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“When we do drawings, what do I ask you to look for?” asked Marygrace Anderson, Lincoln Elementary School art teacher, to a class of fourth-graders.
“Shapes, numbers and letters,” said one student.
“When you look at this bulldog drawing, what letters do you see?” Anderson asked, pointing to a bulldog illustration on the classroom screen.
“I see a ‘c’ and a ‘v’ in its ear,” said another student.
“I see an ‘m’ in the top of its head,” said another.
“If you look carefully at what you want to draw, like this bulldog, and break it down into shapes, numbers and letters, it’s a lot easier to recreate,” Anderson said.
The students were creating pencil drawings of a bulldog’s head to develop skills by doing a step-by-step drawing. Sometimes, following step-by-step instructions and looking for shapes, letters and numbers within an object can make it easier to draw a difficult subject. Students discover that they can create a successful drawing that they can be proud of. Often, completing a drawing like this ends up very similar to meditation, where students focus on the steps and block out anything tough going on in their day. Every student realizes he or she can be an artist, too.
“As children get older, there is a tendency for self doubt to creep in and make them think that they ‘can’t draw.’ With the right help, anyone can draw and make great art,” Anderson said. “I encourage my students to play less video games at home and use their computers to learn to do something that will make them proud. This lesson on the Internet is a great example. Anything they want to learn to draw, they can find directions or a video to help them online. I love when children bring in drawings they created at home.”
The bulldog drawings are just one of many art projects Lincoln Elementary School students do throughout the school year with Anderson. Unlike the one-day bulldog drawing, most of the projects take two or three class periods to create and are very involved. Anderson allows students to work with many different materials (paints, oil pastels, collage, etc). She likes to balance the projects she does with students during the year between those that allow them to master specific skills (helping them become more confident art makers) and projects that allow them to express themselves more freely.
“I think being comfortable with both ways of working allows students to enjoy art more and be more confident,” Anderson said. When possible, she links their projects to topics that they have learned about in their classroom lessons. Ultimately, when I am choosing a project to do, I ask myself, “Would I enjoy making this?”
The students also really love having art class in their day.
“I love to draw and create,” said Maddisyn Latone, Lincoln Elementary School fourth-grader. “I think art helps me have a better imagination. I want to be an artist when I grow up, so all the art classes I take will really help me.”
“I think the arts are incredibly important for students to have in elementary school,” Anderson said. “This is a time when their imaginations are uninhibited. Every child should be allowed time, every day, where they learn to be able to express themselves and create things with their hands. The arts are also a wonderful way to reinforce topics that students are learning about in the classroom. We all learn better and remember things more when we do activities that are hands-on.”