't do much of any thing that was included in the prompt. My only reference was a thesaurus, and the only person I had review it was my friend and there's probably no way I would have changed anything major just because he said to (and obviously he was no good at the technical help.) I definitely didn't revise it before I turned it in. And sad thing is, I may not have revised it afterwords. I do think this talk contributed a lot to me putting a ton of effort into all my writing my first two semesters of collage (I didn't want them to just reject my papers as I had been led to believe they would.)

Looking back I kind of wish she hadn't given me an A right off the bat. Maybe if I had had to revise it I would still have it today. Maybe I would at least remember what was so great about it, and I for sure would have come away knowing the importance of revision.

I think when I am the one in the teacher roll I'm gonna play it a little differently. When that gem of a paper comes across my desk chalk full of errors (that is if I can even tell that there are errors,) I'm going to have them revise it, have their peers look over it, have them look over a few more sources.
Then I'll tell them it's the best paper I've ever read. Because I mean, come on, who doesn't want to hear that about their work.

A Good Reader

Am I a good reader? Well, I think I am good at reading. At least mostly. I have, at some times more than others, really enjoyed reading all sorts of books. I am a little slow. My wife is a much faster reader then me (she's always scrolling past where I've read when we're sitting at the lap top together) and as a child I always remember wishing I could read as fast as my mom. But, slowness aside, I can comprehend. I can pull out deeper meanings. I think I am a good reader.

I don't really read that much right now. So, I think I am bad at doing reading. I have this crisis every time I go to read. I think "oo, I should read such and such book!" Then I think, "I have a lot of reading I should be doing for my classes." Then, "I don't want to read for my classes." And finally, "guess I won't do any reading right now."

I think my love of reading comes from my mom. She was always reading and I think it just rubbed off on me. There were lots of reading things she had us interact with when I was young. We had Library for Kids in the "town" where my grandparents lived (town is very liberally used here, the population was my grandparents and maybe 5-10 other houses spread throughout the mountain. The library was next to the post office and nothing else was next to those two buildings, just a road and lots of trees. I loved it there.) We had the book mobile that would come by my house every month or so. I thought that was very normal but I haven't seen one of those vans by any of my houses out here in Utah. Then there was the school libraries I could always turn to. They were always small, but I could always find something to read.

As a very young kid I read for knowledge. I just liked knowing stuff and I liked it when I was thought of as the "smart kid." I think that was fostered by my family at first too. I think it also gave me a place in the scheme of things. I wasn't popular in my elementary school, but at least I was smart and that came with its own kind of social interactions.

Eventually we moved out of my small town to a different, not quite as small town. All of a sudden I wasn't the smart kid. There were lots of smart kids, well like 3 or 4, but it wasn't just me anymore. With out that pushing me to read for knowledge I just kind of gave it up. They already had established themselves as the smart ones, and I didn't feel like fighting them for it, so I just turned to my other reading love, fiction.

That happened in middle school and I've never really turned back. I think I got a little rebellious and I just didn't like being told what to read. It was a bad attitude and unfortunately I think it lingers on. Thus my current reading crisis. I don't think any of my peers ever pushed me in that direction though. I was never one to follow my peers. I just did it myself. So since then, when I read, I mostly only do it for enjoyment.

That might have a small something to do with why I am an art major. The texts there don't require much reading in the traditional sense. Also If you don't like the text the teacher is prescribing, well, you can just look quickly and move on. Plus I'm a sucker for a new image. I'm not sure where it came from but I love filling my head with new and varied works of art.

How do we foster a love for reading? I'm not sure. Immersion? I think that's what did it for me. You've got to surround kids with it. And they've got to see you doing it. And loving it.

For my classroom I hope to have a huge library. I think the more you read, the more ideas you can put into your head -be they facts or fiction, the more creative of an individual you will become. As far as art texts go, sure I'll have my share of history books. But mostly I want to have more than my share of Art! I want imagery plastering my walls. I want to show my students something they've never seen every week they come to my class! This is they way I hope to immerse them in texts. This is the way I hope to foster a love of reading, or in my case a love of art.

A Letter to a Future Artist

Dear Future Student,
You're thinking about taking an art class, eh? Well here's a little video that should push home some of the great reasons, and ideas that should make your decision an easy one:

Well that about sums it up, I think that should cover my blog post for this week, too. Looky their, introduced a future art student to the subject and knocked out my home work in 4 sentences and a video, not to shabby.....

