ABOUT THE LESSON:
This lesson was focused on creating a mobile that contained imagery and symbols of people, places, things, activities, and more that students admired and/or are grateful for. The project utilized pre-made cardboard bases that students could attach collage materials, beads, and drawings by using yarn as the medium for attachment. This lesson was created with the context of the previous assignments and the skills they used- the birds assignment utilized collage techniques and the web/leaf catcher assignment utilized string skills, like tying and wrapping string. Students were able to choose many personalized items for their mobiles- images from magazines, beads in any color of the rainbow, different colors and textures of year, and even their own drawings could be added to the mobiles.
WHAT WENT WELL:
Students were very excited and engaged in creating the mobile. Students were able to focus on techniques they liked and explore techniques they were less keen on, or that we hadn't used in our curriculum yet- like putting beads on strings. The project was a larger one and took lots of focus and determination from some students, but each one walked out of class with a work they were excited about and proud of! They did an excellent job of persevering through a difficult part of the artistic process.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
This lesson taught us the importance of watching time to make sure students are arriving at "landmarks" in a lesson plan at an appropriate time in the timeline of the class. This is important as it ensures students will be able to finish the assignment and complete all the aspects they need to to create an artwork they are proud of! This lesson also emphasized the importance of using scaffolding or spiraling to break the art process into smaller pieces- by having students find items to go onto mobiles first, and then adding string to attach said elements, and by finally creating the yarn element utilized for hanging up and displaying the mobile, the steps made the process a little less overwhelming and stressful. As with all of our lessons, I think we got to know our students a little better through this assignment as well, as we helped them search for colors, symbols, and imagery related to their passions and loves.
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