Hagadot (Extra Credit)

Throughout the years, my extended family has collected many Haggadot, which is the plural version of Hagadah, the prayer book used for the Passover holiday.  Many of them are filled with commentary on the original text, and translations, however within the recent years we have found many more artistic versions.  One of the versions I used this past holiday had many drawings of the four sons (an aspect of the text) throughout the years.  The drawings reflected the artist's perception and interpretation of the text related to the four sons.  It was very interesting to see the depiction of the sons not only throughout the years, but through the eyes of many different artists.

Another interesting Hagadah was done by the artist Abecassis, an artist from Netanya, a city in Israel.  While the artist does paintings, he also makes a beautiful Hagadah that I bought when I visited his studio in Israel.  This one is beautifully done, and very colorful.

A third Hagadah, this is my personal favorite is the one designed by the Mouth or Foot Painting Artists of Israel.  This one was done by people who only have use of either their hands or feet, and they use them to paint.  This in an extraordinary Hagadah, and have beautiful drawings inside.  A website which talks about them is  http://www.ulpanet.com/inner.asp?id=103  Here are some pictures from the book:

"Visual Literacy Supports" from Paula Kluth

Graphic organizers are a great way to help visual learners in the classroom.  As the article mentions, Inspiration software is a great way to help students with these organizers, and I myself have used it as well.  This is a program that I will definitely have available to my students in the classroom, and it can even help me to present information to the students, and have them fill in blanks.  I wish programs such as these were available to me when I was in elementary school because it would have helped me a lot since I am a very visual learner.  In the article I also like the way that the author suggests that the students could create their own picture books.  Not only is it a useful adaptation for visual (and other) learners, but it engages the students more, and gives them ownership of the ideas and material they are studying.  This is something I would use in my classroom.  And thirdly, I like the way that the author talked about the 'fascination-focused-materials', and how they can be used in the classroom.  One of the suggested fascinations was trains, which can be used as a topic of study over many subject areas.  The student can draw trains, they can study them throughout history, they can try to understand how they work engineeringly and so on.  I think teachers should work with their students fascinations instead of stifling them which is typically done.

Rubrics

Rubrics are a great tool to use in the classroom. I have used them in many different ways so far in my teaching placements. They can be given to the students before the assignment is due so that they have an idea of what the teacher is looking for. I used a rubric for a debate in the classroom where the students had to argue against or for a particular side. They knew what I was looking for in the assignment, which really helped them. In an art classroom, rubrics can be helpful because they can allow the students to get points for many different aspects of the art assignment. It can also help teachers to give students points for many aspects of the assignment that is not just how it actually turned out.  I have also used a website called rubistar.com that was very helpful in preparing the rubrics.  It helps teachers fill in the criteria for rubrics without having to type in all the information.

The Block

I found this weeks reading on the website of Romare Bearden to be very interesting. Not only is his art style very unique, but students can also learn about the Civil Rights Movement, and the treatment of African Americans through his story and his art. This would be a useful website to allow students to explore in a classroom. The students can then look at his collage The Block, and use it to possibly construct their own version of their own block of houses, relating it back to their own lives. The students can use similar materials to that of what Bearden used in his art, “colored paper, metallic papers…fabric, and images cut and photocopied from newspapers and magazines” as stated on the website.

Comics

I really enjoyed this week's reading which was displayed as a comic strip. I think that graphic novels and coming strips would be a great tool to use in my own classroom. As the author said, it helps students understand the information visually, and might help them remember the information. Students can also refer back to them to study, or if they need help. As a teacher I hope that the resources mentioned in the article will be sufficient assistance for me because it seems like a tough task to take on. I am also not an artist, and would need help with that. I am familiar with a program on the Mac computers called Comic Life in which you can create comic scenes and such. This would be a helpful tool for anyone who wants to use comics in their teaching. This program gives you the tools needed to create fabulous comics, with all the details and graphics you associate with comics. It would be helpful if at the school they had macs where the students would be able to use them to even create their own comics!

