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Letting Students Take the Lead

2/26/2016

Students work together to create a plaster mask. It is always nice to see students who take time out of their own work to help another student with theirs.

When I made the leap to have all of my students direct their way through themes, I was very nervous. I had always been the one making decisions about materials we were going to use and the way they were going to be used. In doing so, I was really the only expert in the room and it stayed that way with students getting superficial exposure to a wide variety of methods and tools, but none of them really sticking long term or being appropriately applied when I gave them more freedom.

This past week has been a complete validation of why that all needed to change. I saw students step up as leaders, helping each other out, discovering new methods for making, and personalizing their learning in meaningful and (I hope) lasting ways.

I have mostly 7th graders this semester, so I was a bit worried how they would catch on to the way we conduct business in this class. I has been a little more slow going because 8th graders had me last year and already had an idea of how I operate, but it has been a pretty good start on this first theme of Identity.

Below you can see the process in which students have been working this week as we finish up this first theme on Monday:

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Help Us Wrap It Up

2/23/2016

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This is an image taken from the MAEA conference where I had the chance to make my own scarf. I am hoping to bring this to my students once our project is funded on DonorsChoose.

Over the years, I have used DonorsChoose to fund a variety of materials in our classroom. From glazes, to felt, to PD in NYC - DonorsChoose has offered my students and me great opportunities to get our hands on new tools when making art!

We are hoping, with your help, our latest project will also get funded. Wrapped in Art is a student directed project that takes a process I learned from this year's MAEA conference and turns it into a community event.

We are more than half-way funded and any donation is appreciated!

Thank you in advance for helping us wrap up this much anticipated project!

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Getting Into It

2/19/2016

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This week students were busy getting into their projects as they explored ideas around the concept of Identity. We explored a variety of materials like clay, paint, collage, and printmaking before finalizing which media would best express each individual's concept.

This is one of the most interesting, scary, and exciting times of the project. It is interesting because I get to see students apply the demonstrations taught to their work in sometimes completely new ways. It is scary because there is a lot of unknowns in terms of how the work will turn out in the end and if students will be turned off to the process when they face roadblocks along the way.

But mostly, this is an exciting time for the classroom. With all of the work in the beginning stage, the possibilities are endless in terms of what could be created.

Below are some images of where students are at as we closed out the week. Next week will be a big jump in terms of where students are at arriving at their personal solutions.

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Having a Sub Doesn't Have to Stink

2/17/2016

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If you were to ask me about planning for a substitute teacher early in my teaching career, I would probably groan and explain that it is often MORE work to put together sub plans than to be in the classroom. I would look at the day away and know that whatever I put together was a throw-away lesson or might end in a mess because many substitutes (no fault of their own) are not trained in the magic of Art education.

Since the implementation of Schoology and empowering students to be their own sources of creation through choice, I am not as worried as I once was about losing a day of instruction when I happen to be out of my classroom. Using Youtube tutorials, step-by-steps, as well as giving students options, I know they will be engaged in the work when I am gone.

Since many of these students have never used Photoshop before, I decided to have their first Photoshop Challenge involve various portrait options. That way they can see the overlap between this injected activity and their current project theme. Some of them have even expressed interest in changing their media of focus since they now have an idea of what can be done when using Photoshop.

Students uploaded their completed images to Artsonia, but here are a few highlights from what was completed with the substitute teacher yesterday:

Samantha: While creating this piece through photoshop I used many different tools. I think that the tool I used the most was the crop tool. I used this tool for every single picture to delete the white around the picture. I also used the paint bucket to create the background and I adjusted my layers by using the drag arrow tool. All of the objects shown in this creation mean something to me for example. The dog at the top represents my dog Mia that I love so so much. The disney tsum tsum's represent me because I am a Disney mega fan. I also included a picture of my favorite animal, foods, and I also included pictures of dancers, their shoes and their awards because I have been dancing since I was 3. That is what is included within my picture.

Justin: In this piece I put my favorite place to eat, my favorite sports, my favorite team, and my country. I put these items into my head because they resemble me. In the background I put dashes leading towards my face to use the rule of thirds.

