I can't take full credit for this assignment, my instructor during my student teaching handed me this assignment when the teacher I was working with simply said "well, teach SOMETHING, but you know, start at the beginning". After being told that the first project I would be teaching would actually be the teacher's lesson plan, I was a little frazzled, and my very kind professor gave me this project. I loved it so much then I knew I had to do it again.
Part of what I love so much about this assignment is how every student feels like a rock star after working on it. I start by explaining that we are going to be awesome artists and learn how to draw. It comes with some blank stares, but after practicing contour line drawings for almost a whole period, the students really feel like they're awesome (because they are, duh!). We also look at Benny Andrews's art to learn how powerful lines can really be. Benny Andrews is THE.MAN. when it comes to contour line drawings. His images are beautiful and powerful, viewers instantly fall in love with the ladies gossiping in the church parking lot, and the large pious man in the front. I'm careful not to say anything, but ask lots of questions and allow my students to discover all of these features. Another reason I love Benny Andrews with my classroom: he's a black man who was not only an artist, but a scholar. My students, many of whom are black, really connect with that.
Students are told the first day of the project to bring in something for the next class to draw that is important to them. My first go at this I had a student bring in his X-Box, and ever since I've told students that electronics are not permitted. Shoes, glasses, an accessory, book, etc. are all totally okay, as long as it's nothing of great value. No diamonds kiddos!
I time the four drawings (on a 12"x12" paper) so the students get no more than 60 seconds on each quarter. Quarters 1,2, and 4 are done with sharpie, and quarter 3 is done in pencil (but no erasing!). Students leave quarter 1 alone. Quarter 2 is for showing texture. Students use sharpie to create texture in any way that they'd like. I teach students how to show value through cross-hatching on quarter 3, a skill that is best learned with a lot of patience and a mechanical pencil. In quarter 4 students finally get to add color, and are asked to show rhythm though pattern. All in, with the first class for practice, this project requires about four classes, if you see students just once a week. When I did this project with students whom I saw daily, we ended up spending a week on the assignment.