Art Should Create an Emotional Reaction

I really miss Amy Winehouse. I ran into this video today and it really hit me.

Monday I took daughters number 3 and 4 to the Crystal Bridges Museum. I was completely fascinated with the painting Summer Day by Frank Weston Benton, an artist who I was not familiar with but I am now a huge fan. I am going back Friday to stare at it again.

When I saw the painting it stopped me in my tracks. I literally stopped and gaped. Then I walked up and examined the brush strokes carefully, marveling at how what can be perceived as sloppy work up close makes such a striking, beautiful picture after stepping back a few feet. This painting makes me understand art theft. 

I wrote about a song that really speaks to me and one moment in time in the post Powerful, Indelible, Perfect Memories from Music.  How amazing is it that just a few notes can transport me back to a (probably very romanticized) memory when I was a teen. 

I am constantly referring to, thinking about and being emotionally stripped by Robert Frost's Mending Wall. It is a driving force in my thoughts and conversations around the idea of extended networks and extended family. It also has influenced my thoughts on the problem with nationalism. 

Here are some questions I ask you to ponder:

1. What art (music, painting, poetry, literature, etc) has created an emotional reaction in you?
2. Since emotions are tied closely to learning, what can you learn from that art?
3. Do you create opportunities for students to find or share art they have emotional reactions to?

The Creation Station: Changing the Climate of the Library

Mrs. Owens, our school librarian, has been doing some research on the Maker's movement. She has decided to create an area in the library where students can create things that they can take with them.

She has stocked shelves full of art supplies that she has to encourage more self expression for the students and to create a different feel for the library itself. It can be difficult to change the perceptions that have been in place for years and years.

While discussing the library with Mrs. Owens, I really got the feeling that she was wanting the library to be a gathering place for both students and teachers. I tend to spend a lot of my out of the classroom time in the library because I feel so comfortable sitting among all the books. I imagine that kids that don't like to read don't get that feeling.

While I don't have the space that the library does, I too try to create spaces of comfort (is that a phrase a thing?) where kids can feel like the room isn't all about content. Here is a picture of the area I created for #SaveComicSans, our ukulele club.

I let the students sit there as well when they are working or have a bit of free time to read or visit quietly. Unfortunately there isn't enough of that time already built in to the school day. It is really hard to build a community around content.

I have also brought in blankets for the kids to use when they want to. I have one class that beats feet to the room so they can get one. It is a pretty simple way to change their feelings of comfort in the room. 

I am really pleased that Mrs. Owens is looking at her library and trying to make decisions that will positively affect its climate. I am hopeful that other teachers will notice and start thinking about it too.

Creating a Classroom Community with Shared Experiences

You may be familiar with this video. If you Google 'the worst music video ever' it is number one on the list. I showed it to my junior high classes today. Yesterday I sang to them Dumb Ways to Die with an ukulele accompaniment. 

My goal is to create shared community experiences for us. The diversity of our community is huge and getting more so all the time. We don't have the luxury of any real shared history through the usual tv shows, music, or even being together in the same school.  As the social studies teacher I am taking on the responsibility of creating shared experiences for us. Do you think it is possible to create a community without some shared experiences?

Begin the Beguine

Begin the Beguine - Eleanor Powell and Fred... by SandyHookFan

"A Beguine was originally a Christian lay woman of the 13th or 14th century living in a religious community without formal vows, but in the creole of the Caribbean, especially in Martinique and Guadeloupe, the term came to mean "white woman", and then to be applied to a style of music and dance, and in particular a slow, close couples' dance." Wikipedia 

How appropriate to begin a year than to look at what kind of relationship we want to have with our classes. In the above video Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire dance to Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine. It is easy to notice that Fred Astaire leads the dance, but without Eleanor's accompanying the dance would fall flat. 

I like to think that I am the Fred Astaire to the class's Eleanor Powell. I will lead the learning dance, but if my students can't match my lead the whole experience falls apart. We will have to work closely together, creating a community of learning that will hopefully make the group stronger collectively than the parts. As we dance together we Begin the Beguine.