Help me give my students watercolor sets and paper. It's as fancy as we can manage, and I must say, a watercolor set and a pad of paper dropped on every student's porch will change their lives!
This has been a difficult moment in my curriculum. I like to start simply, slowly... with drawing skills: pencil and paper. In our second semester, I introduce color with all its wonders and nuances, and then ramp up the excitement with different media: watercolor, oil pastel, and the operatic finale of the mask project!
Well, of course: just as color theory was beginning to be absorbed and applied by the students, the quarantine began.
Distance learning depends upon what students have on hand, and I can assure you that some of my students have not much. We did a "plague journal" project, where I asked them to sew together blank paper to make a book, and if possible, add a cardboard cover. I also demonstrated a fabric covering to the cardboard, using an old shirt.
But of course, some students have only a few sheets of lined paper or use the back of junk mail; some can't locate cardboard...my response has been: do what you can with what you have! And for the most part, they have done so... some quite impressively, regardless of the look of the finished product!
My Project
We had just come to the point in my curriculum when I open up the mystery and majesty of color to students. We have studied color mixing and had just begun painting. This, to me, is the most exciting part of the year, and that's why I save it for the end of the year... alas.
I am passionate about rescuing this one small part of my normal school year: watercolor, which is possible with the proper paper and paint sets, can easily be done at home, with a few filmed demonstrations to guide the way.
I'm ready to drop a pad and a watercolor set on every front porch and front step of every student I can find. Almost all of my 205 students have checked in to my Google Classroom, and I'm ready to spend a few afternoons driving around with their watercolor supplies.
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