Archive for the ‘Arts Integration — Photography’ Category

My newest arts integration project begins in earnest today at McLeod Elementary School. I am partnering with a class of 5th graders to make a schoolyard field guide. We’re calling the project “It’s Alive!” and we’re using a book called No Student Left Indoors by Jane Kirkland. You may have noticed my recent spate of nature/science /art workshops. I am learning more every day about how to integrate the four things I love: nature, writing, photography, and teaching.

After my most recent workshop, I wrote about mistaking the stuffed hawk for a live one, but I didn’t show you any of the work I created in the class. Here’s the piece I like the best. I used a rubber dog’s paw. I inked it with black ink and pressed it down four times. Then, when it looked like a flower, I filled in some color with a red marker. This was part of a lesson called Tracks.

I attended a workshop at the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science on using art to teach science. Teachers who were in Jackson for the Mississippi Art Education Association conference had the chance to earn continuing education credits for attending the workshop. I was there to learn more about writing lesson plans to formalize the teaching I do in my school residencies. The first thing we did was go out onto the trails behind the museum to draw what we saw. Our teacher was Limeul Eubanks, director of visual arts and library media services at the state Department of Education.

He pointed out this beautiful bird and I tiptoed up and started sketching — as fast as I could. I don’t draw very fast or very well, but I was determined to get something down before this bird moved. Then, after I had a quick sketch, I took a few photos. I winced as the shutter clicked and looked sheepishly at Limeul. Remarkably, the bird kept still. I had time to make another quick sketch.

Several groups of students came through. As they approached us, they quieted down and started tiptoeing and staring at the bird. Several asked whether the bird was real. I said, “Yes, I saw its head move.” Several of the high school boys seemed so interested in the drawing we were doing that one of the teachers tore some pages out of her journal and handed them each a pencil. Upon learning that most of us were art teachers, the boys said they didn’t have art at their school.

At the end of our session outside, one of Limeul’s helpers reached over into the leaves and picked up the bird’s stand. It was stuffed. I was floored. And embarassed. I told the kids who came back through and saw the bird being walked into the museum that I hadn’t told them anything I didn’t believe myself. I have always been a trusting soul. It turns out I could have gotten a good bit closer and gotten a really nice shot. We went out again later in the morning and picked up leaves. I found this beauty. It didn’t even fit in my bag.

Last spring, I worked with second graders at Davis Magnet School to document their school neighborhood through digital photography. The students’ photographs were compiled into a photo book, using Blurb.com. It is beautiful. You can preview Davis on the Map and buy a copy if you’d like.

Here are some photographs of the students taking pictures. You can look at their photographs on the gallery page of my website, too. Next week, I’ll be meeting with teams from two more Jackson schools to begin planning two more photography arts integration projects. This work is funded by the Ask for More Arts Collaborative, which is led by Parents for Public Schools of Greater Jackson.

I wrote several posts about the Davis on the Map project. I am looking forward to working with new classes of students. Taking photographs with digital cameras is so much fun!

I spent the day Tuesday teaching teachers how to use photography to document their work integrating arts into the curriculum. At the invitation of the Ask for More Arts Collaborative, I led two groups of elementary school teachers through several hours of work on creating and capturing high quality images of arts integration. Parents for Public Schools is the convening partner in the AFMA collaborative. Last year, I was a partnering artist, working with second graders at Davis Magnet School on a project called Davis on the Map.

I divided the workshop into two sections: How do we create the image we want to communicate? and How do we capture that image? Roughly, these translated into the big picture and the practical considerations. We discussed how to create engaging lessons, inviting spaces, and trusting communities. I told them the biggest, hardest part of the job had to happen before they ever picked up a camera.

I was warned that teachers don’t like to sit still for long lectures any more than kids  do so I created two hands-on activities. In the first, each group of teachers considered a batch of images from a single school project or event. They had to choose six images from the dozen or so they had to “tell the story” of the project or event. Next, they had to choose two images for a newsletter they would send to parents or a communication with funders. Finally, they had to choose one image for the newspaper and they had to write a cutline.

