Blog # 12: Mindfulness and Social Emotional Learning

My new knowledge on trauma, mindfulness, and social emotional learning impacts my understanding of my future students lives and my role in supporting them in multiple ways. My knowledge of trauma has impacted how I handle situations in general, let alone how I handle situations in the classroom. I think all people experience trauma to some extent. When we learn it's okay to not fully understand, but acknowledge that someone else has experienced trauma makes you more understanding. I have become more emotionally responsive to students and the lives they live with after spending time in the classroom with students during field experience. I have hd two professors mention breathing exercises when it comes to a few techniques related to mindfulness. There are many resources to use related to mindfulness in the classroom, some examples are Go Noodle, Calming Corners, Community Circle can be a place for students to practice mindfulness. Something that I think will be extremely beneficial in my own classroom will be the use of "mindful moments", it's just a small break from all the things happening around us, a moment of quiet, or a moment to close our eyes. I learned a lot of new skills from the article by Sarah Montgomery, some of which were just ways to implement these ideas based on what you're already doing in the classroom. You don't have to change your curriculum to base it around mindfulness, you can just alter some things so it fits. This article focused on mindfulness in kindergarten but I really am confident it will be a wonderful skill to practice in the art room.

In regard to the documentary we watched, "Paper Tigers" I learned a lot about how social and emotional learning benefits students. I also learned that it's not all butterflies and rainbows. The teachers have to give these students the one person in their lives that won't ever give up on them. It is an emotionally charged experience for all parties. It's portrayed as a make it or break it moment and there's a lot at stake for these students. They've grown up in situations I can't even begin to relate to, but I want to be the teacher that doesn't give up on her students. I want my classroom to be a place they want to come to school for, not because its all fun but because I am able to provide them with opportunities and experiences they might not ever have anywhere else. Paper Tigers brought a lot into perspective for me, it's not going to be easy, but when you make that difference in just one student, it's worth it.

I really do think that breathing and walking mindfulness exercises translate to more positive and engaging citizens. If we put an emphasis on our mental health, we gain coping, empathic, and engaging skills that make citizenship development make a difference. We all could use a little more peace, kindness, and patience in this world. Teaching our students these skills will change the world and the people we live in, after all they are the next generation. Using mindfulness can feel really empowering and I think we need more of that for our students. I think one of the most important pieces from the article I took from was that if we teach mindfulness in our students it will spread to their families and community. That's the best way of spreading these messages and skills.


I can't help but think about this in a "performance art brain" is what I'm going to call it. In performance we spend time practicing our mindfulness through action based art making and I really would like to implement some of these exercises in my own art classroom in the future. In a lot of ways performance art is mindfulness - being at peace with what's around you. Since starting performance art I feel my mindfulness and my ability to understand other people's mindfulness has changed significantly. One exercise I think about often is the swaying exercise, it's goal is to bring the class together fully, but I can also see it being a mindfulness exercise. You all stand in a circle close enough to  be shoulder to shoulder. You all close your eyes and sway back and forth together as one unit, not separate people. We focus on breathing, becoming a piece of the full puzzle. I could definitely see myself using this in the future to bring mindfulness to my classes.

Throughout this experience the last few weeks, I think I need to start asking myself this question more. What about you? We can do this, we're almost there! Have a great week!

  

