A random moment in time...(12.19/2006)

Down Wilshire Blvd., Downtown Los Angeles, Califas



"And so he returned to the City of Angels..."

taken with:
FUJIFILM FinePix A210
Shutter Speed: 1/208 sec

"Putting the Art in Language Arts"

Symbolic Self Portrait, by Mr. N, 05.10.08.

Today, I had the opportunity to attend the Bay Area Writing Project Saturday Seminar, which focused on the Arts, and how important and influential Art can be in all classrooms. I attended a particular writing workshop hosted by Regina Marie Woodard, titled "Putting the Art in Language Arts: Building Vehicles for Thinking Critically," and was wowed by the engaging nature of the presentation. Ms. Woodard herself is a credentialed English and Art teacher, and has helped facilitate an activity that showcases the best of both worlds. Writing critically, symbolically, and interpretively can give way to artistic expression, and in so doing, the student has the tools to express themselves in a multi-modal nature. For today, we played through the activity in an abbreviated sense, bypassing some of the written work involved, but we were led throughout the workshop, to brainstorm relevant things about our selves concerning self, family history, goals, wishes, dreams, inspirations, what makes us tick, etcetera, which would be communicated through an image based on our answers. This activity helped us identify symbols and metaphors, two very important elements to know about reading and writing, and through the multi-modal implementation of those two elements, we would better be prepared to create multiple pieces that would highlight symbols and metaphors in relation to us through writing and visual images...the product of my study today produced the "Symbolic Self Portrait" of myself, as showcased above. The image itself was assisted through a picture of ourselves, which we traced using Saral transfer paper. Through this tracing, students who have been otherwise reluctant to draw out themselves (citing age-old student quotes like "I can't draw, I won't draw!"), can create their self portrait through tracing, which took the sketch work out of the activity and streamlined the drawing portion for ease of use. At the conclusion of the activity, we looked at a poem from the great G. Reyes, titled "Paint Me As I Am," and were encouraged to use this, and other pieces on identity as models to help students in writing.