Like the Henri Matisse project from yesterday, I was also reluctant to start on a project that was very trite and... a little boring. I've seen hundreds of Lily Pads projects inspired by Monet and they all look the same! Especially in the summer internship position I took on this year, I know for a fact that kids had done this same project once (or maybe even twice before). So, I had to think of a lesson plan that would still be able to get the kids excited about the project, but also learn about Claude Monet. I wanted to find a lesson that would be able to use the same techniques found in his works (layering colors, using cool colors with a hint of warm colors to evoke a sense of light and reflections, and also being able to show movement, for example), but refraining from using paint. Don't get me wrong- I love paints, I love painting, and I love teaching painting classes! But, after yesterday's sorta disastrous painting lesson in which us teachers found ourselves cleaning up paintings in order to make them "look more beautiful", I was ready to let the kids experiment with techniques and to not rely on paints. However, it didn't look like that would happen....
In this lesson plan I had created for the day, students would be using tissue paper to collage different layers on top of each other to create the water lilies on top of the water. Pretty simple and most importantly, something that the students would all be able to work on due to the fact that they know how to cut (or strip off) pieces of tissue paper and glue them on a board. Well, it didn't look like that would be happening for the kids today.
I had sent the head teacher these lesson plans a week before classes started and so, she did have ample time to review everything first before we started the lessons. However, the day before she had mentioned to me that she was scared the Monet lesson would look too much like our earlier Homer piece because students would be using collage materials. Well, of course I noticed this similarity before hand but I had devised this lesson plan for a reason.
The head teacher has worked with many of these same students, either in her pre-k classes during the school year or in the after school program she has been teaching through this same summer art camp series. I knew for a fact that she had done a Monet-inspired piece with the students because I have seen pictures of them on social media. That's why I chose to do a collage piece inspired by this artist...to avoid any overlapping. However, she felt like we had to change the lesson plan because so many of the kids in this summer art camp class had also taken classes with her. I swallowed my words and agreed to do it her way because, not only is she my boss, but she does understand the importance of our clientele. We wanted to make the parents happy and in awe of the variety of works we had created in summer art camp, after all!
After I did the art history lesson with the students, it was time to bring out the bristol paper and oil pastels. Students were restricted to blues, yellows, pinks, and a brown. No dark colors allowed in this lily pad painting! Next, the head teacher began the lesson as usual. With an already drawn out depiction of a bridge over water using white pastels, kids began following her directions and filling in the appropriate colors. However, after about 2 steps in, she instructed me that I could continue a different Monet-inspired lesson with 2 kiddos in the class since they had already done this same exact artwork with the teacher in their after school classes.
Well, the tissue paper was nowhere to be found, folks. And, frankly, I was on a time crunch and had to just improvise.
The two students both had blank sheets of bristol paper. I saw some construction paper on one table and pastels on the other. My mind worked quick as I decided that me and my two students would be doing a close-up depiction of the lily pads instead of doing the usual bridge drawing that the head teacher was doing with the other 16 kids. Oh yeah, keep in mind I am working at one table with 2 other students who are attempting to follow directions from the head teacher as I instruct my 2 students to follow my directions. It was crazy, y'all!!!!
I began drawing large semicircles on the paper for the 2 students. These would be the lily pads. They totally look like lily pads, I thought. I instructed the kids (1 who was 5 and the other who was 4) to fill in their 5-6 lily pads using brown, green, and pink. "It's okay to color over each color using a new one!" I kept telling them as I awkwardly grinned and pretended to know WHAT I was doing. Next, it was time to add color in the background! AKA, in the areas that were left white. I handed the students a blue crayon and told them to color in this large area, making sure that there weren't any white that was showing through. After about one minute, literally ONE minute, the kids were ready for the next step. I had to step back and look at their works and try to figure out how I could make them look more Impressionist-inspired....especially more Monet-inspired. That's when I found the holy construction paper. Oh man. If it wasn't for that beloved construction paper... I don't know what I would've done.
I'm starting to learn how tiny the attention spans of children are everyday in art camps. Because of this, I knew I had to keep the kids involved with their Monet works as much as possible. Thank goodness Impressionists like to layer on colors on top of each other!
So, I instructed the kids to keep on layer lime greens, soft pinks, and dark blues on their "water areas" (the "non-lily pad areas", as I called them). As they were occupied with this task, I cut up the brown, pink, yellow, and green pieces of construction paper into circles that would layer over the students' already drawn out lily pads. Contrast, I thought.
After each different sized circle was cut out from the construction paper, the kids got to glue them on top of their lily pads. This whole entire process took about 45 minutes. All while other things were happening in the classroom. I'm proud of my 2 kiddos for following my directions and paying attention to me instead of their fellow students and their different works. But, I wish I had been able to think of other ways to re-create this work in a manner that looked less boring and more vivacious...like the Impressionists had done themselves!
All in all, I wasn't as impressed with the way I taught this lesson plan. :-(
4 down, 1 more to go!
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