Teaching Like an Artist

New for 2014: Follow the continuing Teaching Like an Artist series on TeachingLikeanArtist.com.

I had a lot of chances to express myself creatively this past year and it has been exciting. Without a doubt it has been the best time of my 20 years as a teacher.

Through reflecting on this and through blog posts, the theme that developed is Teaching Like an Artist.  The general idea is 

Artists get a vision for something that doesn't exist, 

they work to make it real 

and they share it with others. 

As teachers we can inspire more students if we follow that same pattern.

Here's a list of those articles, beginning with a couple that I didn't even know were in the same series when I wrote it:

• My Attempt to Encourage Creativity - The risk I took that eventually became an exciting project
• Fear, Love and Coming Alive - How I learned so many of us hold back
• 6 Ways to Teach Like an Artist - The original post after a summer of thinking (and revised after getting some input)
• 5 Benefits of Teaching Like an Artist - What I learned after consciously putting these things into practice and paying attention
• 6 Reasons Your Students Need to See Your Mediocre Art - Why you should share your talents even when you're not a pro
• Raising Questions - Artists inspire wonder.
• Know Your Audience - How teachers as artists leads to a striking metaphor
• The Smart Jams Music Video Project - The creative project that developed over the course of the year

Going Low Tech This Week - week four of the Smart Jams math and music video project

(This post is part of a series highlighting work in a project funded by a MACUL grant. See my Music Creation page for complete information.)

This week groups continued taking turns practicing their songs with Crystal. When she thought they were ready, they would record with me. While waiting their turn, they made signs for the video.  We easily could have come up with ways for them to make signs digitally, but instead we went low tech.

This weekend I am putting several hours into processing the music files we recorded.  We will have over 20 videos by the time this is done.  Even though I can simplify the process greatly and finish a song and video in under a few hours, each big step that I do on my own can take a long time.  Once I finally decide on the best way to do this (I have changed the plan a few times so far with the first examples) I will post a tutorial.

For now, some thoughts on the benefits of low tech are below.

When I was finishing my master's I was inspired by something Kevin Kelly said in an interview.  He had a big impact on my thinking from that point on.  I wrote to him once to ask for advice as I was doing the project for my final class.  

His brief reply gave me nothing specific, but he said to use non-digital tools whenever possible.  Actually, I'm not paid to spend time with classes when they aren't learning new technology, so most of the time I disregard his suggestion.  Still, I see the value of putting the computers aside.

Of course, I've seen the students enjoy creating with paper, markers and colored pencils just as much as with computers. I'm not a trained art teacher, so I can't speak to the value of virtual tools compared to real world tools in terms of developing creativity and artistic ability.

I do know there are usually two or three students in each class that don't like using computers.  They need tech skills, obviously, but I appreciate the chance to let them enjoy part of the project in their own way.

From a more personal perspective, I can see how hands on creation through early years benefited my own children.  My wife was trained in early childhood development and when we had our kids she stayed home to raise them.  Under her direction they grew up on good, old fashioned crafts with loads of glue, paint and glitter.  At a time when the early elementary art teacher tells me she finds more and more students who do not know how to use scissors or how to play with clay, I am very grateful for the balance my wife brought to our young family.

In our home there was also computer time and video game time over the years.  Now that my son and daughter are older they are just as comfortable (and, yes, too comfortable at times) with their iDevices and laptops.  But they are capable makers in the real and virtual world.  The versatility they gain as well as the opportunities it offers in finding their strengths is vital.

Know Your Audience

New for 2014: Follow the continuing Teaching Like an Artist series on TeachingLikeanArtist.com.

Not every artist would say she needs to know her audience. The purpose and form of the art probably makes a difference. I remember reading a recent interview in Rolling Stone with Bob Dylan.  He said something to the effect he never wrote for anyone other than himself. Some artists can get away with it.

But I remember how valuable the question of audience was when I was making games or helping other game designers. Any problem or uncertainty throughout the design process was immediately put in focus when we came back to who the game was for. On the other hand, confusion resulted when the vision of the target audience was poorly defined.

I see a similar problem in school. When teaching like artist, who is the audience? I'd think the obvious answer is the students. In a sense, we'd like to perform for them--to share and connect--in hopes of inspiring them. They are the ones coming in daily, seeing our work and walking away with something of value.

But all too often school loses focus because we are bringing the students along on a different show planned for someone else. It feels like we're putting on a performance for the state--a play practiced for months and months, shown to a faceless crowd in hopes of a good review. And then there's another big show next year.

We practice for a vaguely defined employer. Day after day we rehearse our lines. The best students, even in elementary school, know they're getting ready for this person they might meet more than a decade down the road. They answer questions about why with memorized responses--"Math is most important because you use it in any job." The heart wins out, though, and study time is easily overtaken by the endless stream of more interesting options.

I see students going through the motions for so long they forget what they're really doing it for. Learning turns into routine. Check off the list for the minimal requirements and get the credit.

