The Fine Art of Common Core

We're hearing a lot about the Common Core lately.  What does that mean for art teachers?  I've spent the last few months participating in a program sponsored by the Endless Mountains Writing Project in order to learn more about it.  In the process, I've learned more about Common Core (CC) and I've discovered several new strategies that I believe will help me be a more effective art teacher.

I think sometimes our initial reaction as art teachers is one of defensiveness.  In a sense, that's good.  We are in a place to safeguard the importance of the arts -- no one else is going to emphasize the things we do.  However, I do not believe we are being asked to change what we teach so much as align and cooperate.  Furthermore, what we teach in our different subjects actually overlap in real life.  What if school was more like life?

Vocabulary is important.  It is every teacher's job to teach language.  As art teachers, our job is to teach the "art words".  As I've been reading, I've learned so many different ways to more effectively teach the art words.  I don't believe this takes away from students' ability to understand and create art.  I don't think it has to mean less time making art, either.  In fact, I am finding that more effectively teaching the domain specific vocabulary actually enriches the experience. 

CC asks teachers of all content areas to focus on General Academic Vocabulary as we continue to teach domain specific vocabulary. 

One of the things I've done, is to take this list and highlight the words that were most important for the units that I already teach.  For one unit, this list included the words plagiarism, genre, composition, and metaphor.  I think it will help students in both their language arts classes and in their art classes when curriculum are aligned.  In English, if they are learning about metaphors, can we discuss in art class about how artists sometimes use visual metaphors? Can we discuss the genres in art at the same time they are learning about genres in Literature and Music?  Can we help them understand how an artist's composition is similar to a writer's?  Why is that the perfect word for both a painting and an essay?  In the process, I believe they will better understand what it means to compose a picture, which is our primary goal. 

At our workshop, our main text was Core Six Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with the Common Core (Silver, Dewing, & Perini, 2012).  There were six presenters, and each of us presented on one of the strategies, and how we had used them with a lesson for our subject area.  Participants then modified one of their existing lesson plans to include the CC strategy.  My presentation was on Inductive Learning (IL) and how I used that in an art unit.  In an IL lesson, students are asked to examine, group and label "bits" of information to find patterns. 

One of my units is on Still Life drawing.  The still life is one of the genres, but in developing this lesson, I asked myself, "How can I help my students deepen their understanding of the concept of how we categorize  artwork.  My essential question was, "Where do artists get ideas and inspiration for their art?"

Participants were teachers of all different grade levels and subjects.  I think it is helpful to get diverse groups together like this.  We learn about the scope of what students experience, and where our subjects overlap.

In presenting at the workshop, I divided the group into five groups of four.  I gave each group a folder with 25 works of art.  Their task was to divide the works of art into categories.  They were not told what the categories were "supposed" to be, but they were to come up with a descriptive label for each category.  There were not necessarily "right" or "wrong" answers, and there were often friendly debates about where a painting belonged.  However, they did need to provide evidence to support their decisions. In other words, participants were analyzing the items and exploring different ways they could group them.  As they worked, I encouraged them to think flexibly and discuss with each other why they thought a work of art belonged in a certain group. I purposely chose some works of art that would be "head-scratchers"! 

 In addition to academic vocabulary and evidence, Inductive learning also involves the process of making inferences.  Subprocesses of inference making includes

• examining information closely
• looking for hidden relationships
• generating tentative hypotheses and 
• drawing conclusions not explicitly stated.

IL does not stop at categorization.  Students use their labelled groups to develop a set of working hypothesis about the content to come. 

Because this was the Writing Project, we used the activity as a springboard into Inductive Writing.  The assignment was to write a response to the prompt, "Where do artists get ideas and inspiration for their art?"  Each of the participants wrote one paragraph.  The paragraph was to be based on one of the categories they came up with.  They were to create a topic sentence that would serve as the basis for that paragraph, and use the works of art as supporting details for that sentence.  It was especially enjoyable to work with teachers who were passionate about teaching, but not very familiar with art objectives. 

So, where do artists get ideas and inspiration for their art?  What are the genres?  After our activity, we looked briefly at the Wiki Paintings website, which lists 45 genres.  

