I am honored to be virtual friends with Angela Stockman — there are a few I’ve met along the way I truly consider kindred spirits, and she is right up there. Her vision is clear and enchanting to me: I see it, and how it can be incorporated into instructional moments. It’s my goal this summer to figure out how to bring these practices, and many of my past magical practices, back to my classroom. I mean, for goodness sake: look at this one!
Words are elusive this morning; not sure why. Perhaps it is the constant sawing, hammering, and shouts across rooftops from the construction of million-dollar homes across the street from us, interrupting any flow or traction. (And I am grateful for the skilled workers who are here, and not working in the exhausting, hostile heat of states like Texas or Florida.)
What I’m trying to say is complicated: I am an artist from the beginning (one of my favorite memories of my dad is him buying me art supplies when I was about four). As an artist, I see and do teaching a little differently, and I thought I was an oddball. But there are other creative educators out there who understand that content areas are not bound by imaginary, limiting constraints. I’ve been working on my own teaching/writing/art book for about four years; “working on” is kind of a lie– thinking about, trying, struggling, procrastinating, and sabotaging myself is more accurate. So, this blog serves as my scrapbook.
One of the insights/narratives I share with students is how to start writing: when I was getting my BFA, one of the best and most effective ways to get over blank-canvas fear was to mix up a batch of black paint with solvents and wash the freshly gessoed canvas. Just make a mark. No fear. Get started. And the benefit of the dark wash on the canvas is all colors, layers, and light become richer, more interesting, and
An artist my husband discovered is Jessica Brill: we love her simple and powerful lines, subject matter, and color. Her work evokes David Hockney and Edward Hopper, and yet it’s all her own. An artist for GenXers like us. Poolside discouragement, Holiday Inn mediocrity, and an overwhelming sense of loneliness and isolation. And maybe she captures what I feel as a teacher sometimes: that those connections I long for are forever out of reach. I will never be the martyred ELA teacher spending hours with my red pen grading essays. I learned early on about single-point rubrics, playlists, and the work of the National Writing Project.
I do, however, spend an inordinate of time creating, writing (this blog), and thinking. Not sure where it’s getting me. (Just a mood I have right now– it’ll pass.)
Just trying to capture some of the ideas before they fly out of my head:
Summer Reading:
Note: want to re-read Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: I read The Handmaid’s Tale around the time it was published in 1985 and it truly scared the soul of out me: Parable was published in 1993, and many have said Atwood got so many things wrong and white-centered in Handmaid’s, and I need to look at Parable/Butler with a keener eye. And while I never read Beloved, I did see the movie, and that’s not enough. It’s long past time.
Akata Witch Novel Unit
For next year, a colleague in another building wants to collaborate with me on a novel unit for Akakta Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. Stay tuned: this is my passion and joy.
Multimodal Unit
Pst: kelly …yeah…don’t forget to save your work that you did on the multimodal PD, mkay?
Great question from Twitter this past week, wondering about witches in literature. This is far from an exhaustive list, and any others you’ve come across please comment and share! The study of witches in history is a study of misogyny, feminism, politics, patriarchy and power. It may include the creation stories where childbirth comes from armpits and Lilith rejects Adam.
I wonder if @mrskellylove has some suggestions? (Didn’t I see lots of fabulous witchcraft on your goodreads?)
— christy mcguire #AntiRacismIsAVerb (@mnemognose) October 22, 2021
Thinking about this topic is an avocation for me: when I was sixteen (remember, long before the internet…in a galaxy far, far away) reading about the Salem Witch Trials and wondered are there actual witches, and what might they say? I looked up witches in the yellow pages, (an ancient grimoire of slick ink on cheap, thin yellow paper full of names and places), and found my way to an occult shop in downtown Denver. The women were incredibly nice, just explained Wiccan and its tenants. They didn’t try to “convert” me– it was educational and calm. That was forty-one years ago, and to this day I’ve kept their advice with me: don’t harm to others. And being a lifelong feminist, this amateur pursuit of this archetype is one of my passions.
