Challenge 1- Community! #ArtsEdMonthAK

Alaska Arts Education Month is here!  We’re celebrating throughout March with a different Creativity Challenge each week.  Get inspired by the week’s theme to explore music, dance, theater, cultural arts, media arts, and visual arts.  Share creations by you and your students with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by tagging #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed to join the party!   

Our first Creativity Challenge for March 1 – March 5 is ………….. #Community! 

Humans are social animals, and as such, we find ourselves drawn towards others.  If Covid has taught us anything, it is how important our communities, and the role they play, are to our ability to live a happy and healthy life.  No matter where you’re from, whether it’s from Alaska or outside, or on the road system or beyond, our communities help shape who we are, and leave a lasting impression on us.  If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that humans will always find a way to come together.  

Today we’re going to share a few ways to investigate community through the arts. Some may work in your current educational setting and some may need to be saved for a different learning landscape. All can be adapted for different ages and abilities.

LEARN ALONGSIDE AN ARTIST 

How might students communicate ideas of community through printmaking?  In this 52-minute training with UAF professor Robin Child shares how to create monoprints, relief prints, and collographs with K-12 grade students.   This session features tips for using printmaking in science, literacy, and community studies, as well as advice for how to locate materials from everyday objects in rural Alaska.  Techniques in Printmaking with Robin Child | Alaska Arts Education Consortium (akartsed.org)

FIND A VISUAL ARTS LESSON PLAN 

A Community of Artists: School Specialty SELECT shares a cool lesson entitled “A Community of Artists.”  Students will create a classroom artist community of houses, which can be adapted to represent different aspects within a community, or different artistic styles as a whole.   Grades 5-12. 

Art and Community Activism: Learning for Justice shares this lesson that helps students develop their ideas of how to invoke change within their communities and to develop ideas about the relationship between community activism and the visual arts.   Grades K-5.

Art in Public Places: The National Center for Quality Afterschool shares this lesson that helps students understand families and communities utilizing public art.  Grades 3-12.

Place as a Mirror of Self and Community: Learning for Justice shares this lesson that helps students identify places that are significant to them in their communities, and share them with others.  Grades 3-4.

JUMP INTO A NEW DRAMA GAME 

String Shapes: This group movement game from Beat By Beat Press allows a student community to practice teamwork.  Perfect for a brain break or to recenter the class through purposeful movement.  All you need is a long piece of string, rope, or yarn.  Grades K-12.

SING AND DANCE ALONG

Names & Rhythms: In this edition of The Kennedy Center’s Teaching Artists Present Collection, Groovy Nate coaches students in turning their names into rhythmic songs.  Students can practice keeping a steady beat and exploring different vocal sounds while sharing their name-songs for others in the classroom community to try.  Grades K-5.

We hope these ideas spark your creative thinking for this first week of Alaska Arts Education Month.  Whether you create something from this list or from your own inspiration, remember to showcase your work on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter with #ArtsEdMonthAK + @akartsed.  

Visit again for a new Creativity Challenge and more ideas next week!