Blog Post #11: Zine

Let me just first start out by saying that, there wasn't a single hero chosen by me because it wasn't just a single person making an impact. The community I live in has many people who are struggling mentally, physically, or whatever else may come with a pandemic like Covid19. I think most of us could feel that people in general were down in the dumps. Then SIRE and many of our local businesses posted all over social media that this was happening. It was just one of those "we can do this all together" moments. It made my heart happy to know people in my community weren't going to let our small businesses struggle and that we can all come together when we need to. It doesn't matter what school you go to, what part of town you live in.. We are all Council Bluffs strong. I chose to make my zine thanking our local ethanol plant for recently making the decision to halt production momentarily and making "SIREtizer" a hand sanitizer for people in our community. This decision was made at a time where hand sanitizers, disinfectants, cleaners, etc. were all out in majority if not all of our stores. Let me tell ya, this stuff is strong like 80% alcohol antiseptic strong. There was a couple different ways to obtain your own one quart bottle. One that I found really amazing was purchasing a meal from many of the local restaurants you got a bottle for $10, all profit went straight to the local businesses because SIRE donated them to the businesses to sell. I don't even think the businesses made it a week before they were out of bottles. Our community came together during a tough time with hand sanitizer and it makes me proud to come from one that continues to support local.
I'm just going to post a small video going through my zine, I feel like I've touched on most of the important aspects that I'd like to highlight.

I can totally see myself implementing zines into my curriculum in the future. I really love to collage. Zines are a good way to reach your students that are drawers and the ones that aren't. I could even see zines becoming a collaborative project with partners because it's easy to make copies. I think that zines are an outlet to talk about many different topics. I could see myself implementing it in a lot of different ways. Zines are also something you can make a lot of so they could even end up being a whole class project. I think they're also something that could be done by a majority of ages of students, but probably middle school and high school would be where I would prefer to implement them. Zines have a way of exploring ideas and raising awareness on subjects that can sometimes be hard to talk about in a creative and understanding way.

Blog #10: What Makes Me Happy Right Now

Hello all!! Coming to you from good ol' Glenwood, Iowa. After week two of quarantine I have found a little bit more of a groove when working on school work but I'm still not back to what my productivity was like at school. I am continuing to make progress, but my studio practice is still not back to what it was and to be quite honest I don't think it will be for a while and that is okay. I am still continuing to be creative throughout this time and that's one thing that makes me happy. My tiny community library is coming together. I am about to paint it in the next few days. I have simply been spending a lot of time outside and that makes me very happy. I enjoy being outdoors, today I went for a walk up in the bluffs. Just that little bit of exercise helped a lot. I find a lot of comfort and happiness working on different projects or just spending time with my significant other. I found a lot of enjoyment going live on instagram last week with Mikayla. I miss those everyday conversations dearly. It was also really nice that other people were interacting with us. I felt I had a little bit of my creative family back.♥️Right now I am continuing to organize as well as keeping things clean and I think that is also helping with my mood and emotional state. I sure am missing thrift shopping! Haha there will be plenty of that in the future.

I have been putting some thought into how we can be creative together recently as well. I have recently seen a lot of people making window decorations and I thought that might be something we could all do. I know Easter is coming up soon and not all of us might celebrate it, but maybe we could all decorate easter eggs together as a class. We could all just come to our zoom with a few eggs to work on or something like that. I was also thinking that maybe we could do one of those combined videos (I've mostly been seeing them with sports) where something gets "tossed" from one person to another via video and it gets combined all together. I hope that makes sense! The last thing that I thought about was an ongoing piece of art that gets mailed from one person to the next, I was thinking it could be just a piece of paper or something that can easily fit in a manila envelope and everyone would have to add to it once it got to them. I know this would take a while and I'm really not sure about logistics but I thought it might be kind of fun. I don't really have a lot of photos from the last week, but I will update with more of them in the coming weeks! Until then, hoping you all stay healthy and safe! Sending a virtual hug from me to all of you! 🤗

Blog #9: 1st Full Week at Home

The first full week at home has been a struggle, realizing that I truly thrive off of a routine has never been more apparent. I spent my first week at home slowly figuring out how to get homework, studio work, and family time balanced. Not to mention figuring out a new job, sleep schedule, and eating schedule. I hadn't worked in the studio since before spring break, knowing I needed to get back into it made me sad- because I would be doing it without the community/ bubble I have while at UNI. The first day back in my "new" space working ended in tears. I think mostly because of the built up stress and emotion that came with moving out and home in 48 hours including being ready to start classes on Monday. Learning to live cohesively with my family is also a difficult transition that exists without the circumstances we are faced with currently, so they are heightened.  After spending a lot of time organizing my things and thoughts the last few days have been more productive but am still working at making things better. This abrupt change took a toll on my body and mind. I am just now feeling caught up on sleep and my own well being.  I've been spending some time working on puzzles, a community free library for my backyard (we live outside of city limits in a rural neighborhood with a lot of little kids that walk on the trail right behind our backyard.) I needed something creative to spend my time doing that didn't involve art school stuff. 

