We took the first few weeks to discuss and plan out the focus for the curriculum my CCA
students would be teaching in Emery. I think this was challenging for my students at first because they all came to the table with really good ideas, but we also had some requests from Sara about what she thought was needed in her classes and what they were in process with learning. Sara thought it would be great to fold into our lessons some of the content that she was also working on with her students.
The first thing I wanted my students to do was to look at their own learning process - how they learn, what skills or thinking do they employ and where are their knots? We asked: What is art education? and tried to map out all the things that were important to my students about their own experience with art and education and why it was important to their own growth and learning. We came up with this very messy map (pictured above) which was really the seed that started my students thinking about what ideas they wanted to bring into the Emery classroom.
Introducing Studio Thinking
Next my students used the Studio Habits wheel to map out their own artistic practice and learning process. This was a valuable exercise for them because it gave them a language to talk about their thinking and process for their own artistic practice and helped them to see their areas of strength and concerns. We were able to take this same process later on and apply it to their teaching practice and as an observation/reflection tool of their students learning.
CCA students map out their own thinking and learning process in the arts:
Students talk about their process through studio habits they mapped out:
This is great, Trena, I do the same with teachers in San Leandro and it really helps ground them in their practice as teachers/artists. I like that it doubles for a self-reflexive tool and a teaching tool, depending on the need.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to Sarah's post to hear how Emery students are getting along.
This is so cool, Trena! We've known since the VALUES project that teachers first need to look at their own teaching practice and intentions through the Studio Habits before they can make any sense of using the SHoM as a tool to think about their students' learning. But focusing their analysis and sharing on their own artistic process seems perfect! So grounding! I'm ripping this off right now for my own teaching! :)
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