Painting Colaboration Project Idea

As we all know collaboration and working together with others are important parts of today's world. Who other than myself to teach this to high school students getting ready to head out into the vastly open world? While researching for synthesis painting ideas I adjusted my search to include collaborative paintings and the Google image search gave me results that I did not expect; several people painting on the same canvas. If you are an artist you may know that one of the unspoken golden rules is "don't touch other people's artwork." Why not take that fear and hostile way of thinking away and establish harmony into one piece of art? This gives me the lesson plan idea. I would have students take an every day object or image and have them abstract it to where it is no longer recognizable as the image. I would keep it a secret that they will eventually take their piece and have to collaborate with other students to create one huge artwork incorporating everyone's abstracted objects. This would teach the students how to work together under potentially stressful situations and increase verbal communication skills. In addition, this will show students what they can do together as a group and how little effort they had to put forth to make their small piece of the puzzle fit into the greater scheme of things.


Another idea hatched with the same concept in mind would be to have a large image squared off into different parts (like a tic-tac-toe board) where each student had to complete their corresponding part of the large image. The goal wold be to have all of the students work together to make a replica of the large image where as all the lines match up. It would be obvious who would collaborate with others because their lines would line up with the their classmates portions of the large image.. Therefore, the grade would not necessarily be on the artwork itself but on how well they work with others.

In addition to learning communication skills in an art environment I could use the fact that many artworks through history have ben completed as a group effort not only by one artist. For example, several sculptures in the 15th century took several years to complete and sometimes  the commission would not be complete when a sculptor passes away. I personally always thought that all art was "one piece, one name, one artist" but that is not always the case. In Claus Sluter's "Tomb of Phillip the Bold" he passed away before he could complete his commission. Claus de Werve finished the sculpting of the tomb and "The Mourners." Here is a short VIDEO that is an in depth look at the piece. Anyway, not only is cooperation an important as a life skill it has been used in art for centuries, despite popular belief.

21st Centruy Skills the Challenge Ahead

Quote: "Advocates of 21st century skills favor student-centered methods — for example, problem-based learning and project-based learning — that allow students to collaborate, work on authentic problems, and engage with the community."

Reaction: Growing up in this transitional period in society and in the school system I have personally learned that the more engaged the student is and the more minds that work together the more the information is retained. 

Quote: "Why don't teachers use the methods that they believe are most effective? Even advocates of student-centered methods acknowledge that these methods pose classroom management problems for teachers. When students collaborate, one expects a certain amount of hubbub in the room, which could devolve into chaos in less-than-expert hands. These methods also demand that teachers be knowledgeable about a broad range of topics and are prepared to make in-the-moment decisions as the lesson plan progresses."

Reaction: This is a terrible excuse for not implementing better ways of teaching. To be a teacher you have to care about the students you teach and want to help and have a kind heart. I've seen burnt out teachers that were in the profession for the wrong reasons and they have no motivation anymore and nobody gains anything from this. Point being, where there is a will there is a way. If we really care about our students we will find a way to give them the best learning experience possible, even if it means sacrificing our current comfort zones. 

Quote: "There is little point in investing heavily in curriculum and human capital without also investing in assessments to evaluate what is or is not being accomplished in the classroom. Fortunately, as Elena Silva (2008) noted in a recent report for Education Sector, the potential exists today to produce assessments that measure thinking skills and are also reliable and comparable between students and schools — elements integral to efforts to ensure accountability and equity. But efforts to assess these skills are still in their infancy; education faces enormous challenges in developing the ability to deliver these assessments at scale."

Reaction: I strongly believe that formal testing is flawed. We do not get an accurate summation of what is learned by testing what facts were memorized. Intellectual capacity can be measured far better than by taking a traditional test, all that accomplishes is that we know how to fill in a bubble. 

Reflection: Overall, most of us know that the education system needs some work and wrinkles ironed out here and there to make it more efficient. After all, we have grown into a new age of students and teachers heavily reliant on technology and communication, which is a good thing. We are due for a new education reform that considers with this change in society. We to not need to rely on a dated system that is not teaching students to learn.