lesson 8- reflection on students progress

The last day of Saturday school was very different than the first day. The last class, Maddie and I decided to have the students finish projects that they thought were unfinished, and experiment with the materials they were already familiar with. It was very exciting to see students eagerly working on one project after the next! I also was very interested in seeing what materials they choose to use and the stories behind each new discovery. Some of the girls were making their own type various tones of colored paint in cups with water, glitter, glue, sand, gold leaf, food color, and putting it by the other paints in case other students wanted to use their mixture. Another two girls decided to use pieces of cardboard to make a plane and a rocket ship that hangs from the ceiling.

During the second half of the class, Maddie took students to the Palmer museum who were interested in going. I stayed in the classroom with the rest of the students who wanted to stay and keep making art. Both groups were happy with their choices but I wish more students wanted to go to the Palmer because it may have given them some fresh ideas and inspiration.

Many times during this class, we heard students say that this was their favorite class because they got to do what they wanted to. When we asked what projects they liked from previous classes, they said tea staining, geode making, and Lorax trees. They liked making art with tea and geode ingredients because they never thought about making art with materials like that before. Students liked the Lorax trees because they could be creative with the meaning behind their tree.

This class seemed more chaotic than any of our other classes but it worked because the students were familiar with the classroom and expectations, and also respected us, each other and the materials. The whole time we felt that students were positive and enthusiastic about what they were making and were eager to show us each progression. From the first class to the last class I saw a dramatic increase in confidence in each student, because I saw students taking chances and tackling ambitious ideas. We had one student work on a watercolor pencil drawing that was 24''18'' and she even took on the suggestion to add an extended piece of paper in order to complete her drawing.

Maddie and I received a lot of feedback from the students by observing their decisions and talking with them about their thought process. We saw that after students are comfortable working with a material they want to make conceptual decisions on their own, and we need to foster that enthusiasm for self-discovery learning.