CEP Reflections

 

If we are at a party together, I’ll be in the corner watching.
If I need to explain something to you, I’ll just draw it out for you.
If I need to think about something, I’ll close my eyes so I can visualize my solution.

From a young age, I have been a quiet observer. Always the artistic one with another crazy idea or story just ready to be painted or sculpted. Art has always been a way to express myself. I have used art to help in every aspect of my life. I find myself extremely lucky and privileged to be able to teach students how to use art to help question life, communicate and express themselves and even problem solve everyday tasks.

Thomas L. Friedman discussed his philosophy on approaching education and learning. It’s a fitting read after exploring the wicked question of rethinking education and learning. In his article, Friedman defines the different quotients of passion quotient (P.Q.), curiosity quotient (C.Q.) and intelligence quotient (I.Q.). As the labels suggest, passion quotient relates to your desire to learn and curiosity quotient relates to your interest in learning. Your P.Q. and C.Q. directly affect your ability to learn and teach. Berger indicated in his book, A More Beautiful Question, that questioning helps guide our curiosity and is the foundation of our learning.

Art forces the viewer to question the norms of society. In order for art to be provoking, the artist must first question their surroundings and express their opinions. Passion and curiosity are defining characteristics of most artists. In my classroom, I refer to my students as artists. I want to instill the desire to bravery to question in each of my students. There is no right or wrong in my classroom as long as you are asking questions and exploring. Technology has broaden the horizon of my students in a way that I could never imagine back when I was an elementary student. With all the forms of technology available to my students, they are able to virtually visit other countries, view artwork that is on display from all over the globe, connect with other students and obtain copious amount of information at a click of a mouse or a touch screen. These tech tools are powerful and provide my students with the ability to question life and create amazing artwork.

As an educator, I will work tirelessly on finding new ways for my students to express themselves and most importantly question the world. As I grow as an artist, student and educator, I forward newly obtained knowledge to my students. I am their mentor, guide and advocate.

 

References:

Friedman, T. L. (2013, January 29). It’s P.Q. and C.Q. as Much as I.Q. Retrieved March 02, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/opinion/friedman-its-pq-and-cq-as-much-as-iq.html

A Solution to a Wicked Problem

Over the past few weeks my Think Tank, comprised of educators from around the country, explored the wicked problem of “Rethinking What it Means to Teach and Reinventing Education” in depth. A wicked problem is a problem that does not have a great solution. My Think Tank wanted to find the best possible solution to our problem but our first task was to define the act of teaching.

Through late night online meetings, my think tank explored the following questions.

1. Define teaching. What does it look like? Who can teach? What is the goal of teaching?
2. What is working in education? What is not working?
3. How can we change the process of education?

As we listened to one another discuss the topic, we noticed similar approaches to education. We wanted our students to be in charge of their education and harbor an interest to expand their learning outside of the classroom. We took our notes from the meetings and conducted individual research, which we would share digitally through Google Documents. It became apparent that as a group, we felt that students needed to have more involvement in the classroom and perhaps a student-centered approach to education could be the answer.

Our research and reflections were not enough to come to a definitive solution. We wanted to know how other educators in different fields, parents and administrators felt about the problem and their thoughts on a solution. We devised an online survey to gather more data. The survey revealed some expected and some not so expected answers. It did highlight that there are flaws in the pedagogy of the traditional classroom arrangement.

Below is Rethink/Reinvent, our think tank’s webpage that explores the wicked problem of education, displays our research and presents our multi-faceted approach to a solution.

Online Survey: Rethinking Education (learning and teaching)

[Wicked Problems]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/loracbr/20806910920. Accessed 02/12/2017

Wicked problems might have solutions, but they aren’t always the most ideal. My group has been tackling the wicked problem of education. The traditional educational system has been developed based on an industrial society. This system was designed to reinforce the ideas of memorization and obedience. However, the economy and job market has changed during the 21st century. Creativity, forward thinking and ingenuity has become prime attributes employers desire. However, the current educational system is not producing individuals with this skill set. Why are students afraid to ask questions? Why are students afraid to fail? We have to rethink what it means to teach, and reinvent everything about teaching in order to produce students who rely on problem solving skills and collaboration to solve tasks instead of memorized facts to predesignated issues.

My solution to the wicked problem within education is to change the role of the educator into one of a facilitator and mentor. In my proposed solution, classrooms would become student-centered where teachers do not give answers to problems but instead help guide students to find the answers through collaboration. Classrooms should have environments where students are able to research, discuss and experiment in order to find solutions. The teacher no longer spouts information to be memorized instead, the teacher guides students to the answer and information. Students are assessed on finding the answers and not necessarily for knowing the answer.

