Planning an art lesson is an exciting process in which we pull brilliant ideas from theory, the Internet, professors, classmates and within ourselves. However, until we are able to experience the lesson in an actual classroom we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into. During my practicum, I notified my cooperating teacher that I would like to do an art lesson. “How about painting?” he suggested with a sly grin. I accepted with discrete trepidation and thought about how I haven’t even touched paints since high school and wondered how you actually “teach” children how to paint. I though it was simple—you just paint. It was hard to wrap my brain around an actual process.
As soon as the kids entered the room and saw the paints lay out on paper plates with colours of red, orange, brown and yellow they were stoked. Apparently, teachers never let them paint; hmmmm….I wonder why? Planning and prep was a huge part of the process. Students were told beforehand that we would be painting and many brought smocks or old T-shirts. I spent the lunch hour collecting brushes, paper, and squeezing four different colours of paint onto 18 paper plates. Thankfully my C.T. also suggested having paper towel on hand. For the actual lesson I began by explaining and emphasizing that painting was different than drawing because you “pull” the brush instead of “pushing” it. I demonstrated for the class by painting the beginnings of a tree by holding the paper upside-down and starting with the truck and pulling down to create the branches. I then outlined the criteria of the artwork/lesson and wrote it on the board so students could be reminded. I put a star beside “be careful”. (I neglected the rule “paint only goes on the paper” and cannot emphasize that enough). I threatened that if they were caught being irresponsible with the paints they would be using crayons. I dismissed the students by rows to collect their supplies and they were off.
As soon as the kids entered the room and saw the paints lay out on paper plates with colours of red, orange, brown and yellow they were stoked. Apparently, teachers never let them paint; hmmmm….I wonder why? Planning and prep was a huge part of the process. Students were told beforehand that we would be painting and many brought smocks or old T-shirts. I spent the lunch hour collecting brushes, paper, and squeezing four different colours of paint onto 18 paper plates. Thankfully my C.T. also suggested having paper towel on hand. For the actual lesson I began by explaining and emphasizing that painting was different than drawing because you “pull” the brush instead of “pushing” it. I demonstrated for the class by painting the beginnings of a tree by holding the paper upside-down and starting with the truck and pulling down to create the branches. I then outlined the criteria of the artwork/lesson and wrote it on the board so students could be reminded. I put a star beside “be careful”. (I neglected the rule “paint only goes on the paper” and cannot emphasize that enough). I threatened that if they were caught being irresponsible with the paints they would be using crayons. I dismissed the students by rows to collect their supplies and they were off.
Most of the students followed the rules and directions (some thought maybe their own smocks should have some added fall colours). I circulated and asked questions and made comments.
I now realize why teachers are extremely hesitant to use painting for art. THE CLEAN UP! The brushes had to be washed, the classroom had to be paint free, the water dishes had to be washed and the paintings needed to be spread out to dry. Thankfully, in my classroom we had an incentive for helpers after school—Gummy worms! All the students helped with the clean up and a few stayed even longer with what was left. It took forever, but the kids were great. Lesson learned. My C.T. appreciated that I did his annual painting art lesson and I was truly grateful have learned about how to teach painting and the pros and cons that go along with it
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing your experience, lesson, and strategies. It looks like your lesson went well and judging by the smiles on the children's faces they had a blast. The artwork you displayed at UNBC also looks great too so all in all I think your lesson must have been a huge success. I like how you said that your CT was grateful you had taught his 'annual' art lesson. This leads me to wondering if perhaps painting lessons seem so stressful and work load intensive because teachers don't do it enough with children; therefore, it becomes such a difficult activity to plan, teach, and execute. I wonder if with more implementation and practice if painting lessons would go off more smoothly and create less stress for teachers?
Your trees turned out very well and it sounds like you had the situation well in hand (careful lesson planning, set up, etc.). I agree that painting with children can be very exhausting...
Thank you for sharing your experiences!
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