Artist in Residency

The children will learn types of lines that make a drawing (straight, curved, angled) and recognize elements of circles and dots then use these art words in creating 3 specific drawings. By thinking of the types of lines they will learn an approach to the challenge of putting marks on their paper to represent something that they see and know but that they may not have attempted to draw before. Opposite concepts that the preschool teachers have previously taught during the year will be included (ex above/below, up/down, big/small, far/near, in/out) in the drawings then the children will identify the parts of their drawings that illustrate this. A drawing of a turtle character from the preschool social emotional curriculum will support teachers work with the children and motivate children to try a familiar fun subject. The children will have experienced an effective problem-solving technique of breaking down a large project into smaller pieces so the task does not seem as daunting. This will happen at every stage as we look at smaller parts of the drawing to see how the lines were made, and see that thinking of it as little bits at a time will calm worries they may have that the drawing may be too hard. Success will be evident in the completion of each drawing, as children will be able to point to straight lines, curved lines, etc., as well as things that are opposites that were included in their work (inside/outside, above/below etc.). Their work creating drawings that closely resemble the animal and surroundings will also be a strong measure of their success learning the concepts presented. Each teacher will have her unique input for other concepts to be included in the four drawing lessons which will match her particular class curriculum plan.Pairing drawing with the different curriculum areas naturally lends itself to survey and observation of the children's work to determine if learning has taken place. There will be many samples of student work that will point to a successful project and goals met. The children will be asked to show the things they have drawn that are opposites: above/below, inside/outside, etc. the primary focus of their drawings. They will be able to describe their choices of appropriate additions to the drawings and why they were chosen and drawn. They will choose their two favorite pieces of work to exhibit at a Student Art Gallery, and they will be able to tell why the pieces are their favorites, and to point to specific areas and describe what is important about them. This will also give the students a chance to talk about their work to their parents, as it is important to them when they have their work displayed in a careful manner, as grown up artwork would be also. Another impact of this residency will be that the 5 Early Childhood Family Education Preschool teachers will learn from Mary Ellen the resident artist, how to teach preschool children how to draw in developmentally appropriate ways using the methods Mary Ellen presents with children. See supporting material pdf of child showing his drawing from spring 2013 TARP drawing lesson where you can see how he drew the arm of the animal inside the body shape and another arm outside; also the panda subject matches the class' focus on a field trip to a Zen Shorts play, hearing the Zen Shorts stories read in class previously, using bamboo blocks, seeing panda and bamboo pictures in the classroom, and watching a panda cam live video of pandas etc. This shows how the drawing lessons can accomplish the goals planned by extending and enriching the teacher planned curriculum.