Contemporary Self Portraits

 I made the decision almost a year ago when I started this blog that I would be very upbeat and positive. However, not every lesson I do as an art teacher is successful. Below is the sample that I started, which I did because my students didn't understand what I expected from them.  I told them my hand is important to me as an artist and that is why it is in the middle of the paper. And that they should think about what is the most important part of them to have in their art work.

 

My idea was totally inspired by the self portrait below when I was at Penn State for a Summer Institute on Contemporary Art.

 

 When school started back up last month I thought this would be a very different and exciting way to do self portraits with my 3rd-5th graders. We talked about the difference between a portrait and a self portrait. I showed students an enlarged photo of my inspiration. Looking closely you can see a lot of little vignettes that tell a story. My "I can" statement was "I can tell a story about myself using images".

We talked about the clues hidden in a self portrait or a portrait that might give us insight into that person. I had them write a list of their favorite things. Students practiced doing facial features and hands in their sketchbooks. The instructions sheets below can be found in Triarco.

They practiced doing 3D or joined figures, to get away from doing stick figures. This way they could include people in their story.

   

They practiced drawing out their stories in their sketchbooks.

 

 

Then they had the choice to color with markers, colored pencils or paint.

 

Shown are the the self portraits of the students that understood the lesson and were successful. Too many of the students copied me and just drew a hand in the middle of their paper. Some students heard the word paint and started over and just painted something not even closely related to the assignment. AND many still drew stick figures! Many students thought they were finished because they did the artwork in their sketchbooks, not realizing that, that is where you plan out your work. Obviously my communication to them was severely lacking!

While there were successful self portraits throughout all 3 grade levels, the percentage wasn't high enough for me to consider this lesson a success. In reflecting back maybe I should have limited it to one image that would tell us something about them. Or had samples of different ways to approach this. If I do this again I will have photos of student work to share. Perhaps both the ones that worked and the ones that didn't. I am also seriously considering having students do an artist statement to reflect on the assignment and what they learned from it.

I would be very interested in hearing about the lessons that you didn't think worked.

Thanks for reading!!

Painting and Learning About Lines

 

 Art Is....... a wonderful way to introduce the Elements of Art to children. That is why I read the book to my kindergarten students. After reading the book we went over the different styles/kinds of lines and the directions a line might go in. Then I passed out sketchbooks for students to draw the lines they learned.

 

 When their note taking was done students went to their seats to draw lines with a black crayon, creating patterns with their new knowledge.

Since the beginning of the school year is all about establishing routines, I decided we would paint our beautiful lines. Thereby giving me the opportunity to teach them the procedures for painting.

 

The first photo is how the trays were set up to distribute to students. I demonstrated how to wipe off extra water from the paint brush, by using the side of the water container. WE DO NOT TAP OUR PAINT BRUSHES ON THE EDGE OF OUR WATER CONTAINERS! EVER! Students could also use the sponge to wipe brushes.

I demonstrated how to hold the paintbrush and how to lift the paint up from the paint tray. I also informed my lovely students to CLEAN paint brushes between colors! AND how to clean off the top of the paint if someone forgot and got the paint dirty. 

 

AND apparently I forgot I was dealing with really young children and should have been watching them a little more closely!  As you can see from my before and after pictures above. Sigh.........

 

 Part of the routine is for students to put away their paint tray and place their painting on the drying rack.

 

Art work is placed on the drying rack starting at the bottom shelve and working our way up to the top. I separate classes with a tray or mat board. At the top of the drying rack is the class box with their classroom teacher's name on it.

Oh and after we cleaned up and students were on line I used my arms to show the directions a line might go in, children followed my arm movements and repeated after me for each way I moved my arms.

To extend our learning about lines and to teach students how to use Play Doh in the art room I made these practice sheets after seeing them on this site. Ms. Gruendler looks like she has fun teaching her students about lines. This is my grandson practicing for next week's lesson.

He apparently went home and even though he had a packet of homework to do this week from his teacher, he told my daughter he needed to practice his lines for art.

 

Here are some finished paisleys from last week's lines and patterns with my 1st and 2nd graders.

AND I finally got the results of my E.O.C.'s from June. Yes, MY results. Yes, students took the exams. BUT, aren't I the one being tested? This IS a discussion for another day.........

I gotta say I'm feeling pretty pleased with the results.  Especially since the test came from district. And it was the first time my students were tested in art.

Please comment below whether or not you test your students and what your thoughts are.

Thanks for reading and please consider following me! 

Paisleys Are Perfect

 Found this awesome book at a new store in the neighborhood  5 and Below, it cost me $5 and I knew it would inspire many lessons. The first of which was the page on drawing paisleys.

I did this lesson with my 1st and 2nd graders. I did a quick review with my students on different lines, the direction a line might go in and how to use lines to create patterns.  I have noticed in the past that many of my students don't have the vocabulary words for the different patterns found on clothing. They also don't understand when I refer to something as being a solid color. I felt this lesson would be a wonderful time to introduce some of those words.  The fabric samples below either came from my stash or were purchased at JoAnne's Fabric. Students enjoyed learning about fabric and textiles and I got to teach them a bunch of NEW words!!

 Many of the older students saw this on the board and want to know when they would be doing this.  I just might pull this together and leave it for a sub to do with them.

 

 I photocopied the page on the right from the book to use as inspiration. Students did have tracers for the shape of the paisleys. They had a small, medium and large paisley shapes they could use. The paisleys need to float on the paper not overlap and placement was their choice.

 

 

 

   

 When they finish drawing them, they started to outline them with black Sharpies. Next time they will use watercolors to paint their paisleys.

Thought I was reaching a little on this lesson. However, they did an awesome job considering how young they are. 

Had PLC training on Tuesday. It was overwhelming and a bit confusing. Basically Art along with Music and P.E. are considered Interdisciplinary PLCs and we can collaborate on standards and common assessments to create a goal. Not worthy of a full blog post. Totally not the fun part of teaching!

Would love to know what lessons you teach for patterns!

Thanks for reading!!
And if you teach in Florida and are planning to attend the conference next month I will be doing a workshop on using museum activities in your art room titled Look! Listen! And Learn! And a presentation on blogging titled Born to Blog. Hope to meet you there!