Sunday, February 10, 2013

The Art of Thinking

At the beginning of the year, my county and Principal wanted all teachers to work on encouraging higher level thinking skills within the classroom.  More specifically Creative, Practical, Research Based, and Analytical Thinking.  Coming up with something for "Specials" was initially tricky, but then I started thinking like a student.. what would help me, as a student, make connections in the art room?

So often students hear teachers refer to these thinking skills but have a hard time making a visual connection, hence these visuals on my art room wall!  I hope that you find these helpful in implementing more meaningful questions and thinking techniques within your classroom.  Enjoy!


As seen above:

Creative Thinking:  (Images of monsters, various).
Imagine that you had a pet monster.
What would it look like?  What does it like to eat?  Does it have a name?
Would it be made of clay?  Would it be a painting or a drawing?

Practical Thinking:  (Paper orientation images).
Place your paper "portrait" style (perfect for portraits).  Place your paper "landscape" style (perfect for landscapes). Hamburger vs. Hotdog fold.

Research Based Thinking:  (Two images, one by Matisse and one by Van Gogh).
Using the table artist bios as a reference, identify who painted the paintings below.

Analytical Thinking:  (3 images to compare and contrast).
Compare and contrast the three dog paintings below.
How are they similar?  How are they different?

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