Finally sitting down to post this (I'm slow, but that's no surprise). I was going to have pictures, too, but those are on a computer 6 hours away, silly me. It'll be at least 3 weeks, but I'll try to get the pictures up when I get home.
This year, Other Art Teacher and I decided to do a special 4th grade end of year show as the kiddos will be leaving us for the middle school next year. In the end, it became not only an art show but a fundraiser for our art program. This is how we set things up:
Visitors could make a minimum $5 donation to purchase an artwork (usually their child's), and we would stick a "sold" sticker on the artwork so that people could still view it. Available for silent auction was art donated by our Dean of Students, Other Art Teacher, and myself, along with two 26"x32" matted and framed photograph collections of the best artwork produced by the kids.
The artwork was displayed in the hallway leading to the cafeteria, on one wall of the cafeteria (mostly taped up in the large windows, which looked pretty nice), and on several cafeteria tables that we folded up for makeshift display boards. We also had a couple dozen 3D projects sitting out on the tables which included a fabulously detailed small-scale farm, a castle with a working drawbridge, and a 3-foot robot, flaming jet-pack included. Our kids put in some amazing effort for this show!
In the end, it was a big success for the first year. The kids were very excited about it and worked hard. (My guys, who did the majority of the 3D stuff and all the "murals" worked for around two months--including coming in during recess, after all their classwork was finished, and during activity time. Other Art Teacher's kids did lots of work outside of class, too.) Plus, we raised just over $500 in donations for our program. So thanks to all the students, parents, and teachers who made all of this possible!
Things I learned:
1. In a choice-based classroom, telling your kids that they can do "absolutely anything you want, just tell me what supplies you need" leads to fabulous artwork and effort, but you MUST make sure there are good guidelines and classroom management strategies in place.
I've never given my kids that much free rein in the classroom before, so I didn't really know what I was doing. The result was, predictably, utter chaos. I want my classroom to reach this point of complete creative freedom and self-sufficiency without me needing eight arms, three heads, and rocket boosters just to keep up with my students. Next year I'm going to start working towards this goal in earnest. (My 1st and 2nd graders will probably still be more limited, as they will be learning a lot more of the procedures for the first time.)
2. Aides and parent volunteers are mighty and awesome. Their help is invaluable (and largely aided us in getting set up on time) and should be made use of more often.
3. Children make fantastic minions. With around 100 students in the 4th grade, many with multiple projects for the show, we had a LOT of art to deal with. The kiddos love anything that involves helping the teacher, so it was great to have them mount their own artwork on black paper and haul their projects to the cafeteria. This takes a fair amount of the pressure off.
4. The iPhone can be an excellent classroom tool. I used mine to take snapshots (the quality isn't that shabby either) and as a timer. But I also discovered the voice memo app this year.
I started having my kids write artist statements this year (a requirement for anything being put in an art show). Every grade wrote at least once. But I want to make it easier for the little ones and my accommodation students. Having them dictate to my iPhone (since I have no student computers) means that, if they can't easily write their thoughts down (and legible writing is a big consideration too, haha), they can still tell people what their art is all about.
5. Speaking of artist statements: I found a website (of which there are many) detailing just what an artist statement is. (It's funny how that seems to be the one topic no one ever covered in college.) Ariane Goodwin's article is largely a blurb for her book, but it distills the artist statement down into three things: "what, why, and how you do what you do, from your perspective".
I've found that for most of my students, an artist statement becomes quite easy to understand by putting those three things in question form. What did you do? Why did you do it? How did you do it? At first, details are sparse, but as the kids become accustomed to answering, you can start working on getting them to put more thought into their writing. I've read some pretty fantastic artist statements this year.
5. Physical portfolios are both really great and really difficult. At the start of the year, we had poster board on the supply list so that we could make portfolios for the kids. We even have portfolio holders now. And we made the portfolios. But actually using them successfully, without making mine and my students' lives unbearably difficult? I'm still not sure how that's going to work.
So by and large, this whole experience has been pretty amazing. I've got a lot of good ideas for how I want to do things next year, and I'm definitely looking forward to the second year of the 4th grade art show. Still have to work out a lot of issues, but I'll get there.
Have a great summer vacation everyone!
