Showing posts with label Art Ed Bloggers Network. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art Ed Bloggers Network. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Art Ed Blogger Network- Student Engagement and Participation


It's not hard to engage our youngest Artist. Our kindergarten through 3rd grade are always willing to learn and participate in the Art Studio. In fourth grade, there is a shift. Students start getting bored, they start thinking that they are or art not 'an Artist'.  In my eyes, there are a couple of reasons this happens. Students are maturing and starting to notice others and their abilities, this allows for students to compare themselves to others around them. Another reason might be because students have been drawing for years now. They are getting bored with the medium, process, tools and so on. I have a solution to both... Continue to bring the new...

 This is where it is perfect to have a full program set out at your school. A scope and sequence will identify the concepts covered in each grade level, but it can also identify where students used certain mediums, processes, and tools. This way, every year you are bringing something new to your students. In the Visual Arts Studio, this should be no problem, we teach so very much!

 I discovered this philosophy in engagement due to a shift in my programming. Our time with each student in the elementary setting was reduced to one day, every six digital days (we had seen them every 5). This meant that we were seeing them 34 times before and now we were down to 28 hours with each class. That doesn't sound like a huge shift but it has been enough of one that we have found it difficult to assess and reach our standards. I had to shift my mindset... Instead of a class that is teaching skill and building great Artist... I'm sharing the 'awesome' of Art to my students each year. It is more about exposure and less about skill.

I want to make sure that my students have all the 'fun' experiences that they can so I introduce something new each year. Let me give you some examples... K's through 2nd... Life is new so everything I teach them is amazing (gosh I love that about my littles). Third grade I don't have to work hard but I try to teach them painting using tempera cakes, liquid tempera, watercolors, liquid watercolor.... this is enough to keep them interested. In 4th grade, I brought in fibers to the classroom. I wrote about this in previous posts. Students LOVED it! In 5th grade, I brought in Stop Motion Animation something that most of them had not had up until now. And 6th grade I challenged the whole group with new mediums with Celluclay sculptures. You have seen me post these amazing birds every quarter, and we are starting our last sculptures currently for this quarter. 

Any time people (not just students) have the opportunity to learn something new, their brain is challenged and therefore engaged... many times this triggers the rest of them, their emotion and productivity. It also puts everyone back at ground zero and skill levels are equalized again. There is less room for comparison. I encourage you to not only bring in the new for each grade level but be enthusiastic as you do so. I find this idea of experimenting and learning something new also engages me as an instructor. Therefore, I'm excited and emotionally connected about the lesson presented. That most definitely is another reason the engagement for my student's increases, it's contagious. 
Find more on this subject here...

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Monday, April 9, 2018

Art Ed Blogger Network- Early Finishers: Architecture Challenge


The Art Ed Bloggers Network has agreed to post about Early Finishers this month. I'm really excited about this subject because this is an issue in every Art Classroom so it will be great to get others ideas on this subject. 


This lesson can be adapted in many ways but I'm going to address this project for the Elementary section that is ahead of the other sections.  You know... you're teaching the 1st grade about weaving and there is an assembly so you miss one of your 1st grades. Then your daughter is sick.... well there goes a missed class for another 1st-grade section.  This means that one 1st grade section successfully finishes their weaving and you want to get all of your sections back together again.  You need a lesson for the 'early finishing' group.  


I borrowed these awesome blocks from the kindergarten classes.  I laid them all out on the floor and then asked the 'number 1's' at each table to come and pick a block, then seat number two, then three, then four, and back to one again. I continued that until all the block is distributed.  At this time the students think that they are picking blocks for themselves. That is when I drop the bomb and tell them they will be working at building a structure with their table group.  The kids freak out and get started right away.


I give them a set time to complete their building and then I assign them to work on the drawing.  The first drawing I give the students NO help, no suggestion, no teaching at all. They struggle, complain and are frustrated... all by design my friend.  Again, the timer has been working (you have to set a time that is 'right' for your group). When it goes off, students come to the carpet for a team meeting. We talk about what was hard.  As the conversation starts, I gently direct the conversation to where the kids are understanding that blocks are just simple shapes that they already know how to build. If the drawing didn't fit, what can you do? If you have extra time, can you add 'made up' details such as windows and doors? what can you add around your structure drawing? How did it feel to work together to build the block? What do you think we want to change or do the same if you were to build with your team again? Lot's of ah-has in the class.


Then, the very good news! students are asked to take down their buildings and build a new structure. They cheer and skip back to their place (I love the energy in the room with this project). The process is repeated... maybe one, two, three more times. We wrap up by picking our favorite drawing to share with the class in a gallery walk. There might be some good lead-in's why practice is good, or sticking with a task is important, or even a conversation on collaboration and teamwork. So many directions you can take this powerful and engaging lesson for our early finishers. 


