Lesson 8: Insoluble Paintings

What we did this week:

This week we wanted to expand off of the line drawing, watercolor painting techniques and processes we introduced the previous week. To expand off of this, we decided to make an insoluble painting. We first showed them our example project and demonstrated the process of making an insoluble painting. We had them draw objects that dealt with our theme of movement onto foam paper and then cut them out (they would be putting them inside a clear laminate pouch). We introduced the scientific idea about why oil and water don’t mix together and instead repel each other. The students helped us as we put an oil paint mixture and watered down watercolor paint into a laminated pouch which we then ironed together.  Through this, we wanted the students to understand our theme and really emphasize the idea of movement in art making by creating a piece of artwork that will always be moveable, flowing, and continually responsive to their touch. 

We also introduced two other centers in the classroom. One was a tissue paper center where the students could practice cutting out folded tissue paper to make chains. It was so interesting to observe how the students approached this center. Ava loved experimenting with the different types of chains that could be created with scissors. She also taught the other students how to do it. Connor was really struggling with cutting the paper correctly in order to make a chain. Ava taught him how to do it and by the end of the day Connor’s favorite actvity was the tissue paper center.

The other center expanded on our Dale Chihuly lesson from weeks 3 & 4. We showed them the chandelier that we put together with all of their melted plastic pieces that were inspired by Chihuly’s glass blown sculptures. Some students were inspired to make the chandelier bigger and spent a lot of time coloring more plastic for the chandelier.

At the end of class, we took the students outside to let our class butterflies fly away free into nature.


What worked:

1. Demonstration: When we first started the demonstration, we realized we started with the wrong step.  That made it confusing for the students in the beginning, however we definitely improved our demonstration as we realized what had gone wrong and how we should continue the demonstration. In the end the students could successfully tell us the steps in the process of making the insoluble painting which was key.

2. Timing: We finally budgeted our time well for the project and were able to stop with enough time to release our butterflies to nature.  However, we didn’t have as much time for a closure of the day’s lesson and of our entire unit.  Spending time outside took a lot longer then we had expected because the students were extremely excited about releasing the butterflies and we wanted to take a class photo outside after. Overall, we think the lesson went well time-wise with the exception not having enough time for closing remarks.



What We Learned:

1. Kids Love to Chase Butterflies: When we took the students outside to release the class butterflies we realized too late that we should have given them guidelines before we went outside. This was the first time taking them outside and we did it without thinking about how excited they would be to see the butterflies fly away (they ran across campus chasing them). Also, it was embarrassing that the parents were telling us what to do and how to manage our class.

2. The Sample Project: We should have had a different way for the kids to test out and feel the sample insoluble painting. We decided it would be best to show the students our sample before explaining and demonstrating how to make it so they would gain a better understanding of what it was.  However, they were all excited to see it and did not pay attention to anything else. Some of the students held onto it for a long time touching and moving it with their fingers, while the other kids were starting to become impatient and upset.  Maybe we could have called a few students up at a time to look at it.

3. Gum Chewing: After I (Katie) watched the video footage taken of us teaching while we were outside letting the butterflies go, I realized I was chewing gum the whole time.  It looked very unprofessional on camera and I found it to be very distracting to watch myself doing that. I wonder how distracting that may be for the students who are trying to learn from what I am saying. I probably won’t chew gum anymore while I am trying to teach a lesson.

4. Are Students Really Paying Attention? This week we really noticed that sometimes when you think students aren't paying attention they really are. During our demonstration, Emerson was turned around having her own side conversations while we were explaining the directions to the class. When students are not paying attention we sometimes call on them and ask them what we were discussing. When we called on her to repeat what we had just said, she repeated exactly what we had just said. We found that very surprising that she actually did hear what we were explaining to the class.