Mr. Brown’s Blog

            This week, the students in rooms 105 and 107 are in beginning a unit on landscapes.  We began by looking at landscapes that show Chicago, Mexico, France, and Japan.  We looked at photographs of Chicago taken by various artists.  We will also be looking at paintings of Mexico created by Diego Rivera, paintings of the Giverny region of France created by Claude Monet, and ink paintings of the Mount Fuji region of Japan created by Hokusai and Hiroshige.  We will also use Google Earth to get more of a sense of where these places are in the world and what they are like.  We talked about the region where each place is located and about the kinds of geographic features that can be found in those places.  Each student will work to create a landscape for each of the locations that we are “visiting.”  I will be giving further updates about this project as we progress.

If you would like to learn more about any of the artists I just mentioned, here are some links:

http://www.diegorivera.com/index.php

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215473/monet.htm

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/ukiyoe/ukiyoe06_04.html

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/virtual/ukiyoe/ukiyoe06_03.html

In addition, we have been using a program called Google Earth to get a sense of what each of these countries is like.  If you have never used it before, drop whatever you’re doing right now and go to

http://earth.google.com

-Duone Brown

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about our student teacher, Karina Fischer.  It is with a mixture of both pride and sadness that I report that she has completed her 5 weeks with us.   The students loved having her around because they got to see art from a new perspective.  While we are sad that she’s gone, we’re glad that she has moved on to the next phase of her apprentice teaching (she will be spending 5 weeks student-teaching at a High School in Bronzeville).  To see some of the work she did with the students, go to our section on www.artsonia.com and check out the following exhibits:
-Alexander Calder Mobiles
-Gesture Drawings
-Masks: The Angry Dragon
-Alma Thomas Light Paintings

-Duone Brown

Do you have a favorite work of art?  Want to share that work of art with a room full of enthusiastic young artists?  We are looking for guests who would like to come to our art classes and discuss their favorite works of art.  The work of art you discuss could be famous or not-so-famous.  It could even be something that you made yourself.  We would need you to tell us a little about the work and to share with us what it is about that work of art that makes it special to you.  Interested?  Call me at the school or email me at dbrown10@cps.edu.

Hi All,

I apologize for the lack of postings over the past few weeks.  I’ve been having some computer problems but now they’re resolved, so I can go back to posting.  There will be quite a few postings in the next few days.  After that, I’ll go back to posting once or twice a week.

Thanks for Your Patience,

-Duone Brown

Hi All,

Starting later this week, students will be taking home the first of this year’s art projects. For students in grades 1-3, projects will also be accompanied with Project Evaluations that show the grade for that project. I have had some parents ask me “How the heck do you grade art?” For this reason, I’d like to take this opportunity to explain the grading process for art class.

Let me begin by making clear what the grade does NOT mean. The grade is not an expression of whether the teacher thinks the student is a “good” artist or “bad” artist and it isn’t a judgment of what kind of person the child is (because as far as I’m concerned, I don’t have any “bad” children or “bad” artists :-). The grade that each child receives on a particular project only reflects how well the student did at meeting the objectives of that project.

People have also asked me “How do you decide what to teach?” Each lesson is based on the Illinois Fine Learning Standards. You can view these goals online at http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/fine_arts/standards.htm. I base each lesson on one or more of these standards. I make sure to state clearly at the beginning of each lesson what we hope to accomplish (learning how to use markers to draw different types of lines, for example). I also make sure to check in with the students at several points in the lesson, reminding them of their objectives for the lesson. In addition, I show the students examples of projects that meet the objectives for the lesson, projects that exceed the standards, and projects that don’t meet the standards. When the lesson is completed, I use a rubric designed for that particular lesson to assess each student’s performance.

Hopefully, this gives everyone a clearer picture of how the grading process works for art class. If there are any questions about a particular grade on a particular project, please let me know.

-Duone Brown

Hi All,

Some of the parents at Murray have been nice enough to ask what materials we need donated for the art program.  Here is a list of things that we never seem to have enough of:

pencils

erasers

baby wipes (preferably unscented)

paper towels

Also, I will be doing a sculpture project later in the year that will require us to use lots of shoe boxes.  We will also need small wood scraps (less than 2″ in length, width, and height).

If you would like to donate any of the aforementioned items, we would greatly appreciate it.  If you have anything else that you think we might be able to use, please let me know.

-Duone Brown

Hi All,

I just wanted to take this opportunity to remind everyone about a way that you can see works of art created by our students. We post pictures of our work on a web site called ArtSonia. ArtSonia bills itself as “the world’s largest kids’ art museum” and was developed as a way to allow students to share their work with people everywhere. Visitors can also leave comments about the works. In the Gift Shop section, visitors can also purchase coffee mugs, t-shirts, and other keepsakes featuring student art work. I will begin posting work from this school year in about a week. For now, you can check out our work from last year at

http://www.artsonia.com

☺

-Duone Brown

Hi All,

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Karina Fischer to Murray Language Academy.  Ms Fischer is a student at The School of the Art Institute.  She is pursuing her teaching certificate in art and will be student-teaching with us for 7 weeks.  Ms Fischer will work with my classes and with Mr. Mills and his classes as well.  For the first couple of weeks, she will act mostly as an observer.  After that, she will actually teach all of the classes. I ask that everyone please extend a warm Murray welcome to her.

-Duone Brown

Hi All,
I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to this year’s art program. Students will attend art class twice a week. During these classes, they will be learning about the basic elements and principles of art. These things (like line, shape, color, balance, and variety) are the “art alphabet.” They are the basic building blocks of art. Children will also be learning basic art making processes, things like painting, drawing, and sculpture. We will learn about the history of art from different times and places. We will also be working with teachers in other subject areas to do interdisciplinary lessons.
To insure that everyone has the best possible chance of success, here are the rules that we ask all students to follow:
1. Come to class. We all will have times when we can’t make it to school (illness, family emergency, etc.), but is extremely important that students attend school as much as possible. We have lots of exciting learning opportunities planned for this year and we would hate for your child to miss out on any of them.
2. Show respect for everyone in the school. (This includes teachers, staff members, volunteers, guests, and other students). A good rule of thumb is that you are respecting someone if you treat that person the way that you want that person to treat you.
3. Pay attention. The people who do the best in school are not always the smartest or the most talented people. They are usually the ones who do a good job of paying attention and following directions. For this reason, we ask students to use their eyes, ears, and brains whenever someone is addressing the class. We also ask them not to talk while someone else is talking.
4. Ask questions. Some of the things we do in class will be confusing at first. It is my job as a teacher to help people when they have trouble, but it is the student’s job to let me know if he / she is having trouble. This is why students must ask questions when they need help. I can answer questions during class. Or if the student isn’t comfortable talking in a large group, I can answer questions before or after school.
5. Try. Some of the things we do in this class (and in our lives) will be extremely challenging. We may not do well the first time (or the second time or the third time). If we give up in these situations, we never learn anything new. But if we keep at it, we get better and better at what we do.
Please note that there is no list of supplies that students must bring to art class. However, sometimes we do projects that are messy, so you may want to have your son or daughter keep an old shirt or jacket in the locker for days like this.
If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at the school or to stop in for a conference. I am available every day from 7:00 to 8:30 and most days from 2:45 to 3:15. You can also reach me by email at dbrown10@cps.edu. I look forward to working together to insure that all of our children have a successful year.

Duone Brown