EDIT July 7:
As promised, the pictures we took of the art show:
This year, Other Art Teacher and I decided to do a special 4th grade end of year show as the kiddos will be leaving us for the middle school next year. In the end, it became not only an art show but a fundraiser for our art program. This is how we set things up:
Visitors could make a minimum $5 donation to purchase an artwork (usually their child's), and we would stick a "sold" sticker on the artwork so that people could still view it. Available for silent auction was art donated by our Dean of Students, Other Art Teacher, and myself, along with two 26"x32" matted and framed photograph collections of the best artwork produced by the kids.
The artwork was displayed in the hallway leading to the cafeteria, on one wall of the cafeteria (mostly taped up in the large windows, which looked pretty nice), and on several cafeteria tables that we folded up for makeshift display boards. We also had a couple dozen 3D projects sitting out on the tables which included a fabulously detailed small-scale farm, a castle with a working drawbridge, and a 3-foot robot, flaming jet-pack included. Our kids put in some amazing effort for this show!
In the end, it was a big success for the first year. The kids were very excited about it and worked hard. (My guys, who did the majority of the 3D stuff and all the "murals" worked for around two months--including coming in during recess, after all their classwork was finished, and during activity time. Other Art Teacher's kids did lots of work outside of class, too.) Plus, we raised just over $500 in donations for our program. So thanks to all the students, parents, and teachers who made all of this possible!
Things I learned:
1. In a choice-based classroom, telling your kids that they can do "absolutely anything you want, just tell me what supplies you need" leads to fabulous artwork and effort, but you MUST make sure there are good guidelines and classroom management strategies in place.
I've never given my kids that much free rein in the classroom before, so I didn't really know what I was doing. The result was, predictably, utter chaos. I want my classroom to reach this point of complete creative freedom and self-sufficiency without me needing eight arms, three heads, and rocket boosters just to keep up with my students. Next year I'm going to start working towards this goal in earnest. (My 1st and 2nd graders will probably still be more limited, as they will be learning a lot more of the procedures for the first time.)
2. Aides and parent volunteers are mighty and awesome. Their help is invaluable (and largely aided us in getting set up on time) and should be made use of more often.
3. Children make fantastic minions. With around 100 students in the 4th grade, many with multiple projects for the show, we had a LOT of art to deal with. The kiddos love anything that involves helping the teacher, so it was great to have them mount their own artwork on black paper and haul their projects to the cafeteria. This takes a fair amount of the pressure off.
4. The iPhone can be an excellent classroom tool. I used mine to take snapshots (the quality isn't that shabby either) and as a timer. But I also discovered the voice memo app this year.
I started having my kids write artist statements this year (a requirement for anything being put in an art show). Every grade wrote at least once. But I want to make it easier for the little ones and my accommodation students. Having them dictate to my iPhone (since I have no student computers) means that, if they can't easily write their thoughts down (and legible writing is a big consideration too, haha), they can still tell people what their art is all about.
5. Speaking of artist statements: I found a website (of which there are many) detailing just what an artist statement is. (It's funny how that seems to be the one topic no one ever covered in college.) Ariane Goodwin's article is largely a blurb for her book, but it distills the artist statement down into three things: "what, why, and how you do what you do, from your perspective".
I've found that for most of my students, an artist statement becomes quite easy to understand by putting those three things in question form. What did you do? Why did you do it? How did you do it? At first, details are sparse, but as the kids become accustomed to answering, you can start working on getting them to put more thought into their writing. I've read some pretty fantastic artist statements this year.
5. Physical portfolios are both really great and really difficult. At the start of the year, we had poster board on the supply list so that we could make portfolios for the kids. We even have portfolio holders now. And we made the portfolios. But actually using them successfully, without making mine and my students' lives unbearably difficult? I'm still not sure how that's going to work.
So by and large, this whole experience has been pretty amazing. I've got a lot of good ideas for how I want to do things next year, and I'm definitely looking forward to the second year of the 4th grade art show. Still have to work out a lot of issues, but I'll get there.
Have a great summer vacation everyone!
EDIT July 7:
As promised, the pictures we took of the art show:
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| Gotta love the giant robot. |
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| Door prizes were lots of fun. |
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