Academic Aesthetic

I’ll be in Pennsylvania all next week to visit with friends and family and perhaps spend a day or two at Musikfest in beautiful Bethlehem, PA. This doesn’t mean that I’ll be taking a break from podcasting, although I probably won’t be posting the MP3s in the middle of the day like I normally do.

This will be my last big fling before I head back to school, and I’m really looking forward to this coming year. I may not have a classroom to set up, but after two years in the same buildings (more or less) I’m familiar enough with the curriculum to start planning my lessons.

I’m actually under more restrictions than you might think. As an Interrelated Art Teacher I’m not allowed to just stroll into the classroom and teach whatever I want. I have to develop lessons that don’t just match the state standards for art, but also the standards for other subjects.

So my 3rd grade origami lesson must also be a review of fractions and geometry. Or when we use Model Magic to make insects my 6th graders need to identify the body parts by their proper names.

But there’s more to my motives than just teaching cross-curricular lessons to students. You see, with four buildings there’s no way I can see each class as often as I would like.

I need to find someone who spends more time with the kids than me … gee, who could that be? Oh yeah, the classroom teacher!

While I teach the students, it’s also my job to teach their teacher at the same time. Lucky for me, this can be as easy as making sure my student helpers hand paper out to everyone including the teacher. Everyone seems to love art, and in my experience the better teachers are more than happy to join in.

They might not repeat that lesson the same year, but the following year when they’re covering the same part of their curriculum they might just remember how that crayon and watercolor project helped reinforce their lesson on hurricanes.

It means I’ll need to plan something different each year, but that’s OK – I think it’s fun.

Hear yourself on my upcoming 100th podcast spectacular! Just click here and your web browser will use your computer’s microphone to send me an audio comment.

I’ll accept just about anything, including simple greetings or congratulations, shout-outs, reviews of products or services, commentary on recent events, or even plugs for other podcasts.

This is, of course, provided everything is kid-safe.

Think of it as free advertising that will reach an exclusive listener base. And yes, by “exclusive” I mean “small.”

Today I’d like to talk about a little thing the art community calls “Form vs. Function,” and relate it to education in general.

An item’s function, as we all know, is what it does – what it’s purpose is. Form, on the other hand, is what it looks like. Both can be equally important, but not always.

Take the chairs in a classroom, for example. Sure, they were designed by someone, but at the end of the day their main purpose is to lift the students high enough off of the floor so they can use their desks. Their color was most likely determined by whatever was cheapest or easiest.

On the other hand, a painting puts much more weight on it’s form. In fact, it’s form is so important that looking nice is also it’s function. (This is, of course, assuming it’s not there to cover the spaghetti stain your three year old managed to put on the wall.)

Think that since you’re not an artist this doesn’t apply to you? Think again. When’s the last time you sat through a workshop filled with pertinent information, but was still so dry in it’s presentation that you remembered nothing afterwards? Or maybe the PowerPoint slides looked nice but added nothing to what the speaker was saying?

As a traveling art teacher I’ve seen a lot of classrooms, and I’ve seen far too many teachers who put the function of teaching so far ahead of the form of teaching that student retention is almost nil.

I could just tell the students what they need to know, give them a test, and move on, but how many of them would really learn?

No, like a well designed car I need to both get the students there and … well … look good doing it.

As those of you who are teachers get ready for the new school year, I want you to think about how you can balance form and function in your lessons. Will your desks be arranged in the same boring grid, or will you break it up a bit? What posters will you have on your walls? (If you don’t have enough posters, have your students make some that tie in with your curriculum.)

What will your class website look like?

And there’s more to it than just how your room appears. When you’re presenting your lesson, will you be hiding behind a podium or moving about the room as if it was your own personal stage? More activity shows you have more interest in the subject, and while that doesn’t necessarily make sure the students will learn, just try to teach them the same thing if they think that even you aren’t interested in long division.

In other news, I’m thinking about playing some audio clips on my 100th podcast which I should reach sometime in late August, provided I don’t get sidetracked somehow. I’ve decided to accept just about anything, including simple greetings or congratulations, shout-outs, reviews of products or services, commentary on recent events, or even plugs for other podcasts.

This is, of course, provided everything is kid-safe.

Think of it as free advertising that will reach an exclusive listener base. And yes, by “exclusive” I mean “small.”

If you want something played during my 100th podcast, record it and send it to me. I’d prefer it to be in MP3 format, but I’ll accept other file formats if they’re not too large.