(1) Service Learning Observation: Beattie Elementary School (9/23/22)

On 9/23/22, I observed Ms. Noel's 1st grade section from 1:50-2:35PM.

These are my findings and observations:

Ms. Noel began class by asking her students to explain to Molly and I the projects that they were currently working on. The students proceeded to tell us that they were creating an "oops book that is filled with mistakes." I remember jumping to the conclusion that they were doing a bookmaking unit or something but it seemed like more than that given the children's expressions and excitement. Then, Ms. Noel pulled out Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg.

Ms. Noel read a few pages of the book out loud to the students to remind them of their intentions and tasks for the period. Beautiful Oops is filled with various scenarios in which artists make "mistakes" and then embrace those mistakes to create a new work.

This idea was reinforced with a video from Sesame Street that explores this same concept. While they watched the video, students were asked to consider what questions the artists were asking themselves when they encountered a mistake or a problem. Some students mentioned using different materials and re-thinking the arrangement of materials. After this, Ms. Noel reviewed the different studio options for that day. The first option was working with a crumpled piece of paper:

Ms. Noel: "What do people usually do with crinkled pieced of paper?"

Random Student: "Throw them in the trash!!"

Ms Noel: "Dalton, what do people usually do with these?"

Dalton: "You can crumble it up and you can stick it!"

Ms Noel: "I could. That's what I can do right? So, sometimes, people...Bridget..."

Bridget: "Throw it away!"

(this data was transcribed from an audio recording)

I instantly connected to the idea that the students were already thinking about out to transform their mistakes. What people USUALLY do with these materials, didn't even occur to these kids. This showed me that both the book and the video did a successful job in convincing students to embrace moments and mistakes that we often see as mundane and typical.

"What are moments that we as "grown-up artists" deem as mistakes that are mundane and typical?"

Once students got the go-ahead to choose a station, I noticed that over half chose the one in which the only instruction was to crinkle a paper and stick it to a non-crinkled one. I began to record this process as I noticed that the medium of glue provided room for many mistakes to be embraced.

I love that I captured this "oops in action" on video for several reasons. 1) It portrays the actual emotions we feel when we make mistakes. 2) Although I asked him what happened and what we call that, I feel that he needed that reminder of what an oops is to practice and implement this concept.

How can the concept of an "oops" be translated into character development?

Some girls on the other end of the table were really experimenting with the crinkled paper. And we had some very interesting conversations in the process.

You can see some of my obvious mistakes as a researcher in this beginning of this video. I ask the student, "Why did you choose these colors?" Within seconds of asking, I realize that the only two colors of tissue paper available are the golden orange and forrest green. But, instead of making me aware of this, the student replies with:

"Because ummm.... I'm giving this to you.... and I knew you liked green."

I affirm what she said, "You're giving this to me and you knew I liked green?"

She adds, "and purple."

I say, "What where's the purple?"

She exclaims, "There's no purple!!"

And this is the moment when I wish I would have let her explain the purple comment herself. Instead, I interject and assume that she thinks purple is close to green. As a look back, I think this a doubtful conclusion, especially given her silence to my explanation.

Why are teachers so inclined to assume the thoughts/explanations of students?

It is also very interesting to me that the student again, wants to make this project a gift for me. Molly and I are very interested in this concept of "gift-giving" in elementary art and want to explore this concept more. I still can't tell if she was doing it to make me feel better about asking a strange question. But, nevertheless, this element of gift-giving is still prominent, even when children are actively "making mistakes."

Why are children so prone to labeling their art as gifts? Why do they want to give it away?

With the little time that I had left, I explored the last studio which was a collaborative drawing session. Students were instructed to draw a line and then trade papers with another students and visually respond to the line in front of them. I was able to document what happened immediately after students traded papers:

Maybe it's just me, but I feel that it's rare that we document the process of children's studio practices. But in reality, it can be just as fascinating as anything else. Children's ability to put down marks quickly and intently is something that most adult artists struggle with their whole lives. We can assume that the image that the children want to make is either very clear in their minds or it's not clear at all and they are simply reacting to the previous actions made.

Why are children able to work at such a fast -rate? At what point is this to be interrupted?

I also love the sounds they make as they draw. It reminds us that creating is not just a physical process of the body, mind, and hands, but one that must activate all of the senses.

Do "grown-up artists" try to activate their senses when they are creating?