Tag Archives: boot camp

Feb26

A New Approach to the Bootcamp

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Well, it’s a new bootcamp approach for me and my students. Normally when we do bootcamps, there are many demos by me. And, since I don’t want to spend the whole class period doing demos, it ends up being one per day and then work time. So, each approach is learned separately. Granted, this has been okay for our drawing bootcamps and painting bootcamps. Last year I followed this approach for printmaking as well. It was kind of a disaster. Most kids didn’t really learn much, they whipped through each technique, and they wasted a lot of materials. So, this year, I decided we needed to do something different.

My school is 1:1 MacBooks, and it is an expectation that we include a technology component. I thought this would be a great way to meet that expectation and change up the bootcamp. This year, I would expect the onus of learning the techniques on the students. We talked about how this bootcamp would be different and that they were the ones to watch the demo videos for the technique they needed to learn. I would only be doing one demo–inking and pulling prints.

I create a Google Slides with my expectations for the bootcamp and shared it with my students in Google Classroom. At the start of the bootcamp, we went over it. I expected that each student would learn a minimum of one printmaking technique. They students could decide to either work alone or in groups of up to 4 people. Each group had to make 3 copies of an artwork that utilized different printmaking techniques. AND, they couldn’t repeat techniques in their piece. So, for example, a group of 4 had to create an artwork that had 4 different printmaking techniques. If you worked alone, you had to learn 2 techniques.

While I have 2 things I need to revise for next year, and I will get to those in a minute, I think overall this was a success. The majority of the kids watched multiple video demos before making decisions on what they wanted to learn. They communicated with others on the artwork creation and learned from each other when they had questions about techniques. Of course I had those that needed more attention than others, and I had some that needed modified requirements, but that is normal in a TAB classroom where differentiation is a common occurrence.

The biggest thing I have to revise is HOW I deliver the information and expectations to the students. The multiple copies aspect of printmaking was a difficult concept for many. I also want to look at the time line for next year. The students had 8 studio days (48 minute periods) to create and do a google slides for a presentation. I think I need to make it a full 2 weeks (10 days), not including a day for presentations.

I am proud of my students. They worked hard and learned way more than they realize. I plan on trying to incorporate this type of bootcamp into our future bootcamps. I am glad that I put the learning was put on their shoulders because it allowed me more time to observe and interact with my students.

Oct18

Artists Steal?

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Every year I do a unit based around copyright called “Artists Steal”.  We learn about appropriation, fair use, parody, and copyright infringement.  And, every year I do it the same way…  Lengthy power point where I drone on and on about each “topic” with case studies for each.  It takes the whole period, and I know that by the end, kids have just plain zoned out completely.  After the Powerpoint, the kids do a challenge of an animated character remix and finish with their own artwork…following the rules of copyright infringement.

This year, I decided that I needed to change things up.  First and foremost, I made the unit into a boot camp.  It takes only a week.  2 days of learning about copyright.  And 2-3 days for the character remix challenge.

On day one, I showed the video for David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure“.  Then we watched Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice Baby” video.  We ended the video fun with a short interview with Vanilla Ice from MTV.   We briefly discussed how Vanilla Ice was in violation and I told them the outcome of the case–an out of court settlement of an undisclosed amount.  That helped me to segway into the next portion of the boot camp–group work.

I told my students that copyright applied to visual arts as well, and that there were 4 topics we were going to learn about.  I then divided the class into 4 group and assigned each group a topic–copyright, appropriation, fair use, and parody.  Each group was given a laminated card with the textbook definition of their topic and a case study for that topic.  The students were asked to put the definition into teenager vocabulary so the rest of the class would understand.   Then they were to read about the case, and based on their topic, decide what the outcome of the case should be and why they felt that way.

The following day, each group presented their topic to the class.  I read the textbook definition, then the group would translate that into teenager vocab.  I projected the images for their case study.  The students described the case to the class and told us their decision on what the outcome should be.  The rest of the class then had the option to agree or disagree and give reasons why.  Finally, I told them the real outcome.

After the students finish their character remix challenge, which they will do in their sketchbook and put a photo of on our class seesaw feed, we will discuss one more case before moving onto another artistic behavior unit….Banksy’s Dismaland.

I am really happy with how the boot camp went.  I rather enjoyed not being the one to teach them. The students listened to each other, had opinions, and even changed opinions after hearing what others had to say.  I think they learned more this way than when I would teach it all.  I hope they use the information they gathered from this as we move forward with our art making this year.