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An addendum to the Legacy Curriculum
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Cell Phones: And Other Stuff of Revolution
Joan A. Schlough
Whitewater Unified School DistrictMasters of Art Education, Boston University
2CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Abstract
The following paper contains a compilation of research-based issues surrounding how
cell phones are tools for change that youth can use. The paper offers insight as to how teaching
socially forward art curriculum creates tolerant climates students with exceptionalities to feel
safe and accepted, and fosters inclusivity.
The analysis is based upon my conceptual framework and current context, through the
lens of my personal experiences and my professional history, and established through reflective
practice and previous study and research of issues regarding empowerment of youth.
Joan Schlough
3CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
I am an artist/teacher/researcher. I use many tools but the most important ones, regardless
of my location, the studio/classroom/online or on the computer, are my voice, values, and vision.
Using a smart phone or other handheld devices, one has access to unlimited media and multiple
forms of ways to put forth ones voice, values, and vision. In Toys to Tools (2008), Kolb aims “to
encourage educators to introduce cell phones to students as potential learning tools and lifelong
professional tools, rather than viewing them solely as a social toy,” (p. 2). Now, in 2012,
educators are sensing the urgency to embrace the idea. From my peer discussion of Toys to
Tools, my colleagues stated:
I know how much technology is a part of my own life outside of school or
it could be because I know there is so much that can be done with technology. I
know that motivation is such an important component necessary for learning. To
motivate students we really do have to meet them at their level which means
incorporating technology, (Jen).
I am most definitely an opportunist! I have seen many, many teachers at
the high school embracing cell phone and other mobile technology already. For
example, the math teachers are open to the idea that at home students are going to
use the calculator on their cell phone or a graphing calculator app on their tablet
to do their homework, so why not have them use it in class so the teacher can help
them learn to use it properly, (Laura).
The 'ah-ha' statement that jumped out at me was constituting a bottoms-up
approach to technology in the classroom, in which the students "propose" which
technologies are useful for them, which then can be used in the classroom,
(Sandy).
Joan Schlough
4CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Using themes based on social justice, teachers can entwine the vast capabilities of the cell
phone with the skill set of a digital native. A component to empowering these youth, realizes a
role change of the teacher as a facilitator, or even a reversal of the teacher-student dichotomy.
Much of what the world has learned would have been limited by oppressive regimes had not
people, such as Chen Guangcheng, started to Tweet. Chen continued to Tweet about forced
abortions in China even after his house arrest. Chen, a lawyer, who also happens to be blind,
provides an example as to how one can use a cell and the Internet to assert a voice. At the
elementary level, I need to approach social justice from more of a Golden Rule idea but at the
age of 10 children become more sophisticated about fairness and equity. As an art educator, I
know to view art the context often requires a consideration of the human condition.
Albert Schweitzer wrote, “search then, for some investment for your humanity, and do
not be frightened away if you have to wait…. And be prepared for disappointments. But in any
case…work in which you give yourself to people” (Meyer and Bergel, 2002, p. 84). Giving a
genuine self, as Lorde (1984/2007) describes:
My fullest concentration of energy is available to me only when I integrate
all the parts of who I am, openly, allowing power from particular sources of my
living to flow back and forth freely through all my different selves, without
restriction of externally imposed definition. (pp.120-121)
The times in my life as an artist that I sacrificed my integrity are the times that I did not
want to identify as an artist. Now, I exhibit with a gallery, whose owner says to me, “Stay you.” I
paint commissions for patrons who ask for a painting I do; simply because I have painted it. My
commodity as an artist is my dogma; my ideas, originality, and creativity.
Joan Schlough
5CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Helping children develop a self-concept, through art education, involves developing and
incorporating artistic voice. My role is to celebrate the process so students can create with
confidence and strong assertion. As an artist, I must at least act confident in order to maintain
momentum until my voice asserts itself. Understanding this about the creative process, I can
nurture students to stay them until their voice resounds. Since a self-concept is the basis for an
artist’s creation, an artist with a threatened self-concept is paralyzed and any work generated is
usually mired, pandering, and/or propaganda. This is why art teachers must be artists. We know
how integral going against the grain and finding oneself is to developing voice; how being able
to visually represent one’s difference is one’s very signature.
