Guided Drawing and Dragon Eyes
November and December will have many different projects and lessons according to grade level. This last week we started a guided drawing based on a book called Little Mole Finds Hope. A guided drawing is when I stand at the front of the class and the students listen and follow step-by-step instructions. Sometimes this makes the students nervous (I always give second-chance papers if necessary) but this really teaches them how to draw - how line by line or shape by shape something overwhelming to draw can be broken down into tiny steps.
It also forces them to listen and pay attention and more importantly slow down and concentrate. I often walk around reminding students to slow down. Art should not be rushed and there is no prize for the earliest finisher- in fact, I tell them the students that are working carefully and quietly are the students who end up with fantastic art.
The older students are working on a dragon eye- lots of slow Sharpie work. Tedious but also so fun to see the results. This originally started as a project in the Art Faces elective but when the 4-6th graders saw them they begged to attempt them. We are working on a smaller scale than the elective students (which has taken them many weeks to finish.)






