Week 5
My classmates presentations were very interesting to observe. I got the opportunity to see how different children differed from each other when making art. The examples provided demonstrated how different theories tied into how children made decisions when drawing. I saw many of Lowenfeld's stage theories in the presentations as well as my child observation. Seeing how each child produced an art piece made me realize how accurate some of the theories learned in class actually are. One of the things that caught my attention was the presence of the ket aesthetic in almost every presentation. I realize how the media out there influences children's artistic creativity. Personally, I don't think of it as being particularly bad but I do see some cons to this aspect. If children are just drawing what they see from day to day, they aren't fully experiencing their unique imagination. One of my classmates brought up an important point. What if the child grows out of their interest to a particular cartoon they've been drawing over and over again? Based on my classmates experience, he noticed that Dragonball was the only thing he was good at drawing. When he finally grew out of that interest, he realized that all the time he spent perfecting that style of drawing affected him in his later years because he didn't get to practice drawing other things. His artistic ability came to a halt. A thought I came up with based on this experience was to make children explore drawing other things as well. There should be a time for them to draw out of pure interest but also they should learn technique as well so they don't fall behind.
Based on my child observation, I learned how the presence of a friend might also affect the way a child draws. When I was observing my child, I realized that at first she was a little tense because she couldn't really talk to me about her interests. Once her friend showed up, she loosened up and became more talkative and she also began drawing freely. This made me realize that as educators, depending on the age we are teaching, we should make an effort and try to connect with our students by researching their interests and dropping hints about them every once in a while, while we teach. This not only makes them realize that we think their interests are important, but they'll be more engaged in what we are teaching.
Based on my personal experience while conducting the child observation, I picked out this image because it focuses on the importance of collaboration when drawing. Tying this image back to the Ivashkevich article, I also realized that collaboration makes children take ideas from each other as inspiration. A child might take an idea from a friend but it might have a different context than the original drawing. As an educator, if I ever get the opportunity to teach elementary, I will definitely emphasized collaboration in my art classroom. I believe that it might also lower the chance of children drawing from ket. When they have each other to explore different art topics, they might get to explore other things than media when making art.
Week 4
Freedman spoke about including costructivism in the classroom. From past observational experience, I find constructivism a highly effective method of teaching. Students generally learn a topic in a day and make connections to what they learned the second day.The article stated "Students learn by appropriating information and restructuring it in relation to what they already know." (pg 101, Freeman) By making connections, this method allows students to retain information and recall it better. This is definitely a strategy I plan to use as an educator. This article only reinforced my opinion about constructivism especially because I learned that several artists like Kandinsky were strong supporters about it. Freeman also stated "Constructivists argue that students learn best through deep engagement in activities with medium levels of complexity that reflect life experiences and provoke several levels of thought" (pg. 101, Freedman) In my opinion, based on this quote, educators should also incorporate life experiences in their lessons and activities so that students can be more engaged. Activities shouldn't be difficult to understand so I also agree that they should be in a medium level of complexity. Students should be able to make connections from what they've learned and be able to apply that knowledge on activities they are working on.
The second article, "Use and Uselessness", talked about a "U" shaped developmental curve. I was very intrigued by this because it spoke about children usually reaching a peak of artistry in which there's a decline afterwards. Only a few children are able to recover from that decline and those who do are the ones who are highly rich in artistic creativity. The only thing I wondered about this aspect is if it is possible for children to recover from the decline during another age through proper guidance. I would like to learn more about this curve and see what can be done as an educator to avoid a high percentage of students not recovering from the decline. Since I want to be a high school art teacher, I wouldn't want to think that some of my students never recovered from that decline. If I feel that this is the case, I would like to help them expand if possible so they can recover and explore their creativity even more.
The image above is a representation of Lowenfeld's stages of artistic development. I found this image interesting because it related to the "U" shape curve discussed in the reading. This image states how children progress artistically and how many of them don't recover from a decline of artistic creativity. I feel that as an educator, by using constructivist methods, I should teach and challenge children the techniques required for them to progress artistically so most of them recover from the decline mentioned in the reading.
