fifth grade photography poems

This looking at art activity comes from one of my art21 peers, Don Ball. Who, by the way, is pretty darn amazing. Here he is talking about his own art work:

What I love about this activity is that it's a collective observation process. The fifth graders (who are doing photography this year) each started with a photograph and wrote 5 words to describe the art. Then they moved on to the next one, wrote another 5 words, and so on, until the entire class contributed observations for each photograph. After each line was written, a piece of paper was moved down over it, so the lines above were hidden. Then the unveiling! Students came back to their original photograph and read all of the observations, chose one word from each line of the five words listed, and used these words to create a short poem. In this way, each poem is a collective observation! 

This was a great way to validate the observations of everyone and the "quiet conversation" process helped to deepen their observation and understanding of the art. 

Sharon Lockhart

THE LUNCHBOX

by Alexis

The box, the carton with color

Dark background

You see Dole

I see hoarder

Made of plastic

Patriotic strutting its red

The peach sticker wanted to stick

Healthy lunch

After the poems were composed, students read their poems aloud in small groups also taking care to listen for the word they had contributed. Here they could make small changes, check for understanding, and discuss their observations. Once the small groups had finished, we moved to the presentation side of the room where I projected their photographs on the big screen as they got to read their poems to everyone. 

This process took the entire hour and not one student complained about not having time to make art. In fact, I had a few students tell me how much fun they were having and everyone was completely absorbed in the process! I definitely plan on using this process again in other grades with different art. 

William Wegman

THE WHIMPERING SOUND

by Ginger

The fortune called

the newly born dog

into the dark.

Evil starts grabbing.

Mom comes saving

in her cool color dress

being as meaningful

as a mother could

be.

Andreas Gursky

COLOR MARKET

by Marcus

sugar filled market,

99 cents, sale, money, ads, cheap!

candy, rolo, bright colors,

people, people, people

sugar filled market

Ansel Adams

MOUNTAIN

by Oliver

strong

high as the

clouds

dark mystical

rays play on the

color shining

the angelic

environment

hidden

Bernd & Hilla Becher

WATER TOWER

by Max W.

The rusty worn down towers

Gridded and bare seek out water

Tall standing construction

Horizontal

Vertical

Diagonal

Dorthea Lange

A SINGLE MOTHER

by Elise

A single mother

With no home

Hiding, dirt everywhere

She wants to work

Waiting for hope

She is filled with sadness

Scared her homeless family

Will die

Great depression

Lewis Hine

CHILD LABOR

by Emma

Child labor is wrong

Forcing innocent children to work

Trying to earn money for shoes, clothes, and food

Curious kids forced into slavery

Feeling empty

Oliver Herring

MAN

by Reza

Splattered man

Project man

Motionless man

Background man

Movement man

Meaning man

Azouris man

Dirty man

Teal man

Chaos man

my hands are my heart

Our fourth grade artists watched an interview with Art21 artist Gabriel Orozco. We used his work My Hands Are My Heart as a starting point for an exploration of clay, process, and the connection of creating and caring. This fit in beautifully with our fourth grade theme, Artists Making a Difference!

Students were asked to only use their hands to create a heart (no tools allowed other than stamps for their name). Some hearts took the form of vessels, baseballs, mountains, or beloved pets. Some hearts wore their family names, some touched deeply with fingertips, and some hearts were perfectly smoothed. All of these hearts were a wonderful play in process and a great way for us to start our year of caring and creating.

what I did on my summer vacation...

I was accepted into the Art21 Educators Program and spent 10 days in New York during the month of July. It was the most challenging, inspiring, and wonderful educational experience I have ever had! I didn't just come away with some new tips and tricks, I know I've experienced some growing pains in being challenged with new ways of thinking, and I have come back a better teacher.

Here is a little photo tour of my time there!

Here I am with Linda at the Met! I am so glad I talked Linda into applying with me for this program. She is one of the most talented AMAZING teachers I have ever met and it was such an honor to get to experience this all with her.

This is me out of my comfort zone at the TASK Party. We got to meet Oliver Herring on the very first day- what a treat! He was so warm and generous and the TASK party was a great way to build our sense of trust and community.

I had written this TASK and was so delighted when someone else had implemented it so beautifully: Find discarded scraps to create something new.

I have often felt very alone in my profession as the only art teacher at my school so I am especially thankful to have had the opportunity to collaborate with this group of passionate educators. It felt like stepping from a drought into a monsoon- we talked about art/education every waking moment!

We met with the artist Charles Atlas to talk about his work here.

Lots of brainstorming, discussing, collaborating, editing, thinking, writing, questioning, and coffee.

We got to spend the day at MoMA! Here we are practicing one of the ways to facilitate a discussion about art with students. We got to meet Allan McCollum to talk about his art here. We also talked with Mary Reid Kelley and Patrick Kelley from Rome via Skype and visited the studio of Diana Al Hadid on different days.

We are all looking rather serious here but had a blast seeing artist examples and making paper at Dieu Donne!

We worked hard! Linda and I worked until 2am many nights and then got up early to start the next workshop day. More coffee.

It wasn't all work and no play! We had the perfect balcony view to see the 4th of July fireworks over the Hudson River. Spectacular!

And the food!

Here we are on our last night dining together. Our group of 16 was comprised of first year teachers and veterans, elementary, high school, and college teachers, and art, spanish, science, and english teachers. It was great to have so many perspectives and experiences. I wish I could have packed them all up to take back with me to my school! Fortunately our time together will continue via online meetings and ning network this year.

I look forward to sharing what I have learned here and can't wait for the new school year. Bring it on!

art21 educators

I couldn't be more excited about my summer! I am heading to New York in July to be part of Art21 Educators! This is a year long professional development that starts off in New York with an intensive 10 day workshop.

From the Art21 website: Participants work with Art21 staff, visiting artists, and guest presenters to develop their familiarity with contemporary art and artists and learn strategies for planning and teaching with big questions and processes related to contemporary art and interdisciplinary pedagogy. Accepted educators explore ways to use Art21 films and educational materials in the classroom, consider new documentation strategies and practices, and participate in collaborative reflection in support of their continued participation in the program throughout the year.

Art teachers are encouraged to apply with a classroom teacher to ensure collaboration and I am so lucky to have Linda joining me. Linda teaches 6th grade and truly is the best of the best! Linda and I are featured on Art21's blog here. Check out our video applications!

Soooooo excited to be part of this! I'll keep you posted!