Monday, April 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Athena Project reflections on Understanding Goals
Here are a few reflections from our Athena Project art groups on five Understanding goals:
- How does working in a group help us grow as individuals? Mentor response: "Being able to work together helps us learn more about ourselves and how we are the same and how we are different." Youth response: "Because we have to listen and communicate." "Because we have to understand others." "We have to be aware of others needs."
- How is working in partnership with different age groups enriching? Mentor response: "It brings you to a time in your life when things were new and exciting and it helps you remember the initial excitement of being young." Youth response: "Because we learn from other people." "Because they are smart." "Because they help us." "Because we learn more about ourselves."
- What does working in a group teach us about living in society? Mentor response: " It is a micro version of the big picture, people can and will always come together to make progress and accomplish goals. " Youth response: "Not only our needs matter." "We learn to work together." "We learn to help each other."
- How can we learn to apply the skills and concepts we are learning in class to other settings? Mentor response: "Making art is a form of problem solving, so it extends into everyday living." Youth response: "Teamwork!" "Collaboration." "Helping." "Better family skills."
- How can the Studio Habits of Mind assist student artists? Mentor response: "It provides a springboard for creativity and a set of goals and guidelines as an infrastructure to follow in the learning process." Youth response: "Giving students structure." "Something to follow through." "Provides organization." "Explores all aspects of learning."
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Spring Break- CCA Visit
This week we visited CCA with 9 students and one relative of the students, and were given a wonderful introduction to the CCA Oakland campus and many of its facilities. The kids loved it and didn't want to leave... Miguel asked about when to apply, and Uriel already knew he wanted to focus on design. Favorite parts of the visit included the kiln room, animation department, photo darkroom... students especially loved seeing their mentors, and getting introduced to the specific crafts through the mentors, and their projects. Rachel's beautifully crafted metallic and handblown glass aquaponic tank grow system especially impressed many of the kids. They were so perceptive, noticing that one of the trees in the gardens was on the brochure, and picking up many other details, showing their degree of engagement. This was a truly great and inspiring experience for the kids. Thanks so much mentors, and of course Virginia, and the great tour guides for making this possible, and being so caring with the kids, on your spring break!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Athena Project training with NVC
Newt Bailey, a Nonviolent Communication Trainer, came to share his knowledge and communication skills with our class on Monday, February 22nd. Newt works with incarcerated individuals, parolees and youth who have been expelled from schools. I asked him to do a workshop with my students because I believe that giving my students tools to deal with the emotional and behavioral issues that inevitably arise, will help them be more empathetic and find creative ways of dealing with difficult situations.
Some of the CCA students were a little doubtful that the ideas in Life Enriching Education (written by Marshall Rosenberg, the founder of Nonviolent Communication) could work. For example, one idea is that if there is no RELATIONSHIP there is no learning, so in order to have cooperative learning, an authentic relationship must come first. This approach emphasizes consensus building and agreement between teachers and students. However, Newt demonstrated how he works with NVC himself and all of the students appreciated the training in the end.
On last Wednesday during pouring rain, we were down from 38 students to 25 and the CCA students were feeling badly that so many youth did not show up. However, this is part of the difficulty of running a free after school program. Also, although the new facility of Peralta Hacienda appears to be finished, the City of Oakland won't give PHHP the keys until a use agreement has been drawn up (which was never mentioned during the many years that this project was worked on). So, depending on how that goes, we may end up holding our class outside and in the Hacienda house for the rest of the semester.
We got a little paint on the floor, on a rug and on a wall. All of it came off, but being constantly on our guard in a historically preserved house is somewhat stressful. During the heavy rains 40-50 people were crowded in to the rooms with period furniture, making art projects with glue, paint, clay, etc.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
What did you learn?
Last week we met the youth for the first time. There were almost 40 kids from ages 10-14! Unfortunately, the brand new Peralta Hacienda special arts facility is still under construction, so we spent the afternoon making art outside and crowded in the historic building.
The ice breakers were really fun and physical which kids need after being cooped up all day in school. Once the groups settled down they made journal/sketch books for themselves and decorated them all the while getting to know each other and their mentors.
This week groups got focused and started working sooner but it was colder outside so all but one group squeezed into the ancient, historically preserved mansion and somehow managed not to ding the walls, or leave smudges of acrylic paint on the floor. One group made cup cakes and did a color wheel lesson by mixing different colored icings. They had made enough to share with all 60 of us. There was lots of drawing, chalk art, finger knitting, and acrylic painting to music. The consensus from the mentors was that both weeks were a LOT of fun, but this week, teaching was a LOT easier.
Here is a list of some things the mentors learned:
It's important not to judge
The kids are interested in LOTS of things
There is a strong peer influence
The physical act of making art helps kids focus
The kids aren't as tough as they appear to be
The mentors' behavior set the tone for the group
The mentors need to be outgoing AND patient
Some kids act out as a form of self-defense
Issues:
1- Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is a public park so it is open to the general public. Some kids like to roam, and in a few cases, after while just walked away from their group. One was visiting another group, another was way out of earshot at the playground by himself. I had discussed guidelines for behavior with the mentors before this happened, and had asked each group to make it part of their lesson to establish these guidelines (like a buddy system). I must make sure they take this part of the job more seriously.
2- The wide age and ability range is something we are grappling with. We are considering making a younger group and an older group to better meet the needs of the youth. However, people are getting attached to each other and there is more reluctance to move and rebond, so we'll see. Maybe it will iron itself out.
The ice breakers were really fun and physical which kids need after being cooped up all day in school. Once the groups settled down they made journal/sketch books for themselves and decorated them all the while getting to know each other and their mentors.
This week groups got focused and started working sooner but it was colder outside so all but one group squeezed into the ancient, historically preserved mansion and somehow managed not to ding the walls, or leave smudges of acrylic paint on the floor. One group made cup cakes and did a color wheel lesson by mixing different colored icings. They had made enough to share with all 60 of us. There was lots of drawing, chalk art, finger knitting, and acrylic painting to music. The consensus from the mentors was that both weeks were a LOT of fun, but this week, teaching was a LOT easier.
Here is a list of some things the mentors learned:
It's important not to judge
The kids are interested in LOTS of things
There is a strong peer influence
The physical act of making art helps kids focus
The kids aren't as tough as they appear to be
The mentors' behavior set the tone for the group
The mentors need to be outgoing AND patient
Some kids act out as a form of self-defense
Issues:
1- Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is a public park so it is open to the general public. Some kids like to roam, and in a few cases, after while just walked away from their group. One was visiting another group, another was way out of earshot at the playground by himself. I had discussed guidelines for behavior with the mentors before this happened, and had asked each group to make it part of their lesson to establish these guidelines (like a buddy system). I must make sure they take this part of the job more seriously.
2- The wide age and ability range is something we are grappling with. We are considering making a younger group and an older group to better meet the needs of the youth. However, people are getting attached to each other and there is more reluctance to move and rebond, so we'll see. Maybe it will iron itself out.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
First Visit and Tour of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park
On Wednesday, January 27th, the Athena Project visited PHHP for the first time. We had a tour of the house and the property and saw the brand new facility which is ALMOST finished. We are going to be the first people to work there! It is a large airy one room building that has a capacity for 50, so the 18 CCA students, the 28 youth, myself and our PHHP partners will all fit (just). Actually, when the weather is nice we'll be spread out, making art outside in the park. Unlike the other partnerships, in which CCA students are working in classrooms with students in school, the Athena Project is working with an after school program. This means that advertising and recruitment need to take place before the actual working relationship begins. We will meet our youth partners for the first time next week.
This week I devoted to having students think about lesson planning. Each student wrote a lesson plan based on one state standard of their choice from the Visual Arts component for 7th or 8th grade. Within the working groups (6 groups of 3 students each) they shared their individual lessons. After that, they came up with a new lesson plan by consensus, choosing a different state standard and using their own expertise to guide their decisions (ex: one group has a sculptor, graphic designer and printer; another has a writer, a photographer and an illustrator).
