Family day was unique and interesting learning and teaching experience, I think what stood out to me was how I was able to talk to children about their inspiration and talk about my inspiration, whether it was from a mask I had made or the original idea behind the project, the Yaka mask. I think an experience like this can help children learn about what has inspired scientists, artists, engineers, and others for ages. Slowly gradually they start understanding that a simple idea can give birth to important creations and different thinking can change the world in a better way. And hopefully, they feel inspired to dream big and work towards it. I think this connects to personal identity and teaching meaning in artmaking. That students connect more to their ideas and then they can grow and relate and be inspired by those meanings they can find based on a big idea or even in this case a big idea and set project.

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When I was younger I always loved doing little short art projects, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that whenever I was bored my mother would always send me off with an art task, most of the time instructing me to draw her a picture. Every single year on thanksgiving my grandmother would let us pick out a “craft” project. Small things like making bath bombs, friendship bracelets, or refrigerator magnets. These were always my favorite projects, I have never been the type of artist that thieves without a project. I work best when I have a specific goal in mind, for example, if I know I am making a bracelet then I know I have to make a bracelet. But the magical part was that everything else the colors, the style, the way I would tie it was all up to me. It gave me a guideline and enough freedom to create something meaningful to me. This is the beauty of the family day and the projects we set up for the students, we gave them a project, yes, but the way each student approached, problem solved, and finished that project was different. They made something that they liked or wanted to make, they drew rainbow cats and alien masks because that meant something to them personally even though they were making the same project. Which I think speaks a lot to choice-based learning and how to create a good project for students, provide and balance structure when and where you need it, and freedom of choice for the students. 

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There were several similarities between BRAINY and Family day, for one the projects were the exact ones utilized from our brainy tours. Also, we often had several students working at a time, and instructing them on how to go about the actual making and creation of their piece was very similar to brainy. However, I think it is easier to point out the major differences the first of which is the content. Each of our tours is related to a specific museum piece or content, without going through the tour and utilizing students' knowledge through questioning strategies it is more challenging for them to grasp and relate this experience to the museum or piece of your choice. Also, it is more challenging to probe students in this setting as they spend less time with you, and so it is more difficult to get to know all of them as they vary by age and may not feel as comfortable explaining their ideas to you. These were the major differences and similarities that I saw during this experience. 

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I think these experiences in more informal teaching have given me a great foundation for building good and stronger choice-based lessons in my future classroom. I also think these methods engage children in the art process and let them discover and learn while creating beautiful works. And most importantly that small and more informal ways of teaching can help reach out to kids in a different way than you may be able to in the classroom, it can make children fall in love with history, art, and science and they want to know more about the precious past. Children get a glimpse of different times and places by experiencing art in a different setting. This helps them to gain a broad understanding of the past. It can encourage curiosity and discussion of art in a critical way that can benefit them not only in the classroom but also outside of it. I think this has opened my eyes to how to broach talking about art history, maybe exploring “museum” visitations based on grade or class where students can view works they have not seen and continue building their critique skills and can move around and talk about art in a more informal way within the classroom. Or ways I can provide them with different experiences that can increase their knowledge of art and their passion for it. 

 

Birds in general, have been regarded as omens or forecasters of future events and are also believed to have deep symbolic significance. Several ancient cultures have held these winged creatures to symbolize the human soul and considered their flight to be representative of the soul’s journey in pursuit of higher knowledge. Additionally, the flight of birds makes them powerful metaphors for a range of human emotions and moods. Birds are generally considered a link between the earth and heaven, and symbolic of transcendence and eternal life. With their ability to roam the earth as well as soar up into the sky, birds symbolize freedom. In movies and literature yellow birds are used to symbolize to the audience that the scene or moment is a happy and joyous one. Birds in general have always symbolized hopes, aspirations, and goals. That is why this week I chose a yellow bird and also yellow symbols and rays within the piece. To represent passion, joy, change and call back to how experiences like this can connect with students in a different way, like how I connect with Art and small projects in a different way having experienced them, they changed and influenced how I viewed experiencing and creating something.