What if the teacher modeled a passion for life and learning that inspired the students to do the same? Is it too idealistic to think students could care so much about their work, and that the teacher designed it so skillfully, that they learn what they need to along the way? Maybe those big tests, important as they are in the process, could be more like an art show where the public sees one presentation of all those individual works.

To be sure, school is multifaceted. It takes most of a year to get through. For the teacher acting as an artist, there is enough opportunity to have more than one performance or reason for performing. There will always be those days when it looks like a rehearsal, with everyone practicing for that faceless audience. But it gets boring for the students when school done that way wears on and on.

Standards matter and the tests have their place. Obviously we are there partly to prepare the students for the world of work. But those things are not enough. We know this because we know so many students sum up the second half of their time in school with something equivalent to the word "boring". Somewhere around fifth grade, little by little, we stop reaching the intended audience. Then eventually many of them stop coming to the show.

This happens whenever we let the standards and pacing guides become an excuse to we can dodge the real work of our art.

On the other hand, we know there are teachers getting the job done and infusing some life into the system at the same time. None of them say it's easy. I never hear a hard working teacher say the pay is worth it or that the principal gave them enough time to complete the project. They just follow their vision, develop their talents and and play off the energy of the crowd.

Samples from the Smart Jams Math and Music Project for Elementary Students

Just before Thanksgiving break I recorded a few of the math songs the students wrote. Two samples are posted below, but first here is important information to consider if you do this project.

As I mentioned in another post, the songwriting was probably the hardest part of this for students. The second hardest part is getting them to sing or rap on the beat. In most cases we get close in the recording then I adjust some phrases in editing.

Here are a few other things to note:

• Students are not making full songs. We are doing short choruses. See my music page for full information on the project. 
• I'm still working on the background tracks and we haven't started recording any video yet. These are just quick audio files from GarageBand on the iPad to offer as a preview. 
• In the final version the chorus will play at least three times. A sample problem will be worked out on screen while the chorus plays to help the steps make sense.

Sample 1:  Long Division

Sample 2. Reducing Fractions

Tiny Tap App for Digital Storytelling...Or Flipped Teaching

Update 3/7/2014: I just updated the app and I was very happy to see they added a "Jump" option to the Sound Board activity! This allows you to make a region of the screen a sound AND a link to a new page. Story lines can now branch, making for "choose your own adventure" style, interactive fiction. This was the feature I was waiting for, so multiply the positive of this original post by at least five!

Tiny Tap is a free app for iPad that allows the user to create very simple games. I installed it at least a year ago and used it with a few young children, including first graders. Recently I discovered newer features that could make it excellent for digital storytelling or maybe even flipped teaching or blended learning.

The primary activity in the games is to tap the correct part of the picture. You can record an audio prompt, such as, "Tap Grandma's picture." When the user taps Grandma a success sound is played and a balloon rises on the screen. I have found students enjoy playing the simple activities.  As soon as I show them how to make them, they immediately want to make their own questions by choosing the "answer area" on their pictures.

At some point the app was updated and I noticed it had a few more bells and whistles. One time when I tried to show someone how to use it, I ran into trouble with getting the imported picture to "stick". I didn't have time to figure it out and I didn't come back to it for many months.

But this week at the family Thanksgiving dinner I decided I'd show it to my nephew. He is in kindergarten now, so I was curious if the app would be simple enough for him to make a game. (I knew he'd be able to play one I made, but I was hoping to encourage some creativity rather than just another gaming experience.)

I learned that with a little assistance he picked it up quickly. I also discovered they added two other types of activities. Now instead of every page being a guessing game, there is also:

• Sound Board - A picture is displayed and you can enclose areas that are "buttons". For each one, you can record narration or a sound.
• Say Something - This allows you to add narration to a page.

By using Say Something, the app becomes a very nice tool for telling a story involving pictures and narration. 

It is easy to import the pictures. (I learned that to stick the picture in place after importing it from the camera or Camera Roll you have to double tap it and choose "Stick".) Once imported, they can be resized and arranged. There are a few simple art tools to write or draw on the page.

Next, you can add one of the activities. Once I showed my nephew how to add a question he was excited. He made a few pages with ease. There are a few steps, so I had to remind him where to click the first few times.

I love the potential for a narrated story that has guessing activities or a Sound Board in it. Imagine a story about a toy coming to life and hiding. The question pages would provide fun for the child to identify the hiding place, possibly based on carefully listening to the previous pages. The Sound Board pages offer a lot of room for creative uses, such as an exploration to gain clues by tapping different areas or just a "play area" where objects might make fun sounds.

Besides making simple lessons (flipped teaching or blended learning for lower elementary?) I imagine teachers could use this to teach procedures in the room at the start of a school year. Pictures and narration would explain things first, then question pages could quiz them.

If you make an account you can share the activities. This should allow you to load a creation on multiple devices. They also can be shared on Facebook too, so it could make a great end product parents and family could see from home.  (Sharing requires the user to "tap and hold", so it's unlikely a young user is going to share or access something without an adult's assistance.)

If you make any fun creations like these using Tiny Tap, I'd be glad to hear it! Please share as a comment or by email.