Below is a link to a survey that will help guide this solution. Your answers, which will be collected anonymously, will provide data that will be useful for further discussions with my group. After taking the survey you may even leave a comment with any other suggestions or avenues of exploration. We hope to gather data from all viewpoints on the issues, from parents, educators, administrators and students. All facets create the educational atmosphere and are equally important and vital for the success of all students of all ages.

https://goo.gl/forms/fWGS0xpWikt2Qewz2

 

Rethink what it means to teach and Reinvent everything about teaching.

This week, my ThinkTank tackled the Wicked Problem of Rethinking Education. We brainstormed the idea of what it means to rethink everything we, as educators, parents and students, what it means to teach and learn.  Our virtual meeting brought up a lot of questions and we tried our best not to shout out solutions. After an hour, we narrowed our research field to the following four questions:

• Why is redefining teaching critical?
• Is “good teaching” a science or art?
• Why do students need to be quiet to learn?
• Why do students see their teachers as a different species?

These questions are complex like our wicked problem and intertwine with one another. As educators we need to figure out why it is important to change our ways of educating. If it’s not broke, why fix it? Traditional education has a lot of pros, but a lot of cons. We need to revise our philosophy. Is teaching an art or science? Is there one way to teach a subject matter? Traditional education would lead you to think that this is the case; however, if it scientific in nature, then why are so many students unable to connect and learn? In order to learn, you need to be quiet. Is this true? Can conversation and collaboration lead to a more authentic and effective learning experience for students? And finally, why is there such a disconnect with students and educators? Why do students view their educator as a different species? A person that does not live outside of the school environment and ultimately, just doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a kid and live in the “real world”.

All these questions combine with each other and form the ultimate wicked problem of is traditional education working? What does it mean to rethink education? Below my inforgraphic will demonstrate how I, along with my ThinkTank, will explore this problem over the next few weeks.

 

 

 

 

Exploring our filter bubbles and info diets

This week, CEP 812 asked us to reflect upon our “info diets”. We might think that we control the information we see online; however, we are wrong. The television comedy Parks and Rec demonstrates this phenomenon through satire.

Although highly exaggerated in the clip above, internet companies, like Google and Yahoo, do use algorithms to track and monitor the choices you make online. The latest searches on your computer affect what you see in news links and even suggested videos on YouTube. This act alters our “info diet” and what we see and interact with online. How someone obtains information has positive and negative results. James Paul Gee discussed the negative aspect of “Participatory Culture” and how having the same beliefs and interests of where you gather information lead to bias and exclusion.  When we forget to look at both sides of an issue, we create an uninformed bias. It is difficult to actively search for opposing viewpoints because our brain automatically “favor(s) information that confirms their beliefs. Because of this bias, people seek out and remember information that supports their beliefs, and ignore information that does not” (Gee, 2013, pg. 2).

Take the example of my husband and myself. My husband is a computer engineer who loves videogames. His info diet ranges from technology news, entertainment and politics. I am an art educator who gets really involved with things that our children like and anything art or education related. Our info diets could not be more opposite.

What is most important in this diagram is the middle section that connects our info diets together. We discuss what we have seen or heard throughout the day. I learn about the latest political blunders from him and he learns what is going on in the academic world from me. Although we bring a bias to the conversation, we are able to discuss and ask questions that brings up opposing viewpoints. I believe this is the point Gee was making in his 2013 book, The Anti-Education Era: Creating Smarter Students Through Digital Learning when he asked, “What if human minds are not meant to think for themselves by themselves, but, rather, to integrate with tools and other people’s minds to make a mind of minds?”

The largest take away from this week’s readings is that over the years, I have become isolated in my Personal Learning Network (PLN) due to “filter bubbles” (Pariser, 2011) that have developed that block my information growth. It is easy to fall into the habits of checking the same sites and sources for information. It is easy to learn all there is to know about Disney and Pixar movies, even though that will not help my professional life. It’s easy to only post to my PLN about art education and new lessons I have developed. What is not easy is getting out of my comfort zone. This week I searched and added sources to my info diet that contain opposing viewpoints to my educational goals and values along with political sources. I also reflected on how I use my PLN. I have discovered that the time of day dictates how I use my PLN. My schedule below shows there’s a time and place to consume all the information that I want. This schedule reflects when my brain is ready to tackle scholarly sources and when I need to relax with my children.