'Islamic' Art

It is hard for me, as an anthropology student (currently studying Islam throughout the world) to classify particular art stylings as inherently 'Islamic'. It is difficult for me to say that all the art forms that are geometric are necessarily Islamic. That being said however, I am very fascinated with the Arabic lettering, being so curvy and almost like an art form itself. I wish I was able to learn the complex language, and how to write the script. It does however remind me of the Hebrew alphabet, which is curvy as well. I think it would be interesting if a teacher would be able to teach students the Arabic lettering, and have the students spell either their name, or a favorite word with the letters. It would be a great way to introduce a topic on Islam or Muslims as a whole.






I very much liked the book with all of the art suggestions that teachers can use in the classroom in order to create the geometric shapes that are reproduced in many 'Islamic' art forms and mosques. In a classroom that can be very useful because not only does it teach the students about multiculturalism and other cultures, but it teaches them about math and geometric shapes. Students can learn about tessellations at the same time, and how to use mathematical tools such as the compass and a ruler. I think this is something I would like to use in my own classroom.

Rube Goldberg

The route that Thomas Oakley takes in his article Rube Goldberg-Inspired Drawings of How Art is Made in order how to teach art to students is an interesting one. Using the concept of a Rube Goldberg to teach students about art is not something that I would have thought of before. Rube Goldberg’s are interesting elaborate creations that result in a particular action that is taking place, and have a lot of parts working together. There are many different parts that are involved in the instrument, which allows students to draw every aspect of the machine. Students could even work together to brainstorm and draw different parts of the Rube.

Rube Goldbergs are very interesting, and have been featured in many different movies. The Wallace and Gromit films typically feature some sort of Rube Goldberg to help the characters get ready in the morning and make breakfast. There is another film that features Rube Goldbergs and that is, Back to the Future. If a teacher wanted to inspire their students further, they could show clips from these films in their classroom, and have students draw their own, and draw anything that inspires them. Rube Goldbergs are a great way to teach art, and science at the same time. In Science 104 we created a Rube Goldberg as an assignment for the class. Not all of them worked, but everyone tried to make them work.

7 Components

The seven components of design seem like a good way to integrate art into a classroom. As a teacher, we are able to introduce topics, and analyze them according to these seven components. In the art classrooms, teachers can use architectural designs to teach students about the seven components as well. For example, the architectural and artistic significance of a house. Teachers can teach the students about different housing structures based on the seven components, and even have them create their own idea of how a house should look like, within those seven components.
It is also important to point out that simply, every day things can be aesthetically pleasing to students, and to give them examples of such. Different objects might be the same, for example the chair (from the article), however in context they mean very different things. It should also be important to point out to students that even though something may be very aesthetically pleasing, or send a message, it can also be functional. For example, the Longaberger Basket Company headquarters building. It is shaped like a basket to market their products, but is a fully functioning office building.

Literary Expression

I agree with Amy Schultz when she says it is important to give students “a chance to create not only with words”. I worked in a first grade classroom last semester, and they were just beginning to learn how to spell and write out their language. Therefore, I planned a lot of lessons where the students were able to express their ideas through visuals. I found that in some cases, the students were able to express themselves much more fully through these images, than anything they would have written (or in this case dictated).

A form of expression through art in order to describe an activity that takes place during the morning time. Note the bottom picture labeled "Darius", the student drew a picture of brushing teeth in full detail.

Other visuals that are important to use in a classroom that incorporate literacy are thinking maps. The students draw out the medium in which they would like to express their thoughts, and then add words. Thinking maps can come in many different forms, and students should be allowed to choose which one they want to represent their ideas.


Here are two different forms of thinking maps, that both include the same information.

One of the programs mentioned in the article called Picturing Writing: Fostering Literacy through Art, by Beth Olshansky sounds really interesting. It sounds like a program I would be interested in using in a classroom of my own. Now, with all of the technology available, students would probably also be allowed to use a computer, which might help enhance their drawings and therefore literary expression.

