Northern Lights

My next genius hour project has been decided and I am so excited to share it with all of you! As I stated in my last post, I really wanted to focus more on an art based project this time (i.e. painting, drawing, colouring) rather than transforming nature into some kind of art piece. One of the things I have loved most about nature over the years are the different colours and how bold they can be. That is why the Northern Lights are on my bucket list of natural wonders of the world I want to see! I have only ever seen them through videos and pictures but I have always been fascinated by how they are created and how unique they are. So (as you probably have guessed by now) my next art piece will be a recreation of the Northern Lights! I have gotten my inspiration from a pintrest page in which someone has created a beautiful recreation:

I have to consider the different materials I will need but I believe all I will need is black construction paper and water colour paint. I think it is important to practice creating nature-art combos that require simple materials because it is keeps the creativity high and the stress and frustration low! I think there will be frustrations along the way because I have never had any classes in painting and there are no instructions attached to this art piece, so it will be all trial and error for me! A question I have close to my heart is how can I recreate this art piece while also giving it some of my own flair and ideas? I try to ask myself this question every time I create these art pieces because I usually get my initial ideas from other people but I want them to incorporate some of my own ideas as well. I will keep you posted on the progress!

Forest Fairies

My first genius hour project is completed and I am so happy with it!

After getting the supplies from the woods and compost bins I began the process of assembling the fairies dresses. This was so much fun and I'm honestly wondering if I should change my major to fashion design?? Just kidding! But the dresses turned out lovely! For the summer fairy I layered the leaves with small flowers sprouting out and used a rose petal as the top half. I used grass and leaves for the rest of her dress! For the winter fairy I used a lot of dead leaves, weeds, and tree bark to make her dress and the platform she was standing on. There were a few struggles along the way though! The hardest part was figuring out a way to represent them and what colours to use in the background. How they are placed on the paper is probably the most important part of the picture because it is when nature and art really merge! Originally I was going to have them be in the same frame to contrast each other, but I felt I could not properly highlight their colours in this way. I had to ask many opinions and look at many pieces online with contrasting colours ad ultimately I decided to have them side by side because I felt it really that the differences complimented each other and helped them both to stand out more. This was the best decision because like winter and summer, both contrast each other drastically but both are beautiful and unique in their own way. Hopefully the next one will take a little less time, this one took me over 5 hours to put together!! I would love to implement an activity like this in my future classroom. Firstly, it was easy to find all the materials and the only money I spent on this project was five dollars for a small water colour set that can be used again and again. Students can be creative with their designs and they can create any kind of background to have their fairies stand in! I loved this activity because it gives students the opportunity to transform nature (especially disregarded pieces such as dead leaves, grass, and bark) into something new and beautiful! For my next piece I am looking at a way to represent nature without actually using pieces from nature. I will be looking at photography, painting, and drawing for my next piece because I like to contrast the styles I am using. Stay tuned!! Vanessa

First Day in the Woods

Today I made my first trip into the woods to get supplies for my art project. I had decided on the design that I posted last week but I decided on a few changes. In their design they design individual characters and the children decorate them. I feel that that alone was not enough to represent the beauty of nature and what I wanted to capture with this piece. I decided to create two or three nature fairies with natural materials (i.e. sticks, leaves, bark, etc.) while also creating a background for them using water colours and other natural materials.

I went to short hills today to look for supplies for my first drawing. I was hoping that for this piece I would have one fairy with cool colours that represented winter and one fairy that represented spring with warm colours. One problem I seem to be running into however is that there is not a huge variety in colour in the forest right now due to the subzero temperatures. For this first piece however I would like to use natural materials and I can use more colour in the background to compliment the cool colours of the fairies.

                                                          Vanessa Kiedrowski (2017)

I am thinking that most of the materials that I would find in nature at this point would be the colours of browns, greys, and possibly greens at this point. After this piece is completed I will likely create a piece that is some kind of representation of nature rather than directly taken from nature. Until next time friends!

Ideas!

