Robots, Volcanos, Harry Potter, and Other Acts of Divergent Thinking in the Art Classroom

I am part of an active online PLC group of art educators that has incorporated choice based studio  practices to support student learning through the arts called TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior). While most of my fellow group members work five days a week in one school with a permanent studio, I am itinerant and work in a variety of alternative programs. One day a week I have a full choice studio in an art room with storage space, linoleum floors, and three sinks for kindergarteners that I work with for the entire school year. The other days I offer classes with themes, and have a quarterly turn over of students, but am still able to provide students with choice.

A variety of materials students can choose from to best express an idea.

This past semester I’ve been teaching a class called Art Inspirations in  the homeschool program I work in two days a week.  One of the significant topics which is addressed in choice classrooms is: Where do artists get ideas?   Some students have created enough art to know that family, friends, nature, favorite toys, screen media, books, imagination, art works, and the materials themselves are sources of  inspiration.  Other students get to discover these sources of inspiration as part of their participation in a choice studio environment.

P.S. created this piece in response to the prompt: create art in which line is an essential element.

In the class which I am going to discuss, I posed this question the first day, and the kids came up with a few ideas. I had a list of art themes that I developed for each class meeting for the students to explore. The topics we’ve explored have been dots, lines, shapes, graphic symbols, portraits, still life, and collage/assemblage.

TJ’s art that emphasized line.

I explain the topic and then offer a variety of two and three dimensional materials for students to choose from. As the topics change some materials like drawing and painting materials are generally available, but others like sticks, pipe cleaners, and modeling clay may be added to the mix. Students select materials that appeal to them, set up a work space, and create. After studio time we have an opportunity to view each student’s piece and share what we find interesting and appealing  about the work. The following class meeting I show students examples of how other artists have utilized the idea. The students then also get to learn a bit about artists and art history which is an added bonus!

Professional Artists explore themes such as the use of graphic symbols and so can students!

Teaching this class has been interesting.  I discovered that my younger students (K-3) were much freer and more divergent in their responses to these prompts than my older group of students (4-8). In fact several of the younger students rarely ever followed the prompt topic but came up with their own ideas that were inspired either by the materials or their imaginations. As far as I’m concerned the class was a success for all students because everyone used studio time wisely. Each one was inspired to create art that was meaningful to them personally. After introducing the portrait prompt TJ wanted to make a helicopter with pipe cleaners. In my local community a noted local artist paints detailed paintings of airplanes. I was able to offer that portraits might not just be of people and pets especially when considering what this local artist does.  One boy named A. M. drew wonderful drawings each class. The week the prompt was portraits, he created his own version of the Harry Potter Marauder’s Map on one side of his paper and Hogwarts Castle on the other.  I suppose I might be able to say it was a portrait of a castle.

The week afterwards when we were exploring the topic of still life, he drew portraits of characters from an audio book he’d been listening to at home showing that he’d processed what was going on the week before, but had other ideas that were more significant to him that week.

Yesterday I explained to the students that our final prompt would be a two week collage project. I reviewed that a collage was art which glued various cut or torn papers to create an image. I reminded them that Eric Carle the author of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (a book all were highly familiar with) painted his paper and then created collaged illustrations with his painted papers. I demonstrated some gadget printing techniques so we could create our own specialty papers.  I had three students out of  6 that created some collage paper for the project. Here’s what the others created: P.S. painted a volcano.  TJ created a 3-d volcano with a cone of construction paper attached to a piece of cardboard.  He painted lava flowing down the volcano and then wanted three d material to create smoke to pour out of the volcano. I suggested using tissue paper  which was a solution he liked.  A.M. created a 3d construction using cardboard he had drawn on.

P.S. painted a volcano.

TJ created a 3 d volcano.

E. created collage paper.

Although students at times seemed  to ignore my prompt topics, they were still exposed to the topics  such as gadget printing and collage and ways a variety of artists had utilized those themes. As A.M. showed, portraiture could be part of his repertoire, when it was his choice.

In April I hosted a TASK party. Participants are asked to write tasks for others. The group of kids I worked with wanted to write their own tasks. They saw the available materials and had their own ideas, and just didn’t want to create tasks for others, or do tasks other kids came up with. Here is a robot a 12 year old boy was eager to create once he saw the big cardboard tubes.