Avery: What I did to create this was I opened up this picture and then I opened up iPhoto and drag and dropped the picture on a new layer and did "command t" to make it the size of the paper. I then used the overlay settings and saved it in JPEG to my desktop. I chose to do this because not only can you see things with your eye but also with all if you, it ties in with make the unseen seen because it shows that you can see things with more than just you eye.

Ella: My artwork uses different layers of pictures to create an allusion that she is in the sky, opening a keratin. I like how the certain is opening like she is looking into a new world of wonder. You can think of anything and make it look real and thats what iI did in my photoshop challenge.

Noah: This project was a little frustrating. Photoshop didn't work for a little while, and I have not really ever done Photoshop. I tried to make it look 3 dimensional by lowering the opacity of some of my pictures more than others. Due to the low opacity of the of the images, they took mostly the color of the abstract background I created.

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A Happy Heart

2/12/2016

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This happy heart was created as a result of a printmaking demonstration I did today. Using Gelli Arts printing plates, students were shown a variety of ways they can create images making a mono print. On a cross-curricular note, all of the kids knew mono meant one because of a term they are learning in Math!

My heart is filled with happiness as I know how lucky I am that I get to do what I do. This week was one that had many happy moments.

Students dug into their sketchbooks and began the hard work of planning out ideas around their first theme: Identity. This is often time the first chance students have been asked to come up with a work like this on their own. In a more traditional classroom setting, the teacher often selects materials/methods/subject matter and then teaches step-by-step instructions to get to the end point.

Because I have opened up my classroom and allowed students to decide what they should do using the theme of Identity and a touchstone, we have spent a lot of time working through sketches, taking notes, and doing demonstrations.

Below are some examples of the types of notes we have taken in class:

Students also use their sketchbooks to plan out their projects. This week was also spent working on finalizing plans for our Identity projects. I encourage students to work on thumbnails and think about materials and sizing of their works prior to beginning.

In addition to taking notes that go into how to use materials and create a variety of things, I also do quick demonstrations of various ways to handle the materials as you work with them.

Below is a container that I created this week as a result of a clay demonstration.

This part of the experience is always the most interesting to me. I often feel a little anxious because I only have vague ideas on how each student is planning to tackle their concept.

I also don't know for sure if their projects will "turn out" because in many instances it is the first time they have tried it or even sometimes the first time I have ever had a student try it in my class. I am going to spend the next couple of weeks roaming around the classroom, doing more demonstrations, and of course answering students' questions with more questions...

It is so exciting to witness and be a part of this thing called art.

Here are some images of students as they started working through their plans and applying their learning today:

Next week we will be starting out with a Photoshop Challenge to get kids acquainted to the power that is digital art and students will also get a chance to do their first Artist of the Week.

Next week will be a time where students will get their first real chance to use the whole class time to dedicate to their work - I am super excited to see where they go with it!

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MAEA Region 9 Show

2/11/2016

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Tonight was the MAEA Region 9 Highlight Show at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. This is one of my favorite times of the year because it is show season and student work is popping up all over downtown venues.

The MAEA show is made of up student work from kindergarten through 12th grade and was selected by jurors. As a teacher, I am allowed 5 pieces to put into consideration per grade grouping. This year, I selected 5 works from Middle School and 3 from High School. Out of the Middle School grouping, three were selected and two will move onto State show and competition. Out of the High School work, one was selected and will move onto the State show and competition.

As it is with any competition, it is hard to know what will be selected. I try to select works that are unique in style, material use, or meaning made by the student.

Regardless of outcome, I am proud of all of the pieces entered this year!

What makes this event so special is seeing the faces of parents and students as they view their work and the work of so many other accomplished student artists.

