Beyond the Classroom Walls

Saturday our class ventured outside the classroom to explore the outdoors. For a little while I have been interested in the connection youth have to the outdoor environment, and how children seem to be spending less and less time exploring and playing outside. I have read several articles on the benefit of spending time outside, and wanted to explore how I could help children become better connected to the environment through art. The class was a little hectic and it took awhile getting ready to go outside. I was a little nervous taking the students outdoors where they would not be contained by the classroom walls, and running the risk of loosing a student! However, with all children accounted for at the end of the day, the risks Alice, Amanda and I took were well worth it. Not only did the students learn about butterfly habitat and being 'good neighbors' to other inhabitants of the earth, they also had the opportunity to take advantage of nature (in a positive way for both people and the environment!) to play and explore. The creativity and enjoyment the students showed during class proved to me that art and ecology can successfully join together, and help students build a better connection with nature. One student even took initiative to build a third, smaller habitat sculpture in which she and other students created a home for the butterflies that even incorporated interior decoration. Visit our blog about the project: http://ecobasedarted.wordpress.com/

Atomic Comics!

This week's lesson was a continuation of our last class where students used Photoshop to design alternate identities for themselves. We took things a step further and had students write narratives centered around the characters they created. They planned their stories out on a storyboard and began drawing comics books that introduce their identities and overcome some sort of challenge. Although the students didn't have time to complete their comic books, they were surprisingly good at outlining their stories using the storyboard handout we provided. We are thoroughly excited to see the final graphic novels the students create next Saturday.

Out students informed us that most of them have had experience drawing comics before. Some of hem have done it in previous Saturday School classes and some of them create comics in their free time. Because the students were familiar with the medium we were working with, they were able to jump right into their work and spend time focusing on writing their narratives. We often try to center our lessons around new skills or techniques, but by starting with something students already know they can put more energy into developing creative new ideas instead of worrying about materials. The only difficulty that we encountered is that students work at different rates. By the end of class, some students were nearly finished and most of the students had just begun their first page. We decided to carry the lesson over to another week because though some students were working slowly their comic book designs were very impressive and developed. We wanted to give them as much time as the need to fully finish their work.

"I am not throwing it away!"

Finishing up the sculptures from the last class, starting a new lesson making a monster painting, and working on the photoshop with the students who missed the lesson, it was a busy day for the teachers and the students. I had to run upstairs and downstairs to see how each student was doing, and with the many lessons mixed up in one class period, I was first worried that students won't know what to do. However, I was surprised to see how they found exciting things to work on by themselves, although some kids were not working on what the teachers prepared for them to do.

From today's lesson, there was one incident which I thought was important to think about. Brendan and Jenna had to finish up their sculpture to work on the next lesson, and Sean and Henry wanted to help them paint. I was happy at first because Sean and Henry wanted to help and work with other students. However, after a while, I saw how Brendan was the only one left working on the project because other kids decided to work on the monster painting. When I went up to him and asked what he wants to do more with the sculpture, he pointed at the trash can. He did not like the finished work of art and wanted to throw it away. I started to talk about what he can do more to it to fix what he didn't like about the sculpture, but I saw how Brendan didn't want to. I right away said, "I am not throwing it away!" but I didn't know what to say after that. The project was to make an abstract sculpture, and I now regret not explaining about how well they depicted the abstraction through the sculpture.

Sometimes, I could see how students feel bad about their artwork and want to throw it away. I think it is an important role of the teacher to lead the students not to get discouraged about their works, but to explore more with their artwork and challenge.

Found Objects and Confessionals

This past lesson was a continuation of the found object sculptures. The student's seemed to enjoy themselves while creating their pieces. The time frame worked out great for us, having the two classes to work on the sculptures, just about all of them finished, but we plan to leave time in our last class for them to finish up and last minute details. The student's continue to surprise us with their creativeness, and going above and beyond our expectations each class. We kept our theme of "progression, transformation, fluidity, and motion" known throughout our class. We started the class with a discussion, and had the student's go around and explain their ideas and show what theme they are representing.

Some used more than one, so it was exciting. Using the recycled materials that they gathered from around campus, we had some cool sculptures emerge. Transformation of representative objects like a pizza and flower were made by two of our students, Jordi and Isra. Fluidity was shown in Kailee's piece, by the growth of seeds and grass, and the use of newspaper and glue, that wrapped around a tin can. Progression was shown in Gracie's sculpture, by the simplicity of the work made from geometric boxes at the bottom of the sculpture, that grow to complex, organic shapes at the top. Other sculptures included a castle, a floral sculpture made from soda cans, a shopping cart (literally a shopping cart found on campus) filled with recyclable materials that transformed into foods, and many more.