Professional artwork is generally viewed as superior when it reflects an  individual’s own personal expression.  Artists that are significant in stature have often pushed the boundaries of art and practiced divergent thinking as well as mastery of media. I enjoy looking at Pinterest and have found lots of helpful teaching information there. I do often wonder why  teachers would appear to go gaga about having all students learn how to make cats like Laurel Burch does for instance, as I’ve seen repeatedly on Pinterest. It wouldn’t be so hard to use cats as a prompt and allow students to explore their own ideas on ways to represent cats. Then Laurel Burch’s cats as well as cat art from a variety of artists and cultures could be shared. This would actually give students more self confidence in their own ideas.

E. loves Batman and has made many pieces depicting him. In this case she selected several items for a still life and added Batman into the scene. She also sprinkled poppy seeds on the picture that she found while looking at a seed pod that was in one of the vases. I was a bit annoyed she sprinkled the seeds, but softened when she said they represented snow. She pushed my boundaries as well as those of her art!

I spend time getting to know my students. If they are interested in dinosaurs, horses, or Pokemon for instance I talk about those things with them, and support their interest in creating art about those interests. I have one kindergarten student that has announced she wants to paint every week during studio time. I’ve tried to make painting available in some form or other most weeks which makes her really happy. Students feel comfortable and appreciated as individuals. I believe that has led to their comfort in expressing themselves and in performing “shameless” acts of divergent thinking. And let’s face it.  I’ve taught all class projects and though most kids will go along with “the program” there will always be those that question the status quo and don’t buy in. They may do the project but it won’t be their best work, because they really aren’t invested in it. (You might enjoy reading a previous post: Whose Art is it Anyway?”) They might even misbehave and fool around causing mayhem, because they aren’t engaged. Other students will pretend to comply but surreptitiously do what they want rather than “follow directions”.  And that creates a classroom which is not a fun place for any of us to be.  It’s not open, sincere, and honest.  It’s a dictatorship, though it might be a relatively benign dictatorship. When I was working on my master’s degree I was assigned to read Paulo Friere.  I loved his ideas about the reciprocity which can exist between teacher and student as they take the learning journey together.  I’d rather be a part of that type of classroom.

Another one of A.M.s drawings. This was created in response to the shape prompt.

E.’s response to the shape prompt. A ballerina dancing with the stars!

Expecting students to create cats like a particular artist, to my mind, subliminally sends the message that the student’s idea of a cat or any other idea the student would like to explore isn’t  acceptable or good enough. If a teacher wanted to have students create art inspired by Laurel Burch, he/she could have students evaluate how Laurel Burch uses particular art elements such as line, shape, color, and patterns in her creations. Then provide students with a variety of materials  for them to create art that could allow them incorporate some of those techniques and ideas if they wish.

Recent painting by N.G. one of my homeschool students. Really love this piece…..in fact am quite envious that it isn’t my piece!

Each day I teach I am learning and inspired by my students and fellow education professionals. Sometimes that learning is about what doesn’t work for me and my students. Looking back over this past school year it’s been pretty wonderful overall, and the low points were challenging but valuable, because they spurred me to reflect and adjust classroom practices. Have a great summer everyone!  I look forward to creating some of my own art, and hope you all will too!

Page from an altered book I’ve been working on.

Who’s that tired lady I thought was my teacher?

Lizard Queen presiding over her minions! (Definitely not the metaphor I want for my teaching and classroom experiences!) (Collage by Bronwyn)

The past few weeks have been intensely busy, and I’ve been feeling wiped out and drained.   It’s hard to believe that it’s only been three weeks since spring break!  It feels more like a lifetime! Instead of leaving school on cloud nine after a day of art with the kiddos, I’ve been leaving school grumping and dwelling on the challenging and difficult moments in my day.

Wondering if this could be me after a tough group of short people! (Drawing by Audrey)

I realized that my schedule has been busier than it was earlier in the year because I’ve been teaching some additional classes at the new art store in my town.  My kids have also had more extra curricular commitments which has made me have to chauffeur them around more, which in turn means dinner later, and any chores or school prep get finished later too. Although the school year will be over soon, I’ve still got a lot of deadlines, and school events looming. There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as winding down, it just goes full bore up to the last day!

I was beginning to think that perhaps I just don’t have my heart in teaching any more, because I was feeling annoyed  with a few students for blurting, or talking when they were supposed to be listening for instance.  (I try to keep my talking to a minimum so we can maximize studio time.  And kids have no restrictions on conversing and collaborating during studio time!) I don’t want to get to the point that I hate going to work!  When I reflected more seriously about my feelings I knew that in my heart, teaching is my calling, and spending time with children really brings me tremendous joy. I was simply tired!