As I tell my students, art is important because it helps with your critical thinking strategies and makes you a well-rounded person. I need to take this advice when it comes to my PLN. Yes, entertainment sources add joy to the day but it shouldn’t be the only information I gather from my PLN. By adding new sources, that I will not always agree with, the information I consume will become well-rounded. I can take this new outlook on education, and the world, and aide my peers in our Wicked Problem Project by developing questions that ask why and present viewpoints that might confront the idealistic norm of education.

 

References
Gee, J. P. (2013). The anti-education era: creating smarter students through digital learning. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan.

[Justin K]. (2015, Feb. 9). Gryzzl Data Mining. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/w1SprEP4GR8.

Pariser, E. (2011). The filter bubble: What the Internet is hiding from you. Penguin UK.

Questioning the act of questioning

This week I had the opportunity to read the first few chapters of the book, A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. Berger discusses the importance of questioning, how we stop that questioning as we grow older and how this leads to us becoming complacent with the world. Berger’s case is that questioning can, and does, lead to significant changes in the world. However, Berger discusses the unsettling fact that the ripe age of four years is an average person’s “questioning peak” (Berger, 2014, pg. 4).

There were several points that peaked my interest during reading. A key point in the second chapter that stuck with me was description of the act of a child asking a question. To myself, this seems like an easy task but child psychologist, Paul Harris, states there are several steps to asking a question for a child and that it is actually, “a series of complex mental maneuvers” (Berger, 2014, pg. 40). Harris states that as children grow older the types of questions change from factual to explanations (Berger, 2014, pg. 40). He continues to argue that questioning allows a child to “classify” and “label” items in their world, “because once things have been labeled… they become known quantities – and we don’t think about them, may not even notice them” (Berger, 2014, pg. 42). For a child to ask a question, that child must remit their previous assumptions of that object.

This is relevant because I am an artist and an art educator. A large portion of creating art is questioning the world. I teach students not only how to draw and use certain art mediums, but how to read visual culture and connect that information to their lives and ultimately their artwork. Harris and Berger’s discussion on the difficulties of a child asking questions about objects that have already been defined in the mind has made me understand why it is so difficult for students to visually read and question the meaning of artwork. In their mind, the symbolism of an object is hard to understand because normally it is used for another reason. This impacted my thought-process on students analyzing artwork because in my mind symbolism and meaning is easy to pinpoint because I have been trained over the years. My students are just learning this skill and struggle with the connection of dual-meanings and objects.

The video above shows young elementary students analyzing Japanese Pop Artist, Yayoi Kusama’s art show ‘Give me Love’. These students are very factual in their critiquing of the show. They spoke about the sticker room and discussed how they contributed to the piece by adding stickers. Instead of further questioning that act, several of the children stated they wanted a room or space like that at their house. The video also shows a young child describing why you cannot touch the large sculptural pumpkins and nothing about why there is a large pumpkin in the middle of the room. At this age, children are still questioning items for factual reasoning. The children accept that there is a room full of various circular stickers and large pumpkins full of holes. As they grow older, their questioning will change moving away from facts and towards explaining the reasons behind those facts. There is no doubt that the children in the video enjoyed the art show; however, the meaning behind the imagery has no impact on these younger children.

When I showed this video to my older elementary students (grades 4^th through 6^th), I wanted my students to ask about the meaning behind the visual elements. What could the circular sticker represent? What does a pumpkin symbolize? Instead, my students made comments like, “That’s not art, she’s using stickers.” and, “That place looks weird.” Thinking about Harris’ description of questioning made my students’ comments make sense. My students are not looking at this art and automatically questioning the meaning behind images because they have no reason to do so. They have classified a sticker as being an element of play and a pumpkin as a vegetable and Halloween decoration. It was a long discussion with my students that items can have meaning beyond what we have classified them as when were younger. Through reading biographies and art discussions on Yayoi Kusama, my students were eventually able to conclude that the circular stickers are representations of the artist’s childhood hallucinations and the pumpkin has become a symbol of the artist herself.

In conclusion, students have a difficult time questioning any material that is presented to them whether it is in or outside the classroom. This is in part of the nature we tend to ask, as we grow older and our mental classifications not allowing us to re-classify object meaning easily. Educators must find ways to teach and allow students to question the norm and explore meanings in the world. I want to teach my students way to question artwork in order to find deeper meaning and connect that meaning to their world and life experiences.

 

References:

Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury.

[The Creators Project]. (2015, June 12). Kids Critique: Yayoi Kusama’s ‘Give Me Love’. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4OhwL7WyHg&list=RDZ4OhwL7WyHg#t=8.

 

Complex problems, auditory processing disorders and the digital tools that can help.

