Student Teaching at Ravenswood- Week 1

1st and 2nd graders work in the painting studio to express their ideas

Ms. Kitty has three categories of artwork that get made in the studio. The first is kind is “exploring” artwork where kids take it upon themselves to try out new things, play with materials, and experiment. The second is showcase pieces, where kids develop and sketch out their ideas, and then see their projects through to completion with good craftsmanship. The third category is a must-do project, where the teacher leads the students through a specific project she feels will benefit the students. These are not very common because she really wants the students to choose their own content and materials; however, sometimes they are important in order to teach a specific skill, standard, or idea. The projects I will be leading will be “must-do’s” but they will also include a lot of student choice within them.
This week at Ravenswood most of the younger students have been finishing up projects they were already working on so that they can move on to working on some new ideas and processes with me.

The 1st and 2nd graders learned how to critique each others works in progress using a structure Kitty invented called the “Art Sandwich”. As each class gathered on the rug, Ms. Kitty talked to the kids about how as artists and people, we need feedback in order to improve and grow. She discussed with the kids how suggestions for improvement are always better received when they are paired with compliments. In the Art Sandwich, the bread is compliments, and the meat is a suggestion for how the artist can improve their work. Students are reminded that they can’t just say they like it when giving a compliment, because then the artist does not know what they’ve done well. Instead, you should always give a specific reason why you like something. This is a great thing for teachers to remember too!

This student said he created an ocean!

Students worked in groups of four- one artist and three viewers. They took turns giving compliments and one student out of the group volunteered to give the meat of the sandwich (or the cheese if they are vegetarian). It was exciting to see the students talking about their work. Each piece was very unique because the students had been given free range of the painting, collage, drawing and construction studios. The students were a little impatient waiting for each other to think of what to say, so next time we might have them all write down their compliments and suggestions for an art sandwich and then have them share out with each other afterwards so they are focused the entire time. I was very impressed with how articulate and invested all the artists were as they talked about their own work.

Ms. Kitty (as well as myself) believes very strongly in critique and reflection even for very young children as a necessary tool for growth and learning. We always need to unpack what we learned, to be metacognitive. Another example of how Ms. Kitty teaches this to her students is this picture. Students exhibited their showcase pieces and then went for a "gallery walk" to view the artwork of their peers. They wrote compliments on post-it notes and placed them on the artwork. What can I say? Post-it note critiques work for all ages!

young kids write compliments about artwork on post-it notes and share them with the artist

The kindergarteners are working on a project that is all about the artistic behavior of envisioning. They are given the challenge of transforming a cylinder (toilet paper tube) into a specific idea. They first drew their idea on a planning sheet, and Ms. Kitty helped them think about what materials they needed. I then observed them working in the construction studio to bring their plan to life in three dimensions. When one of the students wanted to change his plan to an entirely different object, Ms. Kitty asked him to create a new planning drawing because that was the main idea (behavior) she wanted the kids to learn. I love looking at the drawings next to the sculptures. The planning helps the students be more anchored and invested in the process, especially when faced with so many enticing materials to choose from!

kindergarteners planning and envisioning (a robot!)

The collage studio before we organized it.

Ms. Kitty thinks through how to attach certain materials to each other with the students at the rug

Ms. Kitty and I spent a lot of time after school this week organizing and cleaning out space for the newly opened clay and sculpture studio, as well as straightening up the messy collage studio.  Even though labeling isn't part of the Reggio Emilio school of thought and methodology, it does help ESL students who are plentiful at Ravenswood. So we'll go for clear labels in the clay studio.