Ch. 13 & 19

Chapter 13 talked all about resilience. Resilience is the ability to survive and thrive despite adversity.  Resilient children usually share these common attributes; social competence, problem-solving ability, autonomy, and a sense of purpose.  What is a way you can provide a resilient community for your students? How will art make your students more resilient? Think back to the resilience workshop we attended.

Chapter 19 talked about key components of positive youth development. Positive youth development programs aim to prepare young people for success in life by focusing on the physical, emotional, social, economic, and academic wellbeing. What steps could you take to promote positive youth development in your classroom?

Now... look for a resource to help support your students as they learn to build resiliency or support for teachers as they work with students experiencing trauma. Share this on your blog.

I think resilience could be incorporated into art lessons, having students think about their stressors in their life and talk about how they may deal with those stressors in these situations within their artwork. I think it will also be important for students to slowly progress in the art room. In the classroom, I hear students say they can’t draw and they become frustrated when projects do not work out. I think in the future, I will plan to start with lessons that all students can be successful at and as we continue the projects will become progressively more challenging. I think it is important for students to recognize that they can be successful in the classroom but still challenge them.

Below a resource to support resilience in the classroom.

https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/teaching-resilience-trauma/

As teachers, it is important for us to promote positive youth development in our classroom. In my future classroom, I plan to have curriculum that will challenge students and encourage them to think critically. I have been in a classroom that has lessons that students seem to only be learning about the mediums and how they can be used it. I plan to have lessons that do not just simply teach skills, but also gets students thinking about their own experiences in life and their world around them. Like in chapter 19, the students were not just collaging but they were thinking about their experiences they have had in their life and they expressed themselves through their artwork. I think it is also important to get to know students and plan lessons that students are interested in.

Ch. 21

Chapter 21 shares the story of a community-based art project developed to celebrate Black community members and cultural heritage in the community. After learning about community engaged art (specifically arts-based service learning) what would you say were the biggest concerns of the project? Why was the author conflicted about participating in the project? What might you have done differently? How does this situation help you to think more critically of the projects you plan with community organizations?

While reading this (short) chapter, I felt as if the students really did not have much of their own input. The author may have been conflicted with the way she was incorporating Native American totem poles in a project about individuals from the black community. I think if I were to do this project I might not do totem poles, instead I may do portraits that express the individual. I also think it would be beneficial for students to decide who in the community they want to honor. I think is important to not only consider who in this project you are supporting and who you may be not supporting, like the Native Americans in the chapter.

Below I am including a similar project the Youth Art Team did of portraits of members of their community.

Why art is important?

Why art is important?

The arts are important because of the wide variety of skills that are developed while doing art projects in the classroom. Students develop their fine motor and gross motor skills through clay or drawing lessons. Art class is where students are able to socialize, build their self-esteem and express themselves. I personally have a lot of memories from my childhood in the art room because of all the socializing that was happening. Lastly students are able to be creative and often consider more than one solution. Students are able to problem solve through sketches or models on how their finish project will end. Over all the arts are important for the multitude of skills built and developed.

http://www.aplaceofourown.org/question_detail.php?id=235