Pop Culture Mashups

At the start of the year I wanted to give my students the opportunity to explore subjects that they were interested in. I assigned a Pop Culture Mashup where students would combine two pop culture references to create a new image in which others could identify the references. Here are some of my favorite results from this project (I think it is a keeper as I found the student's use of visual references and combinations to be very creative!).

Student's take on what it would look like if Tim Burton created a portrait of Frida Kahlo

The Boondocks in the iconic roles of Breaking Bad

What would The Shining look like if Bob's Burgers characters starred in the roles? Like THIS!

How to Teach Sculpture When All you Have is Garbage

I have a small budget. I mean, tiny. I came to this school from a district which valued art so much that they allowed me to pretty much submit whatever order I needed, regardless of cost, and it would be supplied. Now I work with tight constraints, and that makes me think very creatively about not only what I need to run my class, but also how to teach processes that could be used with more frugal materials and result in cool works.

Cardboard is far and away one of my favorite free materials ever. It is so versatile! I use it in printmaking, painting, drawing, and sculpture. I walk the aisles of Costco in search of "good cardboard" to use in class, and the sweetest, most pristine pieces are reserved for the more elaborate works my students do.

When I teach processes over projects, it opens up students to a wide array of potential solutions. With cardboard as our medium, my students in Crafts learned several processes they could employ when creating a sculptural work. Limitations were all mental, really, and time-wise, I allotted five weeks of class (seems like a lot, and it is, but when classes are 50 minutes, sometimes 40, it seemed fair).

Here are some of the results of the cardboard sculpture problem (not project, mind you...).

Looking Back to 2017

Last summer I was lucky enough to take seven students to Italy for a ten days. This was my third such student tour, and by far one of the most fun groups I have traveled with. Not only did the girls I took from OGHS all gel really well (no drama!), they got along excellently with the rest of the group (from places all across the U.S.).

My friends and many colleagues wonder why I lead student tours. I have to say that I find traveling with teenagers to be one of the most rewarding ways to see the world. Not only do I get to experience places and events that are new to me, but I also get this vicarious experience as an adult seeing kids experience the same things in their own unique ways. There perspective on what is fun, cool, or worthwhile is just as influential on me as I hope my perspective is on them.

In 2019 my colleague and I have planned a trip to Peru, and I cannot wait! Problem is, recruiting for such a trip at a Title One high school is never a cakewalk. Alas, we will continue to try and fill the trip up with 12 travelers. Fingers crossed and Machu Picchu here we come!

Here I am geeking out over Raphael's School of Athens in the Vatican library. There was SO MUCH to see. I was super happy that our tour director, Ricci, asked the local guide to take me to see the library and the modern collection (it is always smart to treat your tour director really well and to become friends so that you and your kids get preferential treatment! After all, what is a little sucking up really going to hurt when the kids spend so much money to go on such an adventure?!).

Looking from our gondola to some of our fellow travelers

Looking from our gondola to some of our fellow travelers along the Grand Canal

Barah and a fellow traveler she became close friends with, grabbing a cold treat on a hot day in Assisi

Tu exploring some of the side streets and sidewalks with me in Assisi

Uyen, Tu, and me in front of Ghiberti's Baptistery Doors in Florence 

Leilani, Anaisa, Tu, me, Barah, Andrea, Adra, and Uyen on top of the Duomo in Florence

Adra, Uyen, Tu, Leilani, Andrea, Anaisa, and Barah all waiting to walk up the stairs to the Duomo on a VERY hot day in Florence. 

Tu looking out from Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Our group (squint, we are there!!) in Venice

Venice

Along the canals in Venice

Uyen, Leilani, and Tu in the gondola

Looking up at the duomo on our walk to the top of Florence!

My favorite part of the Alexander Mosaic, Pompeii

The group and some additions, Assisi

See the tiny people? Taken of the Duomo from the top of  Giotto's Campanile (I lied and told the girls there was a lift to the top so that they would go with me after climbing up to the top of the Duomo). 

Why I Choose to Look at Growth Over Mastery, Process Over Product

In the last several years I have found myself looking at my approach to art education and re-thinking the ways in which I both present information and assess students. At one point in my career I considered having more students with beautiful artwork that followed a specific recipe than student work that fell short of my expectations to be a measure of a good teacher. While that may be a fine manner in which to gauge student work in more advanced courses, as an Art 1 teacher, I determined that this was against the very nature of education.

School is a place in which students should feel safe in taking risks and missing the goal. We cannot expect our students to try new and challenging processes when the threat of failure is on the horizon. While many students in my early years would be unafraid of trying something hard, in my experience working in the urban school in which I presently find myself, there are many students who would rather fail a class because they didn't do anything (their decision) than try their best and be assessed as not meeting expectations. In a perfect world everyone would have the grit it takes to overcome all adversity, both in the classroom and out. I do not find myself in that world, so I needed to find a way to reach the students I have in my classroom in the world in which I actually teach.

So, I have changed and grown as my student's needs have changed. I think this makes me a better teacher now than I was previously, even while I feel that some of the end products are not as accomplished as once was the norm in my art classes. Not saying I do not get those amazing pieces. I do. But where I work now the students are less concerned with school and learning (especially as it relates to a class outside of their immediate interests or the field of tech, where they see themselves headed), and more concerned about survival and thriving in this fast-faced tech mecca filled with diversity and inequitable distribution of wealth and prosperity.

Here are some of the most recent results of using this mindset to encourage my students to try new things and learn new skills. Please understand that all photos were taken by the students and some were taken with Chromebooks. Additionally, while many are quite accomplished now, I am including one were I see exceptional growth even while the end result is less than stellar.

