Creative and Ingenious Thinking

"The world needs your creativity and your energy and your vision."-Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook)

We all know that technology is advancing and computers are replacing more and more jobs. Consequently we may be thinking, "what skills will my child need to succeed in this computer/machine driven future?" Well, one thing a computer cannot do is think creatively/flexibly; a computer cannot solve problems in which the rules do not currently exist. Therefore, these skills are imperative for students to develop for the future.

In art, I strive to teach these creative and ingenious thinking skills through a choice-based art curriculum. Students are working on something called a W.O.W. project (wonderful, original work of art). These projects teach our young artists to think for themselves and develop artistic behaviors, like creativity, ingenuity, collaboration, perseverance, and communication. Each class was taught an art technique that they have to apply to a project they invent. Students are expected to:

1. Form their own art concept that incorporates the art technique they learned
2. Fill out a plan sheet to practice their art idea
3. Students then gather their own materials to set up their work space
4. Create their unique artwork 
5. Engage and persist (work on an idea for more than 2 weeks for younger grades, 3 weeks for older grades)
6. Reflect on and revise their artwork
7. Explain their artwork, thinking, and artistic process in an artist statement and during share time

First graders are creating projects that must include different types of line in the background. As you can see in the picture below, students chose to add clowns, people, and animal faces on top of their line paintings.

Second graders are creating projects incorporating shading from the painting center or the drawing center. Below are progress pictures of a few second grade paintings showing creativity and shading.

Third graders are planning projects with space in them. Third grade got to choose between the drawing center, painting center, and collage center to create a unique work of art showing space (Larger objects in the front, smaller objects near the back, along with overlapping objects). Their progress can be seen below.

Fourth graders are working on projects with texture emphasized, choosing from the collage, painting, or drawing center.

Fifth and sixth graders have included shading and one-point perspective in their choice projects. Their unique works in progress are shown below.

You can follow more of our art progress on Instagram or Twitter @good_meadow_art