an ode to teachers who let us do cool projects…

 

I was the kid that couldn’t pay attention in class. A few minutes into the lecture the professor was sprouting tentacles and giraffes were parading outside the windows. I have a huge box of doodles to prove that I was anywhere close to listening. I don’t have much of a memory so lists of facts don’t stay in my mind. So when a teacher actually gave a project that required visual/ creative activity- Kazam! excited. It’s that easy teachers, so why don’t we all do a little more teaching like that? Probably because it takes less effort for the teacher to plop his grading into a machine or look down a list of answers.

Hats off to you, teachers, who took the time to teach me something. I was cleaning/packing upstairs and came across the things I had kept from high school and college. I didn’t keep my test papers, I kept my projects where we’d been given a little bit of freedom, some guidelines, and the allowance to give information back in a visual way.  I thought I’d share a few with yall:

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The first one was an interview project designed by our history professor. He wanted us to interact with people who had actually experienced the history we were learning about. We were to interview a veteran, so I chose my granddad who was in the Navy during the Korean war and lived through WWII, the depression and the cold war.

I had to write a paper, but the valuable time I spent with my grandfather was worth it’s weight in gold. I learned things about him, and our family’s past that I wouldn’t have asked on my own. Somewhere it clicked that  the things we read about in history books are real and it looks different for each person that experience them. Face to face communication was key in bridging the gap of our generation to the ones before, in which I could empathize and understand a little better.

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Another project I found was from our art teacher in high school. He had us illustrate and write a children's book. My writing skills were horrendous, but the joy of creating a character and lead it through a story was enjoyable to the max. I realized what great joy I find in animation and sequential art.

 

My story was about a little dragon named Tomdore who lived by the sea. He wasn’t big enough to catch fish like his fellow dragons so he’s mocked and made fun of. He goes in search of friendship and learns the lesson that real friends will accept him just the way he is. He learns to appreciate  the joys of being who he is.

I even bound my book by using scrapbooking paper that looked like dragon hide glued to cardboard. The pages are held together by three brads.

It was full of typos and messy drawings, not to mention it had a sappy and moral filled ending, but I had so much fun with the freedom that we were allowed with this project. I felt that it was entirely my creation.

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The third project I found was a faculty directed study I was allowed to do in college by a most beloved professor. He encouraged me to study the things that were close to my heart and allowed me to research what I wanted. The study was designed with complete freedom, all I had to do was record my hours and decide on a way to present the information. I wrote a 53 page paper…because I wanted to. It was nothing but reading on a subject that I wanted to learn more about. Botticelli's Bed and Breakfast was my guide. It’s a pop up book of a house and each room there is a painting or some hidden representation of a famous painting. I wrote a tour guide that winds it’s way through the pop up book like you are walking through the house and looking at the art. When we arrive at a painting, I’d give you it’s history and tell you about the artist. In the end I researched the 60 something odd paintings  in the pop up book and included illustrations next to my findings.

I even included mini replicas  of some paintings that I painted on heavy Bristol paper and inserted right in with the text. (I was a bit to shy to finish an important part to Adam’s anatomy )

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Another fun thing I did in history class was make a WWII scrapbook. I printed old photos on photo paper and reveled in getting to catch the corners on fire. They were put in the “scrapbook” where I collected photos, songs, letters, and art of soldiers. My very beat up shoe is making its appearance in this photo…if you’d like to buy me a new pair I won’t complain.

 

All that to say: thanks teachers! Thanks for taking the extra time to grade things and help out the artsy kids.