Janin

Liu

Stephanie Fuja

Janin Liu was one in a million when it comes to talent, intelligence, creativity, and work ethic. Over my 14 years teaching high school art and over a decade of teaching AP Art, Janin is by far one of my most talented of all time! Teaching Janin taught me more about allowing students to take more of the lead in the classroom and giving students a bit more choice. Seeing Janin advocate for herself, work through ideas herself, and manage her workload herself, allowed me to truly be the class’s guide and direction versus a micromanager who had to stay on each and every student at all times- it was beyond refreshing! For my AP Art class, I scaffold writing components into every single sustained investigation work each student turns in. They are required to submit a short artist statement per individual sustained investigation as well as five variations and drafts of their final artist statement. Supporting their ideas, skills, and inquiry during the AP Art and Design course was something I felt honored to do every single day.

I required experimentation and photographic documentation each day we met for class and at home. They had to submit photos of their ‘progress’ every time they worked on their pieces; before they worked on them, during and after, each day. Formative assessments not only occurred during the preliminary brainstorming process by implementing multi-page sustained investigation Idea development packets I made for each student and for each SI piece. In addition, formative assessments occurred every day in the classroom by open communication with each student, weekly and daily meetings with students, mid-critiques, partner critiques, and evaluation forms completed weekly both for the written statements as well as the progress within their sustained investigation works and their final SI works. Summative assessments my students completed, occurred after every sustained investigation was due; we had a full class critique of each sustained investigation that took one or two full class blocks. In addition, at the end of the school year, end of April/Beginning of May, our AP Art class holds a large full week AP Art show that we put on display for the entire school Monday-Friday. We have an opening artist reception that takes place the first night the show is open; usually on that Monday.

Fortunately, our school’s schedule runs on a block schedule where every class meets every other day on a rotating schedule for 90-minutes at a time. This allows for more discussion, inquiry, and brainstorming time to create high-quality sustained investigation pieces. Our principal was such a breath of fresh air in how she opened her mind to allowing art to have equal importance, equal opportunities, equal support both financially as well as visibility in the school, and materials needed for the success of the course. She came to visit our art classes when she had the time, she attended our Art show every year and communicated with the students about their ideas and creations, which made them consistently feel important and valued as artists and students. One of my pieces of advice for other AP Art and Design teachers to have a successful year leading the course would be to stay on your students with their deadlines, due dates, and submissions- keep constant check-ins and assign points for every check-in, assignment, etc and stick to them and be consistent across the board throughout the year. The students may feel frustrated that you are so ‘on them,’ but in the end, it will allow for more success and pride at completion for them!