In my field, art education, a current curriculum push is art as an agent of social justice.
Using handhelds, to include cells, with the Internet will transform lessons and many types of
projects, interwoven with social justice themes. In Appendix A, I have done the aforementioned
to a lesson. Mel Alexenberg (2008) identifies eight realms of learning for educating artists for the
future. In the realm, “Learning through Moral Courage,” Alexenberg explains:
In the kabbalistic schema, beauty is the balance between compassion and
strength. This vital balance teaches that it is not enough for artists to rest content
with their compassionate responses to the cries of the world through their
artworks. They must gain the strength and moral courage to use art to confront
hatred, bigotry, racism, terrorism, genocide, and cults of death and destruction. (p.
331)
Lampela (2010) elucidates the importance of using LGBT artists as our exemplars:
Often students only see depictions of heterosexual identity in the curriculum.
Including artists that represent other sexual identities can not only help lesbian,
Joan Schlough
6CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
gay, and queer students develop a positive sense of self when they see
representations in the curriculum, but can also help all students understand the
meaning of living in a democracy. (p.27)
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever
we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect,” Chief
Seattle, 1855, n.p.).
The context of hostile learning environments for LGBT students is germane to this
paper’s focus, to empower youth by helping all students assert their voice. Sandell (2006) reveals
the role of context in the formula of a lesson design:
With contextual information, we can perceive the intention and purpose of the
artwork. Our ability to interpret and evaluate the art is enriched by identifying
personal, social, and other contexts that influence the creation and comprehension
of the work. As we distinguish how the form and theme work together within
specific contexts that reveal the function of the artwork, we can also note its
relevance and significance for the creator within his/her culture or society. (p. 34)
Social networking sites and text messages make harassment viral, exponentially
increasing incidents and severity of attacks. The anonymity allows attackers to feel shielded from
recourse. School climates of hate speech escalations fester the higher the grade level and reports
of heightening violence as a result of hate speech suffuse the media. Moore (2010), for
CNET.com reports cyberbulling hits LGBT youth especially hard, referring to the study of Iowa
State University researchers, Cooper and Blumenfeld, who identify strategies of LGBT youth to
thwart cyberbullying. Words not only hurt but can kill people, according to Blumenfeld:
Joan Schlough
7CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Especially at this age--pre-adolescence through adolescence--this is a time when
peer influences are paramount in a young person's life. If one is ostracized and
attacked, that can have devastating consequences--not only physically, but on
their emotional health for the rest of their lives. (n.p.)
From the Human Rights Watch’s (2001) Hatred in the Hallways:
When harassment goes unchecked it may escalate into more serious
behavior. ‘It was horrible,’ said Dexter P., a nineteen-year-old high school senior,
who reported that other students started harassing him in the first grade. ‘At first
they made fun of me because I was different. Then it was because I was gay.
They'd call me things like fag and cocksucker. It went on through middle school
and got really bad in high school.’
He publicly identified as gay during the middle of his sophomore year.
‘After I came out, it was like I had a death wish or something. I was pushed
around, thrown into lockers. I can see it all in my head. It was just constant.
Everybody was always harassing me.’ (p. 06a)
A tree is not just its roots. Although nourished, or not, through its roots, a tree is
also an outgrowth of its surroundings, but the tree is also its branches, leaves, and
contributor to its surroundings. “Art is a vehicle through which meanings are conveyed”,
wrote Judith Simpson (1998), “Making sense of the world around us, our interactions,
and experiences compels us to make literal and metaphoric connections” (p. 49). Art
education accesses self-concepts, and subsequent metaphoric connections. “All aspects of
cultures must be examined as the context in which art is produced. Not allowing
Joan Schlough
8CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
ourselves to think this way is to continue to minimize the importance of our field and its
syncretic meaning in education” (p. 50).
