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Iffat Khan
Approaches to Learning Art in Middle School
Images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-6TfJIrDywDi9g9jSfrjtRjtg0GFqAt1
I had my field-work-assigned teacher fill me in on the interests, hobbies and social spaces of two students that I chose to profile. I was interested in how student experiences informed their art work and also perhaps, how student art work in turn affected their perspective and life approach.
My field work teacher, Erin Elman, is one of the most popular teachers in her school and her elective class is in high demand. She teaches a whole range of levels of students from the grades sixth through eighth. She also has specialized classes for sensitive autistic students, as well as a general education class that includes autistic students that are on the spectrum. She has specific lesson plans matching each level, and her lessons build off of one another. Generally, I tend to feel that lessons can be adapted to any level, but my field work teacher is keen on materials, lesson skills and themes developed for each class.
The indices for my academic profiles are an inquiry into specific student outlets, approach and engagement. They consist of: Name (or identifier); Grade and class information; Hobbies; Interests; Social Spaces; How does student relate to art work; … with their body? With their emotions? With their goals? With their breadth of knowledge and experience?
I chose two students from different classes based on their engagement with their art work. My first profile was of Sophia who was an eighth grade elective student with a high liking to artistic activities. She pursues her interest in video games, illustration and drawing by having joined the art club at school. Her other social spaces are common to all students; lunch, school yard and after school. Ms. Elman describes her as a skilled introvert. I imagine she uses her skills in drawing and illustration to explore the physical and emotional interaction between objects of interest. In class, I observed her work for a lesson on drawing within and outside of a container. She chose mechanical robots and plants as her subject matter. I noticed her thoughtful use of curves and straight lines to depict differences between forms.
The next student I took an interest in was Luis. He is a seventh grade student in the general population and autistic students class. Ms. Elman describes him as getting into trouble often. She gives him extra attention, and even offers him special supplies to keep him engaged like ink, brushes and metallic markers. His hobbies and interests include soccer and graffiti. Ms. Elman gave these students a simple assignment involving a typographic letter and a background or surrounding imagery. I enjoyed observing Luis’s design and bold color choices of black and red. I also very much appreciated his idea of including orange sticky ooze on his letter. I thought it was very interesting to see the students’ work with a representative object, in this case a stylized letter. The letters were prominent, and I was surprised to see Luis use a sensory element in his work. It evoked stepping on gum, a some-what-novel and unexpected experience that has to be beared with. I admire that Ms. Elman checks in with her students often, and makes an effort to connect.
Ms. Elman has much more of a technical emphasis on teaching the execution of art, with vocabulary and bench marks of different applications for the mediums she teaches. By observing her, I find her larger approach to be executing the processing of different elements to create. If I had to define an approach towards learning it would be similar: using elements to guide or evoke sensation and or perception. This experience has me wondering about the diverse ways to speak to students’ experiences with emotional, physical and situational prompts and then ask them to represent their experiences in a multitude of forms. This can all be a part of the discovery process that is further translated into visual and physical mediums.
Observation, processing, discovery and ideation are all interwoven aspects of learning. It is not surprising to me that the more distractions from engagement there are the less a student is able to focus on and weigh an objective at hand (Baddeley, 2007) Examples would be anxiety, stressors and disabilities. As an art teacher I would hope that arts mediums can offer entry into meaningful projects that offer students self application and self realization. “(T)he act of playing has a positive impact on self-efficacy, thereby increasing resilience, optimism and motivation (Rutledge, 2000)” Rutledge here was referring to playing video games, but this engagement also parallels considering mediums to express emotions, ideas and situations. There is internal and external feedback involved. Art that speaks to and actively develops students' attention and or memories is inherently rewarding. “We can recognize that all interactive experience(s) hold the potential to be mastery experiences just waiting to be conquered (Rutledge, 2000).” Rutledge is referring to discovery that is both personal and expansive.
It seems to me that the overarching objective of art education is the pursuit of register, from the sensory to the spiritual. Expression offers solace and acceptance to some degree. Being personal and expansive is the goal of a time based and applied project, where a learner is offered the opportunity to work on uncovering the compelling elements in their work. It is about the ability to respond, experience, convey and even just be ready and open. Awareness and expression are linked to both self efficacy (feeling of capacity) and specific action. Empowering feelings foster more engagement. Awareness of the ability to respond and uncover is the gift of art work.
References:
Baddeley, A. (2007). Working memory. Science, 255, 556-559.
Rutledge, P. (2000). Video games, problem solving and self-efficacy. Media Psychology Research Center.
Visocky, J. (2008). Memory. Information Design Handbook, 58-59.