Parvin Peivandi

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy is creating an educational environment for my students in which they practice to be open minded and respectful to all people from different cultures or races. In my pedagogy, I like to raise awareness about the importance of community and togetherness. My art projects hover over the concept of connection and integration.

I believe my Art is not separate from my teaching practice; In both art making and teaching art, I desire to make people connected through art and sharing the stories of different cultures. In my artworks, I usually talk about my passion of connection and communication with people. My art works express the struggles and the difficulties of living between two cultures and the labor of assimilation. Coming from Persian background, I put emphasis on the importance of togetherness in our community and want to invite the students to be more sensitive and respectful of different cultures.

In my recent art projects, I brought my art practices and teaching art projects more closely by bringing performance art as one of the most influential contemporary art practices to my pedagogy. I believe the successful pedagogy is an art by itself because it touches the heart of people and evokes their feelings and self-awareness. I want to set forth the idea of how our cultural bodies are also material in the process of making art and also responding to art. I like in my art pedagogy, delivering art, making art and responding to art overlap each other. I believe in a successful art educational environment, the artist and the teacher, the student and the instructor, the material and the concept all find the same status, meaning and matter. There is no authority or autonomy of one over the other. This is the moment that I strive for to level out any hierarchy or power structures in education.

I like the morality that exists in Chris Hedges quote, “ the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers.” I think Hedge’s belief that “the measure of civilization is its compassion” is stunning. His idea made me think of my teaching philosophy that is based on increasing compassion and respect between individuals and students in this particular context, so I think I am on a right track in my educational endeavor. I aim to design contemporary art curriculum with more emphasis on collaboration and community art experiences.

I think the profession of teaching calls forth self-awareness and reflection in me and I consider mirror as my credo. The educational career lets me to have self-reflection all the time and try hard to improve my honesty with the world. I think as an art educator I am in constant dialogue with the world; world is reflected in me and me reflected in the world, this mirror needs to be spotless.

http://everyarteverychild.blogspot.comSource: Spaces for Possibility

Source: Spaces for Possibility

MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015Sitting with “carpet woman” to experience closenessHello my friends,In the past week Parvin Peyvandi, a visiting artist and art teacher from Vancouver, Canada has been visiting your schools (Ravenswood, Armstrong, Hancock, and Peck Elementary). Parvin is originally from Iran and brings a beautiful and vibrant connection to her own culture to the students and teachers of Chicago.In her performance “carpet woman” she invites students to sit with her to consider the history of the Persian carpet and how a piece of fabric can bring us into proximity with each to other to experience closeness. This performative experience has allowed students to talk about racial segregation in Chicago; the act of sitting together to form a connection with each other; what a life long art practice can be like, and much more. Parvin is like a radiant flower in the center of the carpet, emanating love and openness. Like Marina Abramovic’s performances which involve a sense of being in connection with each other, Parvin opens up the space for conversation and touching through materiality.The invitation to join Parvin on the carpet is extended.First grade students from Armstrong Elementary School are eager to sit close and touch the carpet and Parvin’s hair. The little ones are open to more than just sitting. Touching is often a part of being together.6th grade students at Ravenswood Elementary are considering their own cultural heritage. Parvin’s visit comes at just the right time. There is much conversation around how people feel connected through sitting on the carpet. Some students are aware that there is segregation in Chicago and comment on the recent police brutality events in Baltimore. Parvin says as an artist she cannot control the actions of others but through this gesture of sitting together she hopes to bring people together to experience closeness.Mature bodies, less room for sitting but still high school students at Hancock are more than willing to sit close for a conversation. I notice that the students of various ages hold their bodies differently on the carpet. The little ones fidget and wriggle to find a sense of comfort. The 6th graders hold their bodies with a sense of comportment. Their minds are open to many different associations – the carpet in Chicago extends all the way to Baltimore. In the high school, students are comfortable with being together but they are unaccustomed to sitting on the floor. From first grade to high school, these students have travelled great distances with their bodies. This performance is a beautiful connecting point for the bodies in proximity to each other over time. We never lose the sense for needing to be with each other. Posted by Kate Thomas at 12:09 PM No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestSATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015Student Reflective WritingThis ain’t on any standardized test!Curie HS Art 1 Students are doing reflective writing during their critique. That’s right! Our students think and process and then think about their thinking! That’s art education and we have to let the parents and administration know what we are doing in the classroom. (That is thinking deeply and reflecting throughout the creative process). I’m always surprised when others are surprised that art teachers do this. So many don’t realize the depths we bring our students to.Click on the link to go to our blog. There will soon be another post of some of the studies with the student writing attached. I regret I did not video the discussions. It is so hard to document and run the session at the same time! I need to get that equipment so I can set up the video camera and let it run on its own….teachers after hoursValerie XanosCurie HSPosted by Valerie Xanos at 8:44 AM 1 comment: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestLabels: metacognition, mindfulness, reflectionTHURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015″Vibrant Matter” in the art room”It is never we who affirm or deny something of a thing; it is the thing itself that affirms or denies something of itself in us.” Baruch Spinoza, Short Tretise IIHello my friends,I visited Jeanne Walker’s room today at Hancock High School. The art room was gorgeous and full of vibrant matter and possibilities. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I am reading about new materialism and post humanism. Now I look at this beautiful art room exploding with “thing power” and wonder what might these “things” be calling us to do?Reinforcing the sculptural chairs with paper mache.A non-chair related project involves these beautiful mannequin heads covered in gold leaf. The beauty of these materials cannot be captured by a photo. One has to feel the materiality of gold leaf. This one seems to speak to me as a throne.Recently I have been wondering, what if we were to re-conceive of the art room’s materiality differently?  Jane Bennett who I mentioned in the last post says “‘thing power’ works because it’s in the n

