Saturday Art School: Color and Paint

Yesterday in class our group allowed the students to explore with paint. We started them off with a sketchbook prompt leading them to think about and draw a place of their choice. While the students arrived and were sketching we had music playing.  We experienced a small “hiccup” with that as a song triggered a sad memory for one little girl and made her cry. When we changed the song she was ok. At the beginning of the lesson, Cassidy used her Power Point to briefly explain that the swatches they would create today would be cut up in next class and used to create an imaginary landscape. The class split up then to the discovery stations at the back of the room. We had three stations set up with tempera paints, materials and tools to manipulate swatches of color the students painted. When asked, many of them already recognized basic color mixing formulas but not very many had ever had the opportunity to experiment with paint on the scale that we allowed them during our class. The kids loved the freedom we allowed them to have. One child even exclaimed her mother NEVER let he paint “like this!”

 

Altered with plastic wrap.

Altered with salt.

Altered with alcohol.

 

In our text Children and Their Art, Hurwitz and Day describe three general styles of instruction: directive, Socratic/questioning, and discovery (p.284). The lesson Cassidy has planned for us during this segment of SAS I feel weighs in strongly on the discovery method. She set the stage for an open-ended lesson requiring the students to speculate and problem-solve…and they loved it.  Our group (5^th and 6^th grade) stayed on-task. They were intrigued by the variables we presented and maintained active participation until class was over.  Each student completed 4 or more 9x12 fully painted pages.

There were several instances in class that recalled reading from our text by Smith. The students were very socially conscious, they did well working in a group where they could share experiences. I tried to stay conscious of my responses to the student’s work, responding in ways that affirmed they had done it correctly and why it worked. That seemed to really generate positive reactions and encouraged them to experiment more.

The Smith text also describes understanding three dimensional spaces as a challenge for this age group. I think the second part of Cassidy’s lesson, assembling an imaginary landscape, will be a good opportunity to teach them about how to manage depth and space in a composition.  One thing we did not do (that I recall) is share an example of the finished product. I think the students understood we will be cutting up their “masterpieces” from yesterday’s class, but I’m not sure they visualized the end product. I know Cassidy had a completed one in her book so we will have one to share next class, but maybe it would be wise to share a completed “end product” during first class in the future.

First Class Reflection

For our first class the lesson had to be about drawing from observation and introducing the theme of “Creating Imaginary Worlds.” Smith’s chapter on fifth and sixth grade observational drawing states that students of this age are “…beginning to struggle with the inner conflict of establishing their own identities and becoming individuals…”(Smith 86). For that reason I was a little unsure about introducing a strict self-portrait assignment on the very first day of class. I feel our group was on the right track with making the assignment an altered, embellished, or imaginative self-portrait, but our method of communicating the lesson idea was too complex and we were encouraged at the last minute to substitute it with an alternative plan. In hindsight, I think our original lesson plan could have been the more successful of the two had we just made it simple. I’ll be wary to change lesson plans at the last minute again.

Our class consists of eleven fifth and sixth graders, one boy and ten girls. Our boy shows evidence of talent and/or prior instruction; our girls are of varying artistic skill. Three girls know each other from school and immediately closed in together at the same table.  All students actively participated in the sketchbook prompt of drawing things that describe who they are. They seemed to enjoy introductions and expressed many things about themselves using their sketchbooks as a “show and tell.” I think this portion of our class time was the most successful part of our day.  

Instructional resources were not our friend on Saturday. Our projector did not work for us, which made use of the prepared Power Point ineffective. We attempted to share it by turning the computer screen around, but it was paid little attention. It would have also been nice to have working speakers on our computer. There were times we would have liked to play music to ease the atmosphere while the kids were drawing and while we were walking around helping them.  

I think we were also hindered this first lesson, obviously, by lack of knowledge about our individual students; mainly the pace at which they work and their skill levels. We ran out of time and many students did not finish the lesson. Most were on track until we introduced the second activity. That is when many fell behind, or lost interest. I think we will definitely keep that in mind when preparing future lessons. We did run out of time quickly and were not able to have sharing/critique time as a result.

Actions I think we should consider next week include: continuing to provide sketchbook prompts that correspond with the lesson, alternative table/seating arrangements, more instruction on media, quick and simple instruction on lesson expectation, not passing out the media until after the lesson has been communicated, and allowing more work time on projects.