During the second half of the workshop, the teachers made frames from single sheets of cardstock. Others at their tables photographed the frame-making exercise. Several volunteers handed me their cameras’ memory cards and we conducted a group critique of the images they’d captured. The biggest challenge, as it often is in indoor settings, was light. We were in the fabulous grand hall at the Mississippi Museum of Art, but we were in the side without windows. This was good for watching the slideshow and viewing images on screen, but not for capturing.

We learned a lot and had a good time. I wished for more time to address the questions the teachers had about specific cameras and settings.I learned that some teachers are already using photography in collaborative art projects with their students: self-portraits and bookmaking and in communicating with parents through blogs and newsletters.

I told the teachers that it was near-about impossible to take good images and teach the class. (You can be the judge of these images.) Please send images if you took some during the session that you’d like to share with everyone. I know you have some good ones.

I learned yesterday that my application to join the Mississippi Arts Commission‘s artist roster as a visual artist was approved. Last year at this time I joined the roster as a literary artist, but because I offer both writing and photography presentations to schools, I decided to apply as a photographer also. This way schools and organizations may use MAC grant funds to pay for up to half of my presentation fee. I had to pass muster with a professional panel on each art form individually. I felt and still feel that a picture book creator should be allowed to submit words and pictures together. I believe that mastery in my art form includes mastery of the way images and text work together.

That being said, I am now on the roster in both categories so schools and organizations will have access to grant funds whether they choose to hire me to present and teach on writing or photography. The next application date for mini-grants this year is Nov. 2, 2009. I appreciate the work the commission and its staff do to support artists and arts instruction in schools.

This photo of river otters appeared in the Look at the … feature of the July issue of Highlights High Five magazine. You can find this feature inside the back cover of the magazine. Richard and I have three more images in upcoming issues.

One of my goals this year is to learn more about photoshop. I followed a tutorial to create art images from three photographs I took last year. I like the bottom one best. What do you think?

This is a strange photo, I’ll grant you. Richard took it using our new point-and-shoot camera. N is trying to trim the end of a wire on his braces. He didn’t succeed, but he also didn’t cut out a chunk of his cheek, which is what I was afraid of. I bought a Nikon CoolPix S560. Oftentimes, when I go places to speak and I try to hand over my camera, people are reluctant to take it. I feel like my Nikon D70 is pretty easy to use, but people are more familiar with point-and-shoot cameras.

The other reason I got it is because it is so much smaller to carry around. Most of the time I am on my own for school/library visits and I am usually carrying a netbook, a projector, extra copies of my book, bookmarks, a camera, a purse, and a water bottle. I have two rolling suitcases that I use for the heavy stuff, but I was always having to tote the camera bag. Now, I’ll just slot this into a pocket. Alright.

The other little gadget I got was a Sony Webbie. One of my goals for next year is to join the Mississippi Arts Commission‘s roster of teaching artists. I am currently on the roster of artists. In order to join the ranks of the teaching artists I must present the commission with video of me teaching children and adults. I borrowed cameras during two of my school visits this year and I got good video, but the MAC application calls for video of a specific lesson plan. I think my new camera will be just the ticket.

I’ve been considering these purchases for some time now. I decided to go ahead and get the cameras this weekend because I have a library visit tomorrow. I’ll be taking my cameras along and I’ll post some images when I get back. I’ll be at the Harriet Person Memorial Library in Port Gibson — where I grew up.

This week I wrote a proposal to present a workshop at the International Reading Association‘s annual convention next April. The title I proposed is “Seeing is Believing: Photography in Nonfiction.” My decision to do this was prompted by several things. First, my recent blog exchange with Elaine Sloan (also known as Texas Librarian). Her explanation of the reading comprehension strategies she employed as she read Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator inspired me to read some of the current scholarship on early literacy. Check out Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller, Nonfiction Matters by Stephanie Harvey, and Strategies that Work by Harvey and Anne Goudvis.