Here is the best part of this lesson. Once you have done it as a large group, you will see your Artist using this activity on their own.  I also have them challenge their families at home (and reports have come in that 'homework' has been completed). It's a fun one that I hope you can adapt for your students in your classroom as well!

Find more on this subject here...

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Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Art Ed Blogger Network- STEAM/Arts Integration: Growing a Bean


Kids are fascinated with nature.  They love seeing how things work, change, interact and grow.  
Watching a seed change takes time but can become a great early childhood lesson.  
Growing a bean in a bag would be a lesson going on in the background for several weeks but
the ever-changing seed will be visited several times throughout its morph into a plant guaranteed!


Observation is a huge part of this lesson.  Students will be observing and drawing the ever-changing bean
in the many stages that it takes.  Before starting the germination process, students should observe and
draw the seed. You could use a sketchbook or worksheet.  Once the first observation has been made,
it’s time to ‘plant the seed’.

You will need a dry bean, a plastic bag, and a moist paper towel.  The paper towel is placed into the
bag flat and the bean placed in the middle of the paper towel.  You want to make sure the bean is
‘floating’ in the middle of the paper towel rather than laying at the bottom of the bag.  In a classroom
setting, I would encourage you to allow every student to grow their own bean or at least start several
beans.  There is a chance that some of the beans might rot, so it’s good to start several. It’s also
interesting how each bean has a different timeline for germination.  Place the ‘bean bags’ in the window
with lots of light using painters tape.


After several days have the kids move to the window, or carefully remove the bags to bring to their desk.  
They can do their second observational drawing This time they might note the changes in the bean
shell, or perhaps a little poke of the root.  They might even discover mold growing on the paper towel
(this is part of the process, so no worries about that). You will continue to visit the beans as a class every
couple days, but let me tell you, the baby plants will be looked at more often than that.  I’m amazed at the
high interest this low tech project receives from kids.

There are so many facets to this wonderful lesson.  Students will come away with an understanding
of the several stages of a plant.  They will see and document the many stages that we normally can’t see
because it typically takes place under the ground.  This lesson closely relates to Science curriculum and
can cross over to other subjects as well. Students could do math problems or graphs by counting the
number of roots on their seedling.  They could write about the stages of the bean in a nonfiction way. The
lesson could be a jumping off point for many other Art projects.  This is a rich lesson that will teach and
encourage curiosity and lifelong knowledge.


This is a lesson I'm bringing back into my classroom this year (if time allows) but I originally posted
about this lesson several years ago when my mini Matisse was truely MINI... She is now 10 years old and
has successfully graduated from speech therapy... What a sweety she was (and still is). This video could
be a great example of how your students/child could document the process of the beans. Using an app
like Seesaw would allow students to be more independent with their documentation of the growing process.
It could also allow your students to learn from another child which is always engaging.


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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Art Ed Blogger Network- Artist that Inspire Us


I am so excited to announce my involvement with a new Art Education Blogging Group called Art Ed Blogger Network.  Each month we will be posting on a similar subject. I'm very excited about this post because it's going to allow me to celebrate the latest Artist soon to be in my #WelcomeWall. 

Images found on Amazon
Two years ago I made a commitment to myself to collect Artwork to display in my house. I wanted this art to be original pieces.  I have created a uniformed size and I common color of blue, but my goal is to collect many different kinds of Art to display in my home. I call it the #WelcomeWall and have posted a bit more about the project here.

I have a piece that is coming my way in the mail and I'm so excited to celebrate the Artist who created the work. I think this Artist is one that we can all incorporate in our classrooms as a living, working Artist. I'm excited to share her work with you.  Allow me to introduce you to Clare Youngs. 

I first found Clare on Instagram posting her amazing collage work.  I fell in love the textures of the papers, the color palette, and the energy of her characters. This find led me to her beautiful website where I learned that Clare also has several books and many that look quite interesting to an Art Education Teacher.  



What is great about Clare Youngs is that you can learn a lot about this humble Artist with a couple social network searches.  It was quite a find to run across Handmade Home YouTube Channel where Clare Youngs was interviewed. It makes her so real and it's always amazing to listen to someone talk about their passion, whatever it may be (video above).

Explore Clare Youngs Instagram and Website... You'll fall in love! I know I will be overjoyed when her artwork created for our family arrives... should be any day now.  You better believe this project will bring joy to our house and my #WelcomeWall. Her work already is inspiring to me and my work so it will only be a short time until I bring that inspiration into my classroom as well. I love the paper created by her as well as the subject matter. I think Clare Youngs work would inspire many of us in the classroom and in our personal work.


Check out the whole list of participating blogs below to find out what each one of us wrote about in our first post as an Art Ed Blogging Network.

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