Tag: Baltimore Maryland

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Celebrating Benjamin Banneker

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date September 19, 2018
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On September 8th, 2018 The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum
held an artist reception for their current show that I have artwork hanging in…

Benjamin Banneker — author, scientist, mathematician, farmer, astronomer, publisher and urban planner — was descended from enslaved Africans, an indentured English servant, and free men and women of color. His grandmother, Molly Welsh, was an English dairy maid who was falsely convicted of theft and indentured to a Maryland tobacco farmer. After working out her indenture, Welsh rented and farmed some land, eventually purchasing two African slaves whom she freed several years later.

Young Benjamin grew up in Baltimore County, one of two hundred free blacks among a population of four thousand slaves and thirteen thousand whites. He was taught to read by his grandmother Molly, and briefly attended a one-room interracial school taught by a Quaker. He showed an early interest in mathematics and mechanics, preferring books to play.

While still a young man (probably about age 20), he built a wooden clock that kept precise time. Banneker was encouraged in the study of astronomy by George Ellicott, a Quaker and amateur astronomer whose family owned nearby mills. As early as 1788, Banneker began to make astronomical calculations, and he accurately predicted a solar eclipse that occurred in 1789. In 1791, while working with Andrew Ellicott and others in surveying the land that would become Washington, D.C., Banneker made other astronomical observations. –Encyclopedia Britannica

It turns out Benjamin and I have a lot in common! Both totally interested in astronomy, science, writing… he and I also share a similar background of being of mixed cultures. His story is very inspirational. It shows perseverance through any situation to come out on top and make a better world for everyone.

The show will be up until December 29th, 2018.
Thank you Willa Banks for following your passion for curating this amazing exhibit!
<3

Tags African American, Art Show, Astronomy, Baltimore County, Baltimore Maryland, Benjamin Banneker, Exhibit, Math, Science, The Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum

Art Art Class Divine I Am Education Existence Most Popular

Giving up Approval for Authenticity

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date September 15, 2018
1 Comment on Giving up Approval for Authenticity

So this is my eleventh year teaching art at Ridgely Middle School.
I can hardly remember what it felt like to be a new teacher… a bit worried, stressed, and anxious….

About how the students would respond, if they would understand the process, and if they would be as excited as me about it all…

About my performance and how my administration would evaluate me, and see me as a teacher. Would I be good enough?

Eleven years later…

I can say I am definitely more confident in my teaching, and in my students abilities to learn. This comes from a combination of time spent in the classroom, trial and error, a supportive team of teachers in my building as well as an amazing Visual Arts office in my county, and from a total mindset shift.

Obviously as a new teacher, one has NO IDEA what they are truly in for.
Especially in the day in age where we were transitioning from analog to digital.

I started teaching in 2008…
When we still used TV’s and DVD/VHS players.
When we wrote objectives as “The students will…”
When we used Easy Grade Pro and had to put our grades in ourselves.
When there was one desktop computer and students had to go to the computer lab to look up references.

Life has changed so much…
We have morning announcements streaming in real time on the computer
We now write objectives as “I can and I will…”
We use Schoology and all of our grades are kept online and transferred for us.
Every student has their own computer!

The mindset shift is not only from analog to digital, but from thinking about how I should be teaching… to teaching from the authenticity of who I am. Incorporating my own personal journey and passions into my classroom have really changed the whole atmosphere. The students are more comfortable and excited to come to class since I have started teaching authentically instead of teaching from expectations.

I love seeing and being apart of the shift in our public education system. Baltimore County Public Schools is one of the forerunners for leading our students into 21st century digital creative authentic learning.

Now I no longer worry about how my students or administration will respond to my instruction, as I know I am facilitating a safe and powerful space for my students to creatively learn and express themselves authentically. I am teaching them to live authentically … and that is the best lesson anyone in this world could learn.

Here is to my eleventh year teaching and to all the learning, growth, and fun that will come this year!

Migwetch and Gi’zaagi’in
<3

Tags Art, Art Education, Authenticity, Baltimore County Public Schools, Baltimore Maryland, Eleven, Learning, School, Schoology, teacher, teaching

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Painting with Paul session 1

Post author By Raine Dawn
Post date February 13, 2016
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A few teachers attended the first ever teacher workshop at Hampton National Historic Site. At this workshop, teachers were given a tour of the mansion and grounds, an adaptable lesson plan, as well as a presentation from our first ever artist in residence, Paul Moscatt. After the workshop we decided as an extra bonus, teachers would have two sessions with our artist in residence, to learn some techniques as artists which we can inturn share with our students.

The first painting day with Paul was on January 31st, 2016. Three of the teachers were in attendance, and created three beautiful paintings of a costume model in order to help us with our narrative ideas for our Hampton inspired paintings. These paintings will be submitted into the HHI juried student/teacher art exhibit in April!

When we first arrived at Paul’s studio it was like I was in a movie. The elevator in this older warehouse transformed into an amazing LLC. Cork Building that artists of multiple styles call home.

Paul is gracious host, providing us with coffee and coconut chocolate bars in the morning when we arrived. We talked for a little while about his studio space, and his ambitious and artistic daughter. He even had prosciutto ham bread with olives for lunch!

Painting model Deviana was such a pleasure. The atmosphere of the studio, along with Paul’s ability to teach new techniques in a manner that gets an artist excited about painting. He has a genuine enthusiasm for the act of painting that is contagious.