Art Class: Where are you from? (Part I)

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is a painting by French artist Paul Gauguin. The title was originally inscribed in French on the top left corner of his painting. Last term, the Primary One children are exploring the meaning of self-identity and we did a survey of their countries of origin. We discovered an astounding 11 different nationalities that make up the P1 level! We read the story It's ok to be different by Todd Parr and started a class discussion of what it meant to be different. They were very cute because someone started to ask questions such as if I were born in India, does it mean I am from Indian? I told them that it is not necessary that way. Then, somebody else asked if their parents were from Vietnam and they were born in Singapore, does it mean they were from Vietnam or Singapore. Another child said her mother is from Hong Kong and her father is from Holland so that makes her Holland-HK. Someone also asked if he should be Singapore-Malaysian or Malaysia-Singaporean and I started to get more permutations...By then, I decided that my heritage is a rare species.

Next, we discussed about the artists' self-portraits such as Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh, Georgette Chan and Pablo Picasso. In the following lesson, we started preparing the coloured papers for drawing self-portraits. The tissue papers were cut into squares so that the children can use water to bleed the colours. Not all tissue papers can achieve the same purpose, some tissue papers contain less colour pigments and resulted in faded colours. 

To assess their understanding of the different types of lines, the children used their bodies to create specific lines that I will call out. And finally! The students used black permanent markers to draw the different types of lines. 

Art Class: Meaningful Memes

There is something about the visual impact that memes create and after some research, I managed to put together a lesson unit. Internet meme is a type of communication tool that combines image(s) and text in a context.

I enjoy reading memes that relates to our lives and so I compiled and decode a list that I think my student could relate to. Here is one of them:

Children are easily amused and I think I could do them a favour by asking them to articulate why they think something is funny or what contributes to a good meme. In the above example, I personally like it a lot and it's brilliant. The fact that it rode effortlessly on the fad of the #10yearchallenge which everyone on social media was doing to "show the improved version of themselves", and still managed to promote the brand. This meme is current and it starkly contrasts with the point of the #10yearchallenge. Thus, to understand this meme, the audience needs to have prior knowledge of what the #10yearchallenge is and to cater to a wider audience and making it more memorable, one has to think of how their ideas can be applicable to a wider audience. Otherwise, it is possible that the students will create something only ONE other friend understood.

Last week, our school officially started the use of Google Suite. It was the BEST thing ever! I find the platform more effective in distributing classroom materials and students could do their work at their own pace.

I chanced upon this blog and adapted a lesson resource. By combining the local Art syllabus' recommended list of the 32 artworks by local and international artists on Google drawing, the students could do their own research. The Google drawing page acts like a meme generator so we can avoid those meme generator websites which could sometimes contain inappropriate materials. You can click on this link here to make a copy.

I spent about four lessons for students' research/ journaling and they also sketch their own memes first. Next, I wanted the children to adapt the images and we had our class discussion on plagarism.

Students' sketches

From this point forward, I felt that I was digging my own grave. The ipads were good for research or using apps and I could have asked the students to use the Paint programme for editing but I thought learning Photoshop tricks are more substantial. To do so, we needed to get to the computer labs because the Photoshop app on the ipads would require phone verification. The students were quite impatient when the Photoshop programme were lagging/ installing or hanging in the computer labs and to some extent, it affects the momentum of the lesson. 

Looking on the bright side, at least I could put the Google drawing (Yay to G Suite!) meme generator to good use and the students could still create their own memes and Paint programme is still good to fall back on. 

I wanted the students to understand layering in Photoshop and we spent some time exploring making hamburgers before using the photo editing programme to create their memes. Those who could successfully saved their Photoshop working files and JPEG files on sharing folder posted the JPEG image on Class Dojo Portfolio would allow their parents to see their work and my comments.

I'm happy with their exploration in these lessons and I think given adequate support and guided instructions, the children can grasp the concept of layering quite quickly after some struggles. There were very few students who know about Photoshop before this unit and exposing this tool to them would allow them to see how manipulation of images can influence perception. 

Class Dojo

Hamburgers using Photoshop

Art Club: Artist & Citizenship

Last year, we had the middle-grade Art Club students doing stop motion videos. They could decide their own theme and develop their own storyboards. Their parents were given the links so that they could enjoy viewing the work. You can click here to view.

The students were regrouped this year so that their groups consists of at least one Primary 5 and 6 student each. The aim is for cross-level collaboration and learning. They can learn to create stop motion video and ceramics from each other this year.

P4 students in 2018

P4 students in 2018

The students were given a theme this year and they contributed words associated with Citizenship. Besides that, they selected and justified the picture cards that were also linked to the theme. The students also watched a series of CCE video about Citizenship on OPAL. 

The cards act as conversation starters for students to delve further into group discussion. They were tasked to map out their storyboards following the theme.

In January, I had my A4G fellowship programme second webinar by UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP). We discussed Target 4.7 - Sustainable development and global citizenship. There was a reading list shared with us:

1.	UNESCO MGIEP’s Policy Brief on Rethinking Schooling which looks at how ideals of SDG 4.7 are embodied in policies and curricula across 22 Asian countries. This policy brief is based on UNESCO MGIEP’s Publication called “Rethinking Schooling for 21st century: The State of Education for Peace, Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship in Asia”
2.	UNESCO MGIEP’s bi-annual publication called “The Blue Dot” – its sixth edition titled “Rewiring the Brain to be Future Ready” focussing how 21st century skills such as empathy, compassion, mindfulness and critical inquiry can be integrated in education systems towards developing peaceful and sustainable societies
3.	UNESCO MGIEP’s Working Paper called “Can Education Promote Peace” authored by Prof. Krishna Kumar, Former Director  National Council of Educational Research and Training
4.	Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning (SEE)Framework from Emory University which explains the linkages between SDG 4.7 and socio-emotional learning
5.	The United Nations Population Fund Report State of World Population 2016 and State of World Population of 2014 titled “The Power of 1.8 Billion”
6.	List of resources for International Mother Language Day
7.	Youth Solutions Report 2018 from Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)

Artventure: Diving Deeper

Prior to our trip to Chennai, India, for the Arts for Good Fellowship Programme, our homework was to explore the purpose of our work. We were introduced to the ‘golden circle’ exercise developed and popularised by Simon Sinek, Author of Start With Why. This sharing session is facilitated by one of the fellows, Brydie-Leigh Bartleet. 

I displayed the organisation's purpose that I work in and mine to show the alignment between teachers and the organisation. 

We spent some time doing a gallery walk and leaving responses on post-its for others on their golden circle. Then. we stood in a circle and explain the purpose(s) of our work. The person next to us will need to reiterate and paraphrase what we had said before moving to his/ her own purpose(s).  

No prize for guessing which is mine.

Getting to Know About Our Practice and Motivations Exercise

Rather than simply sharing WHAT we do as arts facilitators, programmers, educators, researchers and policymakers, and HOW our Organisations/

programs/projects do it, in this session we’re aiming to have a deeper 

exchange. We’re going to share the WHY of what we do, in order to understand 

the real purpose behind our work:

a) WHAT your arts for good program, practice or organisation does. List as many things as you like.

b) In the next circle, list HOW you achieve the things in the outer circle.

c) The final circle, the one in the middle, addresses the question: WHY do I do these things?

And here’s the challenge: there can only be one WHY.