Two girls stood together in front of the tile mural in the main hall after school today. They were much too old to be middle school students, but they looked vaguely familiar. As I walked by, one of the girls reached out and gently traced the line of the horse's mane, "Here's mine!""Mine's down here," answered her friend.
"Do you remember your class symbol?"
"Hmmm, this, what is it? Ying Yang, or something like that?"
"Yeah, we did this one." The second girl reached out and traced the circle of a peace sign tile.
The mural, entitled "Terra Firma" was completed and installed four or five years ago. It was a collaborative project integrating social studies and art. Every 7th grade student designed a tile representing an animal from one of the continents. Tiles representing world symbols were added, as well.
Geography lessons covered the ways in which the physical environment effects culture. Art lessons covered tile designs from around the world as well as ways to show animal textures in clay.
I don't know if these two former students remember the lessons, but they certainly remembered the experience and were clearly proud of the mark they'd left behind in their middle school.
I enjoyed reading your blog. You sound like a great writer as well as a great art teacher.
ReplyDeleteI teach art and computers at an alternative high school. Many of my students seem to have missed out on the middle school art experience. I do alot of art activities with my students that cover the basics in art. We're working on a perspective drawing unit. They just drew their name in block lettering with one vanishing point.
When spring break is over, we'll work on two point perspective.
Hi Mrs. B,
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on the blog! Teaching at an alternative high must be challenging and rewarding. I only do one point perspective with my 7th graders and find that pretty challenging - first I have to teach them to use a ruler properly!