Background And Cross Curricular Approach
My school (within the Pittsburgh Public School System) is an urban school with some key aspects of privilege and advantage. Although we are part of the larger Pittsburgh Public School system, due to our current magnet school status, we have a much higher access to visual art, writing, dance, theatre, and music, along with other amenities that many of the other schools in the district might not have as much direct access to.
Along with access to the arts, we have, as part of our school campus, access to a well-maintained urban garden and are located within short walking distance to not only one of the largest public parks in the city. We are also within walking distance of the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium. Our garden is home to numerous edible plants and a variety of different flowers and other plants. This garden has been very useful when it comes to still life drawing and observational drawing as well as being a great location to practice our journaling skills. I do not take access to these amenities for granted as they are great resources.
Even with our privileges and advantages as a school, we still have many of the same issues and challenges as other schools in the district. We still have difficulties with student concentration, academic focus, and other issues that can plague students of all ages. With the constant distance and use of screens, these issues, unfortunately, have seemed to become compounded since the pandemic. To be completely forthright, many of the behavioral issues that arise in my class seem to stem from the combination of digital devices and their impacts on habits and behaviors. For this reason, as part of the unit, we will be taking time to have a discussion regarding computers as tools for the research part of the unit. The rest of the project will be as technology free as possible. However, with the technology here to stay, this is an opportune time to discuss responsible technology use in an art classroom setting.
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