Hello friends, today I have exciting news. I am going to be embarking on my very own Genius Hour project! I thought long and hard about what I might want to do and it just came to me one day when I was sitting outside. I've decided to explore how I can create meaningful art pieces that represent the beauty of nature. I have always been an avid outdoors-woman as I have been hiking, swimming, camping and basically spending every available minute outside when I can. I have always been able to appreciate the beauty of nature because of my parents who showed me the vast possibilities and beauty in nature. Recently, I took a 6 week art course that went towards my art education degree and I found a new passion at the age of 22. I never pursued art because I felt I wasn't able to draw or paint well (I know, a bit of a fixed mindset right?) but I truly enjoyed my experiences in this course. I had freedom to explore like I had never had in other courses and my creativity just kept pouring onto the pages. I chose to combine these two things because both make me feel peaceful and happy. I have always struggled with anxiety and working on art projects with the focus of nature will help me practice mindfulness and calmness.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-pile-of-stones-158607/

For the first step of my project, I am looking into ideas that I might be able to explore for my first art piece. I am looking to create art pieces that both incorporate natural resources (without disrupting ecosystems or taking plants that are still alive) and art supplies. Below I have included a link to an art piece I will likely undertake for my first project. I like this project because the fairies clothes are made of nature which really showcases its beauty and makes the star of the project. I will likely use a canvas to create a few fairies in a natural setting using all the natural resources I can find.

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/mermag-4650665/make-decorate-your-own-nature-paper-dolls-4519618541


My experiences with art have been minimal so far so I anticipate this will be frustrating for me at times. However, I am looking forward to the process just as much as the end result, wish me luck!

Vanessa

Copyright- Did you make it or take it?

I have never been the most digitally literate person and for the longest time I didn't realize that posting other people's photos, videos, or other forms of media was illegal! I always knew that I had to cite authors of books and articles I had chose to use as a support in my papers but using anything that isn't yours to enhance your own work is stealing!! I would say the most useful tip I took away from this is always cite everything. Even if you are unsure about whether you should cite a piece of information do it anyway because it is better to be safe than sorry. I also learned that you should copyright and cite your own work because people may be inclined to take some of your work as well!
There are different kinds of copyright that you can consider when creating a piece of work. For example, if you create a picture and only want people to view it but not download it or edit it, you can have an all rights reserved creative commons. If you would like to share your work with the public and have people build on your ideas, you can have a some rights reserved creative common. You can then decide who can access your work and in what ways.
Overall, it is important to get students thinking about copyright from an early age if you incorporate digital literacy into the classroom. Don't just stop at having students create a works cited page! Have students investigate different kinds of copyright, where they can find copy right and most importantly why copyright is necessary to be digitally literate.

Riberio (2008, June 30) TPCK Re-visioned [Online Image]. Retrieved  from https://www.flickr.com/photos/lupuca/8720604364

Plougmann (2011, January 20) TPCK Re-visioned [Online Image]. Retrieved  from https://www.flickr.com/photos/criminalintent/5403052781/in/photolist-9es4mr-pRr7ZD-8vBVVr-8vEXcj-5k2wrs-4JX9-8Jw9LH-9ayqsd-e2QMS5-o3wN4Z-3mrXAe-28rtGN-5b495D-e2QMHQ-8vEXjo-8vBVTe-8vBWaH-8vEXd9-e3Zz1-fvT5PN-8vEXtU-5guc28-8vEXmG-bFrCvg-68mS5h-CH3be-8vEXbY-bqVQtj-8vEXpw-dJ1HaZ-6wnx18-8vBVYn-8GmvbX-eenL8S-62Y6XP-A8zQK-8vBVWt-dJ79TA-8vBW9D-dJ1Hwn-62Yv2h-hcbzps-8uVpXv-8uVTTM-8vEXvJ-8mr6gF-6VvuFx-6T2Wt9-bFmvU4-fefJT

