With total trust that they could construct a penguin, I left them on their own to produce these beautiful birds. Children worked together to color the sky mixing any shades of blue they wanted.
I was amazed at how happily they worked. For a solid hour there were no arguments, no claims of theft, no tears of despair because they didn't know how...just the sounds of cutting, gluing (if that really makes a sound), and discussions of the species of penguin they were making.
We learn over time to lose our confidence in our ability to sing, draw or dance. Recently I went to a workshop on integrating the arts. The speaker said that in Afghanistan they had no good answer for the question "Are you a singer?" It would be like asking them if they were a breather. Of course they breathe; of course they sing.
Here we learn that we aren't a real singer, artist or dancer, and not only that, perhaps we are bad at it and shouldn't be heard or seen attempting those things. Such a shame.
But I get to see the art and hear the singing before kids know they shouldn't be doing them.
They aren't very good at it.
They're fantastic!
What a fun post - you captured your students doing their art project well. Yesterday when I was walking by my daughter's classroom, I caught glimpses of her class doing an art project. I wanted to just watch and watch, but of course I needed to get to my own classroom.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about the beauty of children's artwork. I love the blue sky especially. My favorite line is the one about the sound of gluing. That made me smile. Interesting point about being taught we can't do things. It reminded me of that book: ish. I think it has a similar point, but I could just have a faulty memory!
ReplyDelete@C.RushI was impressed by the sky also. The students started to tell me that someone was using purple and I said great, and that's all it took...they were all over that sky! I've never seen them color so thoroughly!
ReplyDeleteOh, and yes, it is the book "ish". I looked it up. Never saw it before but am tempted to order it through Amazon today.