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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Not for the Faint of Heart Art Teacher




At the beginning of this semester we rolled out a new idea. The students were free to select (or not select) any unit and in any order they desired. They are not required to follow any particular sequence. Once they have completed a unit, they are free to choose any other unit they wish to explore. 

This idea, along with the units was presented in a previous post titled Art Ed Vision: Open, Flexible, Transparent.

Advice for Teachers

The class is now underway I can will admit I'm a little scared. This type of freedom is not for the faint of heart art teacher. If you like a little control... lets say for example, you like to know what's going on... then this method of teaching probably isn't for you.

Let's see if I can explain a little of what I think is happening....


Well, he decided he wanted to try his hand, or in this case, his foot, at print making. But he brought in a flip flop. Guess what? Those tools that do such a great job cutting linocuts.. well, they don't work so well on flip flops. So he is trying out a soldering iron.



OK, a stencil. I get this one.


She is hammering a lot and she has plans to add string to write the word in negative space.


Next task, untangle, untangle, untangle.


Part of the text unit, she wrote "Shattered" in broken glass and is preparing a board where the glass will be place on glass. It makes sense when she explains it.. so we'll see what happens.


Umh, something about writing the word "cheeky" but painting three butts.. but using her fingers to paint the butts that say cheeky... or something like that.



It's a lot of squares and a lot of tints and shades of green. I think I'm standing to close to see it.

OK, so there you go.

1 comment:

  1. It's funny how the more you start to give choices, the more both you and the students start to crave giving more! I have units students work through at their own pace in a certain order (more or less) and each time I have their end of the trimester conferences it amazes me how much the students appreciate that right to work at a pace that is appropriate to them.

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