me arts ed

David Rufo’s discovery

Some time ago Bucksport art teacher Linda Babb sent me a link to an article that was published in October 2013. Many teachers send me links to interesting articles, videos, and other information. I place them in a draft for a blog post and when I have a minute I go back to the drafts and publish them. Linda found the article interesting and so do I. Not only is this article interesting but the source is as well. Some of the following is taken directly from ALT/space which is a project of the Teaching Artist Journal. It is a peer reviewed print and online quarterly publication that provides a space to hear from teaching artists and for “all those working at the intersection of art and learning”. Doesn’t that pertain to all arts educators? The teaching artists are from all over the world so the global perspective is provided by nature of the authors. I hope you will check it out and subscribe online.

The article that Linda sent is called Math Journal Graffiti and located at http://tajaltspace.com/post/64163415848/math-journal-graffiti-david-rufo#sthash.4jWvRnEI.dpuf. David Rufo is an artist/teacher/researcher working on his PhD at Syracuse University in Art Education. With seventeen years experience as a general classroom fourth grade teacher, David’s current research interest is the self-initiated creativity of children in a child-centered environment. In addition to being a full-time teacher, David is also an adjunct instructor at Syracuse University where he has created and taught a course titled, Art Educators as Contemporary Artists. His most recent article titled, “Building Forts and Drawing on Walls: Fostering Student Initiated Creativity Inside and Outside the Elementary Classroom,” was published in the May 2012 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Art Education.

David is interested in the marks people have made in history as well as the marks children make. He pulled out old workbooks from a cabinet and found the markings that his students had left. The usual drawings often found in the corners of pages, in the margins of papers; hearts, animals, figures, etc. He has considered the transformation his classroom has gone through provided a restricted environment to a more relaxed one to encourage the development and use of creativity.

Check out the article to read more about David’s thinking and to see some of these priceless drawings made by his students in their math notebooks!