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he was being heard and his work was being genuinely acknowledged.
John began by collecting various art materials that I had suggested to
him. These included, white printer paper, markers, and crayons. John
decided to use markers for his dot monster. I asked him if he has made
anything else with the dots. He responded by saying he only makes
monsters, but you are able to create people as well.
Findings
As John began drawing his dots on the page, he was very slow
and careful about it. It was almost like he had a strategy for his
processes, which would make sense since he learned how to make
these dot monsters in kindergarten. I think this is something that John
could connect to, therefore he thoroughly enjoyed making them. One
of the questions I asked him was why he chose the color he first picked
up. He chose blue to begin drawing his dots. He said that blue looked
pretty as the main color since he was going to use all of the colors.
Additionally, he described the shape of the dots to start out with as a
snake. The finishing touches he added to his drawing were adding a
character named Blobby. John claims that Blobby is a hidden guy
that he puts inside all of his dot monster creations. Even though the
inclusion of a person inside a fictional character, he was still combining
two images into one, which is classified at the stage of representing
two objects together (Burton 1980). He said he got the name for the
character off of a game. The monster breathes fire, and Blobbys heart
is placed outside of him, but inside the monster to control it, as well as
help Blobby breathe and survive. I thought this was a very interesting
thought process.
John had a lot to say as he was making his dot monster, which
provided a lot of evidence for me to determine which stage he falls
under. John falls on the upper end of the symbol making stage with the
ages ranging from 4-7 (Luehrman and Unrath, 2006). There are some
qualities that also put John in the symbol making stage that refers to
the ages of 7-9. He is somewhat on that border. One that is
emphasized is the use of baselines. If you refer back to the picture, you
can see the plethora of lines John used to create his monster. The
different colors that he used did not necessarily have meaning to
them, but he made sure to emphasize that he was using the different
colors purely to make it more colorful. I also think that John included
multiple viewpoints in his drawing with his inclusion of Blobby.
Although is existence is fictional, John included him within the dot
monster. With all of this being said, it is stated that, a single drawing
is not sufficient evidence for making any definitive conclusions about a
childs development (Luehrman and Unrath, 2006).
Conclusion
With John being my cousin, I have seen many pieces of his
artwork, but this is the first time I have thoroughly analyzed his work. I
was finally able to dig deeper into his imaginative mind and see a
blank piece of paper come to life. I think that John will continue to be a
very imaginative student in his future art assignments. In first grade, a
lot of ways art is implemented is through language arts and writing.
The students in my field this semester just finished up a unit of
teaching books, non-fiction books on things they already know about.
The pages were printed in a certain way in order for them to include
illustrations. My host teacher never let the students turn their books in
without an effort of detail in their photos. They had to include color,
and try to fill the space as best they could. If John were in my class
doing this assignment and I knew about his amazing artistic ability, I
might encourage him to go the extra mile in his illustrations.
Additionally, I might assign him things to see if he can make more
realistic drawings, so he can take a more reflective view of the world
(Burton, 1980). This is not to make him a better artist necessarily, but
(as clich as it sounds) it is to push him further to use his strengths
and promote confidence. I think this can apply to any student who
shows an interest and ability in art, as well as any assignment. I can
think of a handful of projects I was assigned in elementary school
where my general education teacher emphasized detail in all drawings
and illustration we were to complete.
As said in the beginning, I never realized there was such a strong
integration with art and other subjects in the general education
classroom. I have learned throughout this Unit of Identity that there are
References
Burton, J. M. (1980, December). Developing Minds. Visual Events. 26.
Retrieved
February 16,
2016.