Rambunctious students are normally the most creative students.
I find that the best kind of projects to do with rambunctious students are projects based on their personal interests. Another important aspect is to discuss their ideas, to help them to plan and to give them personal freedom to express. During our conversations, I first ask them what their ideas are and based on their information I facilitate the students with art materials, information on technique, mini lessons, and support. Expressing ideas in a visual way is difficult for students. To help them with their thinking and decision making, I suggest they “think” with paper and pens so that they can plan how to express ideas visually. Time for planing is important, I believe by having the time to plan, students will engage in problem solving and by experimenting they will achieve originality and personal meaning.
Here are some of the projects students have selected to work on:
- Super Heroes – from TV – Sports – Computer Games, Films, Papier Mache Masks, Drawing and Painting as extension.
- Cartoons Superheroes – Black Pen Drawing which can be developed into paintings as an extension stage.
- Cartoons in three dimensions – Clay Monsters, based on ecxageration of the human face
- Graphic Novels – tell you story or make up a story – Book Making and Black/Coloured Pens Drawings
- Fantastic Art – Black and Coloured felt Pens, inspired on Fantastic and Visionary Art, images from Google
- Fantastic and Visionary Cities – Construction using recycled materials, images from Google
- Clay – Fantastic Animals – choosing two or three animals and combining their features and bodies to create fantastic animals
- Printmaking, Card Printing – students love to cut and glue shapes and when they discover that they can produce multiple images is a kind of magic for them.
- Altered Books – to express issues of identity, psychological pain, social dislocation, destitution (emotional, economic) using small art works such as prints – drawings – photo montage – computer manipulated images.
- Puppetry – Clay and plaster strips Puppets, inspired on Paul Klee’s Puppets, students will choose the characters.
I have lessons for some of these projects in the Education Page of the website www.bravaartpress.com
The lessons available are: Printmaking – Construction – Clay Cartoons – Masks
I’m not suggesting that all these projects should be offered in the classroom at one time, two or three options would be a good start. I’ll keep you in the loop to let you know when the other mini lessons will be available.
Happy teaching
Raquel
