Most students are in enrichment for several years in one building, creating a classroom community that has bonded with both the enrichment teacher and fellow classmates. One way to say goodbye to the enrichment classroom is to create an artistic legacy that students can leave to inspire other students.
Choosing Where to Paint in a Classroom
Students can not imagine a classroom being reassigned for a different purpose, but teachers sure can! To create a lasting art legacy, students should choose a surface other than the wall, because the wall might be painted over the next year when a different class is assigned to that room. Some ideas include:
- painting on removable ceiling tiles (as done by Lake Forest High School in Delaware)
- a mosiac mural that can be moved (such as Enno de Kroon's Egg Crate Classroom murals)
- using quilting squares (which can be drawn on with markers or painted) to create a class art quilt
- using paintable ceramic tiles
Enrichment teachers are experts in packing and unpacking, because the enrichment teacher ofen has flexible schedules and class sizes. Art should be portable and easy to reassemble or move.
Deciding a Classroom Legacy Theme
Perhaps the class had fun with a specific unit, or they had a favorite story that they read, or they had an unforgettable experience on a field trip. All of these can be inspiration to create a classroom art legacy. Of course, some students are more artistic than others, and the teacher has options to guide the creation of the legacy. There are ways to include everyone. For example:
- perhaps everyone will work on the idea
- everyone can paint the background
- everyone can include one square of a quilt or work on adding to a mosaic
The most important part of the project is that everyone in the enrichment classroom feels that the art somehow represents the class they experienced.
After-School Art Club as Enrichment
Painting takes a long time, because of the steps involved. Often surfaces need to be primed, and there is always the duties of caring for the paints and brushes. Instead of using time from the enrichment class for the legacy, the teacher could offer after-school art enrichment for students who are involved in painting. During after-school art, teachers should:
- introduce examples of the kind of art students have agreed on For example, Jenny Holzer can be used as an example of using words with art.
- provide students with instructions on how to create a rough copy of the art, so that the class can approve of it.
- give students time and space to create art.
- give students time for cleaning and storing the paints and brushes.
- protect art from disturbance.
After the paintings are complete, teachers can host a museum showing so that parents and other students can see the artistic legacy that students will leave to share their happy enrichment memories with incoming and upcoming enrichment students.
Alex Sharp - Alex Sharp is a teacher who has been keeping Suite101 readers up to date with the latest in audio- and e-book gadgetry since 2008.
