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| Various photos from Mrs. Nichols' classroom during a "TAB Choice" unit; May of 2016 (7th & 8th grade). This was my first time to try out this philosophy; students relished the freedom! We devoted the last 3 weeks of the year to a completely open ended project, where students were allowed to choose their media, subject matter, and all techniques. |
HOW do you get high quality artwork from the kids?
I am still learning, though! I am interested to know what YOU think would raise the quality of a group of students' art pieces? Truthfully, how much credit can the teacher take for what the students do?
I used to think about this, worry about it, that a lot of the work my kids were creating really was not very good. I eventually figured out that the poor quality work was because of their lack of skill and/or work ethic, and that I had to meet them where they were. (It didn't help that my district cut the art program from our largest feeder elementary school about 8 or 9 years ago.) Eventually, I figured out how to balance really easy lessons that made the kids feel successful with more challenging lessons. I first had to create an environment where the kids felt successful.
Essentially I changed my definition of what "success" meant to me. If a kid comes to my class with zero drawing ability, but s/he listens and works hard, if I see growth in that student I celebrate! Even if the finished piece doesn't look polished and perfect, I am thrilled that the kid learned something. I no longer feel like a failure. I think it really all depends on what your definition of success is. Below is a slide show of some of the best student pieces to emerge from my classroom since 2004. We may never be as competitive as some other schools, but I am proud of my students!
Essentially I changed my definition of what "success" meant to me. If a kid comes to my class with zero drawing ability, but s/he listens and works hard, if I see growth in that student I celebrate! Even if the finished piece doesn't look polished and perfect, I am thrilled that the kid learned something. I no longer feel like a failure. I think it really all depends on what your definition of success is. Below is a slide show of some of the best student pieces to emerge from my classroom since 2004. We may never be as competitive as some other schools, but I am proud of my students!
Define "quality." If you narrow down your parameters and think about exactly what your objectives are for the lesson, you might just realize that the kids are doing amazing things! A student who didn't know s/he could draw anything complex might just surprise you with the leaps and bounds in skill building over a course of a few weeks or months....
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| Graphite drawings by a highly motivated middle school student who was new to Art in 7th grade |
What are YOUR expectations? Also, what is an average drawing for the age group? (Link to Drawing Development In Children) What do we compare it to in order to judge mediocre work vs. excellent? What are the objectives of the project? Does the teacher decide or does the student decide? For one student, learning how to sketch without fear is a milestone, for another, a finely tuned realistic portrait with shadows and highlights would be.
Also, consider the fact that there are many things outside of our control that would tend to hamper our ability to facilitate student achievement. After all, the responsibility for what the kids do belongs to the kids, not us! If it will help you to look at this list before reading on, go ahead....sometimes it just isn't the teacher's fault: FACTORS OUTSIDE TEACHERS' CONTROL THAT WOULD TEND TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
There are so many variables that go into a successful student product.... how motivated are the kids? Have they had prior art experience? Do they respect art as a discipline? Are the lessons geared toward what they are interested in? Generally, how well behaved are they?
One more thing to consider before reading the following list - classroom management was rated the number one variable in effecting student achievement according to a mega-study of 50 years of education research. Make sure that you have an established classroom management plan (for discipline) in place in your classroom. Do you have a set of rules and procedures? Are you consistently and kindly holding kids accountable for their actions? Rules are set up to protect students and their right to learn.
Now....
If your definition of success includes skillfully created, original and engaging art pieces, there are definitely ways to reach and teach kids who WANT to learn. What can we do as teachers to proactively help kids succeed? It basically all boils down to how committed the teacher is to providing quality instruction that also addresses student behavior and attitude (including personal ownership). The following list is based on my experience as a middle school teacher and could relate to high school as well. Shelly Bailey added a few tips for elementary teachers at the end of this article.
1. Believe in them.
Have faith that they want to learn. Having high expectations, inspiring kids that they CAN do great work, and believing in their abilities is so important! The simple truth is that MOST kids really do want to learn and achieve.
2. Teach them the skills they need, and have them PRACTICE these skills. Don't let them give up! Few people will master a skill unless they practice it. I talk to the students about the value of exercise when they are at football or basketball practice - their muscles are getting stronger! Their brains and eye/hand coordination are getting stronger when they exercise art skills! Most kids will NOT want to do the work of practicing and will resist the teacher's attempts to get them to - it is human nature! However, if we teach them how important it is, what the benefits are, and somehow make practicing fun, they are more likely to work on their skills. Kids want to have fun!
