Dog (and rooster)
I discovered yesterday that there's a term for Mrs. Johnson's winning formula: Directed Drawing, where the teacher draws along with the class and demonstrates every step. And I found an example online, of a portrait of George Washington. Very much like a step-by-step art book where instead of the child having to figure out transitions between shapes, it's all explained live.
Hannah has been struggling at times with her drawing, and at first I couldn't understand it, because I was having trouble with her insistence that the drawing was not "looking right." And I think what happens is that they need to see their shapes begin to approximate what they're looking at, or frustration sets in, and those wonderful, free drawings that we all love so much start to seem like a mass of awkward squiggles to them.
I'm a little uncomfortable with taking a child step by step through a drawing. They acquire an important vocabulary while working out for themselves how best to represent an object, for example, this tree (age 6), this bunch of grapes (age 4), even this pair of scissors, (age 5). Directed drawing, I think, speaks to that part of them which needs to see something that says they're in control of that crayon and it didn't just wander around the page. I think.
March 27, 2008
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Effortless thank-you cards printed on letter-size paper, that Hannah drew all the parts for, and which she'll finish by signing her name and writing the names of her friends.
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Rooster: I've noticed that kids and parents both really like Mrs. Johnson's classes: Moms get something they can keep, and the kids love whatever they come out with.
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