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MAEA Results

2/6/2016

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Today was the Region 9 Adjudication for the Michigan Art Education Association. I entered works for both middle school and high school and I am excited to announce the following winners:

Lauren Doyle, 9th grade, Region and State qualifier: Space Surfing

Gracie Keiser, 8th grade, Region and State qualifier: A Lifetime of Grace

Alexis Wierenga, 8th grade, Region and State qualifier: This is Me

Nathan Hugyen, 7th grade, Region qualifier: Chinese Dragon

Their work will be featured in the Region 9 show at the Grand Rapids Art Museum on February 11th and the State qualifiers will move onto to the next round of competition which will be announced in March. This is the first year I have submitted only works from the choice-based work I have been doing with students. I am proud that each one of these winning pieces was dreamt up by each student to reflect their interests and abilities.

BCWMS has had Top 15 award-winning students for the past three years with two finishing in the top spots last year! Good luck to this year's State qualifiers!

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What a Week!

2/5/2016

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The tidal pool beach at Point Loma outside of San Diego was a highlight of my time there. I had a great long weekend by the ocean learning and sharing with teachers from all over the country!

It has been a bit of a crazy week to start out the month of February.

I had the honor and pleasure of being a Cultivating a Calling keynote for the Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers conference in San Diego last week and feel like I have just finally started catching my breath! If you are interested in reading more about it, I posted some thoughts here.

While I was away, students worked on a variety of things. Because it is the start of the semester with a new group of students, we made our portfolios and created name designs on them. We also read and created a collaborative piece around the book "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds.

Because it is the start of the semester with a new group of students I have not worked with all that much before, I am always thankful for these opening activities. They help me see where students are at, learn about their interests, and get them ready for many more making opportunities!

Here are some of the works we finished up this week and posted to Artsonia:

Jeffery: "The Dot" story is connected with my dot because in the end of the story, the girl was creating dots based on what she liked and it was creative. With my dot, I combined all of my favorite colors with black and made similar patterns.

Drew: The story “The Dot” is a story about a kid that thinks they can't draw so the teacher makes her draw a dot and she makes bigger and bigger dots and better art and figures out she can draw. The Dot fits with my art piece because the teacher encouraged me to go on and on like the teacher in the book.

Avery: "The Dot" story means that even if you don't think you can do something like drawing and if you try it you can turn into something really good. This connects to my work because also like the girl I am not the best drawer, but when I try I can turn it into something better.

Abby: In my art, called "Abby, the Portfolio Name", I created the art using my own personal likes, such as the volleyball and softball, my favourite sports, and the books in the shape of the y, because I love to read. In the end, I was happy with the results, mainly because of how successful my shading was, making it look life like, which I think is important in art. I made the shading look like there were everyday shadows on the objects. So overall, I am pleased with how it turned out, and I would like to do a project like that again soon.

Matt: In my portfolio name I chose to have these things in it because these things really describe me. For my M I chose to have 2 American flags forming the shape of the m. I decided to do this because our baseball team has US jerseys that support fallen soldiers and officers. I thought this is really cool so I decided to add it. My a is the shield of Captain America because he is awesome. My first t is in the shape of a cross because my religion is a big part of my life and it is really important to me. My last t is in the shape of a baseball field. I purposefully made the part that makes the t darker so you can tell it is a t easier. I chose to include the baseball field into my portfolio name because I love baseball and it is a big part of my life.

Katie: In this piece of art I choose to express my self in many ways. starting with the K I choose flames because I think of them as a reminder to stay bright and determined at school, even on a bad day. I choose the swords and knives for my "A" because I have a fascination with medieval times and also sharp objects in general. I made my "T" be vines and thorns because I love to garden and I feel that the thorns are a reminder of my roses. I chose a candle for my "I" because It reminds me to be the light in a dark time. the candle also reminds me of the bible verse, "You are a lamp to my feet and light to my path." Finally the E represents my love for music and the arts. I have no talent in paying an instrument I love to sing and dance whenever I get the chance. What you see here only make up a small part of me and who I am but They are some things that reflect what I like and who I want and strive to be.

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Letting Students Take the Lead

Help Us Wrap It Up

Getting Into It

Having a Sub Doesn't Have to Stink

A Happy Heart

MAEA Region 9 Show

MAEA Results

What a Week!

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Janine Campbell

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