Books and Texts
This is a curated list of texts I’ve read or are on my #TBR list:
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies (The American Social Experience Book 19)
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French) Paperback – February 5, 2009
Media, Tropes, and Archetypes
Film and television have no shortage of witches. However, consider some other representations of witches, like the Mean Girl or the Cool Girl. Here are some examples of literal witches (Practical Magic and Witches of Eastwick were novels before they were movies) and not-so-literal, like the Mean Girl story. Witches typically come in groups of three and then a fourth is added, and causes chaos and imbalance.
Witches in Art
This was curated by @kasbahsalome; there are many more than this, of course. I chose these for literary connections as well as more modern pieces.
William Blake: The Night of Enitharmon’s Joy (sometimes referred to as Triple Hecate)
Paul Devaux: At the Door
Henri Fuseli – Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches, c. 1793
Francisco De Goya: Witches Flight: this paininting is also a prop in the show The Order
John William Waterhouse: Circe Offering the Cup to Ulysses
Leonora Carrington: The Revival of the Witch as a Muse
Remedios Varo: Witch Going to the Sabbath
Three Women Plucking Mandrakes by Robert Bateman
There is no “ready-to-go” lesson here– but some things you might want to put together depending on what texts you’re teaching — if you’re teaching Macbeth witches play a starring role, and examing the archetype across time and cultures may lead to some rich conversations. Also, The Crucible by Arther Miller demands a clear need for understanding this archeypte, and Tituba’s story through racism and misogynoir.
We never know where our curiousity will lead us. For example, I played an owl I recorded in my backyard over a year ago, and a student told me about La Lechuzas, (little owls) who are disguised witches. Enjoy putting your own lesson together, and have no fear!
Postscript: Hansel and Gretel is really about parents giving their children permission to fend for themselves.
Some quick ways to encourage students to find, create, and use #fanart to demonstrate love of literature and reading.
The other day I saw a wonderful IG post by the author Neal Shusterman displaying some of the #fanart he receives from some very talented artists. I am a huge fan of his writing myself. A little background: I earned a BFA in 1982, and when I became a teacher in the mid-2000s my BFA earned me an endorsement in teaching art, too. This past school year, during the building closure, was the first year I was able to add teaching a Drawing class to my schedule. My schedule included Drawing, ELA/ELL, ELL Study Skills, and a Check/Connect time (which, by all metrics, was a collaborative disaster, but that’s a story for another day).
Incorporating visual arts into my English/Language Arts design is embedded in my work. And the ‘skills’ of drawing are something, the fear of “I can’t draw a straight line” is addressed swiftly and soundly. Guess what? I can’t draw a straight line, either. I use a ruler. I use digital tools. My stick figures are quirky. Oh well. Art and writing are closely connected to telling a story. And when we ELA teachers have asked our students to shut their eyes and visualize a story*, to see the movie in their minds, we’re asking a daunting task for many students now. Consumption of audio/visual content is a full-time pursuit for many students (and ourselves) so being able to imagine characters and scenes in a book feels impossible to some.
Reminder: always give credit to the original author, too.
We English teachers have asked students to create movie posters and one-pagers for a long time. Adding #fanart to the mix supports inclusion for multi-modal approaches to texts. Please comment with questions and ideas, and “dog food” this — create your own FanArt!
There are some things “they” don’t teach in “teacher school” and ya know…”they” should. Based on inspiration from @MrsHallScholars and @peachsandgrades, I thought a quick post about putting together classrooms might be helpful. No, I’m not talking “Pinterest-Ready Rooms” (mine is far from that) but just some hacks if you want to do some things for students.
PLEASE: If you have any tips or tricks I didn’t mention, please post a comment or on Twitter! @mrskellylove
Things to make:
Making big posters
Making anchor charts
Bulletin boards
Hardware:
Put these items in your tool kit:
X-acto blade and extra blades
High quality paper cutter (and store away from students)
Yardstick
Poster board, poster paper, butcher paper
High quality stapler
Staple remover (the flat kind)
Packing tape (works better than painter’s or masking tape)
Big Sharpies
Color markers
Yarn
Fishline (if you want to hang lanterns, etc. from the ceiling)
Cup hooks/wall hooks
Projector method:
Mrs. Hall mentioned how she does big posters for her room, and this is a great way to make a large graphic or anchor chart:
1. Found an image
2. Trace and color in (for this I outlined first, colored in the grey feathers and then did the rest)3. Completed image
For things like bulletin boards, I use a piece of long string to make sure the tape, etc., are level first. The X-Acto knife comes in handy for cutting precise edges to the edge of the bulletin board, and you don’t need to buy expensive borders, etc.
