Final Blog: Synthesis

Final Blog: Synthesis of Course

I have appreciated learning about different ways to integrate writing and different types of literacy into my content area. I think this class has helped broaden my vision for how to implement these ideas and has also helped me realize ways in which I already integrate literacy in art classrooms.

One characteristic I want to help my students develop is their own voice when speaking, writing and coming up with ideas. I think helping students develop their own unique perspective and approach is essential in their artwork, writing about their artwork and brainstorming ideas. Artists often do this when they write and speak about their own work.

Helping students to develop their ideas can help them respond to the world in which they live. Giving students many different kinds of opportunities to write is a great way to help them further their critical thinking skills. Free writing, writing and sketching in response to readings we’ve done as class, keeping a journal/sketchbook, writing more formal papers and writing about their opinions to different kinds of artwork. One of my lesson plans incorporated reading a novel as a class and keeping a journal/sketchbook as they read.

The digital world in which we live is also an important issue to address with students. I think giving students projects in which they can integrate digital information with their own ideas is an important opportunity. One of my classmates in Art Methods developed a project called “Mash-ups.” The students could find segments of music or conversations and link them all together to create a specific message. I think this type of project could help students integrate digital media and information with their own ideas and I think it would be great to give them the opportunity to do experiment with this sort of project.

I hope to help my students develop a critical visual literacy to the world around them and the visual information they are bombarded with on a daily basis. I also want to help them integrate art classroom knowledge with their day- to- day lives and to help them view the world through a different lens.