DAY. 2. The Trio
Day two was a beautiful spring day in late February, a little early for spring, but I take it, after a dreary winter. I brought enough supplies for 25 kids- we shall see how many will join today. I wanted to start with a pattern project in pencil/sharpies which is a great intro to understand skill and confidence levels . Upon arrival the children was settling in from meal and homework groupings. They have the last hour to choose an activity. The young boys was boiling of restless energy and went to play outside. I try to capture the attention of The Boy with the Sketch Book, but today he was busy he said...
I got 3 girls joining me at first. They looked like they were teens, taller then me, I am average hight of 5.5, but they were only 11 years. Since it was my first encounter with the girls I introduced myself and told them why I was here and what we will be doing. They chose what animal to make; the butterfly.
I was observing the dynamics between them, it was obvious that the load and rowdy one was the leader, the second girl was more shy with a beautiful smile she giggled at everything the load one did. The third girls was in between cool and innocent with two piggy tails on top of her head. I could tell they were bonded to a dynamic trio.
It is amazing to me, how much a personality is revealed unintentionally during the process of a step by step drawing project.
Girl 1: The leader had given up before even picking up her pencil. Faced with a simple task of drawing an oval, she was full of doubt and was not very open to try. "This aint good" she said, " I can't do this" I encouraged her and she finally accomplished to make her mark on the paper.
" There it is!" she said. She was restless and load and I could tell she had things in her mind to process. Girl 2 & 3: Did a wonderful job following the step by step instruction drawing their butterflies independently. Girl 1 had also finally given in to the project and accomplished drawing one too.
The next part of the process was to create a variety of pattern inside the butterfly, I had samples and I showed them some ways. They were singing and talking and laughing as they would fill in the patterns Girl 1: erased and tried and erased and did something new, I told her to stick to patterns she knew and felt comfortable drawing; like polkadots and stripes. That worked for her. In the center of the butterfly she made hearts. Girl 2 the shy one had simple patterns and was ready to fill in with color. She had open up to me and was asking question to get to know me, she might not be as shy as I first thought. Girl 3 was very into her project and was carefully creating intricate patterns. She really was enjoying it, despite of the continous interfere from girl1.
A cute girl 6-7 years of age entered the room and was very curious and interested in what we were doing. I invited her to the table and helped her draw the butterfly. She was quick and confident and wanted to learn to do the giraffe and the tree. She could probably create pictures all day if it was up to her.
It was a wonderful afternoon spent with the girls and it worked well to have just a few and not a class room full. I do fear that the leader of the trio might drag their friends away from it due to her own struggles with the project, although I know she enjoyed it and was engaged in her own way. I do want them to finish it and will encourage them to. I will come up with a reward that will make them want to complete what they've started.
After thought..
Peer pressure is a real battle especially amongst these children . A child might not get to do what is desired or what is of personal interest, because the false believes that her/his voice is not worthy. Insecurities and despair can be a true enemy in a child's natural development. It takes courage to make a proactive choice, especially for these group of kids. And I think that is exactly what we battled in this art session, and I am proud of the girls for sticking with it on day two.
I got 3 girls joining me at first. They looked like they were teens, taller then me, I am average hight of 5.5, but they were only 11 years. Since it was my first encounter with the girls I introduced myself and told them why I was here and what we will be doing. They chose what animal to make; the butterfly.
I was observing the dynamics between them, it was obvious that the load and rowdy one was the leader, the second girl was more shy with a beautiful smile she giggled at everything the load one did. The third girls was in between cool and innocent with two piggy tails on top of her head. I could tell they were bonded to a dynamic trio.
It is amazing to me, how much a personality is revealed unintentionally during the process of a step by step drawing project.
Girl 1: The leader had given up before even picking up her pencil. Faced with a simple task of drawing an oval, she was full of doubt and was not very open to try. "This aint good" she said, " I can't do this" I encouraged her and she finally accomplished to make her mark on the paper.
" There it is!" she said. She was restless and load and I could tell she had things in her mind to process. Girl 2 & 3: Did a wonderful job following the step by step instruction drawing their butterflies independently. Girl 1 had also finally given in to the project and accomplished drawing one too.
The next part of the process was to create a variety of pattern inside the butterfly, I had samples and I showed them some ways. They were singing and talking and laughing as they would fill in the patterns Girl 1: erased and tried and erased and did something new, I told her to stick to patterns she knew and felt comfortable drawing; like polkadots and stripes. That worked for her. In the center of the butterfly she made hearts. Girl 2 the shy one had simple patterns and was ready to fill in with color. She had open up to me and was asking question to get to know me, she might not be as shy as I first thought. Girl 3 was very into her project and was carefully creating intricate patterns. She really was enjoying it, despite of the continous interfere from girl1.
A cute girl 6-7 years of age entered the room and was very curious and interested in what we were doing. I invited her to the table and helped her draw the butterfly. She was quick and confident and wanted to learn to do the giraffe and the tree. She could probably create pictures all day if it was up to her.
It was a wonderful afternoon spent with the girls and it worked well to have just a few and not a class room full. I do fear that the leader of the trio might drag their friends away from it due to her own struggles with the project, although I know she enjoyed it and was engaged in her own way. I do want them to finish it and will encourage them to. I will come up with a reward that will make them want to complete what they've started.
After thought..
Peer pressure is a real battle especially amongst these children . A child might not get to do what is desired or what is of personal interest, because the false believes that her/his voice is not worthy. Insecurities and despair can be a true enemy in a child's natural development. It takes courage to make a proactive choice, especially for these group of kids. And I think that is exactly what we battled in this art session, and I am proud of the girls for sticking with it on day two.
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