This past week the 3rd grade students were finishing up their animal poetry paintings. After the students finished using watercolor they were then informed they were required to use temperate paint to paint the actual animal. Though the students were excited to use paint (!) a lot of the students became frustrated with their artwork because the temperate paint covered all of their fine details they had drawn with pencils (their animals looked like big blobs). I reassured the students, "NO WORRIES! We can fix that and make it all better with fine-tipped markers!". At first the trickery 3rd graders didn't believe me, but have no fear, I gained their trust by physically demonstrating/showing them what to do. (Thank goodness my plan worked because if it didn't I would have forever been on the 3rd graders "Bad List".)
As I reflected upon this experience and if I was in charge of this lesson I would have altered a few components. Initially,I would have introduced a different medium such as markers or colored pencils that the students could have had more control over rather than using thick temperate paint. The students were so proud of their animal drawings until they started using temperate paint...it was obvious that the students went from loving this project to--wanting to rip it to shreds. I also would have encouraged the students to use a pencil and to draw the details (again) into the animals. Last but not least I would have encouraged the students to add in a funky or creative component into their drawing from their poems. (For example, draw a polk-a-dotted rock, stripped grass, checkered sky, etc). The students were too concerned with exactly copying the image from the magazine. I believe that the students should have been instructed to alter the original image to make it their own. I believe this instruction would have encouraged students to be more creative with their artwork and open minded to abstract forms of art.
