How do you get your students to notice ALL the fantastic colors that make up the world around us? I feel like I spend A LOT of time working with my students on layering, layering, layering mediums like colored pencil, watercolor, and pastels and yet I still just get green grass, brown trees, etc. After my first failed attempt at just showing them "this is what to do", I just wasn't getting the results I was hoping for. Then I thought....DECONSTRUCT! How did I not think of this? I'm putting that in the category of "first year teacher" even though this is my second year. Having students deconstruct the process artist use really helps them SLOW it down! Teaching middle school in the age of technology means students want answers fast! Nuhuh. Not going to happen. I'm going to make you work for it! Muwahhahaha!
This is a project I did with my 8th grade students to help them deconstruct and understand how colors can and SHOULD be layered together to make dynamic compositions. Inspiration? Impressionism. I apologize for the angled photos...first time for my student helper.
I told students that they couldn't "color" large sections of their paper and they had to layer at least three colors in each section of their landscapes. I got a lot of "But Mrs. Koepke there are only two blues in the box", in which I replied with my favorite "figure it out". This really made my students look close and understand all the wonderful colors the world is made of. TEACHER WIN!
Please share your project ideas for making students slow down and deconstruct!
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