Often, adaptations and modifications special educators use to address the learning needs
for students with exceptionalities benefit regular education students, especially when the Q
stands for questioning, as opposed to queer in the acronym LGBTQ. Art teachers are particularly
concerned with identity as it relates to themes and context that the student develops in their
artwork and interprets in the artwork of others. Sexual minorities number few, “5 and 6 percent”
Huegel (2003), and “somewhere between 3 and 6 percent” Keen (2007). Conversely, youth who
are questioning, aspects of their identity and culture, represent a majority. Every lesson tailored
to LGBT and Q youths’ art learning needs, serves the learning needs of a greater majority.
Special educators, Gerber and Guay’s (2006), in Reaching and Teaching did not address
the learning needs of LGBT youth but their philosophy aptly suits LGBT youth, who “come in
all colors, socio-economic backgrounds, levels of intelligence, and have the strengths and
weaknesses of any group,” (p. 139). The important distinction is not how many, it is how
individual. “Each student is an individual and brings a different background, experiences, and
abilities to the classroom” (p. 13).
In Appendix A the lesson plan, Kinesthetic Identification Experience (KIX), teaches the
theme of tolerance versus discrimination and the sub-themes of friendship, caring, service, and
courage; themes related to ways we can stand up, assert our influence, and raise consciousness.
In The Sneetches, Dr. Seuss’ (1961/1989) character, Sylvester McMonkey McBean, represents
the agent of change, “the Fix-it-Up Chappie…. Changing their stars every minute or two” (p.
21). Artists and art educators, architects of change, necessitate teaching social justice with art
students.
Joan Schlough
9CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Today, charges Winner and Hetland (2008), “start using the arts to restore balance and
depth to an educational system increasingly skewed toward readily testable skills and
information…the arts teach vital modes of seeing, imagining, inventing, and thinking” (p. 31).
Art education is the last bastion of “thinking skills rarely addressed elsewhere in the curriculum
and that far from being irrelevant in a test driven education system, arts education is becoming
even more important” (p. 29). Many people, including teachers, are unaware or not concerned
about how their bigotry is seeping from their pores. Many people, or the majority, have little or
no experience at being a minority, having lived and worked in homogeneous environments their
whole lives. With a cell and access to the Internet, one has viable tools to assert ones voice,
values, and vision as a distinct individual part of a diverse whole.
I wrote the Legacy Curriculum. Considering legacy, students think about how their story
does and how will it matter. Voice, values, and vision are the parts of the legacy’s story. Through
alternative self-portraiture, students will begin building their legacy, first internally, and then
externally progressing to local and then global commentary. Authentic art studio habits develop
aesthetic preferences and begin to establish how students will leave a legacy and what their voice
looks like. Intelligence, states Eisner (1998), is not just “constrained by the rules of logic. Human
intellectual capacity is far wider. The realization of this capacity is surely more likely as we
create a richer, more nurturant culture for our students” (pp. 85-86). The visual arts help us think
contextually, assert our own meaning, and “create a life worth living” (p. 86).
Lesson Plan
Following this paper in Appendix A is the lesson plan, Kinesthetic Identification
Experience (KIX), which is a part of the Legacy Curriculum. Sandell (2006) wrote, “the big idea,
Joan Schlough
10CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
explored through specific themes and sub-themes, is revealed by the artists’ chosen expressive
viewpoint or perspective that reflects his or her culture and era” (p. 34). The lesson, KIX, relates
to the big idea, discrimination and its antithesis tolerance, and explores the sub-themes from a
lesson, Teaching Reverence for Life, by Lindberg in Meyer (2002), “friendship, caring, service,
and courage” (p. 277). The experience will affect “how they view other people, their classmates,
people in the town where they live, and those from different cultures….most importantly, their
role and potential contributions to society” (p. 276). KIX incorporates Schweitzer’s commitment
to service, Lorde’s free flow through different selves, and Alexenberg’s assertion to have
courage. Connecting interests allows all students to focus on similarities, despite differences.