As a teacher, I can give my students a list of words, show them examples, and some of them will passively take in that information.  I could say, "Here are some genres:   still life, landscape, portrait.  And, here are some examples of those genres."  However, I think I'm beginning to learn that I can encourage them to think more deeply about the essential questions of art by using strategies like Inductive Learning. 

The two books below have been a huge help to me.  I highly recommend them!

Benamin, A. & Crow, J. (2012). Vocabulary at the Core.  ASCD.  
Silver, H., Dewing, R., & Perini, M. (2012).  Core Six Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence with the Common Core.  ASCD.

Comics in Education Demo

A couple weekends ago, I was asked to present a "demo of a demo."  Participants of the Endless Mountains Writing Project are asked to create  a presentation for other teachers that demonstrate activities that integrate the dynamic teaching of writing with subject areas.  In 2005, when I participated in the EMWP, my demo was on using comics to teach the writing of dialogue and the research that supports the use of comics to teach.

Since then, I've presented that about thirty times, tweaking it a little each time to illustrate how we can use comics to teach reading, literary devices, anti-bullying, and just about anything. I've presented it at the National Conference for Teachers of English, the Keystone State Reading Conference, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and many other places.  It is always well-received, because I think it's one example of how teachers can stress essential skills, while at the same time offer opportunities for creative activity -- and fun!

 Part of my presentation included drawing activities such as "how to create original cartoon characters". 

Here are a few of this year's participants in the Endless Mountains Writing Project.   The philosophy of the National Writing Project is that teachers are change agents, and

play a vital role in leading sustained efforts to improve learning in our schools. NWP teacher-leaders study and share effective practices that enhance student writing and learning, work collaboratively with other educators, design resources, and take on new roles in effecting positive change.

I always say that the Writing Project was the best professional development experience I ever participated in and I highly recommend it!

Comics in the Classroom Workshop

Today I presented a Comics in the Classroom workshop at Alfred University. The participants were a fantastic group of young teachers. Most had already completed student teaching and were working with students in a summer literacy program. Some have been hired for teaching positions at various schools in the fall.

It was a great group of committed educators who have a passion for teaching and compassion for the struggling learners. We completed exercises in using comics in lessons to demonstrate:

1. Fun reading opportunities for students.
   
2. Comic Book Readers Theater. Reading a comic together as a dramatic exercise.
   
3. Comics Conversions. Using existing comic strips as writing prompts and to teach the conventions of writing dialogue.
   
4. Comic Book Book Reports. Using comics to help students summarize what they have read.
   
5. Graphic Novel Graphic Organizers. Using comics to teach the theme of a book (or how a character changes through the course of a story).
   
6. Using comics to teach onomatopoeia, alliteration and hyperbole.
7. Using comics to provide opportunities to discuss bullying and violence prevention.
   
8. Strategies to help students create original cartoon characters and letter their creations with speech balloons.

Our "text" for the day was the Sunday Funnies comics section (courtesy of The Daily Review). Their Comics in Education program is a great way to get multiple copies of the same comics text to use when discussing comics with students.


Here's what one of the participants had to say:

I participated in this workshop presented by Andy and found it to be the most informative and eye opening class ever given by a guest speaker. As a result of what I learned, I am going to co-teach a comic based unit during the summer reading program in a couple of weeks. And, I just returned from the used book store with a copy of Bones for 3 dollars. The vast amount of graphic novels spanning all ages was a reality unknown to me before the presentation. I had heard of Watchmen and 300, and enjoyed the movies. But, was not aware of the many other types. My level of enthusiam regarding graphic novels has increased dramatically. I'm very excited about implementing some of the things learned in the classroom. Thanks a ton Andy. This was a blast.

The participants in this workshop read, wrote and drew to experience various strategies they might like to use with their students some day. They had fantastic questions and it was a great day for me.

Even though most participants weren't art majors, everyone created an original character and made a sketch of it. The results were creative and hilarious!

