So, I was just hired to relieve the overcrowding in a k-7 (going to k-8 next year) school. I'll be the third teacher in this grade level. We all have to teach more than one subject. I'm teaching 5, one of which is Art. I'm actually rather looking forward to it, but I totally don't know what I'm doing. I need suggestions on art projects that I can do with my kids. Especially projects that can take up to a whole week. We'll rotate elective classes in our electives so that we see one class a week for a three week rotation. This is my first period class, so I'm going to take the first week to get to know them. But I want to throw some art in there, too. I'm open to suggestions, but I don't know what kind of supplies I'll have for the class. So, simple is better. Anyone? :help:
I don't have any suggestions but I'd definitely check out Pinterest. I know I've pinned a lot of cool art stuff there. Probably an obvious suggestion but it's all I got.
I haven't formally taught are, but I had to take a class on teaching art and she suggested this schedule: M - introduce an artist and technique he/she used (could also introduce a certain technique and several artists) T - further explore technique, try it on a small scale - sketches or simple figures W - relate technique to art history begin ideas for project Th/F- project related to technique
Pinterest usually has some great ideas. Some projects can be done in about 40 minutes. It takes some getting use to. You can choose an artist and one of their works. Example: Van Gogh's - Sunflowers, then think of a topic from it.. like shades of yellow etc. Then grab some terms from there.. focus on the style, form, or color. Depending on age of course. You will have a blast! ;-)
Here's something I discovered my second year as an art teacher. Disguise a skill in something fun. Let them practice the 'fun' activity for a short while. Let them discover the skill and then scaffold that skill into a more complex operation. For instance, I wanted to scaffold into action poses and wanted to get them to understand movement in artwork. So, I started with a simple activity using pencil and paper. I had them draw the heaviest darkest line they could in one stroke, one second. We showed around the room so that we could see who had the darkest line. Then I had them draw the lightest line they could in two seconds and we repeated show and tell. I asked them to erase both lines and then we discussed which was easiest and why. Rather than tell them to draw lightly, I let them discover that drawing lightly at first made for easier correction if the need came up. Then I moved into having them scribble. Xs and +s and Ss and 0s. Scribble light and scribble dark. Which led into drawing gesture figures which led into outlining and erasing the scribbles which ended with a large sheet of paper group project making their own cartoon characters. The entire process teaches them several skills throughout which they get to use all together at the end. And once the big one was done, I had each individual draw the same character doing their favorite activities. This make great show and tell when everything is finished.
