Interventions

I have been thinking lately about how my 2 days (or rather 2 hours) of time with the students can be most beneficial to their learning.  The answer, of course, came from some recent classroom visits and interactions with the students.  When entering the classrooms and having conversations with the students, the projects that we end up making, usually spark new ideas or new areas of interest, which is not all together a bad thing.  However, I wanted to make my visits more seamless, not starting something new, but perhaps shedding light on something that was already happening in the classroom--an intervention, perhaps.

A few weeks ago, as I entered a classroom, the teacher (and some of the students) filled me in on the newest area of interest for the students--they were creating a grocery store! After knowing this, I was able to guide both the AM and PM classes to thinking about their grocery store and also what we could make for it; what we could add.  For me, this seemed like a breakthrough for my teaching.  Adding to and following some of the interests that were active in the classroom already seemed to be a beneficial experience for myself, the students and the teacher.  The projects therefore had some meaning and purpose within their classroom community.  Although I am a visitor, I could become the "intervention"--helping students and teachers discover a new perspective on their current projects. The resulting art projects that I work with the students on, could then make their learning visible in the classroom. 

The example that I mentioned about the grocery store, resulted in a shopping cart (with wheels!) and also doors that looked like they were made out of glass, because many students mentioned walking through big glass doors when they go to the grocery store.  While working on these, we also looked at an artwork from the museum's collection, Food City by Richard Estes.  This artwork is a photo-realistic image of a busy grocery store.  For more information on this brightly colored image or other works in the museum's collection, visit www.AkronArtMuseum.org/collection

Food City, 1967, Richard Estes. Oil, acrylic and graphite on fiberboard. Purchased, by exchange, with funds raised by the Masked Ball 1955-1963. 1981.13

Who, from your community, could you invite to your classroom to serve as an intervention? How can a new perspective alter and enhance the learning that is already taking place?