Stacie, I'm sorry to read that you are feeling such stress when the semester
hasn't even started yet! It appears that burn-out is a real concern here for
you...I really hope that you can start finding ways to like--no, LOVE!--
what you are doing with the students...everyone will benefit if you are
having fun with it. The kids will sense the joy and will experience it
themselves.
But you have some hurdles standing in the way, for sure.
As for lesson ideas, I'm not sure if you are asking for elementary ideas or
middle school or both.
For the elementary students, do not forget the power of reading to a group
of children. They love it! (And it is a no-mess classroom activity, until
you follow it with a hands-on project.) There are many books out there which
can be used to teach them about specific artists...for example the Mike
Venezia books. Are you familiar with those? There are other series, too.
Perhaps the school librarian can help you out. Also, storybooks can be used
to inspire projects--look at the style of the illustrator (like Eric Carle)
and ty to emulate that style, or use the characters and storyline to
determine a subject for a drawing or painting.
Here's an example: the week before break, I read the book "Snowflake Benton"
to my first graders. I used lots of expression and left out parts that I
thought were above their level of comprehension. (The book is about the man
who discovered how to photograph snowflakes. It has beautiful,
CaldecottAward-winning woodcut illustrations. The story focuses on how
Wilson Benton would not give up on his dream, even when others laughed at
him, even when he failed over and over again. He stuck with it until he
succeeded.)
For their project (which we will be continuing after break), I am having
them design personal snowflakes. This is NOT the folded paper and cutting
project that most are familiar with...they are using a worksheet with a
6-pronged snowflake "skeleton" (I did not use that term with them) to
experiment with different ways of using their initials to design unique
prongs. On their worksheet, they designed 6 different prongs. They will have
to choose their favorite prong design for their final snowflake, we will do
a painting project with them. I haven't worked out all the details of that,
but I am thinking a crayon or glue resist project using cool colors.
As for your middle school students...
You could introduce them to M.C. Escher. He is an artist that seems to get
kids' attention!
How about adding some artists that are more abstract--Kandinsky or Klee or
Miro?
What about some collage artists--Miriam Shapiro or Romare Bearden?
Will you touch on 3-D work? Louise Nevelson could be used for a group
project (or individual).
What about studying the art of another culture? Navajo sand painting is
fascinating. So are Oaxacan carved animals. (You could even make them out of
salt dough, though those would be modeled, not carved.) Or perhaps you could
have a guest artist from an Asian heritage come in to demonstrate brush
painting/calligraphy from their native country.
Of course, these ideas would work at the elementary level, too. I'm just
trying to come up with anything that could spark your interest and generate
a project that would captivate the students and be FUN for you to teach!
