This is a great chapter! I love a lot of the ideas and lesson plans presented by the author in this chapter. He incorporates found objects and recycled materials which I love.
When I think about teaching, one of the things that worries me the most is the lesson plans and materials. How will I ever have enough money to create great lessons for the students to appreciate and really get something out of? Vieth gives a lot of insight on how to use simple objects that may already be laying around at the school that can be made into something fascinating.
I love the pop can idea that used the cans that were going to be thrown, and were saved to be used by the art students to create bugs! Essentially the materials were free, and his students made some interesting and creative insects.
I recently did my practicum with an elementary art teacher who lives on this philosophy of found art. He lived off of "junk" in college creating things from stuff people may have discarded as trash or something not considered for art projects. He uses a lot of newspaper in his projects for paper maiche or "steals" paper towels from the janitors closet. One lesson he did was made up sort of on the fly. He looked in his closet and saw a bunch of pipe cleaners, and thought what he could do with them. He used them to create mini circus people and acts for his 2nd-4th grade students. I thought it was creative, and the students responed to it so well--they loved it and wanted to go bigger and work on it for days!
I love the idea this chapter illustrates and what my practicum teacher preaches. I want to be able to show my students you don't need a lot of money to create good art, just a lot of creativity!
My room is such a disaster area that I could make an entire museum of found object artwork. At least that's what I tell my roommates.
ReplyDeleteWhat's cool about the kind of artwork discussed in this chapter is that not only does it save money and encourage recycling, it makes kids see art in everyday objects and view the world differently.