“How do the visual arts encourage both classroom teachers and students to envision solutions?”
“How do the visual arts empower students?”
“What does arts integration support in the classroom?”
“What can classroom teachers learn about their own teaching through the arts?”
These were some of the questions discussed at the SMCSD middle school visual arts PD session.
We gathered in the MLK art studio, and talked about arts integration, student learning, and project ideas.
Then teachers got to work. Using the Youth in Arts WHO AM I? curriculum, teachers honed in on one question that they wanted to consider while creating a tunnel book :
http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-make-tunnel-book.html
They worked with Bristol paper, tape, Sharpie markers, colored pencils, and collage. As they worked, teachers thought about how they could use this process with their students. They liked the idea of storytelling, revealing and concealing, and linking literacy to images.