Ok, maybe I should elaborate some more. I think one of the most powerful moments in this little art propaganda clip is when they make the following point in so many words. That is, that most of education seems to teach us that we need to find the right answer. Because of this we are so, so worried about being wrong. So worried that we stop taking chances. So worried that we live life playing it safe. Well in art, there is no right answer, at least not if I'm your teacher!

Future Student, I want you to hold me to it. Your success in my class will not be measured by whether or not you were right, but by whether or not you acted for yourself and created something you could call your own. I want you to hold me to everything in that clip, and I want you to enjoy every second of it. Or at least most of the seconds.

Art is hard. But that's because it is worth it. In art you will not only learn to take chances, but you will learn to fail. Then you will learn to pick yourself up and try again. Too many times we get so caught up in trying to never mess up that we can't just stop and enjoy making a mess! Life is not cut and dry, it's not black and white, and it's not going to care how many questions you got right on that test. It's going to care about what kind of person you are, and what kind of mind you have. If you put in the effort, art will make you a vibrant, alive, human being. It will expand your idea of what is possible, and thereby expand the inner workings of your mind.

So, yeah, you're thinking about taking an art class.. I think you should, too.

I'm not that kind of artist...

Hi, my name is Trevon and I'm an art major (that sounds very support groupy, but I like it). Whenever you tell someone you're an artist somewhere down the line they inevitably ask you to draw some cool creature from their imagination, or paint a picture of their dog. I have had many such requests and each time I have had to respond the same way. "I'm not that kind of artist."

I started off my art schooling as a photo major (so when someone asks me to take pictures for them I still give the customary answer, but I follow it up by saying I can do it. As long as they don't expect to much from me). I switched over to printmaking a few years back because it was a major that really suited what I want to be doing as an artist. And it was much less about precision of process, like it seemed photography was. A lot of people don't know what printmaking is (I sure didn't, up until I was in my first day of into). I won't get into it here since this is just supposed to be an introduction, but I hear we have to comment on each other's blogs so if someone is curious I'm up for giving a little more info in the comments.

 I got drawn into teaching for two reasons. The first isn't very good. I needed a way to make money and be an artist. I don't really see myself making it as a full time artist so I decided I'd be a high school teacher (that's one you don't hear very often, "I became a teacher for the money"). The second reason is better. I decided I'd be a teacher because I think I will really enjoy it. And the more I've gotten into it, the more I think I can really offer something to students in the way of expressing their personal creativity in their own way. So, I guess that's really three reasons.

A lot of the time I think art education is seen as the act of helping someone become "that kind of artist." Art classes are seen as places you go to learn how to draw realistic looking pictures, and become the next Da Vinci. Well I've had a few art classes that have helped me draw more realistic looking pictures, and I am actually really thankful for the skills I learned there, but those aren't the classes that made me really decide I wanted to peruse art. And they're definitely not the classes that made me realize that I could actually be an artist. The best art classes are the ones that let you be creative, and teach you that sometimes there aren't boundaries, and you really can do whatever you want. Those are the experiences that made me want to be an art teacher.

Now to the literacy part. Since, you know, that is what the class is about. I think literacy plays a big roll in art education. I would define literacy as an individuals ability to take in information and process it in a meaningful way. Then be able to use the processed information to gain understanding or insight that they did not have before. If you have a high level of reading literacy you can read a book, understand what was being said, and derive meaning from the messages presented. If you are mechanically literate you can take apart a working thing, look at it's components, and derive some idea about how and why it works. In art education we learn a lot about visual literacy (that's the actual term, those others I made up. Although I figure there's actual terms for them, too). Visual literacy, among a lot of other things (just like all the different kinds of literacy), is your ability to look at something and derive way more information from what you see then just what your eyes are telling you. For example, what is it's use, how was it made, does it have a deeper meaning, what is that deeper meaning, what lead me to come to that conclusion, and why the heck am I thinking so much about this. Unlike the ability to render something will, I feel visual literacy doesn't take any kind of innate talent, and is something that can be taught. It is something that can be built up and expanded upon.

Well I think that covers my bases. As you can tell I like to talk, (and I like to use parenthesis) so I'm going to hold off on the "anything else you want to say" part. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, I think that's the point of this whole thing. See y'all in class.