I am currently teaching online, five days a week. My creative scholars are eager to create. Despite the challenges, and this being new to all, we are somehow making it work. My students went home on Friday, March 13, like many others, with little or no materials for Distance Learning, because everything happened so fast! I was able to prepare them 1 piece of drawing paper and unfortunately no access to Photoshop. Our students are members of a diverse, highly populated urban community.
A large number of our students are EL's in addition to the mainstream, SPED, and dual identified.
I am very thankful that my school allows the teachers to teach our students in ways that will allow them to be engaged and grow in ways that once did not seem possible. Integrating the proper art materials and resources for both teacher and students into the art classroom can transform any lesson to creative problem solve beyond the typical paper and pencil, while being motivated and engaged in their individual art production.
My Project
Although I am very happy to see great participation through my online classes, I know that this is not the ideal way for any student at any grade level to learn. This is a very important age for students with honing in on critical and creative thinking skills. My diverse student body are currently working hard doing hands-on and creatively challenging activities in our classroom, and all this changed with distance learning. My students are doing the best they can, and some don't even have a pencil and paper to complete assignments, but I would love to provide them with more, especially to finish out the year strong and to set my art scholars up if this were to happen again in the future. One of the things we loved to do was guided drawing activities and recreate art history photo shoots. On Fridays, I offered google meets sessions with my classes for extra assistance to obtain immediate feedback. I am surprised at how many are present at every session! But some get discouraged because they do not have paint or drawing pencils at home. I would love to provide each of my students with an “Art Care Kit”. This would enable them not only to participate in our distance learning sessions presently, but in the future for preparation. They would also have the resources to continue to support their creative skills. More importantly, this would provide them with a way to cope with the emotional stress caused by the current situation. and their social emotional health. Research shows that art is a great way to cope with stressful situations, and these materials would help me support my students
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Arconti-Galassi and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
