Black History Month, a TAB project

TAB: Teaching Artistic Behaviors. I am on a journey now, into the TAB universe. The TAB classroom is choice-based. It personalizes learning and makes differentiation so much easier. Students take responsibility for their learning and self-assess their progress, and state and national standards still get addressed. Basically, students get to choose what they work on, according to your guidelines and with your careful facilitation.

I’m sure I’m going about it in the stupidest way possible, but let’s not forget that my path to success has always been a windy one (a Jeremy Bearimy, if you will).

So,

I provided my Art 2 with a short list of Black artists with interesting visual styles. I tried to curate it a little bit, not to censor or keep anyone off the list, but to give them a good starting point rather than a novel to sift through. However, the list consisted of only names. I didn’t include any sort of description of the person or what type of art they do so the students would have to discover that on their own, without skipping anyone for a pointless reason. 

I tried to keep it varied, including painters, illustrators, graffiti artists, current artists, artists from other decades, well known, lesser-known, men, women, and other. 

The list:

Faith Ringgold
Jacob Lawrence
Betye Saar
Jonathan Green
Radcliffe Bailey
Romare Bearden
Billy Graham
(the artist, not the preacher)
Kehinde Wiley
Margaret Taylor-Burroughs
Horace Pippin
Aaron Douglas
Alma Thomas
Corey Barksdale
Jerry Pinkney
Lina Iris Viktor
Jean Michele Basquiat
Ezi Wear
Xane Asiamah
Jordan Casteel
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Ebony G. Patterson

The students can use a computer, tablet, or phone to Google the artists. The main requirement that they have on this project is to choose an artist that they like or whose style they’d like to be inspired by and go from there. The rest will play out in the same way as our last project, which was completely open-ended. The students could choose their medium, size, substrate (surface), and subject. Most limitations came from what we have available in the room. Otherwise, anything appropriate is allowed. This is Art 2 so they’ve already learned the basics of how to use the tools and how to clean up after themselves, so that’s why I’ve skipped some of the early instructional parts of TAB with them.

It’s all experimental from here. They are my guinea pigs and I am a mad scientist. All I really want is for them to become explorative and learn that they have no limits on learning. In the reality of only having tried this for the past 2 weeks with no formal training, I’ve received mixed results, basic artwork, and plenty of students not doing much of anything. The few students who were already good and interested in pushing themselves are going to thrive in this environment. I *have* seen many students who have never done anything at all in my room start working on their own art, and that is my goal for the rest of them. The process itself should create some self-motivation within these kids, but I’m seeing a lot of hesitation. I think it’s part laziness and part confusion. We’ll get there. I hope.

 

“The dot above the ‘i’ contains Tuesdays, July, and the point where ‘nothing never occurs.'”

Black History Month, a rambling.

One important aspect of education that we don’t always consciously think about in teaching is race and cultural background. You’re fooling yourself if you think that these things aren’t a factor in the classroom. Any number of hurdles can materialize as a result of diversity in the classroom including but not limited to language barriers, vast economic differences, or religious restrictions. And of course, differences of all shapes and types should be *celebrated* as well.

I personally feel like I have a unique perspective on this topic, being one of 2 non-white teachers at my school of about 100 staff and about 1,700 students. I am full Filipino, although I could probably pass for half-white and the other teacher is [South East Asian]. I don’t know what percentage of our students are non-white, but I have on average 1 non-white student per class of 30. The state make-up is 93% white, 4% black, 1.75% two or more races, .8% asian, .6% other, .2% Native American.

Yes, this makes a difference. Yes, I feel an obligation sometimes.

I don’t know what all the other teachers teach when they refer to history, world cultures, world literature, American literature, etc. I trust that most are sensitive to the needs of students of non-white backgrounds, but I honestly don’t know if that’s true. I think that some of them may lack the empathy or even the basic thought processes to feel the need to address it at all.

I feel like I should really be putting more effort into these thoughts and acting on some of the urges I’ve had to start a school club on race and diversity. I just never knew where to start. Thinking “out loud” here, I wonder if maybe finding a race/diversity sensitivity training for teachers would be a great way to start that journey. I’m afraid of putting too many things on my plate but I also can’t stress enough how important this is.

For now, I digress.