The lessons the CCA students created (both the individual ones and the collaborative ones) might contribute to the semester long project or not. They are exercises in lesson planning and a vehicle for the college students to bond as a group because the youth will be studying the relationship amongst the mentors and the way they interact with each other. So it is important for me to create a fertile environment in which the creative relationships amongst the CCA students can flower before we even meet the youth.
For homework, the Athena Project mentors will look at those same lessons and expand them by applying the categories of the Studio Habits of Mind. In the meantime, they are reading Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Chapter 2, in which he explains the "banking" concept of education so clearly. His reference to traditional education as domination education is the same term used in the book we are reading by Marshall Rosenberg, Life Enriching Education. Rosenberg also offers explicit help to the facilitator (teacher) to retrain him/herself in order not fall into domination education.
This week I devoted to having students think about lesson planning. Each student wrote a lesson plan based on one state standard of their choice from the Visual Arts component for 7th or 8th grade. Within the working groups (6 groups of 3 students each) they shared their individual lessons. After that, they came up with a new lesson plan by consensus, choosing a different state standard and using their own expertise to guide their decisions (ex: one group has a sculptor, graphic designer and printer; another has a writer, a photographer and an illustrator).
The lessons the CCA students created (both the individual ones and the collaborative ones) might contribute to the semester long project or not. They are exercises in lesson planning and a vehicle for the college students to bond as a group because the youth will be studying the relationship amongst the mentors and the way they interact with each other. So it is important for me to create a fertile environment in which the creative relationships amongst the CCA students can flower before we even meet the youth.
For homework, the Athena Project mentors will look at those same lessons and expand them by applying the categories of the Studio Habits of Mind. In the meantime, they are reading Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Chapter 2, in which he explains the "banking" concept of education so clearly. His reference to traditional education as domination education is the same term used in the book we are reading by Marshall Rosenberg, Life Enriching Education. Rosenberg also offers explicit help to the facilitator (teacher) to retrain him/herself in order not fall into domination education.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Combined Youth and CCA student Understanding Goals for The Athena Project
Academic Learning
Youth:
Studio Learning
Youth:
Collaborative/Community Learning
Youth and CCA students:
Inter and Intra Personal Learning
Youth and CCA students:
Youth:
- How can art allow us to express our stories and communicate them to others?
- How can we articulate our stories in the most effective way?
- How do we chose appropriate media to express our stories and communicate to an audience?
- What skills can we develop in order to work towards expressing our vision as we envision it?
- Why is it important to learn the history of Peralta Hacienda, then and now?
- How can we learn about the ethnic groups living in the Peralta neighborhood?
- How can we assess the intellectual and artistic interests of the youth?
- How can we structure lessons incorporating the intellectual and artistic interests of the youth?
- Why is it important to keep a reflective journal of our thoughts and feelings about the experience?
Studio Learning
Youth:
- Which artistic skills and vocabulary would allow us to articulate our vision?
- What medium will allow us to communicate and reach our desired audience?
- Would a combination of artistic media tell our story in a richer way?
- If so, which combination?
- As artists how do we observe and reflect on the world around us, and approach problem solving?
- How can we share artistic competence with youth?
- How does using a lesson plan template influence the quality of instruction?
- How can we expand the art vocabulary of the youth?
- How can the Studio Habits of Mind assist student artists in their studio practice?
- How can the traditional aesthetic sensibility, materials and processes of neighborhood ethnic groups be incorporated into the collaborative art project?
Collaborative/Community Learning
Youth and CCA students:
- How does working in a group help us to grow as an individual?
- How can we weave in all of our stories and give voice to them in one cohesive art project?
- What does working in a group teach us about living in society?
- How can we appreciate the role arts play in democratic thinking?
- How can we make art that is meaningful to both the community in which we are working and ourselves?
- How can we build consensus to create collaborative art that meets the needs of all the participants?
- How can we learn to apply the skills and concepts we are learning in class to other settings?
