Program: Using Art Explorations to Reach All Students

Description

In this professional learning program with visual artist Molly Gaston Johnson, teachers will learn how to use basic elements and principles of design as a means of communicating ideas. Through designing their own artworks in a series of exercises that build from simple and quick, to more intentionally social-emotionally driven, and then curriculum-driven, participants will learn how to share a design language with their students. Participants will learn to create abstracted visual representations of ideas and use those visual creations as a starting point for verbal and/or written explanation of concepts represented. These experiences help participants to invite students to express their understanding of curriculum concepts and/or social-emotional concepts by employing the elements and principles of design.

Location

In-Person or Virtual

Recommended Participants

• Teachers
• Paraprofessionals
• Visual Arts Specialists

Learning Intentions

Participants will:

• Engage first-hand in the excitement of learning the language of design.
• Analyze the meaning of a concept and appraise options for how to create an abstracted visual design that represents that concept.
• Assess their work in comparison with responses on the same topic.
• Differentiate the nuance of meaning created in small design choices.
• Engage in guided reflection.
• Analyze the visual work of others and draw clues from these creations that connect to meaning.
• State how personal reflections connect visual facts in the work they are analyzing to the meaning they have understood.
• Examine nuance through comparing one design to another.
• Reflect on the creative development of the students they work with and consider content for an Arts Individualized Education Plan for one student.

YA Connections

• NJSLS-VPA: Artistic Process; Creating; Anchor Standard 1: Conceptualizing & Generating Ideas
• NJSLS-VPA: Artistic Process; Responding; Anchor Standard 7:
• Perceiving and Analyzing Products
• Social Emotional Learning 

Professional Standards for Educational Leaders

• Standard 4: Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment