National Art Education Association

Adopting a School: Art Education Students in ResidenceAuthor(s): George SzekelySource: Art Education, Vol. 46, No. 5, Pre-service and In-service (Sep., 1993), pp. 18-24Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193382 .

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ADOPTING A SCHOOL:

Art Education~~~~~~

Students~ IN Residenc

t's 7:30 a.m., an hour before school begins at the Landsdowne Elementary School, yet the parking lot is already bustling. Several young men and women wrestle a large blue children's pool from the trunk of a compact car with much effort. A big, old black suitcase, richly tattooed with exotic travel decals, is dragged across the pavement: One college student staggers under a load of antique straw hats and gowns. Aiother juggles hula hoops and children'sphones. The students are joined by a teddy bear, looking out of a rolled up piece of carpet inside a backpack. The bear is followed by a straggle of early arrivals - children fantasizing and guessing the meaning of this strange entourage.

This is the third week of the Adopt-A- School Project for 25 University of Kentucky elementary education majors enrolled in the Introduction to Art Education course. The intention of the

project is to give art majors and education majors an opportunity to experience teaching early in their undergraduate work. The students work together as a group to plan, share ideas and materials, and then critique their work; but each student is individually responsible for a mini class of five children for one or two semesters. Although I started the project 10 years ago and this is the 24th school we have adopted, I still feel the same excitement as I pull into the parking lot.

We gather at 8:00 in our rehearsal/meeting space. It's a think tank made festive by the layout of props, toys and supplies we have brought for our work with the children that day. Props generate ideas, freely shared in this early gathering. Confidence is built with each explanation, as students focus on their ideas and lend visions to others. Individual plans are unveiled and the

BY GEORGE SZEKELY

ART EDUCATION / SEPTEMBER 1993

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group's reactions canvassed as we share object finds, sketch books and idea books describing the design of spaces, movements, displays of objects, plans for surprises and timing of adventures. We don't rush to start by clock time. Rather, I yield to the productive exchange.

There is a sense of tension mixed with anticipation about the upcoming event. This is not a routine lesson, but an original art production. We try to picture the faces of children and imagine their responses to our introductory plays and performances. We won't stop being nervous until the children actually do respond, reassuring us as no one else can.

Last minute inventory checks are made, since we bring the "whole show"; we supply what is necessary in terms of scissors and glue, but also things that excite and involve. We shop at garage sales, flea markets, gift shops, fast-food restaurants, and toy stores, constantly

looking for play items as well as the latest and most unusual materials. We pack everything in secret containers or interesting wrappers because unpacking is so important to children. We try to consider what will be opened first and next, keeping in mind the joy of surprise. Disguises, stickers, newfangled bubble blowers, or Day-Glo paper clips will be in our packages first.

Quietly we leave our meeting space and parade along the hallways with our pull toys, costumes, and prop containers. Children on hall passes respond with delight, giving us confidence. We gather as a group outside the five classrooms where we will teach, then make our entrance.

We are greeted with great excitement. The children welcome their teachers and enthusiastically offer to help set the stage and carry in each special item. A blanket is spread out on the floor for a picnic-style art seating arrangement by one group of children. Others crawl into a cave or fun house under a cluster of tables. The ambience of an Italian restaurant is created in the cafeteria by using red-and-white checkered tablecloths and vases of flowers. We set up a space station, concert stage, fish tank, or circus. Each lesson begins with a play staged via a simple rearrangement of school furnishings, with a few select props.

Signs placed around the room suggest choices. A sign for a salad bar indicated an activity which involves arranging a prime selection of erasers and rubber bands, shaving cream toppings, and other tempting tidbits on metallic plates. The dressing room, test kitchen, and junk-yard signs designate other places where children can try on or try out different roles, objects, and materials. Noise makers and noses, Post-it pads and stickers lend changing expressions to faces and are for models to wear before a face is drawn.

Activities spread throughout the building, spilling into the playground in the form of tracks left by marbles, stairway fashion shows and hallway parades. Not everything is displayed at once. During the next 30 minutes, many surprises develop. Students must learn about timing and visual ways to inspire children. The play settings and activities attract the attention of the classroom teachers, the school's art teacher, the principal, and other school personnel who casually inspect our workings. This gives students the

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chance to describe their intentions and ideas to a variety of audiences.

I move from group to group, assisting with unexpected material needs, applauding daring ideas, offering practical advice. By this time I can usually figure out what is going on in each group. Even though we have shared ideas in our planning session, students are free to alter their plans until the moment of the presentation, as new ideas occur. The children further enhance the lesson; they are encouraged to play and formulate ideas. It is exciting to watch a lesson unfold, from the original plan through each fresh adaptation.

After playful beginnings, children in each group are involved in making art. They choose art surfaces and tools from a variety of interesting displays and collections. The materials they select generally refer to the play idea. For example, to celebrate the birthday of an elephant, the proud parents record the moment on film. Polaroid snapshots are created from file cards layered with colored chalk; movies are made, with adding machine tape for film. When the circus comes to town, our parade of pull toys is featured in the local newspaper; regular headlines and copy have been whited out and our own pictures inserted. The spiraling patterns of a Domino derby are sketched inside a Domino's pizza box.

Play settings and performances are filmed and photographed. Children's art also receives attention in hallway displays. Fashion inventions are previewed on a runway, with microphone commentary. Paintings are sold to make-believe dealers or at auctions. Art works are interviewed and talk about themselves. Before we conclude our morning session, the students discuss with the children their hopes and ideas for the next class.

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"I will not forget the children's eyes, filled with amazement, when I opened my art disguise trunk ...

"They clapped each time we came into their class. That's the way I want to be received by my students when I start teaching...

"When we left, they cried and wrote us lovely letters listing all the things they learned in art. They gave us the gift of a Spring semester we will not forget. None of us realized how much fun art could be, and how important our work is. The school experience will sustain us through the many courses still ahead."

Debbie DeBeneditto Adopt-A-School Project participant

After the classroom session is over, we meet back in our rehearsal space to review events. The student teachers then leave for their next college class, exhausted yet deep in animated conversation. I meet my teacher- colleague, the school's art teacher, for lunch. In the hall I notice a red cart filled with lunchboxes. Student teachers for the afternoon class are already arriving. The owner of the cart is worried about a problem with her play entrance, so she is invited to join us for lunch where we discuss her plans.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ART TEACHING PROFESSION

Art education should begin with teaching - the sharing of art and one's artist self with children. The process should involve children from the start, since they provide the most satisfaction and are the strongest draw to teaching. The experience of teaching is the

shortest path to the feeling of: 'Yes, this is what I want to do more than anything else." When practice teaching is delayed until the end of course work, students have no time to turn around, change their minds, or honestly appraise themselves. They may do very well in course work, yet discover that teaching is not for them. Students who work with children throughout their training, however, know what art teaching is and can be. They discover relevance in various theories of art teaching and are enthusiastic learners.

The Adopt-A-School Project provides opportunities for everyone to be a teacher. Students are treated as colleagues. Each is assigned a small group of five children, in an elementary school one semester and in a secondary school the next semester. They are asked to work independently, to search for ideas, materials, spaces; and to consider all aspects of creating an

art experience. This corrects a much criticized shortcoming of art education: The failure to instil independence, or the ability to create without assignments or encouragement from others. Young art teachers make unique contributions to the field as they approach it with fresh ideas. This should not be overshadowed by experience or expertise, solutions and answers based on research or the insights of others. Independent investigation is the surest way to help young artist-teachers learn their profession. As a student in our Adopt-A- School Projects said, "I am glad that I felt early the joys

of being an art teacher because it sustained me while I sat in education classes. I worked even harder to achieve my goals."

DETAILS OF THE PROJECT When they first read their college

schedule books, our students may be surprised that the art education classes actually meet in the public schools. This only makes sense. Art planning is a creative design process, and as good designers, we need to know the site and the participants. The noises and smells of the hallways, the timing of the children's actions, the pace of school movements, the secret collections and interests of children need to be experienced by planners who survey the details, envision the possibilities, and learn from children.

Long before our teachers first come to school, I lay the groundwork by addressing a school faculty meeting and

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speak individually with the teachers whose classes we will teach. A video of previously adopted schools and activities is used to preview the upcoming event. I also offer a summer workshop for our host, the school art teacher. This person is often familiar with our program already, either as a former student or as a graduate student.

We reside in an elementary school each Fall and in a secondary school during the Spring semester. Our meeting space is seldom an art room; it may be the cafeteria, auditorium stage, or gymnasium. All phases of teacher education come together in this project as students taking courses in undergraduate methods or practice teaching work with graduate students. We spend two very eventful days each week in the school. In the first session, we plan and prepare the lesson, diagramming our ideas to explore what spaces, actions, and events will look like. Children's rooms, their toys, and their playground are considered for inspiration. In the second session of the week, we perform the lesson with the children - five classes containing 25 to 30 children each.

Extensive outside preparation is necessary in order for students to realize their ideas. They constantly search for items to use. Instead of relying on ordinary school supplies, they become used to the art teacher's role of gathering the extraordinary, and of being the supplier of beautiful and unusual things. In addition, students regularly correspond with their professor on a feedback sheet to review their teaching sessions.

A regular debriefing period follows each lesson. This is how we discover the unexpected and learn from each situation. For example, instead of hearing the usual joyful noises during the popular game of playing doctor, we heard crying one day. White strips of

Building a love for art teaching should be the principal goal of teacher education. To be an art teacher, one needs to feel a special relationship to children as one learns to share deep feelings for art with them.

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paper had been laid out on tables in preparation for the "operation" - body tracings. The teacher's face was familiar, but her nurse's outfit and Fisher-Price equipment still brought on tears instead of the hoped-for relaxed play response!