Saying that community is important is an understatement. I feel like now more than ever is a time when communities need to come together. In between all of the Covid-19 news, I saw on the news here in Council Bluffs an arts center is delivering free DIY art bags to mailboxes. People are offering any assistance that they can to others. Personally, I miss my art community. I value the feedback, artful conversations, and so much more that exist within the contents of art school. Being in BFA I suddenly had to transition to making work at home without the people that I'm around all of the time and that was difficult. When you're used to seeing people everyday, and suddenly don't get that luxury anymore it changes your daily life. I've also been realizing how community has become a huge thing on social media- artists are going live on instagram with other artists, working separately but together. I'm seeing if some of my art people are interested in something like that in the coming weeks ahead. I'm looking for creative ways to keep myself busy when I'm having a hard time being productive- normally I'd just go to my studio to be productive but that isn't going to work right now. There are better times ahead, the sun is shining (where I am), and this new normal will become more comfortable with time. Sending you all a virtual hug and know that I'm missing our conversations, time together, and everything else. Here are some photos from what I've been up to- made some mugs, have been working through weekly performance art exercises, finished puzzle, and in progress community library. ❤️

 

Blog #8: Service Learning Idea

Let me just first say, wow these last couple of weeks have been a complete whirlwind of so many emotions, experiences, and struggles. Although I am exhausted, I look forward to getting into a new routine to finish out this semester - especially getting back to feeling a sense of normalcy.

I learned so much from Em Hersch's visit in general, but her discussion of being an ally for LGBTQ+ youth, staff, and colleagues. I found that the handouts provided during this discussion were equally as helpful. Although it was a very honest discussion, I felt comfortable asking clarifying questions. I found this experience to be extremely beneficial for my future as an art educator. It is my job as a teacher to be aware of the support that each of my students will be needing. I found that hearing the statistics that Em gave, were really eye opening for me. I now know how important it is for any student, especially LGBTQ+ students to feel safe and comfortable with who they are in social settings. As a teacher it is my job to build a classroom environment where students feel that they can truly be supported for being themselves. I look forward to using some of the resources provided in the future. Especially the websites that provide LGBTQ+ learning opportunities. This is just another instance where a teacher is an endless learner. If I continue to learn, my students will be better because of it. I LOVED how cute the Gender Unicorn handout was! It made the talk about the many different genders easier to grasp. I often found this topic to be really difficult to talk about and discuss but I honestly feel like I took so much away from it. 

It is also important to me that my colleagues feel supported, safe, and comfortable within their work environment. It should be a place where we all support each other regardless of our own personal beliefs. It is also extremely beneficial to know the laws in place to support work place equality and just equality in general because you are more aware of the discrimination that exists within our own homes, communities, and the world around us. I believe that the more people have discussions like the one we had with Em the more accepting people will become. It just takes one ally at a time to make a difference in a student, a colleague, or a staff member. 

Blog #7: 3 Big Take Aways From This Weeks Readings

This week we read, "Banners for Books: “Mighty-Hearted” Kindergartners Take Action through ArtsBased Service Learning" and "Engaging a Developmentally Disabled Community Through Arts-Based Service-Learning".  Both of these readings covered research and information on the influence art-based eduction and service learning projects have on very young kids as well as the developmentally disabled community.

