Monday, April 29, 2013

literacy instruction

I have always been a big advocate of literacy in the classroom, I may not have always known exactly what that meant, but I did know it meant more than being able to read and write. This class has helped me to cement my theories and thoughts on the subject, well maybe cement is the wrong word as a classroom in a living thing and should never be so strict as to hinder movement in any direction, especially thoughts. So I will put it another way, this class has assisted me by allowing me to gain knowledge that I will be able to pass on to my students in the future.

A sketchbook is important in the art field  it is where your ideas go to be grown, but a white page can be daunting, so I will require my students to have a notebook, college ruled, to keep as a journal/notebook. How many people that are not artists doodle while, or instead of taking notes, and aren't the little doodles great? Yes they are. So by having that, I want to encourage experimentation, doodling, composition practice, and write write write,

Learning how to be literate in an art classroom is knowing the basics of art, form, line, shadow, etc, but also realizing that that knowledge means very little without imagination. The ability to create from whole cloth versus the ability to render well are very different and both are important aspects of art. I hope to give my students the tools to practice both skills, and to teach them that they can only practice, no one in art is ever finished, they should constantly learn and improve, that to me is the wonderful part of art, you are never truly finished learning.

2 comments:

  1. Jason, I liked your focus on the fact that we're all constantly learning, and I really like the idea of a sketchbook. I think that would be an awesome tool for my future English classrooms--students can use it to sketch, write down ideas, brainstorm, and write journal entries. As teachers, sometimes we only require students to hand in their final drafts, and those may not show all the work that the student put forth; seeing the sketches or rough drafts can help us understand our students that much more, and I think I might borrow that idea from you, if you don't mind. Thanks!

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  2. Hi Jason, I think the idea of having a sketchbook correlates with "level one" writing in the sense that it allows for students to present informal, unfinished ideas that may or may not lead to a more finished product. I like your emphasis on how learning is never over...for teachers as well as for students. Thanks for your posting!

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