KIX is an open-ended lesson designed for the needs of all students as individuals. To see the
Legacy Curriculum and how his lesson has been adapted for the use of cell phones, go to
slideshare to view the lesson plan in the original form. http://www.slideshare.net/joansloo
Joan Schlough
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References
Alexenberg, M. (Ed.). (2008). Educating artists for the future: Learning at the intersection of
art, science, technology and culture. Bristol, United Kingdom: Intellect Books.
Chief Seattle. (1855). Humankind has not woven the web of life. Retrieved from
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/chiefseatt104989.html
Eisner, E. W. (1998). The misunderstood role of the arts in human development. In L. Bridges
(Eds.), The kind of schools we need: Personal essays (pp. 77-86). Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
Gerber B. L. & Guay, D. M. (Eds.). (2006). Reaching and teaching: Students with special needs
through art. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Human Rights Watch. (2001, May 1). Hatred in the hallways: Violence and discrimination
against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students in U.S. schools. Retrieved from
http://www.hrw.org
Huegel, K. (2003). GLBTQ*: The survival guide for queer and questioning teens. Minneapolis,
MN: Free Spirit Publishing.
Keen, L. (2007). Out law: What LGBT youth should know about their legal rights. Boston, MA:
Beacon Press.
Kolb, L. (2008). Toys to tools: Connecting student cell phones to education, Washington, DC:
Lampela, L. (2010). Expressing lesbian and queer identities in the works of three contemporary
artists of New Mexico. Art Education, (63)1, 25-32.
Lorde, A. (2007). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Trumansberg, NY: Crossing Press.
(Original work published 1984).
Joan Schlough
12CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Meyer, M. & Bergel, K. (Eds.). (2002). Reverence for life: The ethics of Albert Schweitzer for
the twenty-first century. Syracuse, NY: University Press.
Moore, E. A. (2010, March 9). Cyberbullying hits LGBT youth especially hard. CNET News.
Retrieved from http://news.cnet.com
Sandell, R. (2006). Form + theme + context: Balancing considerations for meaningful art
learning. Art Education, 59(1), 33-37.
Seuss, T. G. (1989). The Sneetches and other stories. New York, NY: Random House. (Original
work published 1961).
Simpson, J. W. (1998). Myth, metaphors and meaning. In R. J. Saunders (Ed.), Beyond the
traditional in art: facing a pluralistic society (pp. 48-50). Reston, VA: National Art
Education Association.
Winner, E. & Hetland, L. (2008). Art for art sake: School arts classes matter more than ever-but
not for the reasons you think. Arts Education Policy Review, 109(5), pp. 29-31.
Joan Schlough
CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Appendix A
LEGACY CURRICULUM LESSON PLANArt Education Department
TEACHER'S NAME _Joan Schlough SCHOOL Lincoln Inquiry Charter School _GRADE 4 th / 5 th LENGTH OF LESSON Time based on previous knowledge , 3- 45 min. per.
TITLE OF LESSON: Kinesthetic Identification Experience (KIX)______________ _________
RELATIONSHIP TO THE UNIT: (Kinesthetic Identification Experience-KIX)KIX relates to the big idea, discrimination and its antithesis tolerance, and explores the sub-themes from a lesson, Teaching Reverence for Life, by Lindberg in Meyer (2002), “friendship, caring, service, and courage” (p. 277). The experience will affect “how they view other people, their classmates, people in the town where they live, and those from different cultures….most importantly, their role and potential contributions to society” (p. 276).
RELATIONSHIP TO LIFE: KIX simulates values clarification strategy emphasizing nuance of difference, promotes awareness of potential bias, and cumulates in renewal through the identification experience.
