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Lesson Plans


Re: sketchbook debate......

From: Karlawald
Date: Thu Jun 01 2000 - 14:46:59 PDT

  • Next message: Jeannie Sandoval: "calligraphy Karla"

    Bunki,
    Many of my students would agree with you about hating those sketchbook
    assignments. I really tried to stretch them by using assignments that helped
    them to see and to use their imaginations, but I think the problem is that
    they don't like doing MY assignments in THEIR sketchbooks, which is and
    should be a personal space. Do you think that's why you hated them? My
    students saw it as my trying to tell them what to do in their own time, even
    though I gave them a big list of things to choose from, and even though many
    were "fun" drawings, and even though they only had to choose from the list
    some of the time. If I had handed a sheet of paper to them on a Thursday, and
    said "Now draw this in class today," I think they would have done it
    willingly. (And part of it's because they all have jobs that take up every
    minute of their after-school time. Arrgg!!!)
    Next year, I'm working on trying to encourage them to keep their own
    sketchbooks for their own purposes. An article I ran across (from the same
    Arts & Activities issue with the Calligraphics lesson!) says that teachers
    shouldn't distribute the same format of sketchbooks for all students, since
    their responses are supposed to be so unique, their sketchbooks should be
    unique to their needs also..It's just going to be an uphill battle to
    convince some that copying cartoon figures or magazine pictures for page
    after page isn't as useful.
    I'm thinking of making a rubric for the broad things that sketchbooks should
    (or could) be, and every 4 weeks or so have them briefly tell about it (on
    paper or one-on-one) and help them seek the direction they want it to go. For
    my Art 1, mostly students who don't care for art but only want to get that
    required 1/2 credit, I may give them fewer pages, and if they just want to
    practice drawing, that's okay, and good. But others may want to use it more
    for ideas. We'll see--things always seem so much easier in the summer-time,
    don't they!
    Anyway, my question is, would these changes have made the process more
    interesting to you, or am I being idealistic?
    Karla 

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