Express yourself

How can we make our students comfortable enough to want to share their art work?

The article Art and Self Expression for Children with Special Needs by Pamela Wilson talks about the importance of incorporating art into each students' lives as a form of self expression. I agree with Wilson that there are always some safety issues with art supplies and working with different processes that one should be aware of as a teacher so that one can adequately plan and provide close supervision of all students. But I think it is also important to give students their personal space since creating art can become a refuge from expectations and evaluations from adults as well as peers, since art does not cater to only one specific taste and audience.

Wilson talks about how working on art in groups can build a sense of community in the classroom when students respect and accept every peer as an artist. I think this is crucial because it is really important to create a community and a safe space within the classroom where students feel comfortable to be themselves. Art helps to do this because each student can express themselves as well as learning to work together in a group. Art can also be used as an alternate mean of communication for children with language and speech disorders as well as students who cannot find the right words to describe their feelings. I think this is important because it gives every student a chance to communicate how they feel, no matter how good their speech, writing, or language is. This allows each student to have a fair chance to express themselves in the best way the know how.

Writing and art...ultimate duo?

How do I make sure students are focusing on the content of the story they are creating, rather than on how well they are drawing?


The article "The Sweet Role of Art in Literacy" by Amy Schultz had some great points about how children learn differently and why art can be helpful for these children's learning. The article mentions that art is a meaning-making activity in the same vein as writing. By incorporating the visual and kinesthetic processes of art into the writing process one can help the students who think and learn visually develop their ideas. I think giving student's the choice to draw their story before writing it is very important, because it gives students a chance to draw as many details as they want, which they might not have done if they were writing the story. When I need to write a paper, I usually always do a "brainstorm" before starting my paper, where i draw a web with all the main points I want to include in my paper and then how each idea is connected to each other. By visually looking at how my ideas are related to one another I can better develop my ideas.

In a lot of classrooms drawing is considered an "extra" or "bonus" to the writing. If a child finishes their writing assignment quickly, then they can draw a picture to represent their writing, but if there's not enough time then art is not included in the activity. I agree with Schultz when she says that, "art is more than just icing on the cake", because art can play a big part on the writing process by helping students further develop their ideas.