I. PROBLEM/ACTIVITY:Students assign symbols to their interests, hobbies, favorite subjects and foods, personal and physical characteristics, and aspirations, drawing at least two symbols on small square cards. Students attach symbols to a large connect card to align symbols with other students’ symbols like dominoes. In addition to being able to move the entire domino card to different parts of the mind map or even different maps, each of the two symbols are moveable, as all of the aforementioned components are jpegs. Part of the experience includes exhibiting cards, using separate mind maps. Students experience how separate may not be equal and how sorting methods are demoralizing and rejoining offers renewal. Students attempt to connect with their peers or certain peers more frequently, by analyzing interests less rigidly, attaching and reattaching cards, and drawing more symbols to facilitate a match with a symbol of another.
II. GOAL(S):KNOW… basic vocabulary related to their study of art (Performance Standard A.4.2). that art is a basic way of thinking and communicating about the world (Performance
Standard A.4.6). that art is influenced by artists, designers, and cultures (Performance Standard B.4.4). how the design of the art changes its meaning (Performance Standard C.4.3). about basic concepts in art, such as “form follows function,” “less is more,” balance,
symmetry, and originality (Performance Standard D.4.6) how to create works of art that have meanings (Performance Standard G.4.4). creating or looking at art can bring out different feelings (Performance Standard I.4.6). their own ideas about the purposes and meanings of art (Performance Standard J.4.5).
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
UNDERSTAND… that their choices are shaped by their own culture (Performance Standard B.4.5). their creative process to better understand their work (Performance Standard C.4.9). art communicates ideas and meanings of other artwork (Performance Standards G.4.1-2). that creating or looking at art can bring out different feelings (Performance Standard
I.4.6). their own ideas about the purposes, meanings, and value of art as a basic part of being
human (Performance Standards J.4.5-6). and apply the role of art criticism and aesthetic knowledge in art and design (Performance
Standard J.4.7). connections art makes to other subjects and life (Performance Standards K.4.1-3). the role that personal traits, such as independent thinking, courage, integrity, insight,
dedication, and patience, play in creating quality art and design (Performance Standard L.4.3).
BE ABLE TO… develop a basic mental storehouse of images (Performance Standard A.4.1). explore the elements and principles of design (Performance Standards C.4.1-1). explore what makes quality design (Performance Standards C.4.1-2). use design to improve artwork (Performance Standard C.4.4). use sketching to develop ideas for their artwork (Performance Standard C.4.6). develop basic skills to produce quality art (Performance Standard C.4.7). explore the natural characteristics of materials and their possibilities and limitations
(Performance Standard C.4.8). develop personal responsibility for their learning and creative process (Performance
Standard C.4.10). use problem-solving strategies that promote fluency, flexibility, elaboration, and
originality (Performance Standard D.4.6). communicate basic ideas by producing studio art forms, such as drawings, and graphic
design (Performance Standards E.4.1-2). use the visual arts to express ideas that cannot be expressed by words alone (Performance
Standard E.4.5). talk and write about the meanings of artworks and design (Performance Standard G.4.3). show differences among colors, shapes, textures, and other qualities [line] of objects in
their artwork (Performance Standard H.4.3). work alone and with others to develop visual ideas and objects (Performance Standard
I.4.7). talk about art in basic terms (Performance Standards J.4.10). connect their knowledge and skills in art and to other areas, such as the humanities,
sciences, social studies, and technology (Performance Standard K.4.1). invent new ways to communicate ideas and solutions to problems in art (Performance
Standard K.4.2). use what they are learning about life, nature, the physical world, and people to create art
(Performance Standard K.4.3).
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
develop conceptual thought processes, and learn to use metaphors to arrive at original ideas (Performance Standards L.4.1-7).
See http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS-S_Standards.sflb.ashx and http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx for technology standards for students and teachers.
