My art shows are over for the year – and to be honest, I’m somewhat relieved. As fun as they are for meeting new people and developing relationships with other vendors, they can be a grind.
But I’m not idle. I am now on to teaching. I teach three classes in painting and drawing. Two classes for 6 to 10 year olds and one for 11 to 14 year olds. I am also teaching my comic art class and an art portfolio class. Needless to say, I am a bit busy jumping back and forth. Teaching the various mediums isn’t the hard part. What is difficult is having such a range of students (age, maturity, accomplishment) in one class.
I base my teaching on the Ontario Arts Curriculum. The curriculum basically tells a teacher that a student in grade 4 should be able to do this or that by the end of the year. What I’m finding is that the “accomplished range” is not as high as it should be – particularly for drawing. Of course there are exceptions, but overall there appears to be a systemic issue that is concerning and challenging.
As a result, I have had to become inventive. In addition to poor drawing skills, the kids have incredibly short attention spans. So I’m trying to incorporate contemporary, pop culture references into my lesson plans to keep their interest. I am going to use “hip-hop” dance imagery to demonstrate contour, gesture, and movement for the older class. And for the younger class it is going to be “bug week” so I can teach repetition, form, and depth.
But with all that said, I think it is me who I am mostly teaching.
