Post on 21-Dec-2014
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Using the Studio Habits of Mind to Help Students Create Ceramic Works
In this presentation we will share with you the following.
• What the Studio Habits of Mind are.• What the ALMA project is.• An example of how teachers at the
Bruce Guadalupe Community School use these two ideas to impact student achievement.
THE ALMA PROJECTAdvancing Literacy and Math through Art
ALMA is Spanish for “soul” and the acronym for Avansando Lectura y Matematicas pormedio del Arte
(Advancing Reading and Math through the Arts).
ALMA is a partnership between the Bruce-Guadalupe Community School, a K3-8th Grade charter school
operated by the United Community Center, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Latino Arts, Inc.
The aim of this project is to increase student achievement in Literacy and Math through the integration
of culturally appropriate standards based Arts into Reading, Language Arts and Math subjects.
THE STUDIO HABITS OF MIND
What are the Studio Habits of mind?
The Eight studio Habits are an education model created by Lois Hetland. The model focuses on different aspects of learning a
student uses during an art lesson.
Develop Craft: Learning to use tools, materials, artistic conventions; and learning to care for tools, materials, and space.
Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks.
Envision: Learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
Express: Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.
Observe: Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary “looking” requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen.
Reflect: Learning to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or working process, and, learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the work of others.
Stretch & Explore: Learning to reach beyond one’s capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
Understand Arts Community: Learning to interact as an artist with other artists i.e., in classrooms, in local arts organizations, and across the art field) and within the broader society.
Studio Habits of Mind from Studio Thinking, Hetland, Winner, et al, Teachers College Press, 2007.
THE ART LESSONWorking with the ideas of Luz Angela Crowford
Luz Angela CrawfordAs a native of Colombia, South America I was inspired to create clay pots and plaques in the style of the primitive cultures. While visiting some of the indigenous tribes from Colombia, I discovered their old traditions and techniques of working with clay. At this time I was even more inspired to be part of the long history of people making things with their hands. My work reflects the ancient artistic traditions from South America. When working with clay, I am totally immersed in it. Making pottery is pure joy.The process of making pottery is very old. Each piece I create is molded by hand just as was done in ancient times without the use of a potter’s wheel. I incorporate natural elements such as seeds, rocks, wood, leaves, and shells to make the textures that predominate in each piece. Using earthy colors and textures, with attention to detail, I mold nature in a unique way. After working many hours each piece is allowed to dry before being fired. Glazes are then applied to the surfaces using minerals such as copper, iron, cobalt, and various types of clay. These minerals give the art an earthy, natural finish.
Project’s Big Idea: Time, is the sequence of past, present, and future. A time can be a specific moment or particular period considered as distinct from others.
Art:• Students will use their visual journals as a reference tool
for building their vessel. • Students will explore the idea of ceramics through hand-
building, soft and hard-slab, and glazing techniques. • Students will be able to understand the idea of vessels
and how Crawford creates them. • Students will incorporate various natural elements into
the building of their vessel.
Language Arts: • Students will develop their expository writing skills by
expressing what the artifacts in their time capsule represent and why they were chosen.
• Through their writing students will explain why they choose the specific natural elements present on their
vessel. • Students will organize their object explanations
within a T-Chart.• Students will develop their expository writing skills by
expressing what the artifacts in their time capsule represent and why they were chosen.
Math: • Students will use their time capsule objects
to determine their vessel’s volume. • Students will use their knowledge of measurement to design a vessel to hold
their time capsule objects. • Students will show the sequence of time
using natural elements.
The fourth grade went to the Latino Arts Gallery to view Crawford’s ceramic work. Before going to
the gallery the fourth grade team created a question sheet for the students to answer in their visual journal that involved both written and drawn responses. Once the students were in the gallery
they were paired up and asked to discover the gallery, answer the response questions, and be
prepared to report their answers back to the group. The students were given an hour to
complete their tasks. After they had finished we gathered in an open space in the gallery and
shared what they had discovered.
In their classrooms students worked with the art specialist and their classroom teacher to learn more about Crawford and why she creates art. Students discussed what about her art work was important to
her and talked about why it might be important to them. Students learned what a vessel is. They then discussed what a “Time Capsule” is. Students were asked to find objects for their time capsule that they
would be building. They were asked to choose items that would represent important times in their life. When students brought their objects in they were asked to write about why they chose these three
objects.
During Math, students learned about volume. They learned how to find the volume of a
cube. Students estimated the volume of the objects that they brought in for their Time
Capsule. Using the estimated volume of their objects students worked in their visual
journals to create a blueprint of what size their cube will need to be. Using card stock
students created a mock cube so they could realize the size of their vessel and find out if
their objects would fit.
In the art room students built their ceramic time capsule. They were instructed as to
what a slab was and how Luz Angela Crawford uses slabs to build a vessel. They
received instruction from the art teacher about how a ceramist carefully rolls a slab. Using
their paper model as a guide students worked in pairs to roll all five slabs they would need to
build their cube. Once all students finished rolling slabs they received instruction on how to assemble their cube. Students worked in
teams to assemble the vessel.
In all three subjects students used brainstorming and graphic organizers to design four sides of
their vessel. They were asked to draw a plan for a sequence in time or nature in their visual journal; for example the rain cycle or a volcano erupting. This concept was supported with time laps videos that showed them a sequence over time. These
videos were used to inspire them. Once they had a plan and their vessel was ready students
painted their sequence on their vessel.
The last part of this unit was to have students reflect on the vessel they created as well as the objects they had placed in it. Their rough draft was written in their visual journal and shared and critiqued with peers in their class. From this critique students revised their writing and put it into a final draft to accompany their art.
Avanzando Lectura y Matematicas a traves del Arte/ Advancing Literacy and Math through Art (ALMA) is an ongoing research project through the U.S. Department of Education’s Development and Dissemination Grant Program. PI/Project Director 2012-2014: Christine Woywod, Ph.D., PI 2010-2012: Laura Trafi-Prats, Ph.D.,Co-PI: Cindy Walker, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Please do not reproduce or distribute these materials without permission of the authors. For further information, contact woywod@uwm.edu.
Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education [Paperback]Lois Hetland (Author), Ellen Winner (Author), Shirley Veenema (Author), Kimberly M. Sheridan (Author), David N. Perkins (Foreword)
http://luzangelacrawford.com/