III. OBJECTIVES:1. Once students have been shown and have discussed different symbols, experimented with the kinesthetic abilities of a KIX, they will demonstrate the sum of these observations by assigning their own symbols to aspects of their identity, using the media effectively, having had prior experience assigning symbols to their identity and freedom in choosing media. (Bloom-Comprehension and application)
2. Responding to imposed limitations of design choices and exhibition space, students will identify symbol matches with their peers and connect their KIX to their peers KIX, keeping count of the number of possible connections that they can or cannot make, based on like interests or based on imposed limitations. (Bloom-Comprehension and analysis)
3. Having participated in a run through of KIX, discovering how difficult or easy it was for them to make connections, students will be asked to supplement, change, or reinterpret their symbols in order to make the maximum connections, explaining the process or design choices in writing or orally regardless of whether their score increased, decreased, or stayed constant. (Bloom-Synthesis and evaluation)
IV. ASSESSMENTS:1. Students create at least two symbols that represent an aspect of their identity, drawn lightly in 3H pencil first, outlined with black felt-tip pen, colored in with crayon, colored pencil, or both, and take pictures of the symbols. The small squares are pasted to a larger domino card, type their names on their cards, which is a retrievable template saved in file. Each symbol square’s background is colored completely. Once a card is made, students save this and every subsequent domino card in their file in the classroom folder. The point of setting up all these conditions facilitates a ridiculous list of qualifications, and simulates social restrictions, like discriminatory legislation.
2. Twice students record the names of the other students they make KIX connections with and the number of the difference between the scores through a screen capture. Students text or leave a voice mail to explain why their KIX scores stayed the same, increased, or decreased. Incentives are given for making a great number of connections, inspiring students to find nuance in their difference. For example, even though football and baseball are different sports, they are both played with balls. This encourages students to redesign a symbol as representing all ball sports as opposed to just one sport, which stimulates assigning syncretic meaning to inclusivity and tolerance.
3. Students share with Online Stickies what they had to do in order to make more connections, or make preferred connections. Also, in discussion, students suggest things they did to their KIX in
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
order to connect with their friends, or how they made suggestions to help their friends make more connections, or why they would avoid recording some connections, even though they know it will hurt their score. This aspect of the thought processes represents bias awareness, the theme tolerance versus discrimination, friendship, service, caring, and courage.
V. RESOURCES AND MATERIALSArt vocabulary for Word Wall: symbol, design, mediaTask analysis for each day on the Promethean Board and on separate seat sheetBooks:
Sneetches by Dr. Seuss Signs & Symbols by Gerd Arntz
Examples and non-examples of student sketches and resulting symbols
Teacher samples of KIX (I have not made digital tablet samples, yet):
Ball sports and unicycling Learning and equality
Disc golf and science Peace and music
Assessment tools:Guiding questions for writing texts and posting to Online StickiesLists of ideas about incentives and facilitations of KIX sessions.Flikr, Mindmeister, Snagit, and saving files minilessons.
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Check the box if you did it. Circle A if you did each one well.
I made sketches that I used for my symbols.
I shared my images on artsonia or flikr.
I designed the symbol so it is simple, yet easy to understand.
I made a digital domino with my symbols and linked it on Mindmeister.
I recorded the number of times I could connect, sent a text about how I changed my KIX to make more and/or different connections.
I participated in the classroom discussions. I can explain how it felt to not have as many connections as other KIX, for example.
I checked all the boxes but I could still use a little practice controlling the media and thinking about how things can be a symbol.
I completed most of the steps shown above but I could still use a more practice with the media, my ideas, and sharing during discussions.I skipped some of the steps shown above. I need a lot more practice with the coloring and getting an idea. I don’t know the art terms very well, yet.
Checklist for Kinesthetic Identification Experience (KIX):
Examples of art with syncretic meaning: All art images will be shown on the Promethean Board. All of my cultural exemplars are LGBT artists, who assert their identities and cultural context in their work. Heterosexual artists such as Käthe Kollwitz or Shepard Fairey lend themselves to these themes well, but using the work of LGBT artists in the curriculum gives the gay community visibility in curriculum, as contributing in the world, and to our field. If teaching at the middle school I recommend Jasper Johns and if teaching at the high school, I recommend Erin Forrest.
