The Curtain (with)

       Hi!  My name is Daniel Zapata.  I am extremely excited to collaborate and work with an a amazing group of facilitators for the Balfour Pre College Academy.        A little about me.....I am a high school art teacher near Bloomington Indiana.  I have been a teacher for twelve years and most of that time I was an elementary art teacher.  That was a lot of fun and I have so many great memories of teaching ages 5 though 12, but once I had the opportunity to teach high school students, I realized I had found my true calling.  I love to engage my student's minds in a way that allows them to explore the process of creativity.  I want to help my students make connections between ideas, previous knowledge, and their own personal experiences in order to solve a problem, make a point, persuade, or beautify through visual art.        I am a painter and printmaker when I have the time.  I love all types of art however and usually want to experience as much as I can whether making or ju

Wow!  I am totally speechless and inspired right now...I want to share our groups Final banners an presentation.  Please enjoy.

I’ve left the group inspired every day!  The students took no time to start collaborating and creating once they transitioned into the final project of creating a large banner of awareness art.  Each group is putting their heart into every brush stroke and pencil line.  Here are some pictures of the fun!

The students teamed up to create some amazing artwork that brings awareness to the issues of global and local water access.

mid week check in.... We have had three sessions so far and they have gotten better and better.  Our students have been engaged and creative since day one.  They are having a lot of fun and so am I.  I am really happy That’s katie and I decided to have the students start working on visual art on Monday.  Their ideas or absolutely inspiring!  On Monday Inaskes how many students co side res themselves artists and only one student raised their hand.  After the whole class had the opportunity to work on a poster more of the students realized that they too are artists.  One of the best parts for me is that the students are taking initiative and going above and beyond with their creativity!   Katie and I introduced both the global and the local issue from day one and continue to draw cool nnecrions to those issues of water scarcity and access each day.  Through fantastic debates, activities, and creative writing, the students are going from talking about the problem to discussing possi

Here is link to me and Katie's lesson Plans. This is a working document that needs some polishing.  please leave comments or ideas.  Thanks so much! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fFWX8osk0tWu_4wJIGnI5CVlHhPKGGgDtinmMkMxalU/edit?usp=sharing

Here is another working title and description for our course.  I liked all the suggestions from other facilitators about focussing on just one topic such as Assess to Water.  We will be following the same format and still creating posters and banners that bring awareness to the issue.  By narrowing down our focus to Water access, we can get in depth with more Global and local Connections. Water Wars:  Painting Awareness to a Global Issue that Affects Us Locally Water is life, but do we all have equal access to this precious resource?  In this course we will take an in depth look at the very serious global issue of water accessibility and how it affects people living in certain regions of the world.  Throughout the course, students will make connections to local issues of access from their experiences. Students will create daily sketches, make posters to encourage awareness and finally, they will work to paint a large banner that will be displayed at the end of this amazing wee

Hello fellow GALACTIC Facilitators.  Here is a first and very rough draft of a weeklong plan for group 3. Right now a working theme and name is: Theme: Creating activism and awareness of issues of access to Water, Food, and Education Globally and Locally Group Name: Painting Awareness: Activism for the Equality of Fundamental Needs  Please feel free to give any suggestion and comments.  Since I created the plan, I have already rethought some things....For Example, we could structure the whole project around the "Digital Divide"  that would encompass the other topics of food, water and education because those things are effected by the lack of technology in many underrepresented communities not only throughout the world but also here in the US and locally.  Anyway, Please let me know if you have any ideas, thoughts, or suggestions. Thank you for looking.... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ri2bh7NEaUsbKbr5jxaBgXMquwicPp7WCRH9c8kiK_0/edit?usp=sharing