The Landscape of Independent Thinking

My second grade students are just wrapping up two weeks worth of landscape projects.  The focus of this project was originally to review the concepts learned in first grade with more emphasis on depth, detail, and composition.  As many projects do, it began to take on new meaning as work began.  What began as a simple lesson in drafting a landscape composition became a lesson in independent problem solving.

 As first graders, these students were asked to create a farm landscape similar to the style of Grant Wood.  They used water color and tempera paint.  This year, we reviewed the concepts so that everyone was working toward the same end goal, but the nature of their landscape and the art materials used was totally up to the students.  After several weeks learning and reviewing basic skills and procedures this was a great test to see if that time was truly spent wisely.  It is always tough to find the right balance of review and new knowledge during those first weeks of the school year.  In the end,   I was blown away by the results as were my students.  The energy in the art room while students were busily making their OWN artistic choices was markedly different than it is during  more teacher-driven lessons.  (Often unavoidable when teaching basic skills and procedures.)

 It was even more rewarding to see their faces brighten when I really played up the fact that they were not simply creating another project in art class.  They were also practicing an invaluable life-lesson in being independent, creative thinkers, finding and solving problems on their own.  This was accomplished with some adult coaching, but very little.  In our increasingly hurried world, it seems very easy to brush over the opportunities for coaching children through challenges are becoming few and far between.  In the rush from home to school, to daycare, to soccer, etc., etc. it is not always easy to stop and work through challenges that may come up; however, what may take an extra 5 minutes in the moment saves hours and hours of future of challenges.  Did allowing students to use many different materials at once make for a bit more planning and preparation on my part?  Yes, but it was worth every moment. 

Establishing a Choice-Based Art Program for Kindergarten

At the start of my 5th week of my second year as a K-2 art teacher, I am already re-evaluating.  Kindergarten is always a challenge for me.  It's a challenge I love, but a challenge none the less.  I think the real root of my problem is that I am afraid to take the leap towards what I know is going to be the best fit for me and my students.  I am stepping closer and closer towards establishing a choice-based curriculum for my kindergarten students.  The big hurdle is the implementation and the training period involved in starting a curriculum of this nature.  The other fear is how to keep track of ALL those different ideas and projects going on at once...and what do you do with the students who are constantly picking up new papers, making a few scribbles and then moving on to the next thing...is that even a bad thing??  This is always where my brain goes any time I sit down to truly start making plans...question after question..."what if" after "what if"'... however, I think the time has finally come.  I am going to force myself over the hurdle, tune out my inner-skeptic, and seriously start implementing what I because I think would be a really successful change in how I teach kindergarten art.

First steps: 


Room arrangement.  I rearranged my room to create a more "center" friendly space.   A few of my favorite features...I decided to use the sand table I inherited from a retiring teacher to hold drawing tools and books.  I also asked our school custodian to remove the leg extensions from one of my tables so that it is low to the ground.  This creates a really great alternate work space for students.  In the next couple weeks I will be utilizing counter space and drawers to create a collage center, a painting center, and a building center. 

Next steps:
Teach/train students how to use each station, expectations, etc.
Establish a tracking method for assessment.
Monthly project themes.
Establish work groups?...perhaps?
 

Soon to be Painting Center

Counter space and drawers will soon hold various Centers

Lower work table with leg extensions removed. 

Sand table as storage space

Lights, Art Class, Action!

One of my first grade classes is especially curious, and their teacher is very good at drawing this out of them and following their inquiries.  Lately, I've been lucky enough to join them on some of these adventures.  In their classroom reading time, they noticed an illustration in a book that depicted two people walking through the forest at night with a flashlight.  They were very curious about how the artist created the illusion of the flashlight shining in the darkness.  When I came to their classroom for art that week, they bombarded me with excited questions--"How did they do this?  Can you show us?  Can we try it?"  As a teacher who is always happy to let my students plan lessons for me, this launched several weeks of exploration in art class   Each class approached the challenge in different ways.  (Teaching lessons in the same exact way for 8 sections of first grade gets a little boring.)  The one similarity was that we read the same book--"Black Out" by John Rocco.  The challenge was the same as well--create the illusion of light in darkness using warm/cold colors.  This concept was an extension from their previous project of Warm Inside/Cold Outside paintings.

 One class made small scale collages working with different kinds of papers and practicing layering to create depth.  They were each given a 6"x9" piece of paper for a background.  It was really nice to have them work small--I tend to let them always work big, but the change to a small scale project was refreshing.  They also had to really focus on the goals of the project--lights and layering. 

Two other classes were given more freedom to choose their own materials and subject matter. They met the goals of the project and they were also able to use previous knowledge about composition and materials used in prior lessons. 