Pooped out Teacher Frances backed into a corner by seemingly endless work and life responsibilities! (Sockpet by Phebe)

 

I don’t know if it’s the great weather we’ve been having, getting to bed earlier, or just realizing that I need to focus more on the positive, but I feel as if I’ve come out from under the dark cloud which was shadowing  me!

We’ve had an unusually gorgeous spring, and the kids are anxious to be outside.  And who can blame them?  Here in the Pacific Northwest great weather has been in short supply  for several years.

I came home last Friday and got my sons to come help me with some yard work outside. It was the best therapy ever! Saturday morning I got up and made a list of things I needed to do on the weekend, and I actually got most of them done! Sunday I was able to  spend some time on school work preparations, which included testing a photo sensitive dye on fabric. (Inko Dye…really interesting results….looking forward to more experiments with students!)

Samples of Inko dyed fabric from Sunday experiments. The animals were made with silly bands. The stars were created with plastic cut up from an old school folder.

I’ve had a great week at school so far, and I feel excited about the activities to come before school ends! And now that I’ve gotten some major tasks off of my to do list, it actually does feel if school is winding down!

Student challenges will always be there. However, having a good sense of humor, and empathy are essential! There are always alternative ways to approach problems, and there’s no sense banging one’s head against the wall, when one can tunnel under, leap over, or make a detour. Sometimes that’s changing and adapting curriculum, and sometimes it’s trying a new strategy for managing challenging behaviors.

So….enough sturm and dross, and on with artmaking! I just heard Pierce Brosnan’s interview on NPR, and I loved how he finished by saying, “It’s work. Nothing comes from nothing. It’s always about doing, and showing up, and trying to get better at the job.” That desire to stretch, try harder, and discover the “new” in what is potentially “old hat” is what keeps the flames burning and the energy flowing in any work whether it’s acting, teaching, or running a cash register at the local grocery store. And I’m so glad I haven’t thrown in the towel, because after all, life isn’t always a steady trajectory!

Color mixing exploration by Bronwyn

I just found out that today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and that my post about overcoming burn out couldn’t have been more ironically timed!  I’m here to say that I appreciate the opportunity I’ve had to be a teacher, and my students are incredible teachers that I learn from every day! My most heartfelt thanks to my  students for making my life immeasurably richer and for sharing your zest for the pleasures to be found in little things like watching an ant, to the big things like painting a bold stripe of red across a painting!

Gelli plate monoprint created by Izzy

Shout out to Teacher Tom

Wonderful sponge glue!

 

I belong to  an online professional learning community of choice based art educators called TAB (teaching for artistic behavior).  We share our successes and challenges. We share cool ways of doing things in the art studio like putting a sponge in a plastic tub with  glue to facilitate gluing and not buying a zillion bottles of glue with tops that always clog!  We share cool books, websites, and blogs.  About a year ago Teacher Tom Hobson’s blog was suggested as a great teaching inspiration in our group. I started reading his daily posts and really enjoyed them.  Tom Hobson is a coop preschool teacher and I used to teach coop preschool and prethree. He is an artist as well as a teacher and writer and I relate to the way he’s organized his classroom to support open ended learning experiences that include lots of process art activities and choice.

A month ago kids were arguing over who was going to paint which parts of the box. Thanks to Teacher Tom I was able to support students in solving this dilemma themselves.

I believe however that the best things I’ve picked up from reading his blog posts have to do with how I handle problem situations between children and how I handle cleaning up the classroom.  Today was the perfect example of this.  I had set out a building toy called Straws and Connectors.  Several boys were making light sabers and pretending to be Jedi. One boy almost whacked another’s face.  I said, “Isaiah, I am really enjoying watching you and your friends’ imaginative play, but I’m worried that Daniel almost got hit. I’m wondering what we can do about this problem?”  Isaiah then showed me how he could use slow motion with his light saber and stay a safer distance away from Daniel.  Several other kids chimed in with possible solutions too and then began playing in those newer safer ways.  A few minutes later one of the boys began whining.  ”I’m all by myself, I don’t have a team.” In the past I probably would have immediately jumped in and asked who would include this boy. On their own, several boys immediately offered to include him. Me observing, but allowing them to solve their problems really does work! (Of course I intervene if anything is truly unsafe!)

Play is an essential part of creative expression and leads to more formal artistic activities.

