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Lesson Plans


Re: Art Cart Teaching?

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Becky Alexander (Bekalex)
Sun, 23 Mar 1997 20:49:23 -0800

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>I teach Art to K-5 on a cart. I teach in 3 different schools
>during the week, and see about 800 students in that time.
> I teach in a community with an overcrowding problem,
>with mostly hispanic students. I have between 25 - 40 kids in a class.
>About 10 of my 30 classes are 'bilingual'
>that means they speak Spanish, and may or may not speak
>any English. I don't speak Spanish, although I have
>learned a few words... any way, I love teaching Elem. Art,
>I try to take the 'half-full' approach to things, and a sense
> of humor seems to be the best medicine. All this to say,
>I'm interested in any projects you think would be practical
> for my situation. :)

Hi Laurann, others,

I taught 1st/2nd grade classroom ESL for 4 years. A pilot, immersion,
sheltered English class. Art was so cool!! It can be taught almost right
away with only minimal language skills. The kids loved it!

There are no "special" techniques. Good teachers do these things anyway,
but when you (in English) have to teach non-English speaking kids it's
essential.

Think through the vocabulary you will be using in each lesson. How can you
"show" what you mean (rather than define verbally). If you are doing a
portrait, point to your eyes, legs, etc as you talk about them. Show them
the colors you want them to use if that is important in the lesson, don't
just say their names.

Using art prints you can teach colors, shapes, forms, line, value, more,
less, etc. Vary the questions to suit the language skills. Accept 1 word
answers.

Who sees _________. Where? (If the child is able to express her/himself
well enough have her/him tell you, otherwise she/he can come up and show
you.)

Model carefully. These kids have learned to watch the teacher and do what
he/she does. It is survival sometimes!

You will be surprised how easily the kids take to art as opposed to some
other areas. Math is easy to teach, science is ok. Social studies is very
difficult, abstract concepts of freedom, peace, etc. For this reason DBAE
is difficult sometimes. The cultural/historical aspects and the aesthetic
valuing can be very tricky to "teach" per se. But you can approach culture
using a globe or maps. Aesthetics ends up very limited. :(

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| We are all teachers..teach only love. :)
_\|/_

Becky

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