Spotlight: 6th Grade Showcase

[Music]

(Raissa) This is the sixth-grade showcase. So every year Howard County Public Schools puts on a showcase for the middle school students. They rotate through the grades. So this year is 6th grade then we do 7th and then eighth grade. For the sixth grade showcase we don’t have a specific topic. It’s just sixth grade artwork. So for instance, my Burleigh Manor students did artwork that represents themselves, so they used symbolism for their artwork and they chose pictures that represent things that they enjoy or childhood memories. The works that were chosen today were students who have artwork that was meaningful to them. There are my students who I noticed worked hard the entire time. At the end I’ll say I’m not gonna choose the artwork that maybe people might think “looks the best” but I’m going to choose the artwork from the students who I saw persevered through the task. So when I came over to them and I asked them why why did you do this they’re able to answer that question which is the big question in our classroom. I tell them always challenge me. Ask me, “Why”? Why are we doing this? if you think of a different way to do it I want to hear your responses. I want to hear your suggestions. So this is a collaboration. My job as a teacher isn’t just to impart knowledge but to learn from you and to have us learn from each other. So those ones that were chosen were ones who maybe came up against an obstacle, thought of a different way to solve it and persevered through that.

(Ben) Sixth grade is an interesting time because they are transitioning from being an elementary art student to being a middle school art student. So right now we’re at the beginning of the sixth grade and so we’re seeing students who really want to get things right. You know, they think that there’s one right way to do things. So one of the number one things that I want my sixth-grade students to learn by the end of class with me is that there are a million right ways to do things. That art is one of the best opportunities to sort of explore the rights and wrongs and figure out what’s good for them, what’s right for them. So that sort of open understanding of art as an expression of who they are is really crucial. Additionally, obviously we want to be able to explore the different types of art materials so we’re looking at some more traditional two-dimensional materials as well as some more explorations into three dimensions like paper mache or clay or something like that. So, you know, supporting their growth in terms of their use of materials as well as expressing their ideas is what I like to look for at the end of sixth grade. We look at various art historically and contemporary art as well as cultural examples, student made examples, teacher made examples and it’s really looking for just the right sort of a mix of showing them artwork that is successful and asking them why it’s successful, what can they bring to the table and posing just the right problem. So I like to combine not only a particular way to use a material but also why is it that art is made in the first place? Why do artists feel the need to express themselves through visual art? And I find that if I mix that right prompt with a specific and intriguing way of using materials then it just sort of comes out of them.

(Raissa) We want them to come away with definitive art skills so this could be how to work with a particular medium, it could be talking about the elements of art and principles of design where their understanding composition or their understanding how space works in a work of art and how that makes a painting more interesting. But most importantly the things that we want them to take away is perseverance. We want them to understand creative problem-solving. So we want them to be able to work through a problem and try different things. So experimenting in a safe way if something doesn’t work, be able to look at it at a different angle. So what I talk to my students about all the time is 99% of you probably won’t be artists when you grow up. However I’m hoping that this class will teach you how to work hard, how to persevere, how to look at things through different lenses. It’s vital for our students to learn art because it’s not only a creative outlet for them to be able to display their personal feelings, the experiences that they’re going through in life, but it’s something that is vital to a person’s soul really. Growing up, not only is it going to teach them valuable skills, as I’ve already said, with problem-solving and perseverance but it’s going to teach them how to be a better person. It’s going to teach them how to be able to express their feelings, how to be able to connect to one another in a different way. And I think that’s what life is all about, is just trying to connect to other people.

[Music]