Later I announced it was five minutes until it would be time to clean up the art studio. All of the jedi swordsmen put down their light sabers and went to the tables where they could draw, collage, paint, etc…They became very productive artists.  First of all….in the past I would have discouraged  play which was not strictly building, especially play with sword fighting. Now of course I know how much imaginative play is such an important food source for artistic output. After four minutes I asked everyone to sign their names to their art and/or add a finishing touch to their pieces. When the five minutes was up I asked everyone to put down their markers, paintbrushes, etc…. and help clean up the classroom.  In the past that would have meant me doing 70% of the clean up and a few helpful kids doing the rest while most of the kids milled around and talked to their friends as if they were being helpful,  but did not clean up at all. Today other than handing out some wet paper towels for wiping down tables I did none of the clean up though I did offer some suggestions in terms of what needed to be taken care of.  It took the kids 20 minutes to clean up.  At first it was just those helpful kids. Then more and more joined in.  I did have three hold outs.  Two helped during the last minute of the time we cleaned and one who never did clean up anything. In fact they just kept on creating despite the fact that all of the materials were being removed from the tables and kids were wiping down tables, chairs, and some spilled water on the floor. When we got to removing the last marker from the table, the last boy working had a meltdown because his friends had removed all of the materials except for his drawing. I matter of factly restated that studio time was over and it was time to stop. He continued to pout, but no one paid him any attention.  Everyone lined up (except for him) to go have a snack and went to wash their hands. He sat on the floor and missed snack time. But that was his choice.  It wasn’t a punishment.  It was a consequence of not being willing to make a transition. Perhaps next time he’ll help clean up, and even have a snack. It will be interesting to see.

Do I spy any clean up helpers?

The kids really enjoyed helping! They loved washing the tables and chairs.  They enjoyed putting the drawers of markers, colored pencils, and scissors back in my rolling cart. They washed all of the brushes and dumped out the dirty paint water without being asked. They put all of the play dough in the plastic tubs and they put all of the playdough tools away too.  Sadly…we didn’t get to have our gallery walk and sharing time because it took them 20 minutes.  But maybe next time more will start helping sooner and we will get done more quickly.  Or maybe I’ll just have to give the five minute warning 10 minutes sooner.

I was happier too! I didn’t feel as if I was having to do the majority of the clean up.  I was excited to see the kids actually enjoying cleaning up. The regular classroom teacher came in and wanted to help with the clean up.  I told her not to, because it’s the students’ responsibility.  She said, “Yeah!  I like that! I don’t mind not cleaning up their mess!”

And this new thinking about responsibility is also helping me out at home with my two teenaged sons and for that I’m definitely eternally grateful!

Everything’s turning up daisies! (Yes….I know these are actually black eyed Susans!)

Thank you Teacher Tom!

Here are some links to the blog posts that really have transformed my teaching and parenting  :

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2013/03/learning-responsibility.html

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/i-wonder.html

http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/thats-hard-thing-to-do-and-he-did-it.html

 

A lot of bang for my buck!

This past November I bought myself a die press because my students and I love textured paper and the die press enables us to make our own. The machine was on sale at a significantly reduced price on Black Friday, and though I generally try to avoid shopping then, I did make a special trip to the scrapbooking store to buy one. I also bought a package of two of the plastic sleeves that are needed to make textured paper.

The die press sat in my bedroom until January when I finally brought it to school to test it out.  After we tried the machine out for the first time I bought 4 more because it was such a hit, and I figured having six to choose from would give a nice variety. At about $12.00 for two, I figured I will gradually collect more over time.

The plastic texture sleeves are not very large, only about 3 1/2 inches X 5 inches, so we began by using small pieces of paper. Then one of my students folded a whole piece of paper in quarters and we discovered that an entire piece of paper could be textured at once!

The next discovery one of my students made was that if you color lightly on the textured paper the colored pencil or marker will only cover the raised bits thus making it possible to further play around with the texture or emphasize it even more. And then another student realized the plastic texture sleeves could be used without the die press as a textured rubbing plate.

Students of all ages have absolutely adored making their own textured papers and as the operation is simple even very young children can do it easily. About two weeks ago during a printmaking demo we discovered that we could put thin styrofoam sheets into the press and make textured  impressions on that. Then I wondered if I might actually be able to use the die press like a printing press. With the right combination of cardboard height we were also able to use it like a press.

Yesterday I had some self adhesive craft foam which we were using in creating our collograph plates. We got the idea to try that and see if it would also take an impression. It did and the results were great!  We also tried cardboard but sadly it didn’t take an impression at all.

