Process Over Product

 After a busy week of hanging student work parent/teacher conferences and handing back student work before spring break, I've been thinking a lot about the old art teacher adage--"process over product."  I've heard the phrase used a lot, but started to realize that it's one of those terribly subjective statements that can take on many meanings depending on personal opinion.  It makes me wonder, what is process? what is product?  Is there a shining ideal example of either of these things?  Is it possible to pin down a more specific definition?  Working at the K-2 level, I've had to adjust my methods to be very process oriented.  At the same time, like any teacher or parent, I am really pleased when students' work turns out looking like the work of someone in 3rd or 4th grade not 1st grade.  Who doesn't love that?

To zero in on this question a bit more, I took a closer look at some of my students latest projects at every level I teach.  My kindergarten students are starting a unit on animals and animal habitats...our first stop on this adventure is ISLANDS.  We read the book The Little Island by Mary Wise Brown.  Students then had to construct a paper island--took some problem solving, but finally landed on masking tape as the best fastener for the 3-D island part.  (If I do this again next year, I will most definitely be investing in some new staplers.) The next class period was spent making fish, birds, waves, trees, etc out of scrap paper.  I would say this is definitely a process based lesson.  Students had to use 2-dimensional materials to create a 3-dimensional effect.  They also had to use collage/building techniques over drawing.  They really enjoyed the process, and I was happy to see those students who really rely on drawing skills facing a new challenge of building images out of paper. 

first step: create island

Some classes made an Island mural instead of individual islands.

second step: fill in water, build trees, animals, etc.

In a slightly more Product-Based vein, first graders recently completely self portraits.  They did a drawing first in pencil, outlined their lines in sharpie marker, then painted with tempera paint.  The second part of the project involved cutting out their portrait and creating an interesting background.  The final step was to write a short poem about themselves.  The lesson here was how to incorporate their words as part of the picture. The results were really amazing and students were very proud.

I definitely saw a huge range in results in this lesson, but for the most part students were completely amazed at the fact that they could draw their faces so easily.

In the end, I have concluded that like so many things in human life, it isn't a question of process VERSUS product.  One is not better than the other; rather, a healthy balance of the two is answer.  One could say the same about nature vs. nurture.  Take out the VS.  We need both.

Being a Good Listener

Over the last week or two I've made a discovery--or more realistically, I finally faced a problem area in my teaching day that has needed attention.  I realized that in the frenzy to keep up with all the logistics of my day--class to class, school to school, paint spill to untied shoe--I wasn't being a great listener.  One of the things about my job that I find most rewarding is the fact that I get to teach a class that allows room for socialization and a lot of sharing.  My most favorite thing to do is to step back and listen while students are working.  Over the last few weeks, this aspect of my job somehow fell out of the forefront of my mind and priorities.  In all honesty, I'm somewhat in mourning for all the fascinating tid-bits of thought I've missed over the past month or so.  To rectify this problem, I took a few steps that have been fairly helpful.
1.  I've geared my morning routine so that it now includes more exercise and less coffee.  I have more energy and patience which means I have more room in my brain to deal with the day to day things that may come up and can stay calm, able to listen and in the moment.

2.  I've structured sharing moments into every class.

3.  I've become more in tune with the rhythm of my classes--that sounds odd, but no two classes are the same so can't be taught exactly the same.  I have kindergarten classes at the end of the day every day.  The first in line starts art immediately after their afternoon recess.  This means their energy is really high and scattered.  I have to start at their level, grab their attention, and then bring them back down to an operating level that is more conducive to a successful, not-crazy art class.

4.  I've started keeping a little notebook near me all the time so I can quickly jot down kid quotes and thoughts as they come out.

5.  Above all, I'm constantly reminding myself to remain calm and comfortable and to not latch on to too much power in the classroom.  This alone creates an open and comfortable atmosphere where students want to share ideas and thoughts.  It's taken me some time to really see this but, power and control are not the same thing.  Students need room to guide themselves freely and to THINK their way through a series of given tasks.  This doesn't mean I let them go at it with no direction.  It means I let them veer from the plan if they want to or if they have a better way of doing something that I hadn't thought of.  More often than not their ideas are successful, and when they aren't they've learned firsthand that some ideas are better than others--and that's OK!

In reviewing the success of these few steps, I think they're working fairly well.  If not for paying closer attention to these aspects of my day listen to what I would have missed....

