Teachers'+Lounge+-+Lessons+in+the+Spotlight

**Teachers' Lounge**: **Lessons in the Spotlight — Using the Art Critique Process to Strengthen Teaching and Learning** February 9, 2012 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Artists use the critique process to get feedback about their work, anticipate audience responses, and make adjustments and improvements to their work. While schoolteachers exercise their creativity every day creating lessons and units of study, they rarely get to share their products with peers and other professionals. Whether you are looking for fresh ideas or simply want to support your peers, join us for this lively critique featuring visual art and arts integrated lessons by selected Chicago area teachers. Using a rubric developed by local education experts, a panel of peer teachers, museum educators, and guest artists will lead the discussion with audience participation.

Above: Educators examine student examples from David McKosk and DiDi Grimm's lessons. See more images in the [|Online Gallery].

Teachers’ Lounge is a free open-enrollment series offered by the Division of Teacher Programs at the Art Institute of Chicago and developed in collaboration with members of the Teacher Advisory Panel.


 * Invitation and preparations for participating educators: **

**Featured Panelists** **Evan Plummer** With over 10 years experience in museum and formal art education, I am very excited to work with teachers to design and evaluate curriculum. I have worked with teachers in three different continents. The bulk of my current work in art education is to enhance instructional practice through teacher leadership. Building teacher leadership to create curricula, to dialogue around teaching and learning in the arts, and to sustain professional learning communities is a way to further advocate for art education. Additionally, I have been involved in collaborative studio practices with local and international artists, primarily in installation, video, and performative acts. Evan Plummer

**Kate Thomas** Kate Thomas is the Director of //Arts at the Center of Teaching and Learning// at the Chicago Teachers' Center//.// She has worked towards cultivating creativity and reflective teaching practice with various learning communities for over fifteen years. Thomas has worked as a teaching artist, theater director for Redmoon Theater's Dramagirls program, and classroom teacher using the Expeditionary Outward Bound approach, as well as project director and professional development instructor at the Chicago Teachers' Center. She is a co-author of the //Every Art, Every Child// curriculum framework. Every Art, Every Child

**Sarah Alvarez** Sarah Alvarez has over ten years of experience working with all ages and audience types in an encyclopedic art museum setting. She currently serves as the Director of Teacher Programs in the Department of Museum Education at the Art Institute of Chicago. In this role, she oversees professional development programs and the production of teaching resources for over six thousand educators annually. Ms. Alvarez received her B.A in Art History from Skidmore College, //cum laude//, and her M.A in Art History from Rutgers University. She has been at the Art Institute since 2001, serving as Assistant Director in the division of Adult Programs until 2008, when she took over the division of Teacher Programs. Ms. Alvarez is actively engaged in citywide efforts to provide access to quality arts education experiences for all students through such roles as advisory committee member for the Chicago Arts Learning Initiative (2009-2010) and project lead for the Chicago Community Trust-funded “Visual Arts Education in Chicago Public Schools: A Research Study” (2010-11). She is currently on the Steering Committee for the Fry Foundation-funded "Common Measures/Common Core" project.

**DiDi Grimm** 9-12 Visual Art at Lincoln Park High School
 * __Program Objectives:__ **
 * The program will feature visual art and arts integrated lessons developed by selected Chicago area teachers.
 * A small panel consisting of a teacher, a museum educator, and a teaching artist will lead a critique and discussion based on the featured lessons.
 * This is a great opportunity for educators to share their work with other professionals and get feedback.
 * ~ Educator ||~ Lesson Plan & Objectives ||~ Images & Artwork ||
 * [[image:Grimm_DiDi.jpg align="center"]]

DiDi Grimm is an artist educator living in Chicago. She is a National Board Certified Teacher who creates art with students in grades 9-12 at Lincoln Park High School. She earned an MAAE at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently experimenting with Lois Hetland's Studio Habits of Mind to create a classroom environment that helps students become independent critical thinkers who can express themselves through their art. She appreciates the focused drama of teenagers and likes to design big art projects with them that change their experience of the world! || Lesson Title: Voicing Our Values
 * The students will be able to identify, analyze and discuss visual representation of cultural values through the examination of a variety of African arts (textile, sculpture, visual symbols) and traditional/contemporary African artists.27.B.4a, NS 4, 5
 * The students will be able understand that role of the artist in African culture, specifically Asante, and discussion of elements and principles utilized in the art works of featured African artists. 25.A.4, NS 2
 * The students will be able successfully utilize themes/symbolism in African art combined with various traditional imagery, tools, techniques, and materials to collaboratively create a series of visual symbols that represent the values of their school community. 26.A.4e, NS 1,3
 * The students will be able to recall and increase learned knowledge of political, social, cultural and/or historical themes in African art, and engage student discussions on these themes through experiences at the African Art Institute and/or via museum collections and web sites online. Discussions will be specific to themes/events/symbols of interest as inspiration for works of art by featured artists. 27.B.4a, NS 4, 6 || [[image:students_measuring_fabric.jpg width="334" height="442" align="center"]]

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 * [[image:mckoski.jpg width="109" height="136" align="center"]]

**David McKoski** 9-12 Visual Art at Chicago Academy High School

David McKoski has his BA in Fine Arts and Chinese Studies from the College of Wooster and his M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning from DePaul University. He is a National Board Certified art teacher currently teaching at the Chicago Academy High School. In his work with Chicago Public Schools he has conducted teacher workshops and has worked as a School Development Coordinator for the DePaul Center for Urban Education and occasionally teaches courses for DePaul’s School for New Learning. In addition to teaching art in Chicago he has taught in the Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and in Brazil as a Fulbright Teacher. Previous to teaching he worked in community development in Chicago’s Uptown community. || Lesson Title: Identity
 * Students will explain and provide examples of how art is used to express identity.
 * Students will discuss how contemporary art reflects individual and collective identity.
 * Students will analyze how identity is determined by the society in which we live.
 * Students will use design principles as basic building blocks to create 2-dimensional designs.

Additional Documents: || || Above: Evan Plummer explains the tuning process (left). DiDi Grimm and Kate Thomas prepare for the workshop (middle). David McKoski present his unit plan Identity (right). See more images in the [|Online Gallery].

__**Focusing questions from participating educators**__ **DiDi Grimm:**
 * Does the student work demonstrate an understanding of the way that the Asante culture uses cloth to express their community?
 * How could I further transform the final product to be more directly related to student lives/experiences?

**David McKoski:**
 * Is there a clear connection between the two "self-potrait" lessons- moving students from observational drawings of concrete objects that represent identity to using symbols to represent abstract ideas/concepts about identity?
 * How much information is needed on a rubric in order to help students get a clear idea of expectations for the lesson?

Above: Example of a student sketch depicting the objects the student carries everyday drawn onto a paper bag (top). Group examples of original designs depicting community values which were cut into a linoleum stamp and test printed onto paper before adding the stamp onto fabric (bottom).

Teachers' Lounge events are free! <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-align: center;">Continuing Professional Development Units: 2 Credits

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Resources and Links:** <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">[|AIC Teacher's Lounge: Lessons in the Spotlight] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">[|The Tuning Protocol] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: center;">[|Lessons in the Spotlight Online Gallery]