My students are putting the gallery together now and will be finishing their portion next week. This is a very odd process, doing everything virtually and hoping for the best when posting tutorials and written directions! Alas, the students are persisting and I am seeing evidence of their collaboration and work. My lesson planning is completed and can be found on my Teknologia Phase 2 page. I also have sample tutorial videos on that page along with the ISTE standards for both the educator and student.
As this project winds down, I have one nagging concern: Time. Students generally sign up for Art to be "making Art" and see everything other than drawing, painting, sculpture, as not-Art. At what point can we change their thinking and get them away from a modernist point of view? A lot of what I am asking my art students to do in order to put these shows on, are a valuable part of the arts industry, however, they are completely different skills than traditional studio-skills. This type of work (embedding computer science into the Art curriculum) took up a lot of time. The end product is exciting, yet, I am still trying to figure out how to teach what they need to know and give them the space to do some inventing of their own. I do feel better prepared to take those risks and think differently about teaching. I am always re-evaluating what I do and trying to move away from "what has always been done." I'm left with one stubborn issue: Collaboration vs. Independent work. These exhibitions can not be contrived in a solo act. I found myself having to teach way more about working together and way less giving the students the opportunity to design their own visions. Collaboration is a needed skill and is very difficult to teach (just think back on all the group projects you were forced to do a student). Sharing the work load, motivating the unmotivated, modeling appropriate team behaviors--this was a major part of the work as well. This tiny ISTE standard strand says so much in so little: Global Collaborator 7c Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal. I feel like this is where most of my time went. I experimented with giving lots of choice and found students saying "We don't know what to do." And then when given pre-selected options, I always felt negatively about doing that, but it seemed to be the only way to move forward when asking 14 year olds to collaborate and make decisions togehter. Overall, this whole process taught me about my students as learners. I was able to select their roles for exhibition jobs with their input but also knowing their strengths and personal interests. I am excited to keep this work going, as making the exhibition archives gives greater access to viewing the work for an extended period of time.
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Artist & EducatorI have been teaching art for over 20 years at the elementary and secondary levels. I am currently instructing high school students in courses such as Studio Art, Digital Art, Advanced Drawing and Painting, and AP Studio Art. For four summers, I also instructed a master's level course at Ithaca College on Integrating Art into the Elementary Classroom. I am also finishing my MFA in Visual Art with an anticipated graduation date of July 31st, 2019. In my own work, I am investigating themes related to perseverance and resilience. -Jessica Stratton Archives
May 2020
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