Collaboration+in+the+Arts

Wennemar 6th Grade Art

Many artists work independently on their work and don't seek feedback from others until after the artwork is complete. This is something that I want to change in my classroom. I want to create more opportunities for students to work together to create a collaborative classroom and artworks. Students need to help each other along the way through peer feedback. Getting students to work together will help students better prepare for the 21st century. As a result of activities that focus on collaboration students will improve their abilities to generate project ideas, share constructive feedback and help each other solve problems. I want students to look to each other for solutions instead of thinking of me the teacher as the only source of information. By working on collaboration skills students will also enhance their ability to be strong communicators, critical thinkers, problem solvers and socially responsible learners.

Artifact 1 Building classroom room norms and expectations

My first step will be to build classroom norms and routines. As a class we will build classroom norms. I will also go over procedures and expectations since we are a lab based class. I will also plan time into the beginning of each rotation for students to learn each other's names.

To continue to build a collaborative classroom culture each student will create a puzzle piece

Artifact 2 Puzzle Piece QR code to a website about a national puzzle project.

Images from a completed project http://www.timkellyartist.com/about_puzzle_project_2012.pdf

We will continue to build peer relationships and a sense of community through a collaborative art piece. Each student will be responsible for creating a section of the final art piece.

During this assignment Students will talk through ideas with table groups.

Conversation starters will be. What did you do this summer? What is your favorite thing to do when you are outside of school? What is an interesting or cool fact about you? Do you have something that you are passionate about? After students have shared their ideas they will determine one of the above topic for their art piece. Students can use words, numbers, pictures, collage etc. to communicate their information. Be prepare to share with me why you chose to share this information with the class. Students will sketch out their ideas. After this they will talk through their piece with a peer. The peer will give suggestions for what they could add to their piece to make it even stronger.

I created a Google form so that students can record their answers and I will get the results. View able with the QR code above.

Artifact 3 Team sculpture building Now that the students are familiar with each other they will complete a project where they have to work together to create a team sculpture.

Students will be provided with a variety of building materials. They will also be required to bring in three items from home. They will have two class periods to work together to create their sculpture. We will create norms and guidelines as a class. Building material could include the following Water bottles, paper towel rolls, newspapers, foil, plastic silverware, popsicle sticks, cups, straws or any small items from home that aren't needed back.

Students will have two classes to build their sculpture. Teammates will need strong communication skills to create a plan, they will be reliant on each other to bring in items from home. At the completion of the project they will reflect on the following questions. How did each person help contribute to the team? How did you contribute to the teams success? How would you approach this activity differently tomorrow if we did this again? What were ways that you communicated your ideas to the group that were successful?

Use the QR code to see the form.