Durable Skills Focus: Collaboration

I envision my ideal classroom as a collaborative studio space where students are learning from and with one another. Fostering collaboration and community is a durable skill that stretches beyond the bounds of school. It is my belief that so many of the things we learn in the art classroom are done through the medium art but tie to something much bigger. For this semester I introduced every project with a collaborative skills building or group thinking activity so students would begin to feel more comfortable with each other.

Although group projects can be difficult in the art classroom with a broad spectrum of skill levels and creative ideas, we did have one mini-unit (3-5 days) that was focused all on skill building in a group to introduce coiling. Since there are many ways to roll, build, and decorate with coiling working in a group provided a space for students to think about unity and variety.