This week, CEP 812 asked us to explore different types of problems educators might present or face in the classroom along with different disorders that students may have, how the two interact with each other and how digital tools may help students thrive academically. As an art educator, I present my students with ill-structured (or complex) problems daily. Ill-structured problems are those problems that use multiple variables to solve. One must be flexible as content and key components to the problem change or evolve as you are solving the issue. Koehler and Mishra state solving these types of problems require, “flexible access to highly organized systems of knowledge that must continually shift and evolve based on the contexts within which they are applied” (2008, p.4). I am faced with an ill-structured problem each day. How can I help my students with auditory processing disorders understand the lessons I am presenting? My school is small and we do not have a dedicated art room, so art is taught in the cafeteria (which is also home to the computer lab) or the gymnasium. Both locations are loud and larger than the average classroom space. This causes many issues for my two students who have auditory processing disorders. Each student is different but both have a very difficult time understanding my lectures and the project at hand due to echoes and environmental noises.

According to Bamiou & Luxon’s 2008 article, Auditory processing disorders, hearing impairment is the most common sensory disability and affects an estimated 5% of school-aged children. More specifically, auditory processing disorders differ from hearing impairment as this type of hearing disorder is a, “result from impaired neural function and are characterized by poor recognition, discrimination, separation, grouping, localization, or ordering of non-speech sounds”. Diagnosing an auditory processing disorder requires long, detailed testing and medical assessment (Bamiou & Luxon, 2008). To help my two students I wear a soundfield FM system, a wireless device that I wear, that receives, amplifies and transmit sound to my students’ ears. Even with this tool, my student complain of ambient and environmental noise that cannot altered. Often, my students ask me to turn off the FM system when I am finished with my lecture so they can concentrate on their artwork and not the noise.

So how can I help my students become successful in art? The competing noise, whether it is the echo of 31 classmates talking, the clicking of the boiler system or the tapping of finger of a desk causes distractions for all my students, especially for my two who concentrate so hard on hearing and understanding my words. Notability is an application that allows the user to take notes, draw and share while keeping them neatly organized depending on subject matter or date. The application allows the user to utilize a wide-range of sketching and note-taking tools to personalize notes on any subject matter. What I am most impressed about with this application is the ability for users to share and comment on others’ notes within networks. This application could be life changing for my students in general, but amazing for my students with auditory processing disorder. I could write down my lecture adding notes as I present the material to the class and then transfer those same notes to my students using Notability. As my students are creating art, they could review my notes and instructions if they are confused or simply forgot what to do next. This application could also ease the embarrassment that my students sometimes feel when they need me to repeat instructions or explain things further. Students could also take images of their artwork and ask for critique from peers without the hassle of moving around and transporting fragile or wet artwork in the process. Notability would allow me to write, draw and visually narrate the lesson plan while referencing past projects and famous artists. Instead of flipping through multiple pages of paper, students can look at one digital screen and see all the relevant information I presented moments earlier. Notability could offer my students with auditory processing disorders to feel confident in understanding material through visual and written means. The application could be seen as an extra resource that will connect them more deeply to the material through digital means. In the case for the art room, students could recall past knowledge and newly obtained information without having to ask questions and strain their hearing over the loud environment. This will ease their mind and anxiety and allow creativity to flow unrestricted.

 

 

 

References

Bamiou, D., & Luxon, L. M. (2008). Auditory processing disorders. BMJ : British Medical Journal (Online), 337doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/10.1136/bmj.a2080

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2008). Introducing TPCK. In AACTE Committee on Innovation and Technology (Ed.), Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK) (pp. 3–29). New York: Routledge.

 

How Maker Education shaped my teaching

As CEP 811 comes to a close, I am asked to reflect on how my experiences during the class have or will influence my work as an educator. The answer is simple, this class has forced me to examine each project with a critical eye. Are my students benefiting from this lesson How is this lesson building upon their critical thinking skills? Am I demonstrating to my students how to use their previous knowledge to enhance their learning environment. My goal is to help students become critical thinkers who use skills to solve problems locally and globally. The best way to enhance my education environment is to integrate technology. Technology is an ever-changing field, so I have to do my due diligence in keeping up with the times.

I created an infographic that illustrates the key ways that Maker Education forces you to perceive  the conventional lesson plan. Education is no longer on the path of route memorization. It has taken the path that embraces collaboration, self-directed learning, feedback and sharing.

As my first professor at College for Creative Studies told my class on the first day, “No one is an island.”

 

 

 

Assessing Creativity

Art is subjective and is one of its best qualities. It is also one of the worst when you are an educator and you have the amazing task of judging someone’s ability in art. You always have that one student who asks, “Why can Jackson Pollock throw paint on a canvas, call it a day and be famous, but when I scribble on my paper I’m told I’m just fooling around with supplies?” It is a solid point. Although, scholars will tell you that Pollock claims he planned every paint splatter, even in his drunken state. So how can art educators assess student work when there’s a legitimate questioning of craftsmanship?

