This year, I replaced a former art teacher who most everyone thought was
wonderful (except other art teachers). She was a former kindergarten teacher
and not an artist. I gather that most of her projects were craft projects, not
art.
Anyway, I had a lot to live up to in the eyes of my students and parents. I
waited until a couple of weeks before our art show to have the 2, 3 and 4th
grade students do "self portraits" with a twist.
I took a close up digital photo of every student (approximately 200 students!).
I used Photoshop to make them black and white and ran out a copy of each one. I
had the students create a colorful 1" border around a large sheet of white
paper (we studied complementary colors, etc.). Then I cut out the face and neck
of each child and we pasted down one half of their face. I did the cutting with
an xacto knife so the cuts would be good and take less time. The students had
to draw the other half of their face using colored pencils (right side if they
were right handed, etc.) They learned about symmetry and measuring. Students
then filled the background with drawings of things they liked or things about
themselves. Almost all the students did an outstanding job and were really
proud. The parents loved them and I've won them all over!
