What worked well for this art experience? Why?​

   This lesson seemed to finally achieve the goal of creating a project that would occupy our students interest until clean up time. I think that my group is really moving in the right direction when it comes to creating dynamic learning experiences that have multiple parts and lots of choices left up to the artist. This lesson also allowed students to uniquely express themselves because each student reflected on their own personal experiences in order to create their artwork. I think that incorporating students personal experiences in projects causes students to be more passionate and interested in the project they are making. Something else that I was very excited about was that I watched one student's  aid put the paintbrush in her hand helping her paint and then let go and the student continued to paint for a few more seconds. In my mind this was a HUGE win, not only are the aids allowing the students to do more, they are helping us encourage them to push themselves to try and do things on their own. 

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What didn’t work well for this art experience? Why?

    One thing that didn't work very well in this experience was our introduction to this project, I think we should of broken it down into more simplified steps because after we were done giving instructions all the students stared back blankly at us and seemed confused as to where to begin. There was one student who really struggled getting inspired for this project. When I noticed he hadn't moved from his spot to start the project I approached him and suggested that we go together and look for a box. He agreed and got excited when I mentioned a small hole in the box with a flap on it that was already there, could be a window or a door. But then he quickly lost inspiration as he explained how he wanted to create a robotic mechanism to have the door open and close. Then again he just sat there, so I went back over and tried to help him spark ideas and he was uninterested. I was able to convince him to leave his seat and pick a color to start painting his environment hoping that would inspire him but he quickly finished painting it green and then sat there staring at it again. I went over again and suggested maybe he should play with some clay to brainstorm ideas and create things for his environment. I sat beside him and started to create a chair hoping this would help give him an idea of what he could create. He fiddled with the clay and when I came back to check on him, the chair I had made and forgot to squish was sitting in his environment and he was staring at it frustrated. I tried to continue to give each student attention but my attention kept seeming to come back to this student because of my own want for him to enjoy the project and create something. 

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What would you do differently?  Why?

If I were to reteach this lesson I would better organize the introduction and break it down into steps which wouldn't be given all at once but instead periodically as the students moved from one step to the next. I think that breaking these steps up would help students feel less overwhelmed when they first begin the project. Another thing I would change is put more of an emphasis of how art is interactive and maybe show how I could move the figures around our demo diorama and interact with the artwork and then have students come interact with the art as well. I think that some of the students grasped the idea of creating an environment in which they could play inside but other students seemed to create artwork environments that were more non functional and had a sculptural element to it instead. I also wouldn't of made that chair in front of the student, I think that might of limited his imagination of what to create in his environment. Instead I would ask him to play with the clay and I would observe while asking open- ended questions to try and help him become inspired.