This week our group of eight girls grew to a more diverse eleven with the addition of two boys, Kieran and Emerson. Overall they are a very interesting contrast. Emerson is introverted, quiet and focused while Kieran can’t sit still for more than two minutes, is always touching things he shouldn’t be and doesn’t work well with others.
Each of them is their own unique challenge I think. I wonder as the weeks go by how we can keep Emerson challenged and at the same time Kieran constantly engaged? How do we allow some children to work longer, develop their artwork more and on the flip side, have tons of small projects for students like Kieran who are on the move? What will this do to the flow of our classroom?
I think the pace of the class, with individual students as well as the whole, is something that Abby and I are currently facing. This week Abby did a wonderful job leading in depth discussion on facial feature characteristics and technical approaches! Her sarcasm really kept the kids focused! As I went around helping them, I noticed the close observations of themselves in the mirror improved greatly from their previous line drawings. There were now shadows on the face, color mixing in the hair, eyes in the right place and even freckles drawn. It was really exciting to watch them develop! Abby really got them thinking and making decisive aesthetic decisions. However, as a result, Abby and I are having a hard time pushing them. We don’t want to rush through this artistic transformation! Yet we don’t want to end up with one painting at the end, even if they all are mini Picassos by then.
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