Fantastic Forest

Just two days of class left, then a week of half day exam days, then summer. I will be sad, as I am each year, to say goodbye to students I've worked with for two years. I meet them as awkward 12 year olds, just kids, really, and two short years later, say goodbye to (mostly) confident young adults. An amazing, fascinating metamorphosis.
This morning I asked a group of 8th graders which projects they most enjoyed over the course of the two years. Their answers surprised me. Different students, of course, gave different answers. After all, some love the mucky mess of clay, some don't. Some love to draw, others find it stressful.
However, one project the group agreed was a favorite was a large, acrylic landscape painting they did after studying the work of Henri Rousseau. I was surprised that this was a favorite as it was quite a lot of work. I pushed the students to go beyond a 'coloring in' approach, to experiment with brush strokes and color mixing. And some grumbled at the requirements which included a sleeping figure ala Rousseau's "Gypsy" as well as a collaged magazine critter or two and a strange juxtaposition of objects such as Rousseau's monkey with a back scratcher.

But, in the end, "freedom is moving easy in harness." As my students explained to me this morning, it was a challenging project and sometimes frustrating, but when they were done they thought, "Wow, I didn't know I could do that!" I guess that's what I love about teaching Middle School, watching this transformation take place both because of and in spite of, the strictures and structures of school.
It's corney, I know, but each summer I get to set a new crop of butterflies free. What a job!