Connecting Sculpture & Writing Transcript

AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:00:06 That’s looking great. It’s very expressive.
00:00:11 [TITLE: Arts Integration: Connecting Sculpting & Writing]
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:00:15 Let’s just go over some of the professions, what you’re creating with your busts. Okay? So…
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:00:20 My name is Lorenza Arengo-Yarnes and I am a 5th grade elementary school teacher. Today, they were creating a bust of a profession. And then writing an opinion piece about choosing the profession.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:00:36 Here are the eyebrows. And there’s the eye. Look at your own eyebrows. How much…
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA
00:00:42 I’m Amanda Yates-Garcia and I’m a teaching artist. And I’m working with the 5th grade teachers here at the school in collaboration with the Getty Museum.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:00:50 Why are we creating the sculptures? Do you remember why?
STUDENT
00:00:54 So, like, it’s part of our space colony project that we’ve been doing – professions we think that are good in the space colony.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:01:01 In our colony. That’s true. Right? We’ve been…
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:01:04 Our district created this project-based curriculum, “Creating a Space Colony.” It’s an end of the year project and the students go through 10 days of lessons. They had talked about factors – how you’re going to survive and thrive in a space colony. And they’re creating a proposal.

00:01:22 Part of their proposal involves choosing an occupation. Why is that occupation not only important, but also viable?
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA
00:01:30 They’re thinking about what roles in society are important and essential. One of the teaching artists suggested this idea of creating busts because of course there are many in the Getty collection and when one founds a colony, often, busts are created commemorating the culture’s founding figures.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:01:51 What were some of the professions that you’ve thought about? Erin?
ERIN
00:01:56 Doctors?
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
Doctors.
GIRL IN BLACK
A governor?
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:01:59 Governor.
STUDENT
Teacher?
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:02:01 So, I should go in the space colony? Is that what you’re saying? Mitchell?
MITCHELL
Miner?
BOY IN BLUE SHIRT
00:02:05 Gardener or a farmer.
LESLIE
I was thinking of a physicist.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
These are great. When we start reading and discussing these different professions, I really want to hear why these are the professions you would like in the space colony.

00:02:20 Ms. Amanda! Now we’re going to get to the busts.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:02:23 Alright, so now is the moment that you’ve all been waiting for. You’re going to pull out your busts- And wait until I say. We’re going to pull out your busts and then you’re going to use a tool to carve in the name of your professions. Okay. Let’s get started.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:02:28 This is the fourth day working with clay. And so the first day, the Getty educators showed them images of busts from the Getty Villa. And so, they gave them sort of a context – you know, what is sculpture and what does it look like – and talked about what is a bust. And then they did this exploration with clay.

00:02:57 And I think that sort of set the groundwork. Many of my students haven’t had that experience. And then the second day, that’s when they formed the head. And then the third day, they were able to put the eyes and nose and the mouth.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:03:12 Do all of you guys have a vision for how the hair should look on your figure?
BOY IN WHITE SHIRT
00:03:18 Could we put, like, a helmet or a hat instead?
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
Yeah. Totally. So, we’re just going to take a chunk of clay that’s big enough to fit over the head. So, here I’ve got my head, right?

00:03:30 It looks like maybe that’s too small. So, what should I do?
STUDENTS
Add more clay.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:03:35 Add more clay.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA
00:03:36 The process from the perspective of the teaching artist was get them working with three dimensional media and really thinking about essentially the engineering – how to create something from beginning to end, a structural object.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
00:03:52 So, don’t pull it apart and put it back together again because then what happens again?
BOY IN PURPLE
00:03:55 [unintell] turn crusty [unintell]
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA [sync]
It’s gonna turn crusty. Okay, so…
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA
00:03:59 I was thrilled with the results today. I think that they came out with some really great work.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:04:04 Okay. Eyes up on me. So, I need – and this is going to be really tough – hands off. Hands off. Ooh, I know. It’s hard. Okay.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:04:14 Transitioning is not easy. Especially when you’re doing something really, really fun. I did hear groans. One of them said, “I don’t want to write.” And I said, “It’s okay. Let’s- We’re going to talk first.” And she’s like, “Okay.”

00:04:23 I knew that talking would be a lot more acceptable for them.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:04:27 In your groups, share which profession you chose for your space colony that you created with your bust, your opinion – why would your profession be needed on the space colony.
BOY IN PURPLE
00:04:40 They could have a chef that probably knows how to make space food because you can’t have regular food because they’d be flying all around.
LESLIE [sync]
00:04:46 I chose a physicist and I think the physicist would be important so just in case there’s a problem in there, they can- they’re able to fix the problem.
LESLIE
00:04:55 We talk about it, so then we’re able to understand more of it. It helps because that’s technically a draft of what we’re going to write about.
00:05:05 [TITLE: CLASSROOM STRATEGY]
[TITLE: Talking before writing helps students clarify their thoughts]
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:05:09 Listening to other people’s ideas, other students’ ideas helps them learn in a much more effective way, much more successfully.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:05:16 Let’s share, whole group, who they chose and referring to some of the evidence that we’ve read and watched. Genesis?
GENESIS
00:05:26 I picked ice skater because people might feel bored in Mars or the Moon bec- so they have entertainment.
BOY WITH BROWN GLASSES
00:05:34 I chose a dentist because what would happen if you’re in space for a long time and- and your teeth get rot- rotten?
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:05:44 Part of that space colony project is writing an opinion piece. After they were done talking, I had them write their opinion about choosing the profession and cite evidence.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:05:54 Just like what you’ve done when you talked, now write in your opinion why would your profession be needed on the space colony. Okay? Are there any questions?
00:06:01 [TITLE: Common Core Standard]
[TITLE: Write opinion pieces on topics with reasons and information]
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
00:06:02 And it’s just for five minutes. Alright? So, go ahead and do that. Look at all your notes. Those are awesome. Which profession did you choose?
GIRL WITH GREEN BOW
00:06:16 A psychologist.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
Oh, why a psychologist?
GIRL WITH GREEN BOW
00:06:19 Because maybe, like something- if they- if their thinking, something goes wrong, but what would happen.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES [sync]
That’s right. Okay, good.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:06:29 When we think about the Common Core, these standards are not just isolated to reading and writing, and to science. It’s also connected in the arts. Being able to look at a piece of art and if you’re going to have an opinion about that piece of art, what is your evidence for that. And hopefully, they’ve made connection.
BOY IN YELLOW SHIRT
00:06:47 We read in our notes that there are ice caps on the moon. My profession, miner, is useful. We could mine ice caps to obtain water. They could save hundreds of people from dehydration.
LORENZA ARENGO-YARNES
00:07:02 Listening to them make those connections to the space colony, citing evidence really enhanced all of their learning.
AMANDA YATES-GARCIA
00:07:10 For me, as an artist and as a teacher, I want these kids to develop a relationship to art, to art that they look at, and to art that they make.
00:07:26 ***FILE END***