Soon I hope to have a new way to reach the families and communities that our school serves. The idea of parents and caregivers being able to make art alongside their young artists is inspiring. Last year I held family art nights in the art studio and it was well received. When I polled the families who came out to make art with their kids, they all lived within about a 15 minute drive. I wanted to connect with the families and kids who I wasn't having an easy time reaching during a regular lesson, but those were not always the kids that arrived. How to make real, purposeful, meaningful connections with the kids who need it most is on my mind as I think about my Pro-D. When the kids buy into the art making, because you have a real life connection with them, and they belong, the art studio is so much fun. When kids don't feel connected or have so much on their minds that making that connection takes longer and requires more planning...then art class can be a dance of trying to entertain and motivate. What if I offered an (un)class? A class that was less bound by time and place (the term asynchronous education has been used). What if I offered a course where parents, neighbours and caregivers could join in, as they wish? I came across this fabulous website that hosts and posts info about classes you can take or classes you can teach in your community:
www.unclasses.org
It does not allow you to offer the course right there (as in a widget to add your course content) but more like a Craigslist of courses available. I have entered my first course called
Paper Cutting as Contemporary Art and will have to create links to a "classroom". Any suggestions? Any platforms where you could add tutorials, images, video and a list of project entries? Maybe this blog will become my online classroom. My homework is to complete an online course, maybe something fun like the
Paper course offered over at
Designboom. Then create a course hub for my community.
