In education, teachers use the “essential,” or “driving” question to guide learning. This question must be engaging, elicit deep exploration, and have multiple correct responses, all of which can be reached in a variety of ways. In many ways, high school itself has a driving question: “What comes next?”
Last fall, ConVal Regional High School was awarded a grant from The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, designed to help students begin to answer that very question. “Making a Living Making Art: S.T.E.A.M. at Work” brought five artists to ConVal and paired them with teachers in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art, and math.
The artists worked directly with students on projects while simultaneously sharing their perspectives on making a living in a creative field. By observing artists at work in a variety of fields and by listening to them share their career experiences, the authors of the grant Amanda Bastoni and Helfried Zrzavy hoped to encourage students to consider what they plan to do after high school.
The grant sponsored five artists who each came to ConVal for two full days. The first day was typically a Wednesday and was used to meet with faculty, students, and speak at the weekly after-school staff meeting.
Science department leader, Carol Young, found this time particularly useful. After comic artist Marek Bennett visited, Young said she was inspired to make a change to an assignment. “From his presentation at our faculty meeting and the resources he provided, I gained the confidence to offer a cartoon alternative to a summative assessment,” Young said. Originally, Young had assigned students to write an argumentative essay, either for or against a current issue affecting New Hampshire. The top choices included the Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct ) pipeline, the Northern Pass project, Antrim Wind Energy farm, or propane-powered school buses.
“Marek inspired me to provide students with another option for their assignment, creating an 8-panel comic strip. Four out of 13 students opted for this,” she said. “All four of these students met with high levels of success on this assignment, including two of whom had not been engaged or very successful on previous assignments. They were very proud of their products and greatly benefited from the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the issues through cartooning,” Young added. “I appreciate having a new tool to add to my teacher toolbox of instructional strategies.”
On Thursdays, each artist returned to ConVal to work with one class for an entire day during an “in-school field trip.” Karrie Mitschmyer and her 3-D Art Class spent the day with geometric glass artist Hans Schepker, creating and constructing an eight-sided triangular form out of stained glass. The piece will be installed in the library.
Mitschmyer called the experience “fantastic” for both herself and her students.
“Hans not only led us in a collaborative stain glass sculpture workshop, he also told about his background with art and his career in the arts. We learned about Hans’ experience as an engineer and his transition into working with art as a way of relieving stress.,” Mitschmyer said.
John Anderson, a professional photographer and Teaching Lecturer at Plymouth State University, spent his time work with Advanced Placement Chemistry students. Anderson collaborated with Moira Milne, Ph.D. and Chemistry teacher at ConVal.
Milne was particularly impressed with the genuine generosity with which Anderson shared materials, techniques, and supportive feedback. “This resulted in a very productive learning and creative time for all students … I am still hearing, many weeks later, lively discussion about the time spent with John. He has the ability to teach and inspire,” she said and added that she plans to incorporate cyanotype printing into future chemistry class lessons.
In addition to working with one class for the full day on Thursday, artists also spent the Thursday TASC time, ConVal’s 43 minute enrichment block, to present on the theme “Making a Living Making Art” in the Lucy Hurlin Theater. These talks were open to any interested student.
During the TASC Talks, students were asked to give anonymous feedback. After listening to Marek Bennett one student wrote: “From this TASC Talk I learned I can actually make a living, a good living, doing what I love.”
“This grant has been a tremendous opportunity for our students to interact with artists who shared their real-world experiences and their passion for the arts,” remarked Brian Pickering, principal of ConVal High School. “Not only students benefited from these interactions, also our staff. There were many opportunities to explore cross-curricular connections.”
The year-long grant was a positive experience for ConVal, Amanda Bastoni agreed, and one that brought the school community together around a common theme.
“This grant would not have been possible without support from the entire staff and administration at the school, as well as the generosity of community members who donated items and money that helped us match our funding requirement,” said Bastoni.