Inter and Intra Personal Learning
Youth and CCA students:
- How can we develop attitudes of appreciation, awe, and wonder?
- How are we able to create an environment where we can gain deeper empathy and understanding of each other?
- How does the art process allow us to reflect on our roots in such a way as to enable us to play our part in the bigger picture of a global society?
- How does the art process allow us to reflect on the roots of others and how does that influence our view of world?
- How is working in partnership with a different age group enriching?
- How can we improve our communication skills (listening, speaking, writing, reading)?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Getting to know us
During our first day of class, after initial introductions, I did a visualization exercise with my students. I asked them to close their eyes and go back to middle school. I asked them to see themselves sitting at a desk in a classroom and look around at the students, the teacher, and the walls. I suggested they note textures, smells, sounds and the feelings of of that place and time. Then each student wrote about a memorable moment in their lives during that time. It was a way to get to know each other and at the same time illustrate that middle school can be the best and the worst of times. Here are some examples of the range of experiences: people who had their first euphoric romance, people who got expelled, people who were so ill they had to home school, people whose 8th grade classroom was held up at gun point by a girl, people who remembered the rigorous discipline and community of music and sports, people who entered the revolving door of the foster system, people who discovered their parents' drugs.
Then we watched the first video of "School: The Story of American Education" which gives an overview of the struggle to create free education for all citizens in our country. It serves to clarify that what we now take for granted had to be sold to a resistant American public.
Then we watched the first video of "School: The Story of American Education" which gives an overview of the struggle to create free education for all citizens in our country. It serves to clarify that what we now take for granted had to be sold to a resistant American public.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Athena Project website
http://sites.google.com/site/athenaprojectsite/
Dear colleagues and friends: If you want to know more about the Athena Project, you can see an archive of photos from 2005 on. In addition to the blog, information for students, parents, partners and colleagues will be available for viewing there.
Dear colleagues and friends: If you want to know more about the Athena Project, you can see an archive of photos from 2005 on. In addition to the blog, information for students, parents, partners and colleagues will be available for viewing there.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Understanding Goals
Understanding Goals
Academic Learning :
How can art allow us to express our stories and communicate them to others?
How can we articulate our stories in the most effective way?
How do we chose appropriate media to express our stories and communicate to an audience?
What skills can you develop in order to work towards expressing your vision as you envision it?
Studio Learning :
Which artistic skills and vocabulary would allow you to articulate your vision?
What medium allows you to communicate and reach your desired audience?
Would a combination of artistic media tell your story in a richer way (if so, which combination)?
As artists how do we observe and reflect on the world around us, and approach problem solving?
Collaborative/Community Learning :
How does working in a group help you to grow as an individual?
How can we weave in all of our stories and give voice to them in one cohesive art project?
Why is it important to learn to work in a group and does it teach you about living in society?
Inter and Intra Personal Learning :
How are we able to create an environment where we can gain a deeper empathy and understanding of each other?
How does the art process allow us to reflect on our roots and play a part in the bigger picture?
How is working in partnership with a different age group enriching?
Academic Learning :
How can art allow us to express our stories and communicate them to others?
How can we articulate our stories in the most effective way?
How do we chose appropriate media to express our stories and communicate to an audience?
What skills can you develop in order to work towards expressing your vision as you envision it?
Studio Learning :
Which artistic skills and vocabulary would allow you to articulate your vision?
What medium allows you to communicate and reach your desired audience?
Would a combination of artistic media tell your story in a richer way (if so, which combination)?
As artists how do we observe and reflect on the world around us, and approach problem solving?
Collaborative/Community Learning :
How does working in a group help you to grow as an individual?
How can we weave in all of our stories and give voice to them in one cohesive art project?
Why is it important to learn to work in a group and does it teach you about living in society?
Inter and Intra Personal Learning :
How are we able to create an environment where we can gain a deeper empathy and understanding of each other?
How does the art process allow us to reflect on our roots and play a part in the bigger picture?
How is working in partnership with a different age group enriching?
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