Residency 1-Whittier Elementary School-Jane Swastosh (6hrs)
This Monday I did my art lesson at Whittier! I planned a lesson which focused on integrating art and storytelling. Students did both a blind contour drawing and a sighted contour line drawing of their shoes, then wrote a short story about the sighted drawing. Students really seemed to enjoy the lesson. They enjoyed the writing more than I expected. They wrote both fictional and non-fictional stories. One shoe had escaped from prison, another was locked in a safe in an ancient civilization, and the third was muddy because it had been used to jump in several puddles.
The kids were patient and didn’t rush through the work, they were quite focused. At the end of the lesson, sitting in a circle, they shared their stories with the rest of the group. Since the kids had been interacting with me for more than a month before we did the lesson, there was a sense of comfort both for them and for me. I really enjoyed interacting with them individually, chatting with them about the stories about their shoes. It was special to see that even the kids who were usually pretty quiet in class, really opened up to me about the art. Some of the children whose first language was not english wrote their stories in Spanish. I think it was great that they felt comfortable to do that, and next time, I think I will specify that they could write in any language they wanted to. The lesson went a little longer than I expected, and though we were able to finish within the given time, the sharing part of the lesson was a little rushed. Some students were not able to complete their drawings. Ms. Swatosh kindly gave them some time to finish their drawings the next day, and when I came in on Thursday, I hung up their wonderful drawings and stories in the hallway outside their classroom. Thursday was my last day at Whittier, and before I left, Ms. Swatosh and kids very sweetly thanked me. They thanked me for keeping them on track in their work, helping them with geometry and editing their stories, and they thanked me for the fun and slightly challenging art lesson. I appreciated their honest and thoughtful comments. It was really fun to get to know the students during my time at Whittier, and I will miss spending time with them.
(Below are pictures from the lesson)
Residency 2-Minneapolis Institute of Art-Angela Olson and Natalia Choi (2.5hrs)
This week at Toddler Tuesdays, I assisted lead teaching artist Laura Wennstrom. This session was quite different from the previous ones. Laura had planned several different art making stations with the kids; free drawing, marble painting, painting with stamps, and painting by shaking things in a box. It was a very tactile lesson, and the kids loved painting with their hands, and getting messy.
However they were not able to stay with each activity for very long, and many families left early. I wonder how a lesson like this with multiple stations could be planned in a way where each activity could keep the child engaged for a little longer.
