At the moment, I have a small group of year 10 students who are all generally considered G&T students in art and, in many cases, across other subject areas. It is a privilege to teach them and most recently I have been trying to present projects as briefs with a clear exhibition outcome to each project and it is proving very effective.
In this project, the brief required them to work as a group/collective and produce a sculptural exhibition based on the theme of the body/figure. They needed to consider where and how their work should be positioned within the school site. It worked very well presenting it as a challenge and giving a couple of specific roles such as that of the 'curator'. The group are generally highly motivated, so it was no surprise that they were organised when turning up to lessons, but they worked very hard outside of the lessons to get them completed. At the end of the project, all students were asked to write a review of the exhibition that covers all the art works on display and interview each other to find out the inspiration and meanings behind their work.
Whilst away on paternity leave, I was told they were very independent - more so than when I was around apparently (according to my lovely department colleagues) - so perhaps, there is a lesson for us as teachers to allow more autonomy and less interference until requested.... For some students, the freedom to work without constant teacher observation leads to greater creativity but only if the majority of their peers are engaged and the topic challenging enough. I still stand by my motto that 'a good teacher becomes progressively unnecessary'!
Below are some examples of their outcomes (some in progress):
Below are some examples of their outcomes (some in progress):
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