About one week of classes have gone by, and I already feel that I am growing more as an art educator. In ARTED 308, we discussed the purpose and importance of academic language, especially in regards to edTPA.
I have struggled to find an effective way to introduce academic language to students in a way that is engaging, especially at the high school level. I especially liked the activity where we read the brief paragraph from Mary Abbe's review of "Claes Oldenburg's 1960's Work at Walker Art Center" in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and then highlighted sections of the text where the words highlighted in yellow were words that would be considered academic language in the subject of art, and the words highlighted in blue represented words that would be considered overall academic language. I could use this activity for all school levels by determining what words my students know and what words they do not know, otherwise known as an informal formative assessment. Another activity that I believe I can easily incorporate into my classroom at any grade level is to include a word wall for every unit I teach.
When I first switched my major into Art Education, I was excited to learn how I could teach children about my passion for art, but I never considered having my students write on a regular basis. I never wrote in any of my art classes as a child, so why would you need to write in an art class now? It wasn't until I began college that I started to write about art, my processes, and my ideas, which was a great challenge for me. One question that was brought to my attention during class one day helped me understand exactly why we need to know academic language in art; "Why teach academic language?" By teaching academic language, we are helping students learn and grow, it helps students learn how to articulate better in the given discipline which increases their cognition and thinking skills, and it increases rigor in the students when they understand what is being discussed in the class. By having a word wall, I believe that it can encourage students to use academic language in the art room for such activities as writing artist statements, critiques, and open discussions about art.
As I introduce a unit with terms that I want students to know, I would post each term on the board and would have 2 columns under each word, one column being "know", and the other column being "need to know". I would pass out a certain amount of pieces of paper, depending on how many terms there are, and ask students to write their initials on the paper and tape it in the column they feel is appropriate. I would use this activity to determine what words I know my students know and what words I would need to touch base on.
After an activity such as this, I would define the words in a way that is age appropriate for my students, then I would have my students attempt to use the word in a sentence. As we progressed through the unit, I would use the words as a form of an exit ticket for students to leave the classroom at the end of the day. I would give a student a word from the unit and they would have to use it in a sentence. Before a formal assessment, such as a formal critique or written test, I would make a Jeopardy game with the terms and the students would be in small teams. I believe that having some form of peer interaction would also help students remember and retain the academic language that they need to know for the class.
Discussing how we can teach academic language in the art room has helped me come up with many engaging and productive activities that I hope will help my students improve their understanding of academic language in art.
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