Poetic Inspiration

Recently, we were asked to focus on ways that we could better integrate art into our history lessons.  Naturally, my mind went directly to actual art and I eagerly designed an “Art Walk” that would require students to analyze and interpret various paintings, advertisements, and pictures from the time period that we would be studying.  I am still excited about the project, and I’m busy creating a Webquest to support it, but now that I have some time separating me from the actual requirement of the assignment, I find myself coming up with more thoughts and ideas concerning the topic of integrating art into my lesson plans and, perhaps more importantly, what is “art”.

            As anyone in education is well aware, April is National Poetry month and it usually marks a time in the LA curriculum where students are immersed in figurative language and rhyming.  For the past 5 years my son’s school has worked hard to create a week long program where students are exposed to multiple forms of poetry and even treated to a “Poet in Residence”.  This year’s poet was Richard Blanco, the 2013 Inaugural Poet and Maine resident.  I was able to attend the final evening’s events where Mr. Blanco spoke to the public and read many of his own pieces.  I left that night fully aware that I had been in the presence of a true artist.  After being brought to tears numerous times, I realized that I had totally forgotten about the spoken word being an art-form that could/should be incorporated into my lessons. 

            To that point, Mr. Blanco is a wonderful example of how poetry and art can be integrated into all subjects.  Even though he has published many books of poetry and two memoirs, Mr. Blanco is actually a trained and practicing Civil Engineer.  He stressed through his talks to the students, and later to the public present for the final night, the importance of exposure to all subjects and the dangers of overexposure to just one area.  In his own words, he’s a better Civil Engineer because he is a poet and a better Poet because he is an engineer.  The Washington Post recently ran an article titled "Why America's Obsession with STEM Education is Dangerous", that speaks to just this point--the way to make students true innovators and learners is to expose them to Science, Math, and Engineering, but not at the expense of the liberal arts. As the article’s author states, “Innovation is not simply a technical matter but rather one of understanding how people and societies work, what they need and want. America will not dominate the 21st century by making cheaper computer chips but instead by constantly re-imagining how computers and other new technologies interact with human beings.”

            After my evening listening and learning from Mr. Blanco, I was reminded of other famous individuals that have successfully embraced science and art: Leonardo Da Vinci (artist and inventor), Thomas Jefferson (architecture, music, meteorology), William Carolos Williams (Poet and Pediatrician), Lewis Thomas (Physician, author, Naturalist), Frank Lloyd Write (Architect, artist).  How wonderful would it be to examine this list further?  There are so many more names to add to it, such a wonderful angle to examine.  We learn Social Studies, Math, Art, English, etc., not so we can become Historians, Mathematicians, Scientists, or Artists some day, but to expose us to as much learning as possible so that we can truly figure out what inspires us, what interests us, and how to do it to the best of our ability.  It all works together; the science, the art, the history, the language arts.  I come away from my experience with poetry with many inspirations of how to integrate art into the Social Studies curriculum beyond simply examining poetry/storytelling from whatever time period we are studying.  The content of the poems, just like the subject of the artwork, or words of the songs, tells a story about that moment in history, certainly--beyond that is the importance of the storytelling, the poetry, the artwork, to science, math, and engineering.

Perhaps my favorite poem from the evening:  Looking for the Gulf Motel

Richard Blanco reciting his Inaugural Poem, "One Today":

Communities of Learners

Over the past few weeks of this course we have been focusing on the true role of technology in the classroom and the idea that technology should not drive our lessons, but rather it should enhance how we teach and what we teach.  The focus should always be on the content, or goal of our lesson, and how best to achieve that goal.  Technology should make it easier to reach those goals, but not be the end goal.  In addition, we have been immersed in the best pedagogical practices and how to create student centered learning opportunities.  Whether we utilize Inquiry Based, Project Based, or Direct Instruction learning models, they all have the basic tenants of Constructivism at their heart--lessons should be student driven, allow students to activate prior knowledge, and allow for plenty of collaboration with peers.  

The focus that all of the learning models put on collaboration was what really struck me, and I was reminded of a TED talk video by author John Green that focused on how technology can be used to help create what he termed "communities of learners".  In the video, he discusses his own learning experience and how learning did not become effective or fun for him until it held more personal meaning.  Once he felt that he could see the big picture better, see the horizon, he had a more natural desire to see what was beyond that horizon.  His main point in his presentation, however, was that student driven learning is directly benefited by creating a “community of learners” that support and engage each other throughout the learning process.

              John Green’s TED talk explains how these communities can be enhanced and even created through the use of technology.  Sites like YouTube, tumblr, Khan Academy, and even his own YouTube channels like Crash Course and VlogBrothers, help students find new communities.  These communities support and guide each other through their common interests, questions, and goals.  The ability to learn is directly connected to a student’s desire to learn.  If they are interested, if they have peers who share that interest and desire, they are more likely to work hard to find answers to their questions, especially if the questions are their own. If you have the time, the video is well worth it!

Piven Portraits

Integrating art into our curriculum seems like it might be low on the list of items a teacher needs to make sure gets included in lesson plans.  I’m realizing the connection between integrating art and integrating technology into the classroom—both should be utilized as an enhancement of pedagogy and content.  In other words, plan for the content and how you want to teach it, then use art as a way to enhance how you teach and what you teach.  Often in the middle grades it is easy to overlook.  This week, with the 5^th grade focusing on Tall Tales and the 6^th grade writing poetry, there has been a lot of figurative language being thrown around.  I am always entertained by how literal most 5^th and 6^th graders can be but once they are asked to write poetry, the metaphors and personifications start flying!

Retrieved from: http://www.pivenworld.com/

After reading millions of figurative language drenched poems this week, I was reminded of the work of Hanoch Piven, specifically his children’s books like: MyDog is as Smelly Sock and My BestFriend is as Sharp as a Pencil which both deal with fun similes.  Since my mind was so focused on the idea of integrating art into Social Studies curriculum, I quickly started thinking of how much fun it would be to create “Piven” like portraits for historical figures.  

Hanoch Piven is known for portraits that are simply drawn and almost collage-like in the fact that they incorporate objects that represent the person into the actual portrait.  For example, a portrait of Barbara Streisand that has a microphone for her nose, or a portrait of Charles Darwin that has bird feathers for hair, a toy ape for a nose, and seashells for eyebrows.

A project that incorporates LA curriculum, focused on Tall Tales and figurative language, with Social Studies curriculum, dealing with early American history, could easily be created using an historical figure from that time period.  After studying a certain time period (not necessarily early American history) students could create their own Tall Tale based on the life and history of the historical figure.  In doing so, they would be practicing their figurative language skills yet they would still be basing their story on the real life events of the figure.  Creating a “Piven” portrait of the figure could tie both curriculums together.