BLOG # 18: Helping Students Foster a Positive Sense of Self-Identity

I think it is important that we develop meaningful relationships and really know who are students are in order for us to help them foster a positive sense of self-identity. Having our students use sketchbook journals is a great tool to encourage introspection. As a teacher, positively responding to our students' ideas and perspectives can also help cultivate an encouraging learning environment. Planning lessons that directly deal with the self is also an imperative aspect of bring self-identity to the menu for discussion. Sharing other influencing artists whose work is strongly guided by self-identity can be valuable as well. I think it can be enlightening for students when they hear about the stories of other artists and the challenges that they dealt with throughout their lives. The topic of identity looms with us throughout our lives. As we change and grow, our identities shift and morph to fit our new outlooks.

Blog #17: Collaboration

I was really interested in Ken Vieth's Contemporary Conceptualization of a Totem Pole project. It is a collaborative project that still represents each student on an individual level. However, the magic of the work exists when all the pieces are joined together to form one piece of art. Students also obtain unity through the use of color and the task of assembling each image in order to form a whole. The totem poles are composed from symbolic images that represent each student and embody aspects of their identity and personality.

I love that this collaborative project also calls for displaying the finished product in a public place. I found this sample image in From Ordinary to Extraordinary interesting to look at. Although many of the pieces reveal an expansive variety of shapes, they all visually cooperate with one another.