One of the things I try to do is create an environment in my classrooms where students can feel comfortable sharing their ideas and particularly their artwork. Recently a way that I found to do this was by having everyone draw the same thing in a step-by-step process. A student said that the hardest thing they could think of to draw was a dragonfly. I decided to put aside the main project for a few minutes and have everyone draw a dragonfly through step-by-step instruction. We all sat down, including a few students who don’t usually participate, and went through the process to draw and then cut out a dragonfly. If found the experience quite educational myself as I had never drawn a dragonfly before. Breaking it down as I chose to do showed the students that a seemingly insurmountable problem is usually just a series of smaller easily solved problems. The key is to start somewhere.

In many of my lessons I focus on encouraging the students to make connections, in particular with other people and cultures. I present a concept that seems abstract or surprising and … Continue reading Dreams and Goals →