Step 1: Warm up
Hand out a project journal to each student. Have the students do two warm-up drawing exercises.
1. Imaginative Drawing: students do an imaginative drawing based on a story told by the teacher.
Tell or read the students a true story of a time in history. On the first page of the journal ask them to draw and write down facts or just words (or a combination of both) in reaction to the story they just heard. What did they think of the story? Tell them to put down anything that helps them remember details they just heard in the story. This activity should be a quiet journaling time.
Teaching Tip: Demonstrate the process of close looking to students, by pointing out all the details a slow, careful eye can see.
2. Observational Drawing: students do a drawing based on close looking to capture as many details as possible.
Ask the students to LOOK at one shoe for 5 minutes with their pencils down. Instruct them to use their eyes to follow every line of their shoe slowly and quietly.
Next, give students 20 minutes to draw the shoe and encourage them to do more than one drawing of it to capture as many details as possible (e.g., stitching, patterns, lacing, etc.)
Step 2: Reflection
Ask students to share their drawings with the class. What did they notice about the two different drawing strategies? How are the two drawings different? Similar? What successes or challenges did they face with each exercise?
Project journals should be collected by the teacher and safely stored in the classroom in between use.
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