Best Practices: Sample Visual Arts Residency, Teaching Tools | Introduction | Background | Lesson

Other Best Practices

Chinese Lantern Residency

1) Listening Exercise

Most of George Zavala's residencies engage students in some kind of interviewing activity. Since students are often creating images based on their own traditions, they are usually given an assignment to interview family members or community residents. To begin working on interviewing skills, George starts with a classroom interviewing activity.

"I divide the class into two groups (A's and B's). I then pair an A with a B and ask each to remember everything they can about a family or ethnic tradition. A then talks to B for two minutes about their tradition without interruption. Then it is B's turn. When both have completed their stories, they each take turns telling the rest of the class what their partner told them. When one is finished retelling what they heard, the other is supposed to ask, "Was there anything I left out?" This gives each partner an opportunity to fill in missing details of their story."

Listening Exercise benefits:

1. Helps develop listening and speaking skills
2. Begins the process of exploring what students know about their family traditions
3. Students become aware of the variety of traditions represented in their classroom
4. Gives teaching artist a sense of the backgrounds and personalities of students

2) Artist's Statement

Sample Student Artists Statement:

"I used bamboo sticks for the frames and special paper, paint, and ideas. I put all these things together and I made a Chinese lantern. My name is Edwin. Sometimes my teacher Mrs. Katsoulis put [Chinese] music on so we could listen while we worked. I put my culture and heritage in the lantern. It tells stories and things from Colombia. Some of the drawings are symbols. I learned that sharing my heritage can be fun. I can express my thoughts and knowledge. I was trying to express what I felt and I put it into the lantern. Like I want peace for Colombia. And the history of Colombia, like Simon Bolivar rescued most of South America from the Spanish army. That is what I felt during this project. That's what the lanterns that lit up Class 4-212 taught me and made me feel."

3) Closure

Every session of a residency, if possible, should include time for closure, where students can ask questions, offer suggestions, and reflect on what they have learned. At the very least there should be a closure at the end of the entire residency.