Examples of art with syncretic meaning by LGBT artists:
Zero Generation (2004) by Rachel Carns Radiant Baby (ca 1978) by Keith Haring
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Mr. Rabbit (1962) by Maurice Sendak Portrait of a German Officer (1914) by Marsden Hartley
Images:Symbols mounted on cardstock:
Materials:1- Bristol paper or digital template 5x8”2 or more-Bristol papers or digital templates 3x3”crayonscolored pencilsblack felt-tipped pens3H pencils and eraserssketch paper
Digital and Internet tools:In my classroom, I have five design tablets also available, which could be used instead or in addition to the above list of drawing media. With a design tablet, image capture, upload, and is unneeded. If all students used and iPad with drawing tools, this would also save steps and time.
Cell phones and/or digital cameras and recordersComputers and/or other handheld devicesSnagItAdobe-Photoshop or other image working software like Microsoft Picture Manager
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Lino Online StickiesMindmeisterFlickr (In my classroom, we will use artsonia)Mindmeister and artsonia apps for mobile and iPad
VI. MOTIVATIONTOPIC QUESTIONS:
Who can explain the ways Nike, Converse, or The Gap are like Sylvester McMonkey McBean?
What does Mr. McBean mean by “You can’t teach a Sneetch?” Look at these symbols. Is there one that you’d like to wear? What if you would get in
trouble if you didn’t wear the symbol?
ASSOCIATION QUESTIONS: Was there ever a time you tried to change something about yourself so you would be
more like other people? The kind of clothes you wear…how you run…liking sports…
VISUALIZATION QUESTIONS: Why would a radiant baby be a symbol for a man? What type of symbol could you make to stand for a whole bunch of different people?
TRANSITION QUESTIONS: Do you think you could pick symbols to express your feelings or your personality? Do you think some symbols express certain personalities more than others? Do you think any of this artwork is like a self-portrait? Can you think of a computer icon that is a symbol for search or to make something
bigger…a logo that is a symbol for a computer…? Do you know what emoticons are?
VII. ADAPTATIONS AND MODIFICATIONS All assertions as to syncretic meaning are valid as long as the student can
defend their choice, in varying ways made available to them. If there are LGBTQ youth and by Q, I mean questioning, the privacy of the written response safeguards the student’s personal journey with self-concept. Some symbols may seem closer to Hammurabi’s Code than the student’s personal
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
voice. Students,’ who self-concepts are on the rise, may seem disingenuous occasionally. This may be a self-sustaining or protective behavior more than a devious or evasive behavior.
Be aware strong views based on some values held by families, such as, Jehovah Witness, Judeo-Christian, liberal/conservative, or White Supremacy beliefs. Remind students to respect the other students in schools and choose school-appropriate symbols and reinforce what is appropriate, as needed. Censor images according to your own procedures, district and school rules.
Students, who resist speaking in front of their peers may choose writing and vice versa. These students may also require more time.
Every class I write the description of each step in the procedures for that lesson on the Promethean Board. Many students like having that description at their own work area on paper, so they can focus on each step and check off each completed task. This task analysis breaks down each step even further.
This lesson is designed for the elementary level. The guiding questions, cultural exemplars, teacher examples, and mediation of the KIX session procedures are based on their developmental level.