Miscellaneous:
This was a gift a teacher made for me last year: 3-D printed bathroom pass!
For taping, etc. the string helps for large areas. Also, laminate signs you use again and again.
@ArtDecider is a sharp Twitter user who built their reputation on deciding what is art or not art on tweets. And I have yet to disagree with their decision. And wouldn’t life be simple if we could just look to one Twitter user to determine these things? Well, simple, but boring, and disengaging. Which is why I am grateful to Alison M. Collins @AliMCollins for her thoughts and bringing this to my attention:
Jumping in on this thread to ask for help. BIPOC Ss and Ps have been asking for removal of a school mural with a “Dead Indian”for decades. We unanimously voted to remove it and now are being demonized by politicos and members of the art establishment. https://t.co/hzteqPPK9R
They can’t be moved. This has been fully researched. And received a unanimous vote from the Board. Why is it when Black and Native American Students & Parents self-advocate, their requests are always second-guessed? https://t.co/2KTuHl5EqH
The murals in question are the work of the Russian-born communist painter Victor Arnautoff. Arnautoff, who lived for a time in Mexico while working as an assistant to Diego Rivera, was one of the most prolific muralists of the Depression era. He is most famous for supervising the Coit Tower mural project that showed workers of all races being exploited by the capitalist class. For the George Washington High School murals, the leftist Arnautoff wanted to show Washington for who he really was; pushing back against what was then a silence on the founding father’s complicity in slavery and Native American genocide, Arnautoff painted the slaves who worked the fields at Washington’s Mt. Vernon home and one of Washington’s soldier’s standing on top of a dead Native American. When they were unveiled in 1937, these murals were upheld by the left as radical examples of social justice through art. Concerned parties now see Arnautoff’s work as exploitative and traumatic for the school’s minority students who have to encounter these striking scenes on a daily basis.
My question is, art to whom? For what purpose and context?
Perhaps every student who walked through the doors of that high school needed a month-long study session of the history, context, and purpose of the art. Never make assumptions about what anyone knows or doesn’t know about historical context.
When it comes to the question of whether collecting those racist images is right, I often encounter two strong and diametrically opposed reactions from African Americans. Some can’t seem to amass enough examples of these “collectibles” or “memorabilia” (as we euphemistically call these hideous images today). Others think the whole lot should be assembled into one gigantic bonfire, incinerated, and the ashes buried in an impenetrable vault, or strewn over the broadest reach of the deepest ocean never to be displayed again. It’s as if these artifacts’ complete and total obliteration could wipe the slate clean or erase the painful memory and palpably harmful effects of seeing ourselves reflected over and over through the murky mirror of the anti-black subconscious as deracinated, gluttonous, lascivious non-reflective sub-human beasts — thieves, rapists, liars — a species apart from all other human beings, dominated and ruled like other animals by our instincts and passions and not by our (sub-standard) brains.
It is not for white people to decide what is or is not racist and it is not for them to decide what we people of colour are called. I think statues, plaques and awards paying tribute to racist men should be removed, and in their place should be a little notice naming and shaming them, and naming their prejudice. I think original racist titles can be altered and an introductory essay, as so many “classic” works have, putting that original title and content in context, can be included. None of this is difficult to do or hard to swallow.
As for the students, no surprise, they have a better grasp of things than their liberal minders. As one ninth-grader wrote, “The fresco shows us exactly how brutal colonization and genocide really were and are. The fresco is a warning and reminder of the fallibility of our hallowed leaders.’”
So when should art be painted over, removed, or destroyed? When does its removal cross the line from context to censorship? I don’t know except that it can never be a single decision or point, and that includes the singularity of the white community. Voices from other perspectives in the community must be given weighted consideration.
Examples, from the big public spaces to educational spaces:
Confederate statues of generals, military, etc. must be taken down. Its flag must not be flown.
School mascots should not be indigenous peoples or representative of human stereotypes/archetypes, or historical figures (I wouldn’t want to be on a football team that fights for George Washington)
Thinking about Arnautoff’s mentor, Diego Rivera, one can see the similarities of their works. But the impact is wide and deep.
