Tech EDGE Art TEAMS - Schools as a Malleable Material

Tech EDGE Author

10/25/2022 Added

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[00:00:00.400](upbeat music)
[00:00:05.610]Hi, welcome to the Art TEAMs podcast from Tech EDGE.
[00:00:08.790]And today I'd like to talk about schools
[00:00:11.460]as a malleable material.
[00:00:13.080]I talked a little bit about this
[00:00:15.150]in my introductory podcast but I really would like
[00:00:19.140]to explore that in a little bit more detail
[00:00:21.360]to give you an understanding of what we mean
[00:00:23.910]when we say that we want school to be a malleable material
[00:00:28.920]and explore it that way.
[00:00:30.360]So this is taken from thinking as an artist
[00:00:34.740]and thinking about any material that you're trying
[00:00:36.990]to create in to see how much you can stretch it.
[00:00:40.110]And this goes to movement in dance,
[00:00:42.690]for example where we're trying to see how far our bodies
[00:00:45.510]can go and what they can do or can't do.
[00:00:48.240]And obviously there's a point where things
[00:00:51.000]can't happen anymore.
[00:00:52.440]There's only that far we can jump or stretch
[00:00:55.590]or do anything else.
[00:00:56.580]But with practice, maybe we can do more.
[00:00:59.070]Same thing with working with paint
[00:01:03.060]or working as a sculptor or working with clay, for example.
[00:01:09.000]So in all of these things,
[00:01:10.290]our exploration as artists are always,
[00:01:12.300]how much can we stretch it?
[00:01:13.500]What can we do with it?
[00:01:15.030]What are new ideas and new approaches
[00:01:17.490]that can make it more interesting, innovative,
[00:01:20.670]and produce a result that really makes us joyful
[00:01:24.540]and also extends our understanding of the world?
[00:01:27.270]And when you talk about school in that way,
[00:01:29.580]we're really talking about starting to think about schools
[00:01:33.330]not as a structure that always limits us,
[00:01:37.560]but as a structure where we can start exploring
[00:01:40.440]what are the limits and see if we can push against them
[00:01:42.990]and find new ways to act within that system
[00:01:46.110]and its limitations.
[00:01:47.820]There are limitations of resources
[00:01:49.380]and space and the people that work there
[00:01:51.510]and the kids we get and all of these things.
[00:01:54.150]But all of these things also show up
[00:01:56.790]in joyous ways in the ways we can stretch them.
[00:01:59.430]And there's a tendency, for example
[00:02:00.990]to underestimate our kids and what they can do.
[00:02:03.510]And when you stretch them and you try to do new
[00:02:05.940]and innovative things with them, they respond to it
[00:02:09.120]and they start growing at a different rate.
[00:02:12.420]And so that's one way.
[00:02:14.250]So one group or one thing that is malleable
[00:02:17.340]within the school, maybe the most malleable is people.
[00:02:20.340]These are the colleagues that we work with
[00:02:21.990]where we can talk to them about new ways
[00:02:24.090]and try new ways to collaborate to work together,
[00:02:27.480]and to really build on the strength
[00:02:29.310]that each one of us brings to school.
[00:02:31.650]Whether it is coming from somebody like me who does research
[00:02:36.450]and has a lot of energy to try and really work on new ideas.
[00:02:42.510]Other people bring their art capacity
[00:02:45.240]and things that they love doing on their even spare time,
[00:02:49.890]things that they have learned,
[00:02:51.060]things that they have picked up along the way,
[00:02:53.130]for example quilting in some places is a great way
[00:02:56.400]to enter the curriculum and to try to stretch it
[00:02:59.520]in interesting ways.
[00:03:01.739]Another way to think about it is think about schedule
[00:03:04.870]especially at the elementary school level,
[00:03:06.900]we have a lot of control over our schedule sometimes,
[00:03:09.810]sometimes not.
[00:03:11.010]And the idea is how can we shape our schedule
[00:03:14.160]so kids have enough time to create, for example.
[00:03:16.890]And so do I take a little bit of time on a certain day
[00:03:20.520]and give it back another day
[00:03:21.990]or do I integrate and do art and math together?
[00:03:27.180]So lots of ways to think about how I can stretch time
[00:03:30.510]within my classroom and of course how I can stretch time
[00:03:33.990]within the school.
[00:03:34.830]How do we coordinate, how do I work, for example
[00:03:37.320]with my art specialist if I have one
