When I taught middle school, I had many students who could not afford to
purchase sketchbooks...so we made "journal/sketchbooks" which did not take
that long for us to make.
Students would bring about 10 or so sheets of notebook paper (for writing)
and I would give them 10 to 20 sheets of copy paper (for drawings). We
would take a 12x18 piece of white drawing paper...fold in half...and staple
down the edge with three staples. Actually, I did the stapling, because I
sometimes had to use a heavy duty stapler.
One of our lessons would be one they could do on the cover...usually a
lesson of line variety...and they used colored pencils to add color. I
would take a black marker and print their names in the upper right hand
corner. That way, the names were legible and I had no trouble passing them
out each day at beginning of class.
I had a bin for each class. I would take up them up at the end of
class...turning each tables journals a different way...and stacking them in
the bin. I always kept them in the classroom.
At the beginning of class, it was easy for me (or a student) to pick up the
stack...and quickly put each group on the right table.
Students always had a drawing to work on when they came into class. This
always got them "switched over to their right brain" and in a quiet, drawing
mood. Plus...most of the time, we did a "draw together" quickie lesson at
beginning of class. I used Mark Kistler's drawings. This is an excellent
way to begin to teach perspective, value, etc.
I didn't grade these, except for the cover lesson.
Carolyn Roberts
> I teach elementary
> and have considered adding sketchbooks, but the expense of the books plus
> the consideration of handling the time spent grading them is daunting to
> my already CRAMMED teaching time lifestyle. I already work into the
> evening many nights on our webpage, or power points, or research, or
> grading of projects, advance prep, etc. I see the advantages of
> sketchbooks clearly but would be interested to hear from others how they
> manage them.
> Linda in Houston
