Running Head: A CHILDS DRAWING ANALYSIS

A Childs Drawing Analysis Grant Whisman University of Missouri-Columbia

A CHILDS DRAWING ANALYSIS

A Childs Drawing Analysis Children progress differently when it comes to art, and this progress can be documented through a variety of different stages of development. All young students are unique when it comes to their artwork because art is how you perceive the world around you and what you are drawing, painting, etc. It is important for educators to provide ample time for students to be able to learn ways to improve their art and different ways to express themselves. Stages of development are essential for teachers to understand, so they can monitor students and see whether or not they need more attention to stay on track artistically. As written by Luehrman and Unrath, It is important for art teachers to understand how children develop. This kind of knowledge is essential for choosing age-appropriate teaching strategies and content for the units and lessons that the art teacher develops (p. 6).

A CHILDS DRAWING ANALYSIS

To start the assignment off I was to pick a piece of artwork created by a young student (as seen above). Next I was to analyze the piece of work and determine what stage of development the student was at during the time he created the piece of work. And then I was to write down characteristics that led me to decide that the student was in that specific stage of development. When I first looked at my particular picture I thought that the artist was in the Preschematic Stage because there were geometric shapes involved in the picture and there were arms and legs included in the picture. But then when I looked back on the picture I decided that the artist was in the Schematic stage. The reason that I changed my mind was because when I compared the picture to characteristics of stage developments listed off by Kellogg, there is a baseline where all of the objects start, there is no overlapping, the persons body is made up of geometric shapes, and arms and legs are correctly placed (p. 476). Description and Analysis Although the sample artwork was in black and white I could conclude that most of the art was done with color pencil, because of the thickness of the lines. Especially the tree on the right hand side looks colored in. One thing that the artist included the piece was a person, most likely him/herself, the body consisted of an oval torso filled in with circles on the edge of the oval and then there were for limbs extended from the torso although none of the limbs touched the ground (when I first observed the person I could not tell if it was a person or animal so that could possibly be who the artist relates with). Next there was a circular face at the top of the torso with a big smile, and then a dot for the nose, and two dots for eyes. To finish off the face the artist included scribbles for the persons hair. The artist drew his house with a somewhat square base with a door on the side of the house and then the artist shaded in the base of the house with a pencil. Then the artist included a pointed off roof. The roof is covered with small circles and on

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the right side the roof does not meet the corner of the base of the house. The third thing that was drawn was the tree; it had a very long trunk that was shaded in very dark. Then at the top of the trunk the leaves were drawn using dense scribbles that looked like smoke. The person, house and tree were all two dimensional shapes, did not overlap, and they all originated from a baseline (bottom of the page). I came to the conclusion that the student enjoys nature because he/she chose to include a large tree in their artwork. There were many things that I learned from this activity. One thing was that I was able to learn the characteristics that make up each of the stages of development. I have also learned the concept that every student will being something unique to the table, and as explained in the article, Teachers Roles and Responsibilities in Art, I need to Value Originality rather than conformity allow children to retain ownership (p. 126). I think both of those are very important especially allowing students to take ownership, because students should be able to be confident in what they do and know that they created that artwork and they should be proud of it. One other thing that I noticed and then learned during our selections of artwork was that the quality of the art varied quite a bit, and this relates to what Erikson and Young wrote about, they stated, Just as reading and math levels vary widely in an average class, we should expect it would be natural for art levels to also vary widely (p. 37). Conclusion There are many ways in which I will be able to apply the ideas that I have learned from this activity to my future classroom. One of those ways will be that I can use the stages of development to see that my students are progressing at the appropriate pace or if they need additional help. Another way that I can implement these new concepts will be to allow my students to express their creative and unique sides when they want without fear of me holding

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them back or fear that they are doing something incorrect. A benefit that will take place when a teacher understands their students stage of development will be that teachers will be able to divide their time better now that they know which students need more time and which students will be able to move on without the teachers assistance. A consequence of ignoring the stages of development will be that teachers will be giving their students inappropriate assignments for the stage that they are at and that student will be blocked from progressing due to incorrect assignments for their stage of development. One thing that I learned directly from my chosen piece of artwork is that there is plenty things to learn from each students artwork. For example I could tell that my student really enjoyed nature based on him including a tree in his painting (so I could find interesting nature books to relate/engage him, as well as to allow him to express his nature side in his writings). We as teachers must take every opportunity to create a more meaningful learning environment for our students, and we can use their artwork to do so.

A CHILDS DRAWING ANALYSIS

References Erickson, M., & Young, B. (1996). What every educator should (but maybe doesnt) know. School Arts, 96 (2), 40-42. Kellogg, R. (1970). Analyzing childrens art. Palo Alto, CA: National. Luehrman, M. & Unrath, K. (2006). Making theories of childrens artistic development meaningful for preservice teachers. Art Education, 59 (3), 6. Narey Marilyn J. & Jalongo, Mary R, .Teachers Roles and Responsibilities in Art. The