Merry Christmas!

My room looks like a fairy grotto with beautiful paper snowflakes made by the students hanging everywhere.  Thanks to everyone who made them...they won't be wasted as after Christmas we'll use them to screen print through so a little bit of the Christmas magic will be in the final hangings we produce.  Merry Christmas!

'Evil' Evaluations!

Many of the groups I've been working with have finished their mini projects & I've asked the students to carry out an evaluation of the work they have produced.  I haven't yet met a student who likes to do evaluations!  Most see the process as a chore so to help them along I put on some Christmas music and enticed them with the promise of making Christmas decorations. 

For me, the evaluation process is critical...it's a time to reflect on everything we've achieved & to sort out which designs will be taken forward for further development.  For the students, it's a chance to reflect upon what new skills they have learned and to feedback to me what they enjoyed the most and what they think has been the value of the process.

Here's a sample of the Evaluation questions answered by a Year 8 group:

What has been the outcome of this term?

We have made a large canvas picture of our school Tree of Life made out of prints taken from objects found around the school.

What new techniques have you tried this term?

Using acrylic paints, printing with leaves & found objects, mono printing, block printing, spray painting, collage.

Which technique did you enjoy the most?

I enjoyed layering different print technques with the leaves.

How does the work produced meet the design brief?

It reflects the identity of the school since we used all things found around the school.  It also has on the leaves all the subjects we study.  It is linked to science as it is a Tree of Life like Darwin made and it is about nature.

A Different View

Hanging sculpture produced by a group of Year 9 students, inspired by their photographic research and cell structures. 

I've been encouraging the Year 9 students to be more experimental with their artwork and to take 'a different view' of what art should look like.  This has linked well with the photography the students did right at the start of term when we captured 'different views' of the school. I think the sculpture has great potential and after Christmas I'll be developing this prototype into a larger finished piece. 

Racing Towards Christmas!

We're probably all racing towards Christmas now, aren't we?  Many of the mini projects I've been working on with students are now coming to an end and my small room is now as busy as Santa's workroom as we try and get all the wonderful drawings, photographs and collages into semblances of finished pieces of art.  Most students are not used to working collaboratively (this is not unusual), so it's exciting for them to see their individual contributions coming together to produce something far more accomplished than they could have achieved on their own.  This is one of the many great experiences that the students gain from the Residency.  I'm particularly proud of a small group of four Year 8 students who have worked towards their own Tree of Life using prints from found objects and foliage from around the school.

Not quite finished but already looking fantastic. 

Creativity in the Classroom

I'm a great advocate of creativity in the classroom ( I suppose I would be though!), believing that a creative approach not only makes for an exciting learning environment but it can also be a valuable tool to aid learning.  I've seen this in practice recently whilst working with a geography class, helping them produce models of volcanos.  There's no better way to understand a structure than to build it yourself and I'm hoping that the very sensory experience of creating paper mache volcanos will reinforce the learning that took place.  It would be interesting to ask the class in a year's time what they remember about the lessons.