The Bacon Strips

As I mentioned in my previous post, I just presented a two-day teen comics workshop. As we were working, some of the participants started talking about the comedian Jim Gaffigan's "Bacon" routine. They got everybody laughing and soon we all had ideas for comics about the irresistible power of this breakfast food. This led to a mini-comic in which everybody contributed one page. I believe that it is the first comic ever in which every single page is about bacon!

Here are some of the comics that we made during the workshop.

Cover by Shannon

Andrew

by Melinda Georgeson, Chief Educator NRM

The Package by William

One Day in the Kitchen by Lia

Chewy by Marissa

Advertisement by DavidMy contribution was a Halcolm story that I've been working on, but that I refurbished a little. I also did the bonus strip below that describes a real funny moment from the workshop.

Got Ink? Comics Workshop at the Norman Rockwell Museum

I just got back from Massachusetts, where I presented a two-day comics workshop for teens at the Norman Rockwell Museum. The event was called Got Ink? I showed the participants how to create original characters, and tricks for keeping a character's look consistent throughout a story. We also completed activities important in making comics: developing ideas, drawing rough sketches or thumbnails, laying out pages, penciling and inking with pen and ink. The workshop will continue this week with Tim Callahan (fantastic comics writer) teaching other comics making skills.

As we were working, some of the participants started talking about the comedian Jim Gaffigan's "Bacon" routine. They got everybody laughing and soon we all had ideas for comics about the irresistible power of this breakfast food. This led to a mini-comic in which everybody contributed one page. I believe that it is the first comic ever in which every single page is about bacon!

Below are some pictures of the workshop. Comics created will follow in a future post!

Teaching with the Power of Comics at Alfred University

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting three workshops at Alfred University. I shared many of my projects that involve integrating reading and writing with art through the captivating medium of comics. Some of the activities participants tried were comic book scavenger hunts, comic strip conversions, creating original cartoon characters and comic book reader's theater. Here's a little more about each of these activities.


(1) Comic Strip Scavenger Hunt. As participants arrived, they were given their text for class that day -- last Sunday's comics sections from The Daily Review. Our local newspaper offers a Newspapers in Education program, and they provide me with multiple copies of the Sunday Funnies. I use them in my classes, and when I take the show on the road.

After doing some round robin reading from them, we searched for examples of onomatopoeia and other literary devices we want to help our students understand.

Both teachers and faculty participated. In the center of the picture above is my old chum from Mansfield University, Tim Cox (who is now Dr. Cox, English Professor).

(2) Comic strip conversions. As far as I know, this activity was created by Athens teacher Lauren Schwenke. I got the idea from her and have never seen it anywhere else, but it's a great way to teach the writing of dialogue and words to use "instead of said." What this activity involves is rewriting a comic strip into prose. Often people are surprised at just how much they need to write to translate a brief comic strip. It really is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I think this was the largest group I've ever done this with. There were about 50 participants in the last session.
(3) Creating original characters. I always get a kick out of asking participants to draw. Sometimes that includes "non-artists" who may not have attempted a drawing in years. Most folks are usually pleasantly surprised after trying my method. One participant in the morning said, "This is the best drawing of a person I've ever done." What we do is copy various facial features from many different characters. Even though we're copying, by combining single elements from multiples sources, we create characters that no one's ever seen before.

(4) Comic book reader's theater. This is when I put a comic strip up one panel at a time. Participants "volunteer" (are coerced) into playing parts. Many really enjoy hamming it up and everyone's a good sport about it. The comic we enacted was The Animal Fable, a comic I drew for Curriculum Comics #2.

In addition to the above activities, I shared some other information about using comics to teach. I hope that it got everybody thinking about the potential for using this fantastic art form to give students a chance to "show what they know" in creative ways.

Teaching with the Power of Comics

Tonight I had a privilege to be the guest speaker at a class for future educators at Elmira College. It was a really great group of about 30 college students. My presentation included information about how teachers can use comics to teach and reinforce essential skills.

Activities included:

• Comics reading "Round Robin" style
• Comic Book Reader's theater
• Comic Strip conversions to teach students to write prose style dialogue using comics as inspiration
• Book Reports in comic style
  
• How to teach students to create their own original characters
• Using speech balloons and thought balloons
• and much more!