I found three big concepts to take away from these readings. The first one came from the first reading listed, "Banners for Books: “Mighty-Hearted” Kindergartners Take Action through ArtsBased Service Learning".  It quite honestly seemed nuts to me that we would try to teach kindergarteners about Article 26- of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the right to education). It just seemed like it was too much for them, ya know what I mean? As I continued to read the article, my thoughts changed... it is possible to teach subjects like this. The could handle that there were educational inequalities around the world. It was really interesting to me that the students were able to distinguish their privileges and educational rights. They were also empathetic for other students around the world the same age as them. Then they took action. The project made was a screen printed banners. The students raised money with these banners to purchase books to send them to a newly built school in El Salvador. They made $800. It just showed me that students of all ages can handle dense subjects when taught in a thoughtful and intentional way. Ultimately improving our local and our global community. Kindergarteners making a difference and uniting us all. 

The second also came from the same reading, it spends time explaining how influential the teacher in this situation was. She was the person that reached out to a professor for resources. She knew how important it was to include art based service learning within her classroom. She believed in their abilities and knew that their mighty hearts could make a difference in the world. At the end of the article it says, "She showed care for her students, and they then showed care for the world." This is the impact we can all have on our students. I want that, you should all want that too. I truly think that it's part of our job as educators. We have to be willing to go out on a limb for their opportunities and they will become better human beings. The students' drawings were a tell tale sign of how their care, innate feelings of fairness, and awareness were present. They included the ♥️ symbol often drawn with a picture of their teacher, peers, and in one instance Nelson Mandela's portrait. Many students also showed a want for further connections to their counterparts at the school in El Salvador. It seemed like a truly amazing experience to be a part of. I recently heard this quote, "Be the change you want to see in the world".  Let's all take a step towards making a difference, I sure am ready to.

I was able to also pull a big idea from the reading,"Engaging a Developmentally Disabled Community Through Arts-Based Service-Learning".  I don't think I actually realized how influential service learning projects are for pre-service teachers. After reading this article it's not only beneficial for the people being taught but the pre-service teachers as well. I believe that it prepares us for our career in many ways and also makes us much more aware of civic -minded ideals. I know that we will soon hear all about the art based service learning project that we will be participating in and this article makes me really look forward to the opportunity being presented to us! 

Blog #6 African American Read In and Conference

I will first start out by saying... I had so much fun teaching a braiding lesson and helping out with the stamp lesson on Thursday at the African American Read In. I was exhausted by the end of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the different groups of 1st graders. I fully believe that it is extremely important for students to be exposed to African American authors and illustrators and for our African American kids to see that there are authors and illustrators out there that look like and share the same culture as them. I had the opportunity to work with many great elementary education volunteers, and they were extremely helpful when making sure that everyone got the help they needed. I found that if the large demonstration didn't fully make sense to all students, it worked well when we could give small demonstrations over while they were practicing braiding on their own. All kids ended up with at least one bracelet. We also found it helpful to reexplain with their own braid, basically letting them do it as one of us explained how to do it. Here is a page from the book if anyone is interested it's titled, "I Love My Hair".

I had the opportunity to have a conversation with a little African American girl where we talked about braiding, where she learned to braid, and how that fits into her family culture. She explained to me that she can't braid her own hair, but she spends time braiding the hair of her cousins and sisters. I think about how important hair is to African American culture. I read a book about this little African American girl loving her hair and the different styles that her mom fixes it in. It made the little girl I was able to have a conversation with so proud that she could already braid. She ended up making like three different braided bracelets. The thing that I took from this interaction is how important it is for my students to feel cultural representation and making it personal for them. I got to see the effect of this first hand and it will be a moment I won't forget.

Diversity matters. Feeling supported and represented matters. I knew going into Thursday that first graders had an amazing imagination, but their ability to listen to the book in the stamp making session and make a stamp based on something so emotional and still be able to be imaginative - The birthday cakes, horses, and scenes drawn and colored were amazing. I loved listening to the stories based on what they interpreted and imagined from the book. They are able to handle a book like that talks about slavery and to be honest I didn't know that they could handle a book that was so emotional. It was such a great experience talking to many students and what they came up with for their stamps. The room was full of some pretty great little artists. ♥️