Week Six.

First: Firsts still do not have the choice to paint. I opened collage to them this week. I told them that there are many tools in the collage center, but we will learn about them a few at a time. This week, we concentrated on shapes, using just a few colors of paper, and gluing. The work time in class was wonderful. All the students were quiet and concentrating. Even the one student in that class who is constantly rowdy and disruptive was completely engrossed in his work the entire time. Clean up was still a problem, though. They cannot stop working on their art! Which isn’t a bed thing, except that they need to follow directions. I have a few students who consistently finish and follow directions, but a few who keep working. So, because clean up was still a problem, we will not be reopening painting next week.

Fifth: I talked briefly with the fifths about wanting to open the choice of collage and paper construction to them, explaining that due to space, we would have to stop action painting for the classes as long as they wanted to do collage. They were eager for that choice, so next week, we will introduce collage. My mini lesson was on drawing dragons- we talked about beginning with the skeleton and filling it out with simple shapes. I had some copies of “drawing dragons” step by step that I handed to students who wanted to use them. It was amazing. I sat and worked with my drawing students for most of the class. The group of boys who has been consistently rowdy and loud sat quietly concentrating for the entire class drawing their dragons- which look AMAZING!!!

While I was sitting with the students, they told me how much they liked doing art this way- they focused on having the choice. They said they didn’t like it when everyone has to do the same thing.

I think with this group, next week, it will be beneficial to introduce the “Finishing Station.” I think some of them are beginning to settle down and realize that they will continue to be able to choose, so we should be able to begin to reflect.