May 6, 2013 Student teachers’ show > respectful fo the kids work > joyful presentation. Iris success! Line 1 defense. Razia’s return to Pakistan to begin her program. Hopeful for a collaboration in the future. Faculty search – job talks – 3 finalists to speak next week. Moving from high school to college years. Stories: Jesse > Germany – artists as dirty and poor, wanting no part of that – confused and creative – film hierarchies bothered her – found multimedia design > then finally art school (four rounds of interviews and reviews in the application process). Role of age in schooling process – limits of entering school. Israel > high school – army – travel – college begins at about 24 yrs > “you know who you are by the time you enter college” Judy :: ziggy zaggy course from high school to the rest of your life Foundation year vs. after school > black hole. College structure as dissolution ~ disorienting. Variations ~ commitment | Teach for America > gangs > low performing kids > “even I kind of looked down on art majors” | English vs. Art, “art’s just what we do to have fun” > bad teachers in high school > confusion of the paths ~ or not ~ “I always knew I was going to do art” | nurturing vs. competitive > “Ten years from now will this also seem like a wibbly wobbly thing, or will I look back and say that this was when I finally got on track and figured out what I was supposed to be doing?” | gap year > art as vitamins > “I didn’t know about art but I knew I wanted to be a teacher.” Judy: about the passage into college from high school > larger umbrella issues Creative People at Work, by Gruber and Wallace. “network of enterprises” ~ experience of being in the world shapes us. We are not autonomous bubbles. > everything influences us. Perry 1980s study about transition to college (not specifically art school) 4 phases or structures: • after high school > lowness in the hierarchy (again). • dualistic thinking > there is a right answer and all I have to do is find it. • i.e., return to an earlier framework > confusions, lots of stuff going on • confusion plays itself out, multiplicity is evident, comfortable with ambivalence • come to accept ambiguity > what counts in the end is a sense of personal commitment. > no longer looking for the one right way to do something. The development process is not linear. We move around those different categories of enterprises. Study from RISD about 1st year students in college years – 1st time away from home. Students are concerned about changes in the home. Rise of ambivalence among college frosh. Study: self-portraits each term…began as realistic but gradually fragmented as if watching someone fall apart and put themselves back together again. McKenna SVA and MICA dissertation – studio learning > • skills – technical • research • concepts – characteristics of art • strategies for making meaning These are what students said they wanted. Students wanted faculty to • help them take (?) • to be open • live a creative life • be competent Judy at Haystack with students • they wanted balance with structure • confusions • structure without structure (conflict) • ambivalence about what they needed • students as angry – faculty doesn’t understand • angry about foundation group exercises – felt like another cog in the wheel • being comfortable with the program Responses • critiques not satisfying – interjects too much • students felt they weren’t recognized. Students asking: what’s right? Can anybody help me find out? Question: college artists vs. high school art teachers Studio program vs. liberal art program Art education vs. art Education Cultural differences on this question | tension. Perry: phase nurture vs. cut loose. “Art professor as a non-educator who cuts students loose to be adult artists.” Judy and Judy interview study with college teachers. Preliminary findings > students unwilling to collaborate, not as much socializing in between studies. Faculty reaction – in response to students’ negative reaction to collaboration they spend more time trying to figure out how to get more collaboration. [change in feeling about collaboration among students] school of the arts vs. art ed at TC [all men; cut throat; high & mighty attitude; movie star goal; decrepit facilities] no desire for collaboration deeply rooted issue > “what the teacher wants” is not collaboration. Network of enterprises : varied experiences > we don’t want cookie cutter art schools in the first place. How does the high school art teacher become a guide/mentor? How do you support the high school student to build confidence? How do you help them know what “they’re in for”? Acceptance of the role of nurturing. A truism: we step back into our comfort zone. • return to dualism > there must be a right way to do this. • And then we move forward again. Development doesn’t end at the teenage years. It isn’t over. It continues >>>>>