In our half hour class we:
- Get lined up with our group.
- Transition to a different room, get settled, and ready to learn.
- Listen to a short story or the introduction to an art concept.
- Look at an example by a famous artist.
- Have a group discussion where everyone has a chance to contribute ideas.
- Review instructions for the project.
- Learn to use a new material or technique.
- Enjoy making the project.
- Talk about our creation.
- Make sure our name is on our work.
- Put the art work into the drying rack.
- Wash our hands.
- Line up again!
Much in life doesn't have one correct answer. We've all got to teach our children decision-making skills and creative problem-solving in a very brief period. The process of teaching young artists isn't very different from the process of parenting anywhere on the continuum from toilet-training to teaching your teenager to drive. As parents we can't let our kids get bogged down in erasing. Our parenting/teaching process involves:
- Helping children make their own good decisions by providing them essential information, frequent opportunities to make choices, and an essential underlying sense of safety and consistency.
- Helping children evaluate the outcome of their choices and decisions. Using questions to learn how they would like to change their decisions.
- Letting kids revise their work and explain their reasons for revisions. Applauding their improved choices.
- Saluting their effort, thought-process, exploration, contributions to the group, self-motivation, creativity, and perserverance.
- Patiently offering opportunities to improve skills through repetition while gradually increasing challenges and responsibilities.
- Respecting our kids' doubts and quandries; refraining from providing instant answers and evaluations.
- Letting them know that many situations have more than one possible choice, but that some choices are completely unacceptable--painting on a classmate's picture, drawing on the wall, not washing hands after flushing, or squeezing nine friends into the family car to drive to South Padre!
- Allowing children their private world of imagination. We all like to imagine being on the beach at South Padre sometimes.
- Challenging children to carefully observe what happens around them, and to be CURIOUS.
- Stepping back and letting them feel CONFIDENCE, MASTERY, PRIDE, and JOY!
Go ahead and draw yourself a picture of your fantasy beach, but don't spend your time erasing. Life is too short!
© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder
1 comment:
That's a lot of activity to pack into half an hour. No wonder you don't let them waste time erasing.
This post reminded me of an article that I read about writing letters in longhand. The author (was it Garrison Keillor?) urged people to write their way out of any bad wording or malformed thoughts that happened. Never cross out or start over -- just keep on writing. A letter written by hand is a piece of art in itself; it's OK if some sentences aren't literary masterpieces on their own.
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