My husband said, “Art is an opinion.” He also said it’s like the ice core testing in terms of testing the layers of our culture–it also shows whose in power, whose voices are heard and seen. We are getting someone’s opinion from that moment in time. Arnautoff seems to be saying American history is ugly, painful, and filled with people of color who were abused by the white colonists. And that makes it heartbreaking that we can’t at least save this artwork somewhere…but it can’t be moved. For students to say “meet you under the dead Indian” shows how his message became warped and complicit to indifference. As Ms. Collins said, ‘it normalizes violence.”
You can’t tell me this isn’t SERIOUS normalization of violence against Indigenous people. If you really care about “not repeating history” you don’t normalize violence of Black Brown and Indigenous people. And you DEFINITELY don’t do it in a school. #paintitdownpic.twitter.com/ZqoIjZhpND
Considering other art that’s used in schools, what kinds of imagery do you bring to your classroom, and moreover, what context do you provide? This image is used by many teachers when “celebrating” Thanksgiving. I have used it as a launch point to talk about racism in art via composition. It’s not the only conversation, and plenty of context is provided. Lies in art, and mythologizing white colonialism, are addressed, as with any conversation about propaganda.
Ultimately, it is up to the community. Something that began as ‘look at these atrocities’ ending up in a public high school warped into normalization and complicity. I’m going to have an internal dialogue about this for a long time, and any thoughts you have about this are welcome.
i am too scatter-brained to post every #fanartfriday so im just gonna periodically drop the EPIC #childrenofbloodandbone fan art you guys create! #cbb started b/c I saw magical art of black people for the first time in my life, & now you angels give me this gift everyday 💖💖💖 pic.twitter.com/b0GfjdknUk
“39. We must learn that when our art reveals a secret of the human soul, those watching it may try to shame us for making it. (p. 70). The Artist’s Way: Morning Pages Journal, Julia Cameron.”
Notice the moments.
Notice the tiny moments that may seem insignificant, but are what we look for: make the invisible visible.
Notice:
Young sweet student passing who loved the adults in the building loved with his whole heart, and loved belonging to my Minecraft Club*
Group of students working yesterday, talking to each other about the assignment, holding each other accountable, without ANY reminders or redirection from me.
Young man asking respectfully how he can play sports, get his work done, and walk again with grace. For listening to his grandmother, me, and his coaches.
All students in my toughest class working. Engaged. Happy. Relaxed. Many of them even saying they wanted to keep working on the project at home.
Surprising someone with insight (sometimes the most terrifying thing is when someone says “yes” — no more obstacles or excuses).
Telling a student that her love of K-Pop was nothing to be ashamed of: “Millions of people around the world love K-Pop, and the opinion of one 7th grade boy doesn’t mean spit if you love it, too.” And she smiled.
Though some have described my classroom as ‘controlled chaos’ – most of the time it’s actually calm creativity.
Making a point to intentionally name and label when things work, and reflect in a balanced way. Hold steady and true.
*It changed because of the new after-school program that doesn’t allow students to attend a club unless they have no missing work or Fs. I couldn’t fit it in with my schedule of having it directly after school.
In addition to short films, commercials can be another valuable asset. Many commercials live on multiple places on Bloom’s Taxonomy, and certainly any argumentative reading and writing unit worth its salt contains at least one or two commercials to support a conversation about pathos, ethos, and logos.
I just found this site this morning. This first ad can bring up so many relatable conversation points. To quote John Spencer,
“What’s so odd is that people have been creating art, writing letters, and talking about their food for years. Museums are filled with foodies and selfie shots. We just call them “still lifes” and “self-portraits.” The whole, “don’t miss the moment” mindset fails to recognize that it’s a deeply human need to capture and create precisely because we don’t want to forget it.”
So perhaps a contrast discussion — show a selfie and a self portrait, and ask students to discuss the possible purposes of the artist, or artistic intent. A conversation about pace, too — the speed of creation and its perceived value (in the moment and over time). I can honestly say that my photo albums are my life. One project this summer is to scan everything and save it to multiple places. (But I still have time…right?!)
A word of caution: advertisements intended for European markets do not have the same ratings codes as in the States. Seriously — watch everything first if you think it looks like something you want to use in the classroom.