THE ART STUDENT AS ARTIST AND TEACHER

A love for art is often the student's first preoccupation. Dreams of becoming an artist are based on strong feelings toward art making. Thoughts of teaching generally enter later, but the desire to teach can be just as intense and joyful. In the company of great, creative minds each day, witnessing innovative art made by children, the student comes to feel that teaching is not "settling" but a way to enrich one's art: in fact, it is art. Children bring about important changes in the attitudes of young artist teachers. Building a love for art teaching should be the principal goal of teacher education. To be an art teacher, one needs to feel a special relationship to children as one learns to share deep feelings for art with them.

At the same time that young teachers explore art teaching, they are experiencing a unique period in their artistic life. They become involved in major studio projects, and for most students, this is their first attempt to grapple with art problems. As they develop as artists, build collections, define personal interests and concerns, they begin to see that they have a great deal to offer as teachers. The important relationship of artist and teacher begins here.

We design art lessons as works of art, taking pride in their originality, but also welcoming the children's responses, which complete the work. As students uncover their own artistic life in the studios, they witness the importance of art in children's lives. Students learn that their unique visions can be expressed through art and through teaching. With discussions and daily

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explorations, practice teaching becomes an art medium.

WORKING WITH THE PUBLIC SCHOOL ART TEACHER

"Do you have a moment to see this?" Art teachers who spend their whole day encouraging others welcome the opportunity to have someone see their work. More important than continuing education or the latest teaching ideas is recognition of their work by colleagues. It is not easy to be the only art teacher, as is the case in most of our public schools. Once watched and praised in college, these teachers now exist in settings where their uniqueness and talents may be rarely appreciated. Our program offers them a fulfilling boost which becomes apparent in their own work. For instance, in all the schools we adopt, we find an increase in the quality and quantity of hallway art shows, as the art teachers are enlivened by the comments and attention of a responsive audience.

Many teachers continue to dream, create, write, and make art while teaching. By encouraging an article about a successful lesson, looking at recent photographs and promoting their exhibitions, or drawing with an art teacher who has, perhaps, put art aside, we stimulate these teachers to see themselves again as artists.

THE PROFESSOR IN THE SCHOOLS

The Adopt-A-School Project has become a source of gratification and inspiration for me, as well. It continues to generate a wealth of research ideas and programs. One of these, the Gallery Owner's Program, became a nationally funded project. Children are given full

charge of a part of the school's hallway, designated "the gallery", to manage and develop a program of exhibits. They have successfully organized some unusual shows, e.g., Art in the Kitchen, an exhibition by friends and neighbors; Dad and Mom as Artists, an exhibition of art by parents and their children. The shows are accompanied by appropriate invitations and opening celebrations.

The Art Partnership Network Project, another nationally recognized program, paired college art students of different art specializations with children identified as artistically gifted. The pairs work in a supportive relationship on a variety of after-school projects such as walks, studio visits, art exhibit preparations, and experiences as museum guides.

A different type of program originating from the Adopt-A-School Project is a unique master's level exhibit option. Art education graduate students began holding their thesis shows in the elementary or secondary schools where they are teaching, instead of in the University art gallery. The schools become the beneficiaries of these celebrations, which place children's and teachers' works side by side. These school-wide events bring together adults and children.

MEANINGFUL INITIATION For the young elementary school

teacher, the opportunity to teach art for a semester is a memorable episode. These early impressions insure that art will remain alive and well in the schools.Our art majors perform so confidently as teachers that one hardly believes they were a frightened group at the start. There is nothing like teaching to develop confidence, and this confidence carries over to art making.

The Adopt-A-School Project encourages a dynamic mix: experienced older staff, college faculty,

student teachers, and children, teaching and learning from each other. Our sessions are open and public, so they elicit a wide range of viewers and opinions. Being on exhibit all the time, our students act professionally and are eager to demonstrate creative teaching. Building support for new teaching ideas is most effectively accomplished "live" at the school. The art teacher as change agent is talking, explaining, and listening to everyone in the building, from cafeteria staff to principal. Each student teacher has to learn this role and demonstrate it daily in the school, building support, one person at a time.

George Szekely is professor of art education, University ofKentucky, Lexington.

AN ADOPT-A-SCHOOL READING LIST Szekely, G. (1991). From play to art.

Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann Educational Books.

Szekely, G. (1988). Encouraging creativity in art lessons. New York: Teachers College Press.

Szekely, G. (1982). Art partnerships. The Teacher Educator. 17 (4), 8-19.

Szekely, G. (1982). Art partnership networks: A supportive program for the artistically gifted. The Elementary School Journal. 14 (20) 59-67.

Szekely, G. (1981). Adopt-a-school: A program of visibility. Design forArts in Education: 82(3), 28-31.

Szekely, G. (1981). The adopt-a-school project. Improving College and University Teaching. 29 (3), 129-133.

Szekely, G. (1978). Uniting roles of artist and teacher. Art Education. 31 (1), 17-20.

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