Week Six: Video Assignment

***I had plans to record a lesson in my classroom, but school has been closed for the remainder of the week (due to power outages and damage from the snow/ice storm). So….I reflected on my artistic practices instead. I enjoyed this process and think it helped me to better consider the ways I deliver information to my students. I had fun playing around with Windows Live Movie Maker, too!

How does your artistic process echo what you imagine your teaching process to be?

I think both my artistic and teaching process involve divergent and convergent thinking. I find I ask a lot of questions as I work and develop my ideas. Brainstorming, journaling, loose gestural sketching, and lists all become part of the course of action. I encourage students to do the same. I also like for them to understand the vital importance of theme and context. I acknowledge that the elements and principles of design are important, but often find that many teachers place too much focus on formal qualities in art. In order to move towards more postmodern principles, I think we have to become engaged in the purposes behind why art is being created. It is crucial for artists (teachers and students) to become more innovative and interpretive in the underlying meanings behind visual icons. By doing this, I believe we may help students find their own artistic voice.

How is understanding the artist process valuable when planning lessons?

I feel it is paramount to understand the artistic process before you plan a lesson. For one, time management is crucial in how a lesson/activity might be executed. It is beneficial to have all of your materials/tools ready or prepped, to balance lectures and demos, and it helps to model how artistic ideas come into fruition.

I imagine that as a teaching artist, I’m able to build curiosity in my students because they are excited to see how lessons are going to unfold. The learning seems to become more tangible when students can see how we are, too, executing “design thinking.” By practicing and developing artistic habits ourselves, we can then offer tips, techniques, and thoughts in a more in depth and meaningful way with students.

How is “creative process” present both in teaching and in making art? Explain.

There is an art to teaching. For instance, you have to find a way to keep things moving at a rate that is neither too slow nor too fast. You have to be able to improvise, tweak, change things…be flexible. Both processes involve procedures and methodology that coincide and intertwine. Critical response becomes a factor in both creative and teaching processes, too. I’d say that whether or not I am making art or exploring a new lesson, I am always taking steps back and revisiting prior ideas.