I teach in a similar setting as you but on the other side of the US - Massachusetts. I find as a great motivator, with the more challenging middle school students, is to be straight forward with them. I inform them that the project we are going to do is challenging but not above any of their abilities. I explain to them that 'on average' it will take them 3 to 4 tries to get a good drawing. Then cometh the age old question: “But Ms. Lord, how come you draw so well?” (I have a habit of answering questions with questions to get my students to think) So I would answer that questions with “If you had to draw as many pictures in a day as I do, you too would be just as good, or maybe better J” I then jump right into liking it to playing basketball or playing a new video game. Don’t give them time to say something smart back but instead transition into how they could relate to it: “How do you get better at playing b-ball or a new video game?” “That’s right, Practice. And how many times did I say ti would tak
e to get a good drawing? Ahhh, 3 to 4 times, so when I tell you to draw it again, you are not going to get mad at me...right?! You might get frustrated and that's ok. Everyone gets frustrated. But don't give up. That’s when you have to push yourself to keep at it to get that good drawing” ......and so on and so forth. This is an early morning rendition of how I would say things but the general gist is there. Students at this age really appreciate it when I am straight forward and upfront with them. They find it refreshing and slightly unbelievable. On the flip side of this approach they work for me and what I consider ‘working’ is pushing past their fears, frustrations, and the “I can’t do this” attitudes and focus on creating something new. Because the end result, regardless of the aesthetic qualities, are amazing because of the mere fact that the students were able to accomplish finishing something they said they could not do and wanted to give up on!
Cheers,
Stacy
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:31:32 -0800
> From: jenniferjoycewest@yahoo.com
> Subject: Re: [teacherartexchange] 21st Century Skills - Teaching for Artistic Behavior
> To: teacherartexchange@lists.pub.getty.edu
>
> So agreed. I try to do this, but honestly, I find a lot of my students so frustrating. I work in California with middle school students that range so far across the board academically and on the socio-economic spectrum. Most of my kids are LAZY and lack a lot of basic skills. Sometimes I'm not really sure what to do with them. I would love to give them more critical thinking activities, but they usually just stare blankly at me with glossed over looks and whine about how hard it is. Any thoughts on resources to help these "low" kids would be great (I have some more advanced classes that totally "get it" and we do great, but those are only 2 out of 5 classes).
>
> Thanks,
> Jen
>
>
> --- On Tue, 1/27/09, Judy Decker wrote:
>
>> From: Judy Decker
>> Subject: [teacherartexchange] 21st Century Skills - Teaching for Artistic Behavior
>> To: "TeacherArtExchange Discussion Group"
>> Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 7:02 AM
>> Greetings Art Educators,
>>
>> Does your program focus on 21st Century Skills? Are you
>> preparing your
>> students for today's job market (or tomorrow's)?
>> Are you giving your students the answers -- or are you
>> teaching your
>> students how to find them? Our nation's emphasis on the
>> standardized
>> test is all so wrong - the emphasis is placed on
>> knowledge-knowledge-knowledge. Knowledge is so easy to
>> find. It is
>> just a click away. We need to teach our youth how to be
>> critical
>> thinkers - problem solvers. I am so very proud of my son,
>> Matthew. I
>> know I brag about him often on the lists (what do you
>> expect? --grin).
>> He got the job at Toyota (mechanical engineer) because of
>> his many
>> talents - not just because of his book smarts. He
>> wasn't
>> "top-of-the-class" in college, but he did well
>> (magna cum laude. We
>> never pushed him to be "summa"). He participated
>> in many arts' events
>> (student run theatre organization - which helped him to be
>> a great
>> communicator).
>>
>> Here is the site for 21st Century Skills:
>> http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ >>
>> Teaching for Artistic Behavior supports 21st Century
>> Skills:
>> http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/21stcenturyskills.html >>
>> If that link doesn't work - go to:
>> http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/index.html >> Click on 21st Century Skills in left menu
>>
>> Teaching for Artistic Behavior (or some form of Choice
>> Based Art) is
>> the only way to meet many of your curriculum standards.
>> Really look at
>> what you are supposed to be doing. I didn't
>> "discover" until late in
>> my teaching career what I was doing "wrong" (used
>> quotation marks on
>> purpose... I am not saying that what you are doing is
>> wrong). I
>> learned a LOT from reading Dr. Marvin Bartel's web
>> site.
>> http://www.goshen.edu/~marvinpb/MB_Home.htm >> http://www.bartelart.com/ >> I "met" Marvin on Getty list in 1998. I had to
>> sign up to a list serve
>> for a professional development class I was taking. There
>> wasn't any
>> relevant action on the required list, so I asked permission
>> to join
>> Getty list instead....and you know the rest. Here I am
>> today.
>>
>> Lots of TAB Presentations (and presentations that support
>> TAB) at NAEA
>> this year:
>> http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/NAEA%202009.html >> (if link doesn't work - click on link in menu on home
>> page)
>>
>> I am so jealous of all of you who get to go to NAEA. Share
>> some of the
>> "good stuff" you learn with the lists. Don't
>> share all of the secrets
>> or folks won't find a need to go themselves the
>> following year
>> (smile).
>>
>> Hmmm.... I seem to be a bit chatty today (chuckles)
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Judy Decker
>>
>> ---
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>> http://www.getty.edu/education/teacherartexchange/unsubscribe.html >
>
>
>
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