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since my last post because school has just been so busy! I  realized that I started this blog without giving a lot of information about myself! My name is Vanessa Kiedrowski and I am in the concurrent education at Brock University with a focus in the primary/junior stream. I have always loved young children because I feel they have so much curiosity and passion for the world around them. However, I just finished up a junior placement at my school and I enjoyed the potential of the older students too, so I will most likely go back and get my intermediate qualifications. I really feel that I have chosen a career path that I enjoy and am excited about. I have always loved making a difference when I can and over my placement I realized how much I could change peoples lives just by coming to work every day. I look forward to posting about my experiences and hope you can relate and learn from my experiences :)

Teacher Activists

As a future teacher and someone who has worked with children the majority of my life, I am invested in providing the best opportunities for them and giving them all an equal chance to be successful. As optimistic as I may be about this topic, there will not be equal opportunities for all the students I encounter. Racism, sexism, ableism and many other structural oppressions are present in the daily lives of our students, especially in the education system. Schools often try to combat this by enforcing a multicultural education where diversity is celebrated but it is often in a tokenistic form (L. Lane, personal communications, February 24, 2016). Many programs do not acknowledge the structural systems that have kept different groups of people oppressed or how one is supposed to acknowledge their own position in the world. That is why I think it is of key importance that before a teacher begins to tackle large problems such as this, they begin by understanding their own privileges and how to address oppression in the classroom.

Teachers must first begin by unpacking their own place in society in relation to their privileges. Social inequalities work at a structural and institutional level in that it has been normalized to the point that it is difficult to detect and address. Therefore, many people reproduce inequalities without even being aware of it. I believe that one of the best ways to better understand ones position is to try things that go out of one’s comfort zone. For example, two years ago I went to Namibia and volunteered in a school for a month. Being immersed in another culture and meeting people that were drastically different then me brought me out of my middle class westernized “bubble” that I had been living in. Now, I understand that traveling halfway across the world is not practical but joining different clubs, meeting new people, or even reading or watching material that challenges your thinking can help to create a self-aware teacher. What arises from a teacher who is aware of their own privilege and the overall structure of society is a person who is empathetic, compassionate, and motivated to create change. Drake, Reid, and Kolohon  (2014) found that teachers that are facilitators are not as effective as teachers who are activists. These teachers are able to facilitate deep learning outcomes, create interesting learning activities that challenge student thinking, and recognize and attend to the “Be” of learning (Drake, Reid, & Kolohon, 2014).

Retrieved from http://pep-teacherleadership.blogspot.ca/2013/03/as-teacher-leaders-we-should.html

Teachers that are self-reflective and activist oriented are better able to implement 21^st century literacies into their classroom because they understand the importance of the skills they provide. One of the best ways they can help students is by facilitating critical thinking opportunities. The 21^st century society that we live in requires people to be critical literate and able to challenge current social paradigms to be a contributing member of society (L. Lane, personal communications, January 6, 2016). Teachers who are empathetic and compassionate are open to the difficult discussions that come with topics such as mental health, multiculturalism, and moral literacy and this helps students facilitate their own learning. For instance, if a child mentions social differences, do not criticize or discourage them for their observations. Rather talk to them about their observations and answer any questions they have (Plous, 2016). Being open to children’s ideas and observations tells them that they have a safe space to think about difficult topics and have discussions that are uncomfortable. When teachers become activists instead of just facilitators, they create an environment that is conducive for 21^st century literacies. 

In case you are further interested in the topic of activism and social justice for teachers, here is a tedtalk by Artika Tyner who is an educator and lawyer that encourages leadership advocacy and social justice education in our schools. The systems of oppression trickle down to effect every generation of people and it can often prevent children from making a difference (e.g. black boys from low SES areas often fall behind in school because they do not have access to preschool learning opportunities). It's the teachers job to be an activist and provide learning opportunities for students that fosters their leadership and activism as well. 

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and assessment: Engaging 21st Century Learners. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press

Plous, S. (2016). Tips for Elementary School Teachers. Understanding Prejudice. Retrieved from http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemtips.htm