February is Black History Month, which I find to be necessary in this very White space. I personally don’t wish to relegate it to *only* this time of year. I would love to see more and more and more persons of color in the spotlight at all times. A goal of mine is to create a wall of portraits in my classroom, specifically of non-white women and some non-white and non-straight men so students outside the majority can feel represented, at least somewhere.

When asked to simply list any visual artist they know without Googling, most of my Art 1 kids had trouble thinking of any at all, but some came up with some combination of the renaissance men (aka the ninja turtles), Warhol, da Vinci, Picasso, Haring, Banksy, Bob Ross, Dr. Seuss, Walt Disney. VERY seldom, I saw Khalo written down, otherwise there were no other women listed and absolutely no Black or Asian or Middle Eastern or Latinx or Pacific Islander people. I should’ve phrased the question to list any non-white, non-European artists you know or have heard of. I wouldn’t have gotten any results.

First, you have to understand that the arts are extremely limited in this area. Sports, as in most mid-western-type locations are of utmost importance and math and English are probably next. We have but ONE single art teacher among the 14 elementary schools in the county. You can imagine how little they hear about visual or literary artists of any kind. Middle schools get 9 weeks of art during a year, if they’re lucky. Throughout high school, we require one full year of art as a pre-req for graduation.

Is being able to list the names of visual artists essential to a successful adult life? No, not even if your plan is to become a Jeopardy! champ. But learning about individual artists  can teach you a lot about culture, overcoming struggles, using art to escape or translate your emotions, style, process, design, accomplishment, and failure. Introducing students to Black artists can broaden their scope of knowledge, allow them to see successful and artistic people of color, learn about someone they’ve never heard of and possibly spread the news, and either learn from someone like them or someone not like them. Both are important and valid.

As a result of this mixture of feelings, I’ve incorporated a Black History Month project into my Art 2 curriculum, and looking forward, will probably do the same next year with Art 1. I’ve rambled on long enough here, so a description of the project itself is in my next post 🙂

New Year, New Me or Whatever

The first day back to school after the holidays is a good time for review and a good time to start fresh. I don’t love to dive into anything big or brand new on that day, so we get out our sketchbooks and get reflective. I spread out a bunch of colorful papers with lots of different words on them, like Play, Adventure, Pray, Create, Breathe, Accept, and Forgive (there are a ton more, too).

The students have to get up and go through the papers and find 3 words that respond to new year’s resolutions that they would like to try to do. Then, they glue their words in their sketchbooks and for each word, they write a specific goal including how they plan on meeting that goal and a time frame to complete it in (ex. every day, once per week, or within this 9 weeks). Periodically, we’ll check back on the goals to see if they’ve made any progress. There’s no way for me to grade this assignment based on whether or not they complete their goals, and I don’t think it’s my business. To be honest, I try not to even read them too closely, I just check that it’s done. My aim for the assignment is to teach the students how to come up with an attainable personal goal. The rest is up to them.

Since that doesn’t take up a great deal of time (about… 20 minutes total?), I also found another idea online and adapted it to suit our needs. I wrote the following on the board:

2020
WANT
NEED
GIVE
SUCCEED

The students were to think about the entire next year and write down what they want, what they need, what they will give (I explained this as either a physical or monetary donation or something like volunteerism or even just helping around the house), and what they *will* succeed in, in 2020. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself what you want and need.  

One of my kids said, Mrs. Wilson, are you gonna do this or what? So I did. And I posted it on the bulletin board over my desk so I and everyone else can see it every day.

2020
Want: Do more things, Go to concerts, Experience new places (particularly parts of our state we’ve never seen)
Need: Me time! Make time to make art
Give: More time at the humane society, more time playing games with the kids 
Succeed: Prepare to have a TAB classroom! 

Finally, to finish off the class period, I asked the students to think back through all of 2019. Many of them were still in middle school at the start of the year. I told them to think about the end of last school year, the entire summer, and the first semester of this year. I wanted them to list any and all accomplishments and things that they were proud of doing in 2019, even if it was trying something new, like going to a new place, trying a food you’ve never tried, or making new friends.

---

 

To return to my original format…

Successes: I’m glad for students to know that they’re allowed to declare what that they want and need. For some, this is an easy thing to do. For others, this is a tough concept to grasp.

Failures: most bought into the lesson and participated. As usual, some weren’t willing to take it seriously and that’s just too bad. *shrugging emoji*

What I learned: A lot of them struggled to think of things that they were proud of doing, or anything that they accomplished, even in an entire year. 