They're proud of their creations!

Here are some of the participants original characters. If tomorrow's
educators can draw this well, our children are in good hands!

The Sketchbook Habit & Staying Inspired --One Artist's Journey

Today I was the guest speaker at a drawing class at Mansfield University. I gave a Power-point slide show about using sketchbooks and finding inspiration from the great master artists throughout history -- as well as some of the really great comics being made right now. I took a big stack of my old sketchbooks with me, and all kinds of artsy comics to share. I also got to sit in on a Printmaking class and a Two-Dimensional Design class. It is great to work with little artists, but also great to spend the day seeing the awesome things these "big kids" can make.

In the photo above, I'm sharing a big box of my own sketchbooks I've filled over the years, as well as many of the small press comics artists that inspire me.

Andy's Weekend Adventure -- Part 2

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to participate in a workshop for librarians called Graphic Novels: Comics in the Library. Many of those attending new kids were crazy about comics, but didn't know where to begin building their collection. I enjoy sharing how I use comics to teach a multitude of essential skills, but every time I participate in one of these I'm convinced I learn as much as anyone else from the other presenters.

Robin Brennar got us started with a presentation called What are Comics? We learned that comics are a format, not a genre. She shared how comics can help with literacy skills -- especially the 21st century set of skills for information in today's very image-oriented information age. She knew about of slew of new really great books I hadn't heard of. Now I have a long list of new things to look for.

Then it was my turn. I like the photo below, because even though it's a little blurry, it looks like I know what I'm talking about. My presentation evolves slightly every time I present. I now include what I call Comic Book Readers Theatre, Cartoon Drawing Building Blocks, and how comics can be used to teach the writing of dialogue and the literary devices of onomatopoia, alliteration, and hyperbole.

I met one of the other presenters, Tim Callanan the night before. In the hotel lobby we watched the new Brave and the Bold Batman cartoon and talked about comics for two hours. This guy is a walking encyclopedia of practically every comic ever written. Tim is an English teacher, but also writes columns and reviews for Comic Book Resources and has written a book about comics and edited another. We had a great time comparing notes, and I enjoyed his presentations the next day. I think we made a great tag team duo, since I presented the building blocks of drawing comics and he followed up with a panel layout and drawing exersize. His second presentation was 50 Graphic Novelists you must Know.

After sitting for five of six hours, and looking forward to a five hour drive, I decided to stretch my legs a little before driving home. I visitted the Outer Limits comic shop in Waltham. This place was wall-to-wall comics -- new stuff, old stuff, hardcovers, everything. In addition, I've never seen so much vintage retro stuff. If one was so inclined, you could buy one of the toys I had as a kid and threw out for, oh, $300 or so. I'm not about to do that, but it was a great walk down memory lane.

Andy's Weekend Adventure -- Part 1

Saturday was the day I was invited to speak at a workshop for librarians called Graphic Novels: Comics in the Library. It was in Waltham, Massachusetts. I figured out that by adding just a couple hours of driving time, I could visit a place I've wanted to see -- The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont. It was a last minute idea and a longshot, but I emailed one of the teachers there who happens to be one of my favorite cartoonists. Alec Longstreth graciously agreed to give me a tour of the school, and I sat in on part of one class.


The only bad thing that happened this weekend was that I forgot my camera, so the photo essay you see below is compiled by photos swiped from various sources on the internet!

The school is a really neat place. The main building is an old department store downtown, that they have refurbished into a school. I think it's neat that they've maintained some of the characteristics from days of yore in the building, like the Colody's sign they discovered when cleaning the place and restored. Below is the lobby, which had an exhibit of original comics art pages. This in itself was worth the trip to me. By seeing the original art page it's possible to analyze the artist's process in a way you can't when you see the work in print.

In the basement is every kind of imaginable printing equipment from electronic to silkscreen.

In a separate building is the Charles Shulz library. There the students have access to a huge collection of cartoon and comic reference books and anthologies.


Alec Longstreth was my guide. Unfortunately he wasn't teaching that day, but it was cool to meet him. He is unbelievably tall, while still being down to earth.


In my next post, I'll write a little about the actual workshop.