For the Love of Art
We just started the children’s camp at the Columbia Museum of Art this week, and it’s really interesting seeing the difference with teaching different age groups. This is a theme that I’ve discussed in earlier posts, as I taught a group of rising 10th graders and then a group of rising 9th graders, and the difference between these groups was very noticeable (which could have been attributed to the specific group of students that we had .. but I do think something happens when students go to high school).
The most challenging aspect of teaching younger age groups (around ages 8-11), is 1) keeping their attention 2) having activities that will work with such a range of ages. There are different issues, like spelling and vocabulary, that make it interesting to teach poetry to 8 year olds and 11 year olds at the same time. I think that an effective way of dealing with the age gap is to give the assignment to the students (for instance, responding to a piece of artwork in the gallery…have them imagine what the person in the painting or picture is thinking, how they got where they are, where they are going, etc) and then go around the room to give the students individual attention about specific age-related questions that they might have.
The students came up with some interesting poems during the workshops today. I taught a group of 2nd graders a poetry workshop earlier this year, and I remember being impressed with their attention span and their attention to detail. I played the students a poem that was recorded on CD, and even though it was a longer poem, they asked questions about various images and wording throughout the poem after the poem was played. My point is that–whatever age someone is– it is both suprising and refreshing to listen to their responses to both poetry and art. I’ve found that I really learn something from teaching younger kids.