Sunday, January 20, 2013

Junky Watercolors and Jasper Johns

Prang watercolor trays are about the only watercolors I use at school. They are easy to pass out and a tray can usually be shared between at least 2 or 3 students. Buuuut, some colors run out faster than others, and some just start looking really dingy when you get a student who is maybe not paying as much attention as they should be. When it comes time to replace the strip with new paint, I pop out any wells that still have color in them and store them in a tub. Later on if a color runs out in a new strip, I may have a replacement. I've also found it useful to make custom trays for the student who for lack of coordination, attention, or any other reason, just cannot handle sharing paint or following directions.

During a recent Kindergarten lesson, the students were working on wax resist paintings inspired by Jasper Johns' work. In the first class period, they used oil pastels to draw letters and numbers in a composition on their paper. In the second class period, the students painted over with watercolors. Since the K-6 Art SMART goal this year was to focus on learning primary and secondary colors with Kindergarten students, I asked the students to only use primary paint colors.

Most students did a good job taking care of our new paints and cleaning brushes before switching colors, as seen below.
Some students, usually about one in each class, struggled. I had one little guy who never really seemed to understand directions on any project. He struggled with keeping the shared paint neat. After more demonstration and several reminders, the students he was sharing with were still complaining of him messing up all the other paints. I pulled down an old empty tray and filled it with just the primary colors and it went more smoothly the rest of class. He was still messy, but the other students were not suffering from messy supplies that were not their fault.
I also have a couple students who just don't want to follow directions out of defiance or stubbornness, and they ended up with the limited palette since they couldn't handle the temptation of the other colors.*
*Typing "the temptation of the other colors" kind of makes me feel bad! I've felt a pull toward TAB the last couple of years but can't quite figure out how to pull it off in my school environment with the expectations we have on us. If I had my own independently run studio for teaching Art, I would totally take a TAB approach.

Here are a few of the finished paintings. It wasn't my favorite lesson of all time, but it hit on Art History, color theory, and painting. It also helped work on my SMART goal and tied in skills that are emphasized in the Kindergarten curriculum with letter recognition and printing.

10 comments:

  1. Could you have them tell you what the primary colors are or do a small painting with them, and then do their own thing? I recently stumbled upon TAB too, and being more open ended really suits my teaching style, too.

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    1. I still try to give the students a lot of choice, but I would love to be able to do full blown TAB. I have an upcoming Kindergarten lesson where they'll get to paint whatever they want using the primary colors so they can review or rediscover color mixing. I'm just still trying to balance what is more similar to the other elementary art teachers in my district and what my district's standards are with what my philosophy is telling me. It can be tricky to find that balance between doing what you think is best and doing what you're expected to (how you're expected to) for your job.

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  2. Love the new look of your blog!!

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  3. Hi Katie! I think it is so funny you mentioned your unease and pull toward TAB because I was thinking the same thing when I read your post (not in a bad way, but it was where my mind went as well) . I just got back from the Colorado TAB conference and heard a lot of people who, like you, worry that TAB would not work for your students or in your school. In my experience, it usually is not the kids that can or cannot handle TAB, it is the personality of the teacher and what makes sense to their teaching style and comfort. As far as your school goes, you would surprised how many schools and administrators get on board when presented in the right fashion. And remember that every TAB classroom looks different; there are no set rules. Maybe a "mortified choice" would work better for you, ie. choice in materials but not content, or choice in content but not materials.
    I would love to chat sometime if you are interested...

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    1. Hi Adam! Thanks for stopping by. I read about the conference in Colorado and it sounded awesome. I've been lurking on the TAB Yahoo Group since I wrote a (practice) research proposal about TAB and engagement for a graduate class last fall. I'm hoping to actually carry out my research plan. I actually started a TAB post the other day but didn't feel it was finished so didn't publish it. It was all about how I feel pulled toward TAB but sort of feel stuck at the moment. My district is really big on PLC time and trying to make sure students get the "same" experience at each school across the district. There are 4 elementary Art teachers and my interests lean the most toward choice. Our current curriculum is a little vague and we've been waiting for it to be rewritten for as long as I've been teaching (this is my 4th year) and for about 3 years before I started. I basically just don't really know exactly what I'm allowed to do and how far I'm allowed to move away from what the other teachers are doing at this point. I keep collecting ideas and trying to figure out how to give more choices to my students. I hope that once I know where our curriculum is going and can try out my research proposal I can have a "best practices" discussion with my administrators. In the meantime I try to figure out what I'm "supposed" to do...
      I will definitely stop by your blog! I've been trying to find more TAB blogs to follow. I keep pondering and trying to put my questions about making it work in my situation into words!
      This is why I don't just post my favorite things on my blog. I don't have all the answers (yet, haha) and I don't want to pretend that everything's perfect all the time. I'm fine with an honest look at where I am and where I'm going. :)

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    2. I just looked and I discovered your blog a week or so ago!
      Also, let me clarify something. I didn't mean that I don't think TAB wouldn't work for my students themselves, just trying to figure it out in my crazy schedule. I have 41 classes between my two schools. The older school would be easier because my classes are split over two weeks. My K-3rd grade school has 40 minute classes all day long with no break besides lunch so I can see every class every week (unless there is in-service or some other reason to not have school.) I have the same budget as all the elementary Art teachers in the district but have to make it go twice as far. This is where some of those practical questions come in and I will work on getting those questions formulated. Thanks for your offer to chat, I may take you up on that sometime!

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  4. Hi, interesting post: D sorry if my comments are less pleasing. Just Blogwalking,
    may you want to visit my blog too :D, I hope we can be friends ;)

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  5. Great topic!
    I learned a trick from another teacher years ago. She said to take out the brown and blacks and add turquoise and magenta.

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  6. I find that the messy paintings somehow always turn out to be the most beautiful! I would imagine in many ways, it is the most satisfying because you are simply free to paint:) I don't know what TAB is but plan to look it up!

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