Second, in discussions with other writers, my editor, and my publisher, I have come to understand that spreading the word about Wolfsnail’s potential for use in early literacy settings is part of my job as a published writer. But, more than that, I love being in discussions with librarians and teachers of young children. I have really enjoyed presenting sessions at the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival for the last two years.

Third, I am interested in sharing the arts integration work I did this year in partnership with the second grade team at Davis Magnet IB World School and with participants in the 21st Century Schools program in Claiborne County, Miss. (where I’m from).

This is the first time I’ve written a proposal for a national conference; I recruited my editor and a friend who is an elementary school  librarian (with a gift for arts integration) as co-presenters. I’ll keep you posted on what happens.

Two exhibits of student artwork fill the second floor of the Mississippi Arts Center. Twenty-one of Jackson’s public schools participated this year in JumpstART, a project of the Ask for More Arts Collaborative. Friday night marked the opening of the JumpstART exhibit and Sunday marks the opening of the accompanying exhibit, the Power APAC annual student art show. JumpstART participants were in kindergarten through fifth grades; the Power APAC students were fourth through twelfth.

All the Campbells went because I was an artist-in-residence at Davis Magnet IB World School this spring (one of my students took the photo in the display panel above) and because my two younger sons, N and D, are fifth and sixth graders respectively in the APAC visual arts program. The oldest, G, is in the music program, but he attended so he could write about the exhibit as a class requirement. Richard took photographs that will go in the newsletter for the JumpstART convening partner, Parents for Public Schools of Greater Jackson.

Here is my sixth grader with one of his pieces. I thought this was cool when I first saw it in the classroom; I love geometric shapes and I love the colors, too. It reminds me of a kaliedocycle he brought home a few weeks ago. He had made it in his gifted class. It is a very cool three-dimensional turning paper toy that he colored with markers. Very exciting. Here are some instructions to make your own.

———————————————————-

Here’s my fifth grader with one of his prints. He did a few prints of sunflowers and some were plain ink and others were crayon resist. Very nice. I always enjoy these end-of-year exhibits because I don’t get to see their work along the way — unless it happens to be done before a parent/teacher conference. D was unhappy that his “best” piece wasn’t in the show. He drew and colored a poster for the Martin Luther King Day contest and it was still in the hands of the officials. I hope we’ll have it back to hang on our walls at home this summer.

As I said, we are being inundated with end-of-year stuff. I spent the day in Oxford with G at the Mississippi Music Teachers’ Association State Special Recognition Recital. He had earned a place with a district performance last month. He played two pieces in a solo recital and then another in the sonatina event. At this level, all the students were very accomplished and I loved listening to the pieces. We finished there and headed over to Square Books for a book, some ice cream, and a quick meeting with the manager about planning an event around Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator.

It’s showtime for the Davis second graders. On Wednesday morning, parents and others in the school community will gather in the auditorium to view a narrated slideshow of the 49 photographs that document the Davis neighborhood. For those of you who cannot be there or who want to see the photographs again, I have put a gallery on my website. Click on the photographs tab and then the Neighborhood Student Project. We are printing and matting 8 x 10 copies of the photographs for an exhibit next month. I’ll keep you posted on that.

Regular readers of the blog know that I believe the arts are an essential part of successful learning environments. As soon as my first son went to school, I started volunteering to help with arts projects, reading, and bringing artists into his school. As the other two followed, I became even more involved, eventually directing an annual grants budget of $20,000 to bring authors, illustrators, quilters, a paper maker, a mosaic artist, a storyteller, and a mixed media artist into the classrooms. Now that my sons are older, I am doing more of my own creative work as an author and photographer.

I remain committed to the arts in classrooms. I recently visited St. Richard’s Catholic School to conduct professional development in arts integration. I am also nearly finished with a mini-residency at Davis Magnet IB World School, where I have been helping second graders learn about their neighborhood through photography. This blog is being featured right now on the Resources page of Keeping Arts in Schools, an advocacy group. Another local mother who shares my interest in arts integration also blogs about it. Visit her Art Smart Parents blog.