Kindergarten conversation 1:
Carson:  "My step-mom's cat died because blood was coming from its privates and he went to heaven.
(side note: there is no such thing as TMI when you're 5!)  

Jim: "What's heaven, Carson?"

Max: "Heaven is a place in the sky by God and the dead angels.  You become a dead angel when you go there.

Kindergarten conversation 2:  (On the opposite end of the insight spectrum....)

Javin: "Pee-pee."

Austin: "You can say that again!"

Javin: "Pee-pee."

Austin: "You can say that again!"

---Repeat about 5 more times....you get the idea!---

Long story short, when you start listening, there is no end to the fascinating things kids say.  No, there not always insightful, but in my opinion, any thought that a person between the ages of 5 and 8 (as is my clientele) can commit to words is worth listening to.

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. 

Cold Outside--Warm & Cozy Inside

With my first grade classes we read several poems from the book Winter Eyes by Douglas Florian.  His poems are perfect for young readers and best of all, he illustrates each poem with really great paintings that are also very approachable for young artists.  Florian's images provided an excellent springboard for teaching my lively first graders about warm/cold colors and also the opportunity to teach them how to draw the interior of a room. 

We read a few poems and then zeroed in on two in particular.  One was about a cold "wintry, wondrous" night.  The other was about being cozy and warm inside.  We looked at the details of each painting and especially at the colors.  I demonstrated a few possible approaches to drawing either a Cold Outside picture or a Warm, Cozy Inside picture. 

Cold Outside

Cold Outside

Warm, Cozy Inside

Architecture and Human Habitats

Second graders just wrapped up an architecture project in which they had to create buildings or human habitats with interesting architectural details and shapes. My goal was to guide them beyond the typical house made from a square with a triangle on top for a roof. They got it, and the results are great!

(The little characters in this painting are "half-caterpillar-half- man singing opera"...naturally!)

Students first studied different images of buildings. We also read the "House Book"--the author of the book is escaping me--but it's a children's book with great illustrations of all the parts of a house. We also talked a bit about different kinds of buildings and how they are different. Students were able to choose whether they wanted to create houses in a neighborhood, skyscrapers, cabins, etc. This really helped ensure that everyone's project turned out differently.



The process started with drawing just the buildings or houses first. Color was added with watercolor paint, crayon, or marker--I gave a variety of choices for this part. Then, the buildings were set aside and students created their backgrounds. They had to consider the sky and the ground. Lastly, the buildings were cut out, arranged in the best spot, and then glued in place.

One significant part of this project for me was that I started to notice the day to day logistics of teaching art are becoming easier and easier. As a result, I'm more tuned into the choices I make as a teacher and the choices I make as an artist. Although, in all honesty, I have done very little of my own artwork of late, I have found myself becoming inspired by the lessons I'm teaching. In my own work, I've been at a stand still as I decide what route to take next. I'd like to try a new subject matter but can't quite narrow it down. I've decided to start turning my attention to what I'm teaching...that is where I'm directing my creativity these days after all. This architecture idea stood out to me, so now I'm looking more closely at the interesting houses in my neighborhood and thinking about how I can tie this concept into some new paintings of my own. We'll see what happens. Perhaps the glaring emptiness of that brand new canvas on my easel won't be so empty much longer.

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...

Farms, Dots, and Finger Painting

It's been a very busy year so far! New job and wedding all in one month...very fun and exciting, but somewhat time consuming. I think life is finally returning to some semblance of calm, so I'm hoping to be better about blog updates.

Here are the projects K-2 students have been working on...

First and Second grade students read the story The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. They then created their own dots--just like Vashti, the main character in the story. They used oil pastel to practice drawing lines and then painted with watercolor over the oil pastel to create a wax resist painting. The finishing touch was to put their dots in "gold, swirly frames" just like the story. This was a great beginning-of-the year project. The story is especially great for opening a discussion about trying your best and having confidence in your abilities.


First and Second graders also learned about landscapes by studying paintings of farms by Midwest native, Grant Wood. Students were then asked to create their own unique farm landscapes. They were given the challenge of drawing a hilly landscape and then drawing crop lines on the hills to show the form of the hills. This project included a drawing component as well as watercolor wash and finally, tempera paint. The end goal was to still be able to see each step of the project.