Control Freak No More! What I learned by giving up some teacher control without losing it…

After completing several projects with my first and second grade students, I began to fear that I was falling into the “cookie cutter” realm of art teaching in which every student’s project ends up looking the same and to get that result, everyone walked through the same steps. I found the prep for these projects to be much more strenuous, because I have to think of every single step in advance. Many teachers have a knack for doing this and can still maintain excitement for the project, but I don’t seem to have this ability. This was kind of an epiphany for me. I kept telling myself that I needed to have every single aspect of a project worked out before students do the project. I can’t be caught not knowing what I’m doing! The epiphany for me was that this way of teaching completely goes against everything I am as a teacher or more accurately, as a teaching artist. Simply put, the fun is in the not knowing.

I came to this discovery through a recent proj ect my first and second grade students completed. The theme was Trees—Fiction or Non-Fiction. The planning and preparation was put into the students’ hands and minds. As a result, they had to act as a working artist might by walking through each step of the creative process. I simplified the steps so that they coul d easily identify and understand them. In assessing their work on this project, I focused most of my attention on how they understood and carried out the process, not the end result.

The project unfolded in the following creative steps:

1. Brainstorm/Think—Students were divided into groups. Each group was given an art reproduction that depicted trees. The artists we looked at included Van Gogh (Mulberry Tree), various works by pastel artist Wolf Kahn, an illustration by Eric Carle, and a stylized tree by Gustav Klimt. Each group was asked to describe t he tree in their image. They also had to determine whether the tree in their image was Fiction (pretend) or Non-Fiction (realistic). In addition, they had to describe the setting of the image—where the tree is growing. We then created a word wall of ideas as each group shared their findings. We discussed the results of our brainstorm and concluded that artists depict trees in very different ways. They each have their own personal style.

The transition from the Brainstorming Stage to the Planning stage required a lot of teacher modeling of what brainstorming really looks and sounds like. Imagining something from nothing doesn’t always come naturally. For example, to get students to think outside the box, I told a little story to help get ideas going. I asked them to imagine that they had just woken up and looked out into their back yard and saw that a funny looking tree had sprouted over night and it was growing macaroni and cheese! What would that picture look like?! Or imagine a tree that came to life! Etc. Etc. After several stories like that, they were bursting with ideas and excitement and couldn't wait to get going.

2. Plan/Sketch—Students were given pre-made planning sheets to plan out their own depiction of a tree or trees. They answered the same questions considered in the Brainstorming stage.

Is your tree fiction or non-fiction?

Where is your tree growing?

They were also given several media choices based on the materials they were familiar with at this point in the school year—Oil Pastel, Collage, or Both. Lastly, they had to draw a sketch of what their tree would look like and what details th ey would add to depict the setting they chose.

This is really where most of the control was given to students. I gave them the framework, but the plan was their own. This worked amazingly well as a tool for differentiation as well. I am a firm believer in meeting every student at their level. By asking them to plan and sketch from their own ideas, I was given a much more accurate sense of where they stand in their visual and artistic development. If they were simply copying my example or guided drawing from the board, this wouldn't give me a very true reading. The students that are further developed were able to work more independently which freed me up to help those who needed a little more guidance/coaching as they got started. The fact that everyone’s plan looks very different is also great because no one feels like they’re weird if their tree doesn’t look exactly like their neighbor’s tree.

The transition from Planning to Creating:

The challenge here was to remind students that the sketch they created in the planning stage is what they would reproduce to create their final project. Younger students don’t get this at first because they’re used to the immediate gratification of drawing something and being done. We talked about the difference between making small changes to your idea but not completely changing your idea between the planning and creating stages. Some did change their ideas but they clearly had thought about their reasons for doing this. It wasn’t just an arbitrary choice.

3. Make/Create— At this point in the project, students were ready to gather their materials and what I call “project paper,” or the nice paper they use to create their final project. I prepared a wide array of choices in different sizes and colors. Students ended up using 2 or 3 class periods to work; although, it was clear from the beginning that we would work until everyone finished so they didn’t feel rushed.

To account for differences in working speeds, students were provided materials to make a tree sculpture while others were still finishing. They could also make a second tree drawing or collage.

4. Share and Reflect.—after everyone finished working, we shared our work in a class Art Show. I split the class into two groups so that one group was the audience for the other group. We talk about asking thoughtful questions and giving kind comments.

When all was said and done, the most rewarding and eye-opening part of this project was that I gave up my almighty teacher control and allowed students to guide themselves. I had always written about this, and talked about it, and dreamed of what it might be like to do this, but I had never really, truly been able to do it. Well, I did it, and I lived to tell the tale.

Not to mention the fact that students did an amazing job...