So….I don’t know if you’ll really save all that much on purchasing pre-textured papers from art suppliers when you consider the initial purchase price and the price of plastic texture sleeves. I do know you can use this product in a lot more ways than I had first thought, and maybe we’ll discover more! But it’s sturdy, easy to operate, kid friendly, and most importantly fun! (And I’m not being paid by the manufacturer to tell this to you!)

Young Girl with the Blue Marker

Reblogged from Outside The lines:

A moment Vermeer might have loved.

I just never tire of watching artists engrossed in their work!

Spicing up the Art Studio!

I’ve had some happy moments lately in the art studio with my students.  I have basic supplies available each  week for  drawing,  collage, and 3-d explorations. But I also try to bring in some novel things to keep interest and enthusiasm up. Since coming back from holiday vacation I’ve had sand dough, painting with spaghetti and gadgets, paper marbling, blocks with ramps and marbles, texture materials with colored glue, and this past week glitter glue and heart stickers. The kids have responded really positively to these additions to our standard choices.

Paper marbling is both calming and exciting. While lightly touching the surface of the water with the paint brush, children ooh and aah as they watch the colors move and interact. They are calm and focused. Then when they are ready to print  there is an element of  suspense when they first lift the paper to see how it looks.  Everyone is always pleased and thrilled with the results. I have facilitated paper marbling with children as young as two on up through adults.  Everyone loves it! The best comment I heard was, “Mrs. R you should call this bubblegum art!” The colors look very primary when you place them in the water but look pastel when you pull the print, which reminded the little girl of bubblegum pink.

Colored glue used by this artist like paint.

Glue is essential in the art classroom, but who knew that colored glue would be so exciting? I made colored glue by adding some acrylic paint to my white glue.  The colored glue was fun to drizzle and create designs with as well as working very nicely to attach layers of collage materials. Several students really enjoyed mixing the glue colors, and one student discovered she could use it like finger paint.

I had a group of  morning kindergarteners that used the colored glue and the texture materials ( cotton balls, textured papers, yarn pom poms, sand paper, bits of felt and yarn, tissue paper) to create homes for stuffed animals.  These homes had couches, beds, side tables, and even a tv with a remote! It was so much fun hearing them describe the various features they had created and seeing their attention to detail.

This house for a tiny stuffed animal has a hot tub (cupcake wrapper), a bed with black pom pom pillow, night stand, couch with tiny purple remote, a TV, a sculpture, and more!

Over the last year I have had quite a few groups that have enjoyed using blocks, ramps (cove molding), and marbles to create marble runs. When I failed to bring the ramps and marbles one week, several students requested them. This past week several boys got the idea to turn the materials into a billiard like game using the ramps as cue sticks and the blocks as corner pockets.  And to top it all off when they shared their game at the end of class they even passed out collage scraps as tickets. It was a novel idea that no one had come up with before. It was an idea that could arise because play is supported in the classroom.  Play is vital because it is how we innovate, come up with new ideas, and push boundaries.  I was so proud of those boys!

I’ve realized that I get a lot of mileage out of a material across the various classes I teach. When I received my Japanese marbling inks that I had ordered specifically for one group I was able to use the leftovers with several other groups. The great thing was that I had all the supplies like my portable drying rack, trays, water jug, and tiny plastic caps for the ink easily accessible.  Now that we’re done with marbling I’ve stashed those things for the time being.

One of the classes I’m teaching in the homeschool program now is called Cooking Up Some Art.  I’ve discovered a plethora of great art recipes on Pinterest. This past week we cooked up a batch of chocolate playdough. It looked and smelled just like fudge.  (With the salt content though I’m sure it didn’t taste like it!) On Friday morning I whipped up a huge batch for my preschool art class and they really enjoyed the scent and making birthday cakes and horses. As my next kindergarten choice studio classes are on Valentines I’m going to bring the playdough for them to enjoy!

Each week I’ve got exciting things to look forward to. I’ve got a variety of classes and wonderful students.  I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to engage my students hands and hearts. In this age of assessment and a media that is so negative about education, I feel lucky to be bucking the system!

Not happy about ads on my blog!!!!!!!

I was at a friend’s house showing her my blog, and had a rather disturbing surprise. On the bottom of my blog posts were advertisements. I did not place the advertisements there. When I look at my blog on my home computer the adds don’t show up. I’m assuming this is one of those things in the terms of use agreement, that is very much in the fine print. I apologize for the ads!!!!!