As 21st century art teachers there are so many competing pressures for
time and attention that it can sometimes be difficult to focus on a core
concern of creative teachers. How to gather innovative ideas for projects and
curriculum that introduce students to a wide range of contemporary art making
strategies?
Recognizing the need to create opportunities for teachers to share
innovative practice and understanding that old style curriculum sharing methods
may not be the most efficient or engaging ways of exchanging quality
curriculum, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago’s Educator Salon invented
a fast-paced and fun format to share art projects—the Curriculum Slam!”
The curriculum slam format works well because it’s quick and
entertaining and because the careful selection and preparation process
guarantees that the content is fresh and well thought out—based on significant
contemporary ideas about making art.
Pecha Kucha
Inspired by the emceed hip hop-style poetry slams
pioneered in Chicago in the 1980s that brought contemporary aesthetics and
style to traditional poetry readings, the Curriculum Slam! re-invents the
old-style curriculum fair by adapting a 21st century presentation
innovation—the rapid style Pecha Kucha format. The format, in which 20
images are set to advance automatically change every 20 seconds, was developed
by the Klein Dytham architectural firm in Tokyo.
The Pecha Kucha format has been adapted to enhance
curriculum sharing. Each presenter gets 7 minutes: 14 PowerPoint slides
timed at 30 seconds per slide.
This will give teachers the time to explain some of the details relating to
core objectives, materials, choice of artists and other details that contribute
to their successful projects. This creates a format that balances being fun and
sort of frantic with conveying useful content.
Curriculum Slam at NAEA
Now Chicago brings this dynamic presentation format to the country
with the first ever NAEA conference Curriculum Slam! emceed by Olivia Gude,
Marissa Reyes, and DJ James Rees. The event will be held during the San Diego
NAEA conference (March 29-31, 2014) on Monday, March 31 from 4 to 5:50 pm.
NAEA Secondary Division Director, James Rees commented, “One thing
teachers seem to be always looking for is timely content that matters to their
students. This curriculum slam will model a dynamic method of
communication, along with a dizzying array of meaningful curriculum. This will
be a must attend event this year at the conference!”
If you can’t be at the NAEA conference in San Diego, curriculum
materials from the Slam will be available online afterwards on the free
conference app.
Olivia Gude, James Rees, and Marissa Reyes
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