Our classes began today at Skyline in the usual logistical manner. Collecting filled out forms, alphabetizing the student's forms, initialing their schedule sheets, having them make out two copies of the schedule in case they lose the original, etc.
When all the dust was settled, I began talking with them about their backgrounds...what year they are in...whether they are neighborhood students or cluster...if cluster, which one. A number are advanced science, a few culinary, a couple photography, and a couple graphic design and architecture. All in all, a nice divergent group of students. The numbers of students are large, but I was told today that they will be leveling soon and the numbers will drop. We'll see.
I began our discussion of the course by talking about Daniel Pink's book DRIVE, that I read this summer and that was a major motivator for developing the course we will follow this year in my Art I classes. I am also reading GOOD TO GREAT and ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE.
I talked about the concept of FINITE and INFINITE intelligence. How some people think that they only have so much brain power and that's it. How some believe that there is nothing they can't achieve if they only try hard enough. I talked about the "carrot and stick" motivational tools that society has had in place for many centuries. We are motivated by the possible tasty future or the harsh whip of reality if we choose not to move along. I got into the difference between EXTERNAL and INTRINSIC MOTIVATION. I discussed with a couple of students who play soccer on Saturdays why they got up and worked so hard while their friends were in bed or watching TV. The whole idea of feeing good about oneself came out in the discussion. I told them about research done with monkeys and puzzles, small children and paintings, fine artists and commercial artists and how often when intrinsic motivation was replaced with external motivation, the quality of the performance was reduced. We talked about the idea of QUALITY and the idea of CARING. I told them I didn't CARE how much they KNOW until I KNOW how much they CARE. This idea came straight out of "Zen....".
I explained to them that this year they would be involved in a class where the three elements that Pink talked about in DRIVE were present...AUTONOMY...MASTERY...and PURPOSE. They will be designing, researching, analyzing, testing, and evaluating EVERYTHING that they work on in this class. They will be given all the forms necessary to accomplish this. They will set their own goals, choose the subject, media, and expression, choose the size of final product, decide on the length of time they will need to accomplish their objective, and give themselves the grade they will receive on each work of art they create. MY goal is to create a lifelong desire to continue learning about art while developing a sense of pride and accomplishment.
Each day the student will sit down for about 10 minutes at the end of the period and write in his/her log book...sort of a diary. In it they will talk about any discussion/demonstrations I may have given, any video clips they were presented, any research they did, and an update on the progress they have made toward their finished art work. When they return the following class day, they can review their log and find out where to pick up, what page and what book they left off reading, etc.
This is just the first day...I talked all period...I hope to update this blog each day while students are working on their log. I'd like to get the student's parents to log in and see updates on work that is being done that I post here. I want to shoot some small video pieces and post them for them to see. I will be giving them an opportunity to "teach" a lesson to the rest of the class, either a demo or a lesson they have read about. I want to video these and post them as well.
I have never written a blog before. When I was an exchange teacher to Scotland in 1995-96 I kept a daily diary of my activities for the entire year. I will be motivated to keep this blog current by nature of making so many parents and students aware of it. I will probably not be quite so wordy in the future. I am planning to post some of the forms I have developed in case anyone wants to try this type of teaching for themselves. With the odds being 30K to 1 that any two students at any given time will be doing the same activity at the same time, I fully expect to be kept quite occupied during the class period.
Wish me Luck.
