This collaboration was developed during the 2020–2021 school year, when the pandemic made working together a challenge. With the implementation of Google Docs and Google Drawings, the barriers to collaborating were overcome, and students were able to work with either virtual or in-person instruction. This lesson has successfully transitioned beyond these conditions into today’s classroom, while still remaining flexible for students who require alternative learning environments.
During my last two decades in the middle-school art room, I have taught design in many ways, sometimes demonstrating concepts explicitly with lessons tied to specific elements of art and principles of design, and other times implicitly through the use of artists and works that embody a variety of the concepts within the pieces.
Through these approaches, I have found that the most success in art-making comes not from an “either/or” option but from a “both/and” exploration. Lessons that use collaboration to engage learners have a bigger impact on their learning. Asking students to pair up and work in teams on design challenges creates a sense of community and helps them focus on the scope of how and why artists use these concepts in their work to draw the viewer in and deliver their message with the biggest visual impact.
This collaboration was developed during the 2020–2021 school year, when the pandemic made working together a challenge. With the implementation of Google Docs and Google Drawings, the barriers to collaborating were overcome, and students were able to work with either virtual or in-person instruction. This lesson has successfully transitioned beyond those conditions into today’s classroom, while still remaining flexible for students who require alternative learning environments.
Because I teach in a choice-based, thematic-driven classroom, students are usually able to choose which materials they want to work with. For this collaboration, however, students are limited to using Google Drawings.
To get started, students choose a partner. One student creates a T-chart to take notes (one side for the elements of art and the other for the principles of design) as we cover the basics as a class. After notes are taken, each group signs up for one element or principle they are interested in researching and expressing through a nonobjective digital work.
I ask each group to choose a different element or principle to ensure that they all will be represented. The partner who did not create the T-chart uses a Google Doc planning guide to help gather information and ideas surrounding the topic.
Next, the collaborative duos use a shared Google Doc to collect research as a springboard for their design. Scholastic Art (art.scholastic.com) is my go-to place for students to look up any art content or information. Students can go to the magazine’s archive and select issues to review for content that connects to their topic, or they can use the search bar. There are plenty of art resources that are curated for middle-school students—find what works best for you.
In the Google Doc, students must identify their element or principle, define it, and then select three works that demonstrate that element or principle and explain why. This allows for fascinating conversations between partners about how works demonstrate an element or principle and why the works they selected are good examples.
Now it’s time for students to take what they have learned and apply it to create nonobjective digital designs.
Throughout the process, each group collaborates in Google Drawings. The software enables students to layer components and work within the digital canvas to create a piece that can be edited simultaneously on both students’ computers.
Students share their work with other groups and use the prompts “I like, I wish, I wonder” to receive feedback. We schedule time for feedback sessions at the beginning, middle, and end of the design process.
Students will often ask their feedback partners to guess their element or principle as a way to see if they are communicating clearly through the design choices they made. Students also use the rubric in the Google Doc planning guide to help keep them on track while they work.
Students rotate around the room to view the finished works, and I connect with each group to score the pieces and deliver feedback. Students can make adjustments based on feedback if they choose. By finishing this way, students are able to reflect on their own learning and what they gained from others, and I can see how well they understand one of the most important aspects of design.
Janine Campbell is an art teacher at Byron Center West Middle School in Byron Center, Michigan. JCampbell@bcpsk12.net; BCWMSArt.weebly.com
Create: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
Art teachers present a variety of lessons that emphasize student choice and the Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) approach. Students work in groups to create a project using unfinished artwork; participate in an afterschool TAB program based on the Studio Habits of Mind; use the concept of the lighthouse to create personal pieces that honor who or what inspires them; embrace brainstorming and media exploration through sketchbook art journals; and more.
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