I LOVE creating art with my students!
In every class I teach, I provide a finished sample of what we will create that day. But in addition to that finished sample, I make one, start to finish, with every one of the 24 classes I teach that month. The students love this for many reasons, mainly because they appreciate the visual map it provides. They can see what every step looks like. They create with more confidence! We also inspire each other; we utilize each other's creative ideas! It is a beautiful learning environment.
The only drawback to this teaching philosophy is that I end up with 24 finished projects by the end of my teaching week! That's a LOT of art! In the past, I have chosen one for my teacher portfolio; sadly, the rest goes in the waste bin. However, April and May's projects were such that I wondered if there was a way to get more mileage out of my project samples. As I pondered this aloud, one of my students thought of a clever way to display (or recycle) many/most of the sample Koi fish I made in April. She suggested I create a "Koi Fish Pond" on one of my doors in the hallway of my studio! I LOVED it; surprisingly, it took only about 30 minutes to accomplish. As the students arrived for their May lesson, many noticed the "Door Koi pond" and loved it!
This month's abstract art creation was SO much fun for everyone! Each one turned out SO differently that I knew I needed to find a way to "recycle" some of my class samples too! Although this bulletin board display is not a particularly inventive way to accomplish this, it did the job! I will eventually have to throw some of them away, but I will deal with that later. Until then, I get to enjoy them just a little bit longer.