curriculum....2/28

Curriculum should guide my teaching. I have talked to many other students and we have talked about having a set curriculum for the the first year or two and how that could be very helpful for a new teacher. I feel like I would be ok with a set curriculum for the first year. However, after that teachers should have the option to develop a curriculum with input and critique from others. Good input could come from fellow teachers and administrators. I have a good idea about what I want students to learn about art, but I am sure I would need some input to make the curriculum better.

If a curriculum is being developed by at team like in last week's reading, then compromise is necessary. I think it was critical how the 'bridge' teacher took an idea she wasn't fond of and was able to make it her own. I think as teachers we have to be open to other's ideas for curriculum, just do to the nature of the work. A teacher can always take his or her own spin on the lesson. I want to put a decent amount of emphasis on collaborative work, where students create their own projects, see them through, work as a team and then present. I feel like most curriculum's should move in this direction to prepare students for careers after school.

If I was given a set curriculum and I had to follow it for years, well. A teacher would have to adapt and think of ways to integrate what a teacher feels is critical to learn.

2/21/12 blog

I have been thinking a lot about having a bias in the classroom. I have heard from another atlp class that boys in general have it easier in school, while girls get treated differently. Being mindful of this is very important to me because I would not like to treat boys and girls differently. I want all my students to feel like I am treating them equally, even though I know this will be difficult, but I would hate to isolate a student.

As for the readings from last week, they were great readings. I was happy to see views from one side and then a challenging view. It made me think more and I had to find my views on both readings. I feel a bit challenged by the idea that some of my classmates may not have seen the flaws in the Payne article. Poverty is complex and goes beyond many things that Payne talked about. I feel like knowing the community resources available for this demographic of people that can help them is important. There are community and social service programs that help with all aspects of poverty. I think another main issue I have seen in classrooms are children making fun of children who don't have clean clothes or good hygiene, which links to poverty. This is isolating to these children and very hurtful and needs to be handled delicately. One of my classmates told me that her mom, an elementary teacher, takes some of her student's clothes home for laundry.... very kind.

Teacher of the Year

Katie Martinez was recognized Friday for her dedication to the teaching profession with the country's highest honor. She was named 2017 Teacher of the Year. Katie was in line for the award along with 11 other teachers.

"I am very honored and excited to be recognized after all these years and dedication to our students," Martinez said.

Martinez is a high school art teacher at Del Norte High School in Albuquerque NM.

When asked to discuss the importance of art education today, Martinez went on to talk about valuing our children's creativity and the importance of cultivating it. "Students need to be encouraged to voice and develop their creativity in the arts which will increase innovative thinking for our future," Martinez said.

Martinez took a community based approach to teaching art by organizing community and student collaborations. A series of public murals, sculptures and earth works were created every year that Martinez has taught art. After the completion of each project there were community celebrations that included the students, their parents, administration and the general public.

"Bringing art to the general public and providing access to the arts for everyone is a value I try to instill in our students," and "being able to spark student's interest in public art is an integral part of an art education," said Martinez.

a purpose of education

The purpose in being a teacher is to excite passion in the arts. Being a teacher is about opening up possibilities for students to pursue careers in the arts. Teaching students about art careers like design, advertising, video game production or others is part of being a teacher. I cannot deny that I also want to teach art because I am passionate about it and want to create art with my students. Creating a classroom where art education can match up with what students get in college is another aim I have. Allowing students to create art is part of my aim in the classroom, but I also want to include the students with the skills to talk and dialogue about art. Students should know basics about art to include theory and some art history to show the importance of the historical context of art through reading art essays and commentaries. Bringing in the importance of historical context teaches a lot about society, whether it be the art created around immigration issues, gender issues of today or art commentaries made about HIV/AIDS in the 80's.

As for my philosophic beliefs about everything...that would take all day, but as far as education goes, I believe that there can be no censorship in education. I want to expose children to all forms of art from street art to high end art that sells for millions in galleries and to discuss the issues around art for the privileged and art for the masses. I have very liberal beliefs socially and belief in open expression and will expose children to art of many beliefs and encourage any and all art expression from students as long as it doesn't harm other people physically. I believe in questioning the status quo and would encourage that in a classroom. I feel that the more students are educated, the better values they will develop and the better actions they can take. An informed population can take us into the future...hopefully.

The Carrot Revolution Blog seemed interesting because it discussed art resources for the classroom, projects and ways to integrate art and technology in the classroom. Giving students the chance to link art and technology is important especially since the children are so linked into technology themselves. It also links back to the site I kept ending up at called Art ED 2.0 which also seems like a good resource connecting many art educators. I also came across a reference to a book called Art Synectics that discusses how students can approach ideas for art in many ways...which I hadn't even thought about students not knowing this.

http://carrotrevolution.blogspot.com/

The next blog I came across was http://www.artismessy.org/

The section on advocacy was interesting and I liked how it linked to many other online resources like blogs and sites. The blogs are great resources and I hope I will use it. I have been thinking a lot about teaching art in the middle schools, and don't have any ideas...these blogs have many great ideas. I feel that teaching art in high school should be about college development, career development in art and that isn't appropriate at a middle school level.

In addition to posting about art education blogs I have posted this print, an etching on a zinc plate that I did a few years ago. :)

Week 2 on education

Why teach? Great question... As a misguided youth, going to college was something to do. Maybe if given more resources in school, I would have had a better idea of what I wanted to do when I grew up. Needless to say I have a very sour taste from trudging through NM's public education. In college, to go into something that you're good at would be ideal. I studied fine arts in Los Angeles. I received an art degree and had no idea what to do next.

After working for about 2 years, in a field completely different from what I studied, I figured out some things. I would leave the prisons and go back to school to work towards a teaching license where I could be around youth, which I enjoy and bring art back into my life and student's lives. My passion for art outweighs my passion to teach. But in bringing art into my life again, I will no doubt be passionate in teaching children about art. I can't help but think of all my past art teachers and professors and remember the impact they had on my life.

My beliefs about teaching or for that matter, teaching art are directly tied to greater concepts of politics, society and life. I will teach children about artists who challenge the status quo, who compose works for political and social commentary and who challenge beliefs of self. Art is not just something pretty in a gallery or a museum, it is life faceted in so many ways. Teaching one sided won't do for art. Teaching about Jackson Pollack is nice, but what is more interesting is the context in which he created his art and the relationships he formed and the secret behind his success, his wife. I feel that is is also important to teach children about art for their own self discovery of their own philosophies, values, likes, dislikes and passions.

1/17 on Kohn and Dewey

After reading Kohn and Dewey, thoughts of what can be provided to the students came up. The student's needs and wants come before the teacher and that links to providing them with an education. In regards to grading and placing focus on the letter grade obtained rather than the content learned is a mistake. Unfortunately, grades dominate education and dominate most students. Kohn made strong points backed by research against emphasizing on grades. Maybe students should be giving grades to the teacher in hopes of giving a teacher feedback in how to best approach them.
The links that Dewey pointed out between society's best interest in education was ideal, but currently fails. Society, rather government, puts more interest into business, the penal system and defense. If children were given a top notch education from K-12, where all children learn, then society would be better off, if taken that an educated person is more willing to participate in society as a whole.