From my first placement in a high school to a K-5, I must say that there is only one major difference--the younger students are eager to get started in making art. That being said, it was very present that creating examples of the projects would be a huge boon in order to better explain things, which I did not do a lot of in the high school classroom. In my mind, I thought that it was something just for the younger groups of students because they are more interested in the visual examples than the older students. As it were, being able to point out specific spots in the art where things struggled and share in the experience would have probably helped them figure things out as well.
As often as I can in the K-5 level I utilize the document camera in order to show the students the processes I use to create the projects that they, in turn, are working on. In my example art work, I demonstrated how to set up a very basic popsicle based mandala. Had I just explained it verbally and waited for them to get it, the lesson would have ended in a train wreck. Being able to show them step by step how to assemble a simple set-up was a huge boon in helping them move forward. In some cases, the students developed their own shapes to make mandalas from, which was fine, but for those that wanted to do the same shape easily completed it without any issue save from not waiting for the glue to dry. Visuals in art are essential because it is a visual language. I didn't realize it as much in high school because I had that mentality that the high schoolers didn't need more than images in a presentation. I, also, ran into the mindset of "I don't have time to make visual examples" when the days would roll in one after the other for the same class. I was more worried about getting through the first placement than providing everything that I could for them. It hurt both them and myself in that aspect. This really helped cement the idea that I needed to do as much as I could for my students in demonstrations, verbal descriptions, and instructional periods.
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December 2019
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