I believe "Count Olaf" was inspired by the "Series of Unfortunate Events" movie. "Johnny" is a gifted draughtsman and specializes in replicating from observation and memorized images. This drawing Johnny did from memory. 

The "Dragon Mural" has become one of the big attractions in the art room lately. Jimmy Shockly (not his real name) asked me for a big piece of mural paper one day and sketched this dragon head from a smaller drawing. After an initial inspired burst of energy and flurry of drawing and painting activity, Jimmy has been slowly building the work up. We have been discussing painting technique, during this time. We have talked about space, transparency, pattern under painting and over painting during this creative experience. I can't wait to see it in it's final stage. Not bad for a 5th grader working with his own ideas about painting.....cg 

Dragon Mural 

"The Next Big Thing"

Clark and I presented at the IAEA State Conference last Friday. We had a nice group of interested teachers check in with us (20) and listen to our story of how we got to where we are today with our rationale, transition and current program with choice based art education. This was the 5th time Clark and I have done a presentation for either the state or national art education associations but this is the first time our audience members kept us speaking an hour and a half after we were supposed to end our presentation. They were very interested in everything we had to say....and had a lot of questions about our centers, assessment, facilitating and developing creative thinkers, classroom management and everything else we had to say about child centered, choice based art education. Clark and I each created a PowerPoint presentation and then on Thursday before our presentation, we worked everything out, combining the two presentations ...On Friday, Nov. 5th at 4:00PM, we delivered the presentation. I remember our audience was very enthusiastic and several left interested in beginning choice programs of their own. We finished up at around 6:30 PM. I was delighted the choice concept was recieved so positively by the art teachers who came to hear what we had to say about our new programs....Near the end of our talk, one of the teachers came up to me and said, I do a lot of DBAE, but is this the "next big thing?" I thought, "this is bigger than DBAE"....I said to her, "I don't know," but I thought to myself...It very well could be, ...and I think it should be, not just for art education but to a certain degree, for all subject areas....I think about John Dewey's works, "The Child and the Curriculum" and "Democracy And Education" Dewey speaks at great length about adults classifying knowledge, facts and learning away from their original place and away from relevancy to student's life and experience. With choice based art, we can connect directly to student experience....this is what makes this program so potent....and this is why I am so excited...Check back again....cg

Fourth grader Scott's reflection in his electronic portfolio on his mural making process. 

Third grader Sarah's multimedia landscape. 

Student Directed Halloween Mural 

Mural Artists At Work 

Time To Assess Where We Are Going.....

I have been thinking about assessment since day one. One of the things we do here that I believe is unique to our program is electronic portfolios. Most days I have been walking around the room near the end of each class time with my digital camera and I have been taking pictures of student art and students engaged in art making activities. I take the image files and transfer them to folders on our LAN for our kids to access. Over time, the folders fill up with all kinds of images so kids have a lot of images to reflect on. I have the kids insert their images onto a PowerPoint file that serves as their electronic portfolio. Then, I ask them to write reflectivly on their art and experience. So far, we have had our 5th and 4th graders work with their electronic portfolios and I am quite pleased with the reflection aspect of the work. One of the things I also need to do is ask the right questions. I was talking with Clark about assessment the other day and had a dialectic of sorts on the Teaching Artistic Behavior list serve about essential questions. The question we came up with was "What do artists do?" From this question we can spin other essential questions for more reflective thinking and writing. So, assessment from electronic portfolios and reflective writing is where we are headed. I think we are also going to use checklists, and insert those into portfolios. Speaking of reflection...I have been looking at the quality of the art we are generating and I am seeing something of a mixed bag. Some of the work is very complex, especially considering it wasn't my idea for them to work from. Other works are very simplistic. The other thought I have is so what? If they are the originator of the idea, and they take the work as far as it can go....then they will have begun to undertake the work of the artist. Real artists work from their own ideas, not someone elses. This issue is what got me interested in Choice Based Art Education in the first place. I still feel like I need to do more to facilitate the complexity of student art....I know there is a balance to work toward and from....We will press on.

Sculptures created with cardboard, tape and glue.  

3rd grade students begin constructing sculptures with cardboard, tape glue and scissors. 

Time To Work In Three Dimensions

Because of my concerns for storage space, I have held back somewhat on introducing 3-D art activities....I believe it is time to get moving in that direction. I can see it in the work they are producing...they are taking sheets of manila paper, glue and tape and constructing cones, cylinders, multiple chambered constructions, and other kinds of folded, origami like paper sculpture. I tell them they are creating "amazing inventions." Some of these inventions are flying machines, dishware, machines and weapons.......I have begun cutting bits of construction paper and preparing a "sculpture cart" similar to the "collage cart." I plan to stock it with string, construction paper, glue, scissors, tape and other miscellaneous materials. After viewing Clark's latest post, I concluded it is time to take the plunge into a 3-D adventure. This should be interesting....

Student working with collage at the mural center. 

"I am so proud of my art work!"

I am working with individual students in the room and I overhear comments from the rest of the kids that are very interesting. This morning, one of them says, "I am so proud of my art work!." That makes me very happy. I see them taking more ownership of their work. "This monster can attack two creatures at once!" "There is going to be a river behind this tree." "Look what I have made! This is a cool brown color....How did you make that?" As my friend and colleague Clark Fralick has observed, the students are engaged in lively discussions during their work time. I find that this year, my students are looking forward to their art classes more than ever. I try to let the work originate from within without too much teacher prompting.....I want an organic approach. The 5 min. lesson I am working with today with my 3rd graders is one on how artists spend time re-working an art work. I show them an example that has been around for a while, and I tell them I am "touching up" this work. I talked about combining drawing, painting, collage, ink and other materials to give the work a "dynamic" look. Most have considered the lesson. Others continue making new art. Will check back later....

Primary level students continue exploration of the mural center with liquid tempera. 

Intermediate level students at work on a variety of stations. Island table at upper left doubles as drawing center and demonstration station. Computer generated drawing and work inspired by drawing books at upper half of jpg. Students on right side working with collage, watercolor, india ink and other drawing materials. 

Student working with combinations of materials after viewing work by Jaune Quick-To-See-Smith.  

Four students working on ink drawings, tempera painting and braiding 3 strings. 

Second Graders collaborating on a painting. 

Second Grade student working at the mural center.