Already a capable student, this freshman has a more naturalistic result after instruction

Pardon the shadow on the early drawing. 

Proportions are so much improved!

I see such a change in the use of value to create form.

Already very accomplished, however more confident use of value after instruction.

Much more confidence in drawing the human face.

More confident use of value.

Proportions need work still, however the growth in handling of graphite is amazing.

Values have improved.

Super determined student who works hard and celebrates her successes. 

Why Building Relationships is the Key to Classroom Management

My classroom management is pretty good. Not to brag, but it has always been this way; starting in my student teaching and continuing over the last 18 academic years. I am thinking about this today because I am in an evaluation year and was asked about classroom management by my principal yesterday (as part of our reflection on my new approach to teaching artistic behaviors, which is the project I am doing as part of the evaluation).

Having to state to my principal that I do not struggle with classroom management made me think about what I hear in my online PLCs and from colleagues. It is not that everyone is struggling with it, but I hear comments and questions about managing classes so often that it must be a challenge for many. So here is my approach to classroom management:

Build authentic relationships with your kids.

Students, especially teens in my experience (I have taught at every grade-level in public school) can spot a phony a mile away. If you are inauthentic with students you are going to have a hard time keeping their attention and earning their respect.

How do I establish these relationships? First, I am open and honest, sometimes playful, and establish boundaries with my kids. They know that I can be silly but with an air of respectability that is the cornerstone of every student-teacher interaction in which I participate.

I do not take negative behaviors personally. That is not always easy, but it is important. Just last week I received a new student. The kid has some serious anger issues and seemed bent on aiming their anger at any adult nearby. This child aimed a heated slew of monosyllabic words my direction after being asked to "just give it a try" when they were refusing to try drawing a self-portrait from observation. He yelled and cussed and stormed out, after which the rest of the class grew silent and shook their heads. I laughed a little, to which the class responded with amazement. One student asked, "How can you laugh at that when he just called you a 'f@#king b@!tch?" I asked them if I am what he called me. "No. Not at all!" I explained that it is not true so I can't let it get to me (I was upset, mind you... quite a bit, actually. My hands were shaking with frustration and emotion, but I held it together). I explained that while I actually am upset that he attacked me and made such a scene that what he said was not true and that getting really mad and yelling or whatever really gave him my power, and that I would not easily relinquish my own ability to control my emotions over so petty a slew of words.

Today I saw that student again for the first time (I had to write a referral, something I very rarely do, but... yeah. It was necessary). He walked in. The class grew so quiet (before the bell, mind you, so not always the case). I looked up and called him up to my work table. He exhaled pretty audibly, but came up. I told him that we had made sketchbooks in his absence and that I wanted to show him how so that he could have one for the current project. He looked so surprised that I failed to mention our last interaction. I smiled, showed him how to handle the task and gave him the supplies he'd need and sent him back to his seat. He got straight to work. When I walked around to check on his progress and offer feedback on his blind contours, he was more than amicable and received his criticism with maturity and seemed happy to have it. On his way out the door today he told me to have a nice day. I will take that as success.

I am no "student whisperer" but I do connect well with students. I love what I do and I share that love with my kids. I come to school ready to work hard, redirect behaviors that are not conducive to a successful and healthy class, and generally enjoy my career. It is imperative that this be the case in order to survive in this job. If you are not happy teaching, get out. The students and the community deserve more.

Are you struggling with classroom management? Try some fun community-building activities and relationship-building games with your kids. Do what feels natural to you and your authenticity will show. Let the kids get to know you and take the time to get to know them. Attend games, pep rallies, dances, performances, and whatever other activities your school participates in. Shop at the local stores where your students work (if they are old enough) or where you might run into them. So many of my colleagues refuse to do that small thing, and I think that is a mistake. I mean, don't hit up the local Target to fill your cart with booze or anything, but get your bread and milk and other commodities where you might run into students and then, if you do see some kids you know, say hello or at least smile at them! My son and mom find it amusing how many times I get hugged in Target or how long it takes me to walk across a parking lot on a weekend due to having to greet past and present students and parents. I love that!!! I have heard my name shouted across a parking lot, have had students walk with me through "sketchier" areas in my community, been advised on what moisturizer or mascara to use, had my dog petted and scratched by hoards of teens, and in other ways have it made clear that our relationships are as real to them as they are to me. And that is why I teach.

How I Stopped Judging and Learned to Love Ojo de Dios

Ojo de Dios. God's Eyes. The thought of popsicle sticks and cheap yarn is enough to bring even a half-decent art teacher to tears.

I inherited a class called Crafts at my school back in 2011. Then I handed it back over to another teacher in lieu of teaching AP Art History because I just wasn't feelin' it. First off, there was no curriculum. That can be an awesome thing in a class where you are passionate about the subject, but a nightmare when you are dropped in mid-year without a clue as to what you are supposed to do. I fell into that latter camp back in January 2011. I was able to make some cool stuff the following year, but I had made the class more about sculpture than craft, so when the opportunity arose and the other teacher wanted the class, I jumped at the chance.

Leap ahead to 2016. The teacher who had happily taken Crafts back retired, and I was back to having that as part of my schedule. She excitedly told me that I should teach Ojo de Dios and I shut down. NO WAY!!! That is such a Camp Craft!

This past summer I decided to take a look at the damn idea. I researched just a little bit and found this artist who makes amazing mandalas using traditional Ojo de Dios methods and I have been hooked ever since! This idea that made my skin crawl and my blood boil is now something that I love! I have to thank Jay Mohler for inspiring me to try something new. My students have really taken to the whole concept and the following are images of their work.