It's so infrequent that I get the opportunity to just sit down with my peers and discuss art. Today, was our superintendents conference day and I have the pleasure of being able to sit with two of my elementary art teacher and colleagues and just discuss teaching art. We talked about everything from handwashing procedures to accommodating students with special needs, lesson materials, power points and notebook software we've created, and even just vent to one another about the day-to-day challenges of being an art teacher. I can't tell you how enjoyable it was to just have some downtime quote with my peers. Sometimes, just having the time to talk is more beneficial than a whole days worth of structured Professional development. Here are a few pictures I snapped with my iPad of some of the things we discussed.
Before pictures above are a fifth-grade Zentangle relief style project. The project is started with some simple wavy lines, or you could say, "taking lines for a walk". You then discuss with the children exactly what is Zentangle is in the way patterns are created. Some children are going to need more coaching in this than others. You also have to really explain to them that patterns are everywhere and having an activity like a pattern search, or having them walk around the classroom and observe and all the different the different patterns all around them, would also help to inspire them. After that they fill in the loops that they've created with their overlapping lines with the zentangles using a fine point or extra fine point sharpie, and then color them. Lastly, they decide where they're going to cut their drawings in order to make parts pop up and then glue them onto a rigid backing. Another good tip that was shared with us were the new adult coloring books that you see everywhere nowadays. This particular teacher picked hers up in the dollar store and passed a few books around so the students could use the images as inspiration
This project above, is a Debuffet inspired card stock sculpture using X-Acto knives and sharpie markers with Elmers glue. This project was completed by 6/7 and 8th graders.
The two above adorable pictures are pinch pot birds made from clay and raffia tied nests. I even love the red and turquoise glazes she used on the bird.
This project is one of the first project of the year this teacher teaches in kindergarten. It's based on the idea of "taking online for a walk". The students paint simple freeform lines with a chubby brush on the first day and then on the second day using, tempera cakes, the students get a slightly smaller brush, choose three colors for unity, and fill in their lines with the paints. On the third day, the children can go back in with an even smaller paintbrush and add different patterns. This is a great lesson that teaches line, shape, color, and helps the kindergarten students develop their fine motor skills with different sized paintbrushes. It also helps to teach them the routines of handwashing, brush washing, and how to paint in general.
This artwork was done by first grade. It uses one Joam Miro as inspiration for the design. And tempera cakes along with oil pastel to fill-in.
This is a great all-purpose are rubric that was posted in her classroom.
Lastly, the image below I snapped because I absolutely love the Mondrian inspired deer head. This wasn't a project, but was something she picked up through the website Zulily, which occasionally apparently has these odd off 3D cardboard puzzles that are inspired by artists. At the time, she had some middle school student put it together and said that it only took them about 20 minutes which is pretty awesome considering how complex it looks!
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