Arty On

New year, new thoughts...well not really.  I've actually been dwelling on the buzzword, "agency", floating around the PYP Twitter-sphere over the last year and decided to take the opportunity to think about "agency" not just as it relates to students, but also as it relates to teachers. Emphasizing student capacity to choose, act and decide seems foundational to education and lifelong learning.  I love that related topics like "play", "growth mindset" and "voice" are getting more attention beyond early childhood education.  I am excited for the opportunities students are getting to discover themselves by having time to make mistakes, collaborate, and make authentic, personal connections to their learning.  I welcome "agency" as a buzzword and hope it doesn't fade with the educational trends of the future. So there's no doubt that I can get behind "agency" and am seeing some great successes and failure

I love it when students keep me accountable. While I am trying my best to run a very student-centered, choice-based art studio, I am finding that I sometimes start to slide back into my teacher-centered ways.  Letting go of control is harder than I expected and the classroom can quickly turn into a 3-ring circus where the teacher is the ringmaster commanding full attention rather than directing it towards the real stars of the show (students, aka, trapeze artists, clowns, contortionists, lions...).  I mostly catch myself before it becomes the "Dana Show", but am also trying to train my students to let me know if I'm drifting in my purpose. From the beginning of last year, I shared with students a personal goal during their class periods: to talk less and let them work more!  I have trained myself to be aware of when "the wiggles" set in and I've talked too long.  I try to limit whole class discussions/reflections to 5 minutes maximum.  I know the student

When I first started teaching using the PYP framework, I didn't really know what I was getting into.  I was fortunate enough to be hired by a school who was willing to take a teacher with no experience in the PYP, support me with professional development and mentors, and surround me with knowledgeable colleagues to observe and learn from. I would say one of the best, but least talked about, advantages of teaching art using the PYP framework is the ability to focus on the emergent curriculum .  " Emergent curriculum is based on the premise that children are most successful at learning when curriculum experiences account for their interests, strengths, needs, and lived realities.   In emergent curriculum, both adults and children have initiative and make decisions. This power to impact curriculum decisions and directions means that sometimes curriculum is also negotiated between what interests children and what adults know is necessary for children’s education and developmen

I write this post after a week of taking the time to appreciate the positive happenings going on in the PYP art studio (and in general) at my school.  We're 9 weeks into the new school year, which means the "honeymoon" phase has worn off.  Group dynamics have shifted in classrooms, students and teachers are settling in to their comfort zones.  We are all feeling the effects of a new routine, sleep schedule and daily demand on our minds and bodies.  After weeks of saying "yes" to new opportunities, we might be feeling overwhelmed.  Viruses from summer travels have taken a tour of the school and been exchanged.  It can be easy to fall into old ways of doing things because they are comfortable and easy.  I find that this is the exact time that I need to stop and be more aware of what's happening around me...throughout the school, with my colleagues, among students.  I need to focus on the positive, appreciate others, and maintain a growth mindset. There is a

"I strive to be mediocre," commented a teacher friend of mine in one of the first conversations we had over a year ago.  As we sat in the staff lounge at lunch getting to know one another, discussing teaching styles and aspirations, I was surprised (and relieved) by her candor.  It doesn't seem like the type of reply that would inspire or leave a lasting impact, but it has guided and helped to enrich my approach to teaching, learning, and living in the past year. To start off, let's put some context into this comment.  "Striving to be mediocre" to her meant that she wasn't the type to come in on the weekends or be at school into the evening hours.  She wasn't signing up to be on every committee and you wouldn't be seeing any school related emails from her outside of school hours.  It did mean, however, that she was one of the most efficient teachers I've met, using her prep periods to plan, collaborate, and document learning.  But school

How does a choice-based classroom allow for student artists to develop their ideas in a meaningful way?  This is a question I am currently experimenting with and offering varied solutions for in my PYP art studio. For the most part, I'm finding that there is no end to the ideas that students want to investigate.  However, some of them enter the art studio with so many ideas that they find it difficult to stick with just one.  They are enthusiastic, they are motivated, and they want to try it all!  They ping pong from here to there, experimenting with one technique, then collaborating on another, engaging in making mistakes, and finding out what they like and don't like as an artist. I love this about running a choice-based art studio. However, I also wonder what the limit of these explorations should be?  At what point does a student need to choose a topic, medium, or technique and explore it more in depth?  What is the role of the teacher in ensuring a level of commitm