Week 3
I was really interested about learning how artistic collaboration among children might be positive yet negative. In the reading, Ivashkevich mentioned how two young girls collaborated while making their artwork and their way of communicating really interested me. They seemed to copy one another but at the same time they would tweak their pictures so they wouldn't look entirely the same. Personally, I saw this type of collaboration as something positive. I believe that children should communicate their ideas in art so each one of them can either take or leave inspiration. At the same time, I also thought this might be troublesome because the child who is copying another is not really extending his/her imagination. As a teacher, I would encourage certain age levels to collaborate but to a certain extent so it doesn't become a habit like it did to the girls in the article.I agreed to what Ivashkevich said "Collaborating drawing among peers provides interesting insights into picture making as a part of children's culture." (pg. 56) Collaboration is something good when it comes to creating but it's something children shouldn't rely on all the time. One thing I questioned though, is how can collaboration be encouraged in a high school setting? This is something I will have to research and ask high school teachers for their perspective.
By Thursday, I could make connections from Wilsons' readings regarding children's artwork across cultures. Reading about their research made me rethink the way children's art looks around the world instead of my central focus of America. Wilsons' article also made me realize since children's artwork differs around the world, in reality, there isn't an example of perfect children's art or a standard view of what it should look like. After reading their article, I got to look at children's artwork from a whole, different perspective. While on my visit to the Tucson museum of art, I noticed how child refugees from around the world depicted their experiences before living in Tucson. Although they were from different places, their age similarities made their works of art similar to one another. The only differences, like Wilson stated, was the way in which they drew people. Their works had a lot of cultural influences as well as setting. I enjoyed learning about the places they came from and how drastically their lives changed for the better when they moved to Tucson. Learning about how children's art differentiates from one place to another made me realize how as a teacher I'll be exposed to different kinds of art if I plan to teach in different places. It'll be really exciting.
The image above is a photograph I took while on my visit to the Tucson Museum of Art. I read the artist's statement and I realized the importance of having students practice writing their own every time they finish an art piece. Because each child wrote a description of their artworks, other people can connect with them as well. Personally, I connected with this child's art piece because I also used to make up my own heroes when I felt lonely as a child. We both had a love for animals especially felines. I think children should practice writing artist statements to strengthen the bond adults have with children. Adults will get to know them better and see what kind of culture they explore as children.
Week 2
This week gave me an insight into how sex is viewed in art education elementary settings. It also made me think about what my actions would be if I ever have this type of dilemma going on in my class. From past experience and new information discussed and read in class, I believe that as elementary educators, we shouldn't provide sexual content in our lessons. Instead, we should keep books and other materials available for students in case they are interested in the subject. Following my past teacher's example, I would only allow a handful of students who I believe are mature enough to handle looking at that type of material without giggling or joking about it. I know that it'll be a missed opportunity for the other students not allowed to view the material but I think that by choosing a few, it'll make the others reflect. Students not chosen to view this type of material will have the opportunity to reflect why they weren't chosen. I found it very interesting how children think it is shameful or not correct to draw such images. A quote that stood out to me was “I suppose that by keeping this aspect of their drawing underground, they have successfully obscured an important dimension of child art.” (pg 54).As an educator, I don't think it's a good idea for us to change their opinion around but we should make it clear that it is acceptable to draw anything in art. It's solely their decision and they can decide whether or not they want to be mature about it.
Another issue I was interested in was the power adults have over children culture. Something that I've always wondered is how adults test certain cartoons they want to air for children. What makes them believe children will find it appealing? As educators, I think it's a good idea to be knowledgeable of contemporary cartoons or aspects that children are drawn to. We could use them as a way of bonding with them and making them aware that we are also interested in what they are. We shouldn't bash anything they like into a "Ket-Aesthetic" without learning why they like it in the first place. I believe that there is more to children's likes/interests than we believe there is. Also after the class discussion, some students brought up the point that so much media might be causing children to not challenge themselves as they should to imagine and create. This is evident in the art work we were shown in class. Some students decided to draw based on things they've already seen in TV even going as far as to try and duplicate several characters. I didn't see this as a problem. I saw it rather as a opportunity to sharpen their artistic skills.
The image above is an example of what my little sister used to watch before she was 5 years of age. I sat down several times with her to watch this show. I recognized that many of the actors in this kid show were actually comedians whose main focus in acting has nothing to do with children. Instead of being freaked out about it, I went along with it and let her watch this show. Until this day, I have not regretted my decision because I feel like I gave my sister her personal freedom. Because she knew that her interests were welcome, she now explores her creativity more freely. As educators, we must be aware that children also have their personal interests. In the art field, they should all be welcome as long as we give them the option of expanding creatively as well.
