May 07, 2014

Positively/Negatively Frustrated!


So I'm teaching Postive/Negative Space to my 2nd graders this week.  We've looked at still life art...created some...and now are making the jump to Postive/Negative Space.  I've struggled a good bit with my 2nd graders this year.  I'm not sure exactly why, but I've had to reinvent how I teach some concepts to get them to understand.  So in the midst of scratchin' my head wondering what I did wrong...I came up with this quick idea.  I used my document camera(a Ladybug) to show them.  They thought I was crazy at first when I dumped the sharpener bowl on top of the turtle.  However...they finally "GOT IT" when they saw me remove the turtle from the pile of shavings.  Don't know if you are having the same issues as me, but maybe this idea will help you too!!! 



6 comments:

  1. Neat idea! I always talk about bugs bunny with second grade with pos./neg. space. Yes, I know he is from many moons ago. However, I start off with how many of you know bugs bunny? Yes, I always have a "few". So I ask them to pretend that Bugs Bunny is in our art room. But, I scare him and he runs right thur the wall into Mrs. Mitchelle's room. I ask the students that are familiar with Bugs what it would look like. And yes they do explain correctly.
    Art teacher in the catholic schools.

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  2. GREAT IDEA!!! So simple, but conveys the idea perfectly!

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  3. Very simple and clever idea! I love these kinds of 'aha' moments. Thanks for sharing.

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  4. That is so smart! Love it. I find teaching about positive/negative space to be super boring. In my head, I think "why in the world am I telling them this? What value at all does it have on them?" This will make it more interesting, for me at least. :)

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    1. It's definitely important - it helps you to see things objectively, and not be distracted by what you 'know' it looks like.

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