Tattoos

Tattoos are a form of expression that a person might choose to display on their body. I agree with Shannon Larratt that tattoos are generally well thought out, and planned, as I know from experience. I have a tattoo on my ankle that resembles a Henna tattoo that I received on my high school trip to Israel with my classmates. The tattoo means something to me, and its significance will be remembered for my lifetime. I also believe that people do some research into the tattoo parlor in which they are going to tattooed in, and make sure it is upholding standards of hygiene and sterilization. I want to address the question that is stated in the article which asks about the potential harm or advantage of wearing a tattoo from another culture other than your own. I think that it is almost disrespectful to that culture to wear a symbol of theirs unless you have studied it in depth, and fully understand the meaning of it. If you choose to get a symbol from another culture, then you almost must “have permission” to have it because it is as if you are borrowing part of their culture. If someone asked you about the tattoo you would have to be able to defend it, and explain it to someone, which means you would need to know its significance to the culture, and any other meanings.

My tattoo located on my right inside ankle. As described above, this tattoo has significance to me.

I am not sure how I feel about tattoos being used in the classroom as a topic of study. I think it would depend of the grade level, and maturity of the students. I think that if it is used as a topic of study at a later age, say close to 14 as the article stated that was the average age for a first tattoo, that it would not be appropriate. It might spark an interest in the students, and inspire them to get one themselves. I think in the high school years, it would be more appropriate because the students are closer to the age in which they can legally get a tattoo. I think that if a teacher were to do a lesson on tattoos, they would have to make sure they address what could go wrong if one were to get one, and the implications of having a tattoo as an ending to the lesson. I think at the elementary level tattoos might be an appropriate topic of discussion because most of the students still listen to their parents, and no tattoo artist would willingly tattoo a 10 year old (I hope that is). I think it could be an interesting topic of study, if presented in the proper way.

A Multiple Intelligence Perspective

There are many contrasting views stated in both articles the first by Temple Grandin, and the second by Donna Williams. Grandin believes that everyone who has Autism can see and think through pictures, while it seems as if Williams sees and thinks through movement and mainly music. I agree with both authors in that people can interpret the outside world in many different ways. It is true, according to Howard Gardner’s research on Multiple Intelligences that everyone can think in many different ways, through his 8 different intelligences. It is also true, that people are able to use several of these intelligences combined. For example, I am generally a very visual person, but enjoy music as well, and it often times helps me to remember important information.


This is an example of a Multiple Intelligences "test" I took last semester demonstrating my intelligences strengths. As you can see the Visual Spatial section and Musical section are 75% each.

Both authors are correct in expressing their views on how people learn and interpret information, because that is a very personal experience. Each person is going to understand the world differently, and no two people are alike in their thinking. It is important as a teacher to be able to understand and know how each of their students think, and be able to capitalize upon that. Teachers should be observant of their students, and even “test” them for their dominant intelligence (according to Gardner’s theory) in or to help the student excel.

The Role of Art In My Life

Art has always played a strong role in my life through various ways. One of the main ways that art has been incorporated into my life, is my passion for scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is the act of archiving memories through various art styles and techniques. Over the years I have scrapbooked many precious memories, and continue to do so. Through these scrapbooks I am able to preserve memories that are meaningful to me, in a format that also creates meaning for myself. I am able to represent these memories in a visual way where others are able to “relive” my memories because of the detail I include in these books. These scrapbooks are a way for me to express myself, and I am very fortunate to have the ability to do so in an artistic manor.

Two examples of pages from a scrapbook of mine:

Art has also been a part of my life through my schooling (art class) and throughout my childhood in the form of museum exhibits and shows. Although I do not always understand all of the meanings of art and paintings, I am able to enjoy them. One question that has been brought up through the readings, is why is art not encouraged more in the classroom, and throughout the school days? Students should be able to use art as another form of expression, and should be exposed to it throughout the school day. Why has it only been in the last several years that art has become to be a stronger activity within the schools?