Research shows that making a wide range of appropriate materials and tools available to students can enhance their creativity (Gkolia, Brundett, & Switzer, 2009, cited in Davies et al., 2013).
I divide the materials in my room into 4 zones:
1. Wet
2. Dry
3. 3D
4. Digital
WET media includes: anything requiring water or liquids: acrylic paints (matt/metallic). tempera paints (liquid / cake), liquid water colours (water soluble powdered artist dye), water colour paint cakes, aquarelle pencils and aquapastels.
DRY media includes: sketching pencils and charcoal, coloured pencils, markers, oil pastels, chalk pastels, fibre and collage.
3D media includes: clay, cardboard, wire, papier mache and plaster of paris.
Digital includes: Osmo, photography and editing apps, clay/stopmotion.
There are bulletin boards in my room with images of students creating with these media
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| Dry Zone |
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| Digital Zone |
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| Wet Zone |
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| 3D Zone |
Wet and Dry media resources are stored and located centrally, students collect what they need and take these to their work area.
Some training is required and classroom routines need to be established at the start of the year/term.
Because my students self select media, there is never a rush on anything in particular and because I don't have limited seating centres, there is no limit on how many students can choose a particular medium.
Students are encouraged to test out how media performs before applying it to their work. For younger classes I introduce different media every few lessons to ensure experience and exposure to a variety, but older classes no longer need this.
When introducing new media, I tend to focus on skills and techniques and leave students to create their own piece as they experiment with it.
Some media are modelled on videos in a 'flipped' style so that students may review these independently. I tend to observe regular mishaps or questions and turn these into video tutorials that I slowly add to our school art resource page. Some I have made available to everyone on my Youtube channel (see link at top of page)
Paper
I buy a selection of art paper for a range of media. I cut these down to A6 sized pieces and have these accessible to students for prototyping so that they understand how the media performs on the right paper. Larger formats are only issued once students have a plan and a prototype and they are aware that they only get 1 sheet. We talk about being eco-warriors in our room and conserving both paper and resources, limiting waste.
Prototypes are glued into student sketchbooks for future reference.
***
Sculpture media is teacher directed in the lower-primary years, transitioning to student choice in the mid-primary years and issued on request in the senior-primary years. This is due to special storage requirements (like clay) or preparation (like Papier mache paste and stripped paper) - as well as cost and time constraints. Sculpture is also restricted to a particular are due to the clean up that it requires and the mess that it creates. Dry construction (like building blocks, armature making, etc) can take place on the mat area or floor when it's just small groups but wet / messy phases are limited to a covered table. Work-in-progress is stored as required between lessons.
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| Student working at the clay table on a choice art piece |
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| 2 students working on the floor on their choice piece papier-mache armatures |
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| Y2 teacher directed ceramics stored in cardboard trays to air-dry before kiln firing |
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| Y3 teacher directed papier-mache sculptures drying on my store-room floor between lessons |
Y4 Clay figures in plastic trays waitng to be fired in the kiln
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| Y6 stundent using Osmo Masterpiece |
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| 2x Y6 students teaching each other to use a drawing app |
Students are expected to clean up their own materials and then to re-store the classroom ready for the next class. When a class clean up does not meet expectation within the allocated 5 minutes, I make a note and they are packed up 5 minutes earlier in their following session. They hate losing on-task time so this motivates them really well.
Each class has a labelled drying rack to store wet work 'in progress' and a class folder for dry work. they also have book bins for their sketch books and folders. Students are expected to manage and store all of their personal work.
I'll finish this post with my opinion on ERASERS.
I have not provided these since my first year as an art teacher and the learning benefits for students have been huge. These include:
1. more focus at drawing time
2. closer observations and looking for details
3. reduction in pencil pressure sooner
4. develop ability to estimate and approximate
5. develop risk-taking and perseverance despite challenges
6. problem-solving and innovation
7. more freedom in thinking (less rigid), open to modifications on-the-go
I could go on, but lets just say - no class-set of erasers in my room. I do keep a couple of 'teacher erasers' in a 'secret drawer' and only a few students know about these - usually club students who have been with me for years. But these are only for emergencies or for technical use.
Thank you for stopping by,
With love, Te Aroha
Timea
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