I have had my students do warm ups where they draw a small circle on newspaper and paint it with the "Clean Edge" technique, I have also had them practice drawing lines with a ruler. It is assumed that kids know how to use a ruler, and how to make a painting look polished. Most have no clue, at least in my experience. (I do believe that there must be a balance between the fun and free and the mundane practice, practice of good technique. Too much boring practice can result in kids losing interest in an assignment and creating discipline problems - part of my job is to get kids excited about art and about being creative!) To the left is a circle design painting exercise that is fun for the kids to do and gives them practice with color mixing along with techniques.
If a student is rushing through an art piece, I will sit down with them to ask a few questions. I have a great craftsmanship poster from Eric Gibbons (artedguru.com) that I will take down off the wall and bring to the table.
I ask, "Which one do YOU think is the best?" The student 100% of the time will pick #4. Then, I ask the student why. They know! We look at their artwork together and I ask the student which level THEIR piece is. 100% of the time the child chooses the 2 or 3 (with a sheepish look.) Finally, I ask which one they would like their artwork to be. They always want it to be a level 4 and will invariably ask how to get there.
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| Media Techniques Poster, by Eric Gibbons |
If a student is rushing through an art piece, I will sit down with them to ask a few questions. I have a great craftsmanship poster from Eric Gibbons (artedguru.com) that I will take down off the wall and bring to the table.
I ask, "Which one do YOU think is the best?" The student 100% of the time will pick #4. Then, I ask the student why. They know! We look at their artwork together and I ask the student which level THEIR piece is. 100% of the time the child chooses the 2 or 3 (with a sheepish look.) Finally, I ask which one they would like their artwork to be. They always want it to be a level 4 and will invariably ask how to get there.
3. Give the students time to do a good job, and give them time to reflect.
Kids work much more slowly than I expect them to when they are really trying! Great art simply takes time! I talk to the kids about whether THEY think an art piece is successful or not and why. I also have kids write a reflection about their pieces and I try to get them to identify why certain pieces don't turn out as well. Usually it's because they didn't work hard enough on it, or they just rushed through it. They almost always admit it!
Some questions for kids to answer on reflection sheets:
1. What do I like best about my work?
1. What do I like best about my work?
2. Why did it turn out so well? Is it because I enjoyed using this medium, or because I practiced a lot, or because I knew what to do based on prior experience?
3. What would I do differently if I had it to do over again?
3. What would I do differently if I had it to do over again?
4. What do I dislike about my work? Why didn't it turn out very well?
5. Did I have enough time to work?
6. Did I ask for help when I didn't understand what to do or how to solve a problem?
7. Was I persistent or did I give up when it got too hard?
8. Do I need more practice to get good at this?
9. Is this the first time I have ever tried to (fill in the blank) or do I have experience?
10. Did I spend the whole class working or did I waste a lot of time talking to my friends?"
This rubric by Alexis Hamilton is an outstanding example of breaking down the skill of having good work habits: RUBRIC FOR WORK HABITS
4. Teach kids the value of hard work and persistence.
They will not have a great finished piece if it is rushed and sloppy. Period. If they want to be proud of their finished piece, they need to work on it. I tell my kids that 99% of success = hard work. I also tell them that it is called "art work" for a reason...it is WORK! This relates to the "Growth Mindset;" I also include a portion of their final project grade based on time on task, on their effort. I encourage them to keep trying different methods to get the results they have envisioned. I show my students the below video clip featuring painter Chuck Close, who talks about growing up with learning disabilities as well as being a quadriplegic. He says, "Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and work!"
5. Provide a fair opportunity to learn:
- MAKE SURE STUDENTS BOTH SEE AND HEAR THE LESSON: Many students won't actually watch a demonstration; they think it is enough just to listen. Also, can they actually see the board? You can't be sure that everyone was watching the lesson, or even who understood what they are supposed to do. I have to teach them that they are learning more with their eyes than with their ears and I wait until "all eyes are on Mrs. Nichols!" Demonstrate in an area where everyone can see and hear you. It helps to have a digital projector and Elmo, or to video record the demonstrations ahead of time. Youtube art demonstrations help as well - bringing in lessons from other artists and instructors! This year, when I taught perspective, I showed a step-by-step Youtube video (paused at intervals) and ALSO demonstrated with a drawing on the board. Students got two demonstrations!