One project that always tells me if a student is a creative problem solver is weaving. Would you believe that teaching weaving to students is one of the most difficult things? I would take teaching cutting with scissors (which I teach to my kindergartners every year) over weaving. There is a huge divide in each class. Either the students get it, or they don’t. You can demonstrate every single way possible until you are blue in the face and some students will still struggle. What’s great about weaving is it tells a story, and I do not let my students restart once they begin. As you look through the work some students have great tension throughout and never miss a beat. Some students have a couple mishaps and wobble about the weaving. Then you have the students who struggled; their piece barely hanging together until the very last row. That’s when you see they finally understood the process. While their piece certainly won’t win art awards, those students are the champions. Their weaved story tells about their struggle and how they overcame.

Craftsmanship doesn’t always dictate learning. Sure, we want all the pieces of art that the students made that week to look spectacular in the hallway but sometimes that leads to students creating “cookie-cutter” artwork. Everything is the same and there is no heart, or learning, in the work. We have to assess based on the individual student. The work of Grant Wiggins resonated with me on the topic of this delicate manner.

As an educator, I assess creative problem solving during my lessons by breaking it down into three categories: Technical Skills, Objectives Met, and Creativity. I also believe that this structure can translate to other subject areas besides art. I have to know if my students have a grasp on the technical skills I am required to teach. This part of the assessment is purely to check if I need to revisit ideas and concepts to my student. I have some students who are very neat and orderly. It reflects in their artwork. I can tell they have control over the medium and they are aware of their movement. I also have students who are haphazard in their movement. They are messy. I like to say that they, “really get into their art.” Their artwork also reflects this nature and I have to respect that. Their line work might not be as clean as others might, but that does not mean they do not have control over the medium. Although my projects are partially open-ended, there is still an overarching goal. The goal(s) vary in each project and the students are made aware of what they are to achieve. It sounds restricting, but limiting some aspects of a project gives students a framework to build upon. Grant Wiggins presents this idea in his 2013 blog post On assessing for creativity: yes you can and yes you should, “when the student has clarity about the Goal of the task, their Role, the specific Audience, the specific Setting, the Performance particulars, and the Standards and criteria against which they will be judged, they can be far more effective – and creative! – than without such information.” You are not starting from scratch, which is often scary for students. This leads to my third category of Creativity. How did the student approach the project? Did they add their special flare? Perhaps a student added elements to the work, or they approached the medium in a different way than usual. I am looking for how a student made this work their own. As Grant Wiggins states, “we recognize creative thinking immediately when we see it” (Wiggins, 2012). He does a fantastic job of creating a very detailed rubric for assessing creativity. Take a look at it here.

I work in an elementary school, and it is difficult to have 30+ students create the same work yet have them look completely different. I think this is my best example of a project that demonstrates the same set of instructions given to each student, and providing the same mediums (pencil, chalk, oil pastel and tempera paint). We studied the artist Sandra Silbertzweig and took inspiration. The results are, in my opinion, phenomenal.

 

References:

Wiggins, G. (2012, February 3). On assessing for creativity: yes you can, and yes you should. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/on-assessing-for-creativity-yes-you-can-and-yes-you-should/

MakerEd Infographic

Makers and artists are similar in ideology, philosophy and pedagogy. Throughout the readings of CEP 811 I kept thinking to myself, “this is what I do everyday in teaching and when I create art.” Unbeknownst to me, I have a Maker philosophy and have been teaching that philosophy to my students.

At the core of the Maker pedagogy is the creation of artifacts and the sharing of those artifacts through a community. Artists are no different. While the artifacts artists might make may be only visual in nature, it still addresses problems and solutions on a local and world level.

I wanted to use this week’s assignment of creating an infographic as a means of relating creating art to the maker movement. The infographic covers the overlap of pedagogical theories of the Maker movement and many art classrooms. It also elaborates on ideas and concepts that the Maker movement and artists share. Finally, my infographic shows how the Maker movement challenges mundane theories on learning.

 

 

References for infographic:

Halverson, E.R. & Sheridan, K. (2014). The maker movement in education. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 495-465.

Inforgraphic Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infographic

Sheridan, K. Halverson, E.R., Litts, B.K., Brahms, L, Jacobs-Priebe, L., & Owens, T. (2014) Learning in the making: A comparative case-study of three maker spaces. Harvard Educational Review, 84(4), 505-565.