[00:03:39.540]to combine the work we're doing?
[00:03:42.480]And that, for example, can save on transition time,
[00:03:46.500]the time that kids come to the art room,
[00:03:48.900]and start working and get explanations.
[00:03:51.420]If there's a similar transition where we're working
[00:03:53.760]on a similar thing, you can save that whole time
[00:03:56.550]as an art teacher, if you're getting kids in and out
[00:03:59.610]of your classroom, you can save a lot of time.
[00:04:01.800]But also as a classroom teacher
[00:04:03.180]because the kids went to art and they're coming back
[00:04:05.430]and they're still thinking about these ideas
[00:04:07.680]and can merge into your classroom very effectively.
[00:04:12.510]Another way that school and schools and schooling
[00:04:16.110]can be malleable, it's actually the physical space
[00:04:19.470]in our work a lot on how do we create
[00:04:22.620]more flexible classrooms.
[00:04:25.140]Flexible sitting is something that has been discussed a lot
[00:04:27.900]but also what's available on the walls.
[00:04:30.150]What materials are available for kids to work with?
[00:04:33.660]How is the classroom organized in groups individually
[00:04:37.500]with different spaces for different activities?
[00:04:40.320]And definitely once in a while,
[00:04:43.410]the work of school design where you have usually
[00:04:49.170]an architecture firm that helps design the school
[00:04:51.330]but there is room for input about what do we want to say
[00:04:54.870]in the schools?
[00:04:55.703]How do we want to be in that space?
[00:04:57.930]And this is a moment to innovate.
[00:04:59.850]And this is a classic example of malleability
[00:05:02.430]because at the design process,
[00:05:04.410]there's a lot of malleability.
[00:05:05.760]Once we've designed it and we started building
[00:05:08.100]you kind of lose that moment.
[00:05:09.630]So there are windows of opportunity in the school cycle
[00:05:15.810]that allows for more flexibility.
[00:05:18.780]Time is another one.
[00:05:20.280]When you're planning out the schedule,
[00:05:22.050]you've got flexibility.
[00:05:23.130]Once that is done, then you've got a year
[00:05:26.190]where the schedule is more or less set.
[00:05:27.840]Definitely in secondary schools,
[00:05:29.700]elementary still has more room to maneuver
[00:05:32.670]and of course really fostering a mindset of growth.
[00:05:38.610]So growth mindset has been discussed a lot
[00:05:40.620]but that allows us to keep thinking about our brains
[00:05:43.860]and our ways of being and thinking and researching
[00:05:47.430]as things are malleable that keep growing.
[00:05:50.340]And finally, with all of that,
[00:05:53.250]we need to provide a lot of grace for everybody involved
[00:05:56.940]to know that when we are testing
[00:05:59.430]and we're checking what's malleable and how malleable it is,
[00:06:03.720]things can also fail and also reach
[00:06:07.230]kind of that breaking point.
[00:06:08.820]And we have to be really, really cognizant
[00:06:11.190]that that might happen.
[00:06:12.180]So in your relationship with the people you work with,
[00:06:15.750]with colleagues, even with students,
[00:06:17.490]definitely with your administration,
[00:06:19.530]you want to make sure that they have an understanding
[00:06:21.690]of what you're trying to do
[00:06:22.950]and that you understand that you're pushing against limits.
[00:06:25.800]And that there are moments where we have to pull back in
[00:06:29.520]and say, "We've gone too far."
[00:06:30.990]So for me, schools and malleable material
[00:06:35.850]is really an exciting concept that allows us
[00:06:39.240]to push forward while working in the systems
[00:06:41.340]that we have right now.
[00:06:42.420]We may like them more or less,
[00:06:44.580]but these are the systems we have
[00:06:46.770]and we want to see how we can transform them from inside.
[00:06:52.110]There are also ways to transform them from the outside
[00:06:54.750]but I'm right now thinking about us as educators,
[00:06:57.420]working within that system, testing the limit,
[00:07:02.250]talking about it, being upfront about it,
[00:07:05.520]not necessarily in a subversive way
[00:07:07.470]but in an open way that is shared
[00:07:09.930]with students administration and our colleagues.
[00:07:12.600]And that's all from the Art TEAMs Podcast for this time.

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Tech EDGE Art TEAMS - Schools as a Malleable Material

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