- RE-TEACH: Did they understand the demonstration and the objectives? Art is a foreign concept to most of my students and they sometimes have a hard time translating my instructions, no matter how simple I think they are. I try to re-teach the skill in a variety of ways...I don't just demonstrate the skill once for the whole class, I will re-teach individual students every day, for as long as it takes. I am a constant student of my students. They teach ME what I didn't communicate very well in the original lesson. Sometimes I ask students to teach each other - they understand one another much better than the old, gray teacher!
- STEP BY STEP: There is nothing wrong with a step by step lesson, as long as there is still plenty of room for student choice in the end. Step by step lessons are the perfect way to increase student confidence and bridge the skills gap.
- RIGHT WAY VS. WRONG WAY: Emphasize that, "There is more than one way to accomplish objectives a, b, or c, that there is not one "right" way...figure out what works for you, but here is the easiest/best way I have found...."
- TALK LESS, OBSERVE MORE: Believe it or not, it helps to use as few (poignant) words as possible when teaching. If you say only what is absolutely necessary and avoid talking too much, it will help the kids pay more close attention to you. Watch the students during your demonstration; are they paying attention? Are they interested? Are they confused? Say, "Give me a thumbs up if you totally get what I'm saying, sideways thumb if you kind of get it, or a thumbs down if you are completely lost..."
6. Give very specific, crystal clear objectives
On the grading rubric, break down the task into a format that you know makes a high quality piece....into the most basic parts possible, even down to learning how to hold a pencil or a ruler. For example, when my middle school kids are doing landscape paintings (either expressive, realistic, or Impressionistic), one objective they ALL are required to meet is to have no "hard edges" in their sky - all colors must be blended. Another objective is to have more detail in the foreground and very clean edges around any overlapped structures with the sky (mountains, tree trunks, buildings, etc.) I have found that when I am VERY specific, they will try a bit harder to make a nice piece.
One way to make objectives more clear to students is for them to critique student examples from years past. I hung up some old student work on the board and asked the kids to identify which ones met the criteria. Below is a photo of my white board on a day we critiqued old student examples (names removed). I printed out the rubric criteria, cut them into individual statements, and had the kids choose which painting they would give an "A," a "B," etc. Then, students talked about which painting met the criteria the best, which didn't, and why. They stuck each rubric criteria to the painting with tape. It helps kids to look at examples and non-examples!
On the grading rubric, break down the task into a format that you know makes a high quality piece....into the most basic parts possible, even down to learning how to hold a pencil or a ruler. For example, when my middle school kids are doing landscape paintings (either expressive, realistic, or Impressionistic), one objective they ALL are required to meet is to have no "hard edges" in their sky - all colors must be blended. Another objective is to have more detail in the foreground and very clean edges around any overlapped structures with the sky (mountains, tree trunks, buildings, etc.) I have found that when I am VERY specific, they will try a bit harder to make a nice piece.
One way to make objectives more clear to students is for them to critique student examples from years past. I hung up some old student work on the board and asked the kids to identify which ones met the criteria. Below is a photo of my white board on a day we critiqued old student examples (names removed). I printed out the rubric criteria, cut them into individual statements, and had the kids choose which painting they would give an "A," a "B," etc. Then, students talked about which painting met the criteria the best, which didn't, and why. They stuck each rubric criteria to the painting with tape. It helps kids to look at examples and non-examples!
7. Be a great coach!
- The amount of time a teacher is up, walking around, providing positive feedback, is directly related to the quality of finished student work. What kind of language do I use when talking about the students' in- progress pieces? Am I focusing on student success and then pinpointing specific ways for the kid to improve? Do I emphasize the Growth Mindset and the value of hard work? How committed am I to harness my energy to compassionately push the kids toward excellence, not allowing them to get away with mediocrity? Do I look for ways students are growing, encouraging their efforts?
- The flip side to this coin is that teachers tend to sometimes be a bit TOO overbearing. Kids need to have time to work independently, to solve problems all by themselves. They can't learn if the teacher is solving problems that they need to be solving. One way I tackle this issue is to make my students work for a set time period with zero feedback from me. After they have spent, say 20 - 30 minutes working independently, THEN I will walk around to help individuals, re-teaching, drawing on another sheet of paper, etc. I am definitely guilty of helping too much!
8. Facilitate lessons that improve student confidence - show them that they are capable of more than they could have imagined. Yes, that means giving them easy projects so they feel successful and that they have the capability to succeed if it gets more challenging! The lesson has to meet the students where they are - if it is too difficult or too easy it will fall flat and there will be discipline problems galore. The lesson needs to be challenging, but easy enough for students' confidence to soar. They have to believe they can accomplish the task with work and practice. They also need to understand that they will not like how every project turns out, disappointment goes right along with being an artist. There is a learning curve, and sometimes kids who have experienced a lot of success with drawing will balk at any kind of sculpture construction because it is new and unfamiliar.