Source: Spaces for Possibility

Parvin Peivandi , IB reflection, Dec 3^rd, 2014

This IB seminar was about reporting in the IB, internal assessment and external assessment. The new assessment system that is employed in IB is cumulative and students have the whole year to continue working on meeting the same objectives. Also no averages are taken. I learned a lot about the things that IB teachers should avoid in the assessment: Teachers should avoid grading based on the proportion of scores for class work, homework and test. Teachers should not averaging summative performance score over the year and teachers should not determine the final grade by looking at one single piece.

All these criteria got me reflecting on my own education, old, traditional schooling which still exist in many educational system. In the old educational systems without all these assessment sheets, rubrics and disciplines, there was no respect for the students’ rights and grades are mostly affected by the personal preferences and judgments of the teachers. Students do not have chance to show their progress and be assessed over the year and any fail is counted in their final grade. There is no need to say how much frustration the old traditional system would bring for the students and how it can influence the students’ motivation for learning and growth. In comparison, the IB education lets the student to achieve the educational objectives and goals over the year and feel responsible always to correct their mistakes and progress. IB education motivates the students to learn and think profoundly rather than performing just for the time of final exams.

Parvin Peivandi, IB Reflection, Nov. 27^th, 2014

Learning about the ATL skills in IB education, got me reflecting on my own practice and how much did I considered these skills in designing my unit plans before? I think the most remarkable aspect of the IB education is its systematic approach and in developing the important skills that students need to function well in society. IB education emphasizes both on self-reflection as well as the teachers’ reflection. Some of the great ATL skills that I like to consider in my unit plans are self-reflection skills, organization skills, collaboration skills, creative thinking skills, critical thinking skills and Affective kills.

Affective skills seem more challenging for me as I ask myself how can I design a unit plan in which this ATL skill is considered: How can students manage their own state of mind? This is the area that I feel I need to do research more and studies in order to help my students better to improve themselves.

I think considering all the ATL skills as approaches to learning and also Approaches to teaching (ATT) in IB education makes the IB education distinct and separate from the non-IB education, the education that makes the future generation more responsible and risk takers to solve the problems of the world. This got me reflecting on my huge responsibility as well to make my skills and knowledge in a great level to satisfy my student’s needs.

Parvin Peivandi, IB reflection, Nov. 20^th, 2014

Introduction of the summative assessment in IB was the goal of this IB seminar. I learned how this systematic approach of IB assessment for the art is more efficient than assessment in non-IB setting. When I design my summative assessment in this format, I write a background info that has the IB objectives in it; it is like starting the road with the map in hand. The assessment task sheets are also useful and I found them really useful in assessing the student’s works without the interference of personal preferences or biased opinions.

What I observed in my short practicum was that the Art teacher was really fair and had a very similar task sheet that he had mentioned the criteria before. I am asking myself what should I consider in the summative assessment of my unit plan to judge the students’ works fairly? How can I deal with those students who are not satisfied with their grades? What are the solutions?

Parvin Peivandi, IB reflection, Nov. 12^th, 2014

This seminar was devoted mostly to sharing the experiences of short practicum and it was great to hear what other teachers have done and have learned in their practicum. It was interesting to see what the other peers felt or observed was some how similar to my own observation.

Definitely short practicum was a very useful experience for all of us to be prepared for the long practicum, but it also was disappointing for some of the student teachers. Definitely all we read in theories do not come into real practice at schools, but I believe the real pedagogy has stemmed from those fixed theories. Contrary to some of my peers who felt upset about the difference between theories and practice, I felt there was a very natural and reasonable adjustment of the pedagogy at school. Rules are there that we learn, but there are not written on stones and we can modify our pedagogy based on the classrooms’ climate. I ask myself what I am learning as an educator for myself? How can I improve myself at first place? As educators, I believe we should learn to be flexible and tolerant and adjusting ourselves to the new situations and contexts is a great skill that we should all practice.