April 2012
12 posts
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dress like a teacher.
All of my teachers dressed pretty lame. Ties, awful pant suits, crazy turqouise glasses were not very inspirational to my own fashion sense. But for some crazy reason, I inspired my own students to dress like me high waisted American Apparel pants and all. I thought it was hysterical. My kids really pulled off looking like me and it was so cute to see my girls excited and texting me for fashion...
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not all teachers are lame.
Working two jobs can be a little draining, so I took a much need vacation to Coachella music festival in California. I had an amazing experience full of good food, music, and friends. I think my students think I am a bit lame because I am a teacher. They don’t realize that I am still young and kinda cool.
I saw my two favorite hardcore bands, Refused and At The Drive In, Radiohead, Bon...
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vital.
It has become almost impossible to find an art teaching job if you are not willing to do it for free (which is what I am basically doing). I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I have been coming up against and what I am trying to do not to become increasingly bitter. The School District of Philadelphia has been cutting art programs since I have been in school (luckily...
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printing.
Printmaking in a math room isn’t my ideal set up. There is no sink, it’s messy, and kids are forced to be in the hallway. But when you have students like Rosa, Kadeem, Robyn, and Chantel who are willing to clean and stay after, art is a breeze.
Once lino blocks are completely carved, we begin the printing process. Using a J-Hook, brayer and block printing ink, students can begin.
...
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“I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know...”
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elementary mentoring.
Elementary mentoring is probably the coolest enrichment (besides art of course). You see high school students try and be a teacher to our elementary school kids. It’s not only adorable, but they see how hard it can be to be us for a day. Sara Fry, my point person and personal hero, organized the program and its lasting impact.
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mr. president.
Yes, one of my students signs his name “Mr. President Emory Banks”
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vice and me.
At KIPP we have a system called “Do Nows,” a 5 minute exercise to get students brains going. I focus on current events in my “do nows” and the plights of the rest of the world. Since art students are examining wall structures (and we have covered all of the ones students have chosen), my go to website is VICE News. Vice has some heavy topics (only wishing I could be on...
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grade.
Grading my day away and making personalized notes to my students. Into It. Over It. #nowplaying in the background. Sometimes a note is better than a number.
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another.
“Palestine and Banksy” by Reggie.
Linocuts began printing today.
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balance.
Teaching this first year has made me think of a life balance. I, in fact, don’t have one. We actually have at my school a dry cleaning service (because we have no time to actually do it), yet we have no budget. It’s crazy to think how we try to make our lives easier, yet have no sustainable system in place. But deep down inside, I want to use the dry cleaning service. My school...
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March 2012
3 posts
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new project.
I did a project about wall structures and their meaning at Chichester High School in 2010. Students examined wall structure and create linoleum block prints based on those structures. It’s a really good project for reflection which I really want students to take away from in art class. Maybe with personal research, KDCA students will be more reflective of the world around them.
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February 2012
8 posts
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privilege.
I have the privilege to do a second interview at Community Roots Charter School in Brookyln, NY. I decided to do graffiti stencil art on tote bags and I think I can really nail this interview.
I am nervous and excited all at the same time. The last demo interview I had did not go well. It was a mess! I did a movement painting demo project and it went terrible. I didn’t have time to set up,...
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January 2012
10 posts
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December 2011
14 posts
6 tags
nose go.
Yis Goodwin, better known as Nose Go, is a CAPA grad (my high school) and UArts alum (my grad school). We finally reconnected for an AmeriCorp “day of service” mural project and I am lucky to have him come speak to my art students. They are so excited, especially the students that are really interested graffiti art. I am so excited for Tuesday!
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Work day.
At KIPP, we don’t have a traditional art room. We don’t have sinks, storage (comes from another room and a Ikea wardrobe I built), or desks that are a little more open. So we have to make due. I devised a system of openers and closers (it’s the restaurant person in me). Openers set up and closers break down. Students switch everyday through opening and closing tasks and it really...
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Sketches.
Students sketches of their greek vase designs.
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Invited.
I emailed JR, a Parisian graffiti artist, if he could speak to my kids over Skype. It was a shot in the dark to see if a world renowned graffiti artist would take the time to speak with my students. Instead, we were invited to participate in the Inside Out project, a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is...
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New project and new group.
My first trimester has ended at KIPP DuBois Collegiate Academy. With the start of the new semester, I have a new project and students. With the success of T1, students were begging to be in art class. But three of my T1 students wanted to stay in art, which I happily agreed. Students expressed they wanted to work with clay and I am just as stocked to teach it. Though we don’t have wheels to...
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Results.
Here are their beautiful skateboards.
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Wheat pasting.
Students took their photography forward and wheat pasted on skateboards and created repetitive patterns to give their images a dose of color. Here are my lovely students working hard.
Students examined the work of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and Swoon to develop their own unique take on this project. Plus, graffiti art in so ingrained in Philly culture that students were happy to come every day and...
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Display.
These poster boards are driving me crazy. This is them at their best. The one poster board is not screwed in correctly, so this is what they do look like on a semi-daily basis.
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Featured.
Occupy Philadelphia featured my students artwork on their Facebook page with overwhelming support from the community.
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The materials.
We used Holga 120N Plastic medium format camera.
And Lomography 120 Black and White Film
Donated by my good friends through a IndieGoGo.
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Something interesting.
I had to give my students something interesting to document. I thought they would take intuitive and document their neighborhoods. But it failed because some neighborhoods are worse then others.
So I decided to have them document Occupy Philadelphia, a movement that stood in solidarity to Occupy Wall Street.
Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in...
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More artists.
Ari Marcopoulos is an Amsterdam-born photographer and filmmaker, living and working in New York and California. As a photographer, film artist and adventurist, Marcopoulos, who began his career in New York City assisting Andy Warhol, transplants himself into the intimate lives of people living on the edge. Artists, snowboarders, musicians and skateboarders have been both muses and commercial...
October 2011
4 posts
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photography part three.
Students needed context do different styles of photography. I focused mainly on the artists Richard Avedon and Diane Arbus. Both are spectacular in different way. One focused on the beautiful, the other on the “different”, each capturing something different. The point was to show that even in the same medium, photography can have very different results.
Students began showing mastery...
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photography part two.
Today I taught Principles of Photography:
Rule of One-Thirds: The rule states that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.
Balancing Elements: Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule...
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photography part one.
To show student that they can make amazing photography, I wanted to show them an example of young people doing just that. I battled with the idea of showing them, “Born Into Brothels,” due to it’s content. I have never been the type to second guess my gut instincts, but I have been constantly told that I have to conform as an educator due to lack of jobs and cut art programs.
I...