In the beginning of this lesson, we also got a great start on our video confessionals. This documentation is fun for the students because they go into the side room and explain to the camera what they are working on, they share their thoughts and ideas, and also share any personal confessions to the camera. Some of the student's have been getting very into it, sharing a lot about their friends and classmates.

Plan B: Learning Centers

Yet another day in the Wonderful World of Bugs has passed and once again, Amanda, Laura, and I are amazed at what our students are creating! Even though our field trip day was thwarted by three inches of snow, we were able to think on our toes and write an entirely new lesson on Friday, using what supplies we had. Since the planning stage, we have wanted to try learning centers with our students, which would be smaller exercises or “stations” that students would rotate between. We planned on students spending about 15-20 minutes at each center and then going to the next one, eventually getting to all four. Not all students got to every center as we intended, but all students were busy the entire time and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The centers all focused on transformation and we used artists, Cindy Sherman and William Wegman to show students what transformation means (they really enjoyed William Wegman’s dog videos!) and we got a great response from Ava (below):

We were also curious to see how one of our students would react to these learning centers since, in the past, we have struggled when it comes to getting him to focus on one activity for an extended period. We did seem to notice an improvement in his behavior since he was doing multiple activities in shorter segments rather than one activity for 30-40 minutes like we usually do. Overall, the lesson was a great last minute substitution for what we had planned and it was a way for us to use our learning center ideas in class.

Making Villains...and Friends

Saturday’s lesson was based off the lesson that we did last week. Students had the opportunity to create their villains out of modeling clay. There was a question whether students will grasp the concept of creating 2D drawing that they made last week and turn it into a 3D object. Although some students had trouble with connecting the pieces of clay together, I believe that the students got the concept very well, and the villains turned out better than expected. This coming Saturday, the students will be painting their clay villains.

This past Saturday we decided not to build the fort. I think this was beneficial to the class because it was not a distraction like last class. The students spent a large amount of time working on their clay villains and did not give up on them to play just to play in the fort. At the end of class, some students asked for more clay to play with. We had a table in the back of the room were the fort was last week which held the logo shirts, and some of the girls took their clay and went underneath to play with the clay. Some of the boys sat inside the podium in the front of the room. I think this worked out well because they weren’t yelling and fighting like last time.

I think the best thing that happened in our class last Saturday was a student who made two new friends. This little girl the past weeks was very quiet, sat in her seat, only drew a few things in her sketchbook, didn’t want to decorate her alter ego, and would just observe the class. She did not have anyone that she would group together with at the end of class to play and talk. This past Saturday, close to the end of class, she was talking to the two girls sitting next to her as well as drawing on the table together. Chelsea and I were so happy that she was finally getting comfortable with the students within the class. We will be definitely sitting them together next week.

The Reserved Student...When Actions Speak Louder than Words

We are heading into the sixth Saturday Art School class and by now we've gotten a good feel of which students participate which do not. In this blog I'd like to share a personal experience with one of the students who is much more reserved and shy.
In the beginning of class students come in, get their sketchbooks, and start sketching. We usually give about fifteen minutes of sketch time and then start the lesson but with the inclement weather we decided to extend sketchbook time a little longer in case students were late. I went around and asked some students what they were drawing. Students usually share but some are very hesitant. I decided to sit with a group of girls who are usually a little quieter and not ask questions but instead be a part of their group so they could ask me questions. I grabbed a piece of scrap paper and started to do origami. A couple asked me what I was doing. I told them I was making an origami star. One girl, Annie, who is very hesitant to share what she is sketching and to ask questions, observed me doing origami. She didn’t ask me any questions; instead she grabbed her own piece of scrap paper and began making her own origami. I continued to fold my paper; some of the girls in the group asked me show them how to make the star, so I showed them step by step. I continued folding and felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Annie showing me the origami bracelet she had just folded. I asked her if I could wear the bracelet for class, she agreed. As the class went on I noticed Annie was much more vocal about help and asking questions in connection to the project than she ever was before.
I think it is important to keep in mind that some students like to keep a distance between themselves and a teacher. Participation in a group discussion may not be indicative of understanding or interest but may just be indicative of extroverts and introverts working together in a discussion. Some students are more comfortable observing than participating. Trying to give students one on one time will allow you to see the understanding and experiences that some students possess. The old saying “actions speak louder than words” is also important to keep in mind when teaching.. In the case of Annie, she became more comfortable when not forced to do a task or answer questions about her sketches but rather to choose what she wanted to share.
So, to end on a questions to my fellow teachers, have had an experience with more reserved students and how have you been making a connection with them?