What I can try next time: I think a good idea would be to make up one or two goals together first, as an example. Maybe make a real whole-class goal and post it on the board for the rest of the year. It would be a good reminder to check in on the class goal and the personal goals throughout the next few months. I’d also encourage the students to be much more thoughtful about their accomplishments. What is an accomplishment? Does it have to be huge or life changing? Can it be a small victory? What counts? For some people, Making a ‘B’ on a report card is an accomplishment. Trying sushi for the first time is something you can be proud of. Helping a new student find their next class definitely counts! Maybe next time I should make them list at least 5 things they’re proud of doing over the past year. 

#Goals

For posterity, here are my new work-related goals:

• Transition all of my classes *and* classroom to a TAB environment (more info to come)
• Read books on TAB
• Get my certification to teach AP art
• Attend an art education conference
• Continue to thrive at my current school, becoming more active and involved, OR, if we move (which is kind of a goal), make a positive move into a great art teaching position

And non-work-related goals:

• Read non-school-related books, avg 1/month
• Sell *more (?) art
• Enter *more (?) art shows
• Participate in more plays and musicals (avg 1 full production/yr)

 

It’s been fun reading back through this blog about past unknowns and now I’m living that future. If that makes sense. 5 years from now, that will happen again and again in another 5. I can only hope that I keep climbing uphill.

I’m Back, Baby!

A short but long-ish recap of the last 5 years:

Hey, it’s been a while, but I’m back! It’s been close to 5 years since I started this blog, chronicling my misadventures in the exciting world of substitute teaching. My children were in kindergarten and second grade. I was juggling babies, married life, school, several jobs with no set schedule, and the resulting anxiety. In my last post, you could feel the weight of the uncertainty mixed with a light veil of depression. My first long-term sub position had ended (the last 3 months of the year, 6th grade English) and I was back to being ocean trash… a piece of micro plastic in a vast sea, swooshed around by the currents, waiting for a turtle to swallow me up forever.

-The job led to an interview that did not lead to a job. I gained a number of contacts (who would later become my daughters’ teachers and principal) and a lot of experience.

-Substitute teaching continued to fill me with existential dread and crippling anxiety every day for months on end. It wasn’t the jobs, they were generally fine. I worked everything from special ed to kindergarten to drivers ed to music to 5th grade math to gym to Spanish 2 to graphic arts. I basically couldn’t live with the system calling me at 5:00 and going to a place I’ve never been, meet people I’ve never met, work with kids I’ve never seen, and having about 20 minutes to look at a plan, if they had one, and figure out how I was going to teach it and/or get through a day. I kept doing it (sparingly) because I wanted my own classroom and I wanted to teach.

-At the end of the next year, I was called for another long term job at my former Catholic elementary school (the last 3 months of the year, again! 3rd grade classroom). The job led to an interview that did not lead to a job. I gained a number of contacts (who were at one time my own teachers as well as fellow classmates) and a lot of experience.

-At the end of another summer in retail, 2 weeks before the first day of school, I was asked by a teacher friend if I’d like to take on a long term sub to start the year at her school. It was my “dream job”– high school art. This school’s art department (the largest in the state!) had one of their teachers move to another school at the last minute. I dove right in. I was given 7 sections of Art 1 with freshmen. I didn’t know at the time that this was kind of a horrible nightmare of a schedule, so I took it in stride all the same. The head of the department complemented my teaching, which boosted my confidence as I prepared to interview to take on the position permanently

-Long story short, I am now right in the middle of my 4th year of teaching in my own art classroom. I’ve taught 9th-12th grade, all inclusion classes, Art 1, Art 1 for graphics (a pre req to the computer graphics course), Art 2, Art 3, and Developmental Guidance (life lessons for freshmen). I’ve participated in teacher work stoppages (kind of like a strike), a strike, protests at school and at the state capitol, teacher talent shows, spirit weeks, teacher art shows, and the daily grind.

-Statistics show that many educators leave the profession within their first 5 years. So far, I’m sticking it out, although I believe that’s one of the many reasons I didn’t start my career until my 30’s. I’m ok with change, but it’s also so easy to stay complacent.

-See new posts for why I decided to start blogging again and my goals for upcoming years! 🙂