Here is a list of helpful tools for physical exceptionalities:1.Technology that translates sign language into text aims to empower sign language users (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/news/details-11751.php)
2.Tongue Drive System Goes Inside the Mouth to Improve Performance and User Comfort (http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?nid=110351)
3.Eye-controlled computer games for disabled children(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17179405)
4.Digital revolution changing lives of students with disabilities (http://gazettextra.com/news/2012/feb/26/digital-revolution-changing-lives-students-disabil/)
VIII. PROCEDURESDay 1Body: Instructional Input (15 min.)
Show my KIX samples. Review what we know about symbols. Remember the symbols students made in 2nd /3rd grade to
represent themselves. Explain what the symbols on my samples mean to me. Show examples of how other artists have used symbols and brainstorm symbols we know,
including logos, icons, and emoticons. Use the book Signs and Symbols if needed. Read Sneetches: This is a quick read without prompting discussion. The second read is after the
first KIX connecting session and before students redesign or make more symbols for the second session.Modeling and Demonstration (10 min.)
Demonstrate sketching, show students’ samples of sketches.
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Demonstrate lightly drawing best versions of best ideas on squares in 3H pencil, show student sample.
Demonstrate outlining with felt-tip pen and coloring with media, crayon, colored-pencil, or both, in layered technique. These steps can be skipped and/interchanged depending upon access to technology.
Distribution: Line up by tables, when called upon, to collect materials on the counter or in the back of the classroom. Return to counter, independently for more supplies, when needed.Checking for Understanding (25 min.)
Students use 1, 5 x 8” papers to provide the base of domino for the symbols. The border is created by tracing around the 3 x 3” squares, and then filled in with either wavy or zigzag lines. Students will attach Velcro to the back of the 5 x 8” paper to attach, detach, and reattach, to the display boards, and on the 3 x 3” papers, to attach to the 5 x 8” papers. (see also digital version of procedure after this and the next step).
Students use 2, 3 x 3” papers to draw and color the symbols that they will interchange and identify connections from their best sketches.
Students use digital templates to attach digital images of their colored pencil images or can use an app to upload digitally drawn or converted colored pencil images to jpegs directly to artsonia and Mindmeister.
Students make first attempt at the KIX connect. Students record their results. Clean-up: Put media and artwork away according to our procedures.
Day 1 closure (10 min.)Read through checklist. Play “Line up Game” (student named). Teacher asks a vocabulary question and the students find the term on the Word Wall, lining up when they answer it correctly.Day 2Body: Instructional Input (15 min.)
Opening reflection on 1st day progress. Consider formal elements. Review rubric. Reread Sneetches. Show images of symbols mounted on card stock. The other side of card shows
these images:
Jewish family wearing stars and boys with stars.
Modeling and Demonstration (5 min.) Review procedures. Task analysis is shown on the board, and available on paper to take to
student’s table.
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CELL PHONES: AND OTHER STUFF OF REVOLUTION
Distribution: Line up by tables, when called upon, to collect materials on the counter or in the back of the classroom. Return to counter, independently for more supplies, when needed. Assign students to available technology, if all have an iPad, review apps.Checking for Understanding (25 min.)
Students make and/or finish at least two identifying symbols. Teacher gives new sets of limitations, for example, only the cards with the same types of lines
(wavy or zigzag) around the border can connect if they are on the board marked with the triangle. The other board, students are told, will be displayed in the lobby.
Students reconnect, recording the new number of connections, explaining and/or defending their results in orally or in writing.
Clean-up according to procedure.Day 2 closure (15 min.)Teacher and students hold discussion and share results and reflection, tell whole class, and tell me privately in oral or written form. Students check to be sure their name is on rubric, KIX, and the results log. KIX remain on the display boards.
IX. CLOSURE AND REFLECTIONHold group reflection of the first session’s progress at the beginning of second class period:
Show progress, ask students to guess whose symbol is whose. Point out how many of them blended their colors, giving brilliance to the simple shapes, and made great color contrast, which made a simple shape powerful. Compare to other symbols. In drawing programs, the Wacom design tablet, for example, colors can be blended
Hold discussion and/or writing session at the end of the second class period:Students are free to keep readjusting their KIX. The teacher can reassert new parameters and students can practice discerning the nuances of differences and broaden their ideas of identification and inclusivity to realize Chief Seattle’s (1855) words, “all things are bound together. All things connect” (n. p.)
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