Watercolor techniques

In order to teach how to watercolor, I had both my 7th and 8th grade take 'notes'.  I gave them a half sheet of watercolor paper and had them divide the paper into 8 parts.  I asked them to label the parts of their page.  I introduced two techniques at a time and gave them the chance to 'take the notes'.  This process took the whole hour.

A wonderful resource for this type of teaching is WatercolorPainting.com.

These notes were GREAT for many reasons.

Our school sends out a folder with kids to place evidence of learning in it for conferences.  Some teachers place a grade report or worksheets in the folder.  I placed these notes.  We have student lead conferences and the students were able to explain to their parents how they created each technique (wet-on-wet, dry brush, wash, resist, etching, lifting, salt texture, and plastic wrap texture).  I found parents really enjoyed hearing about the techniques.

As second reason this was great was the 8th grade really enjoyed using the techniques for their following project.  I found that teaching a base of a project and then asking them to 'create' in their own style, using the techniques they have learned was a real success.  I'm hoping to use this idea again next quarter.