Week 3: Art and Literacy

Integrating the arts and literacy turned out to be a blast!

 First, educators created "complementary puppets," using pairs of complementary colors. Complementary colors are the two hues directly across from one another on the color wheel. The complement of each primary is the secondary created by mixing the other two primaries. 

Next, they joined  in groups and collaboratively wrote "complimentary" dialogues for their puppets to enact, using vocabulary like "lissome" and "redolent."  

Finally, they performed their plays, which touched on themes like "non-attachment," "feather land," and "resurrection."

We revisited some of the challenges we'd listed at the previous session and did a "carousel," in which educators spent five minutes adding solutions to each challenge.   Brainstorms addressed how to work with prescriptive teachers, unsupportive institutional cultures, and how to find the time and resources necessary to successfully integrate the arts.  

Finally, the rest of the session was spent swapping some excellent resources.

Websites:

Visual Thinking Strategies  -- A research-based teaching method that improves critical thinking and language skills through discussions of visual images.


Stanza Break-- Poetry in Education

Newspaper Blackout-- An example of the subtractive writing process you could share with students.

Songdrops --These YouTube videos show only text and music and kids can read along with the songs.

Reader's Theater -- Turning books into scripts, engages kids in literature!  Check out the following sites for script ideas:

Reader's Theater Script Ideas
Reader's Theater Edition
Teaching Heart Scripts and Plays
Stories to Grow By 
The Best Class 
Reading Lady 
Reader's Theater Links

Videos:
If I Should Have a Daughter V.O.I.C.E. founder Sarah Kay's TED Talk about Spoken Word Poetry


Books:

Integrating Art in Language Arts through Children's Literature  by Debi Englebaugh 

Ideas:

Alphabet books--Looking at a variety of alphabet books in several languages and then making an alphabet book of your own, could use a Fonts Generator

Shape/Picture Poetry--Creating images composed of words.

ASCII Text The American Standard Code for Information Interchange, numerically represents symbols.

Using Movies as a starting point for discussion, asking students to discuss why certain choices were made, ie colors or music

Combining videos to further understanding of quotes.

Akanska teaching modules-- Such as making origami cranes and then tackling your attitude towards those instructions--self-reflection

Start with a book, ie Miss Muggle Goes to Mumbai, and base projects off of book.  ie "friendly monster sculptures" or t-shirt decorating, stained glass painting.  Or Very Hungry Caterpillar and create your own creatures!

Week 2: Art and Math

Week Two started out with a "Rainbow Windows Math Vitamin" combining area, fractions, and some basic color theory.   Educators were greeted with the prompt: 

"Welcome artisans!  We need your help to construct a Rainbow Stained Glass Window."  

Teachers got busy following the instructions:

"Using pattern blocks, build a window on the paper provided.

  Make sure you use every color of the rainbow! 

That means all the primary colors ( red yellow blue) and all the secondary colors (orange green  purple).  Because you only have glass in the three primary colors, you are going to need to stack two blocks and visualize in order to create the secondary colors."

The teachers then transferred their blocks onto plastic using kite paper cut-outs.

Then came the Math...

"If the blue rhombus = 1,

What is the total area of your window?

What fraction of your window is a Primary Color?

What fraction is a Secondary Color?

Can you find the fraction of each of the rainbow colors?

Educators varied in their approach, displaying creativity in their mathematical reasoning.  Some drew diagrams, while others calculated area by placing the unit of measurement directly on their creation.

The result was a beautiful "stained glass window" through which the light could shine and show how two primary colors combine to create a secondary color!

Next, we introduced ourselves and brainstormed a group list of the Benefits and Challenges of Authentic Arts Integration.  This is what we came up with:

Benefits

Students think visually--helps with memory

Helps remove boundaries around subjects--interdisciplinary

Benefits artistically inclined kids

Blends logical and creative sides of the brain

Helps teacher to get to know the student

Develops teacher's interest in something beyond the subject

Creates collaborations with other teachers/students

"Studio Habits of Mind"--Ellen Winner: teaches work ethic/resilience 

Practical way of working though problems--teaches planning and going into depth

Teaches problem solving for students and teachers.

Allows for spontaneity

Hands on experience

Teaches self-expression

Kid buy-in helps with participation--esp. reluctant kids

Challenges

How to make it challenging and engaging for older students

How to find the time and resources to implement in the sense of urgency to meet the objectives

How to teach to the exam, when the kids will not get the exam in this format

Teacher buy-in: caliber and belief

Kids who don't enjoy art

Institutional culture doesn't support arts integration

Requires more planning time for teachers/kids (prelim sketches, etc)

Prescriptive teachers: strong beliefs get in the way of teaching art--

 example of rigid way of teaching figure drawing

Teachers might engage in false pyscho-analysis

Leaves out "art for art's sake"

Small groups worked together to chose a challenge or two and brainstorm possible solutions.

The two groups then took a "Gallery Walk," switching sides to read each other's lists and using post-it notes to add questions, comments or suggestions.  

  We will revisit this activity next session as people were absolutely bursting with great thoughts!

Finally we did a resource share, which was very rich with valuable ideas.  Here are some of the ones we talked about: 

Articles:
Math Vitamins: Developed by AIS' partner  University Child Development School.
Fibona-cha-cha Dance and Art using this pattern and the Golden Ratio


Websites:
Fibonacci Sequence In depth description of the golden ratio and it's applications in nature.
Math in a Basket  Project using mathematics in a basket weaving activity.
Great Maths Teaching Ideas  The 10 Best Maths Teaching Websites
General Art + Math  Ideas Document describing some sample lesson plans.
Surface Area + Volume Relationship  From Live Mint, using different animals and their jumping heights as examples
Arvind Gupta A wide array of books and projects with ideas for arts out of recycled materials.
Songs for Teaching Uses music to teach early mathematics skills, shapes, money, and telling time.
SPARK Site-- University Child Development School's resource for creating Math Vitamins
Agastya  Runs hands-on Science Education Programs in rural India, using "Mobile Labs"
Jodo-Gyan  Dehli-based Non-Profit "working to find workable solutions to the problems in classroom practices." 
Navnirmit  Works to develop and distribute high quality learning materials at low/no cost to promote elementary mathematics and science skills. i



Books: 
All about Nothing--The Story of Zero by Nina Sabnani
Mathema-twist--Number tales from around the world by T.V. Padma
MathART  Projects and Activities, by Carolyn Ford Brunetto Grades 2-5
Multicultural Math by Claudia Zaslavsky Grades 3-6


Videos:
Khan Academy  A series of over 3,000 videos helping you "learn almost anything for free."
Vi Hart: Doodling in Math Class  Fun short videos showing doodles ability to address complex math topics.
Jack Black's Math Song Funny song teaches "advanced" math in a funny way. 
Teach Me How to Factor Rap song breaks down factoring in a fun way.
Getting Triggy With It Rap about trigonometry teaches about angles using music.
Do the Quad Solve More delightful rapping explains factoring, completing the square, and the quadratic equation.
Multiplication Rap Goes through the x2 and x3 tables in a simple rap.


Ideas:
Using bangles to demonstrate Fractions and Patterns
"Rainbow Window" Math Vitamin