"Whether you think you can or you think you can't - you're right!"
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| "Scribble Design:" This is an easy design for middle school kids - after their first project (primarily a creative one) I realized the kids were not repeating colors and they needed more practice with craftsmanship. So, after some discussion about line quality and type, the kids created these marker drawings. They really loved doing this project and were unanimously successful. |
9. Make them focus on their work. Don't let them waste time with chit chat or wandering around the room. Kids can be very uncomfortable their first time in an Art class; their squeamishness manifests itself in a lot of ways. My kids giggle, waste a LOT of time talking about nothing, complain that they "can't" do it, etc. if I LET them. They can be very manipulative and try to wiggle out of a task if it is in any way challenging. Redirection techniques work sometimes, and so do good old fashioned consequences for being off-task.
10. Encourage! Students desperately need encouragement! They need to know that SOMETHING they have done is successful. If they are genuinely trying, I will praise them to the moon and back. Motivating the kids to WANT to do well includes building positive relationships. If they trust and like the teacher, they are much more likely to achieve!
I asked Shelly Bailey to offer suggestions for elementary teachers:
1. Step by step is necessary at the beginning for elementary kids. Too much freedom equals chaos with younger kids. Toward the end of the year is the best time to start allowing more creative freedom once you know the kids can behave and use materials properly.
2. Point #7: Elementary children require constant supervision and coaching. They can do amazing work but they need more motivation and encouragement at their ages. Plus, they so badly want to please you.
3. Having good cues for students is key to understanding and production of good work. It makes no sense that good procedures would influence this, right? Wrong...if they don't know your expectations and how to follow rules they don't operate well in class (which equals poor quality.) For example, have students repeat instructions back to you; this assures understanding. Good call and repeat instructions and silly phrases are super! Here is one for brush care, "A ballerina dances on her toes, not her hiney...pretend your brush is a ballerina and keep her on her toes! Don't push the bristles down and have her scoot on the paper on her hiney! Poor Ballerina!" This is silly but keeps neater brush strokes.
4. Clean up procedures and attention grabbers help as well for redirection..."When I say Mona, you say Lisa... Mona... LISA!"
5. My last suggestion: when pushing for individual success, I find that having a resource center and "How To" binders makes the kids more independent and helps them to problem solve on their own. These are just sheets I find that are almost like cheat sheets on techniques (drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, etc.).
4 More ideas to improve instruction:
• Observe another art teacher who is getting higher quality work than you are and take lots of notes. Or, invite another art teacher to observe you and give you helpful hints.
• Ask questions about how other art teachers frame their instruction - join online groups to improve your practice.
• Be an observer of your students. Watch how they approach the task, how they are moving the pencil/paintbrush, how they interpret your instructions.
• Take some classes or workshops to get better as an artist. The better artist you are, the better artists your kids will be.
A final word about advocacy:
In closing, I must add that high quality artwork can be a great catalyst for advocacy; principals love it when the school looks good and when art students are winning contests! We like to see our students produce great art and so do parents!
However, I think it is important to temporarily abandon efforts to get high quality work from students if the results are that they are not enjoying the class and/or the projects lack creative voice. As important as student achievement may be, it is much more important for kids to learn to love art, to enjoy the process of creating, and to allow themselves to make mistakes. Not every student will grow up to be an artist, but every student deserves the chance to learn about, enjoy, and appreciate the arts. Our students are so much more important than what they create! Author John Steinbeck once said, "Teaching might be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit."
For more information, click on the following links:
Further Resources:
5 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Unmotivated Students, Jennifer Gonzalez, Cult of Pedagogy
3 Methods to Motivate the Unmotivated, by Jill Jenkins, Edutopia.org
Nudges That Help Struggling Students Succeed, David L. Kirp, The New York Times
How To Be Inspired Without Copying, seanwes.com
This Youtube video, "Austin's Butterfly;" is about a first grader in Idaho who draws 5 drafts of a butterfly and works to improve it after suggestions from peers:
Ira Glass speaks about the creative process, and about spending time and effort in developing excellence:
In the movie, "The Karate Kid," a boy learns the value of practice in this scene: (don't play the first 20 seconds of the video clip due to language).
article by Mrs. Anna Nichols
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