Visual Journal moment

As a teacher, one of the most rewarding kinds of experiences are the ones where you realize "Oh my god, they listened...they get it! Wow, it connected with them.."  I had one of those moments Friday.

(I know the video ended up sideways, I'm kicking myself. But I just grabbed my phone to take a clip while it was happening! I hope it shows up)

After reviewing the work my art club has done in the last 2 months, I noticed that the students who had me last year in the 4th grade visual journal club haven't pushed themselves this year. I enjoy their confidence, but they've stopped pushing themselves. I changed the next lesson to focus on the importance of content. They've been very focused on creating beautiful backgrounds and eliminating the infamous "white page."  I expressed how happy I am that they dove straight in to creating great backgrounds, but I asked them to think about why they've done very little on top of them.

In the last 2 sessions, we looked at videos of artists creating journal entries with many layers, flip throughs of 'junk journals,' and discussed how prompts are meant to prompt you into thinking and create something meaningful.  One of my students came in friday to work on her current entry, in which she decided to do quotes that meant something to her. She's been struggling with personal drama and art has been her "safe haven" so to speak. She showed me her work-in-progress and I had one of those moments :) It was hard to show the effect with pictures, so I took that short video.



She made a 4 page entry with windows that I had helped her cut last week.  She repurposed the cut-outs and made quotes. She said she's still thinking on what to add to the color side and some small things to add to that black side.  I am so proud at how well some of them have learned to take their time and carefully consider their work instead of mashing out page after page.

She's been filling in small drawings in her empty spaces this week.  It's been wonderful to see how her thinking has evolved over time.  When she interacts with other students who are struggling or stuck, she's become more confident and thoughtful in her suggestions - often asking a few questions to the person about context and direction before giving the suggestion.  I'm so proud and happy to be able to be a part of their growth over the years. :)

Art Club Visual Journaling

I wanted to share some things about my after school art club.  It got canceled yesterday because I've been sick for a full week. I was disappointed I couldn't give them the next prompt because the next time we meet isn't until after the Thanksgiving holidays.
 

I do have a lot of students who come in independently during their free time to work quietly in the back while I teach other classes. Many of my students don't have access to art materials at home, so while I encourage them to work outside of club on their entries, I make it clear to them they can create parts of them in the art room where they have access to our materials. I show them alternative materials and methods to create art using everyday, recycled items - how to think outside the box.


Currently I have 18 5th grade students in my after school club. We meet once a week for an hour and our focus in on creating visual journals that explore different topics, ways of self-expression, art techniques/materials, and giving constructive feedback to each other.  

I took these pictures while we were having round table discussions about our latest entry "What are your biggest fears?"  I will usually give them 2-3 different prompt options and tell them if one of the prompts inspires them to do something a little different than it's asking, that's fine too. The prompts are supposed to do just that; prompt you to create an entry.

We've done different kinds of critiques. I've given them all a post-it note and asked them to go around and put theirs on the one that caught their attention the most.  We then came back together and examined the 2-3 entries that had the majority of the post-its and I asked them leading questions as to why they think those entries got the most. What made them so successful? Name some components.  

I've also chosen a few at random and just asked for "successes" and "suggestions" for each.  This time (which is what I have been leading up to) I had them discuss without me leading. They went around their table to each person's entry and discussed "successes" and "suggestions." It was great, I loved hearing the specific language they're starting to pick up on.

It also encourages them to push harder, see things from other perspectives, and learn to take constructive criticism as well as to give it.