My Last Class

Friday morning I was trying to encourage students to complete their work, I was trying not to think about this being my last class with this group.  Then one of my favorite students  told me she had left a note for me on the table to read later.  Well that did it, I barely got through the next few hours. Saying goodbye to all these amazing kids, some whom I have taught for six years was really getting to me. Then they started asking me to sign their year books...oh my!   Teaching has been a fairly new experience for me in the last ten years.  I can't believe how much the relationships can impact both ways. There were some students that immediately took to my class and flourished. Then there were those students who struggled, and struggled.  Then there would be that aha moment!. They knew it, I knew it and everything would start to click. Those were my favorite moments!   I hope to continue some private lessons down the road, but I don't think I will ever quite experience anything like this again. Sixty or so students in four classes ages 7-16.  So much effort, so much reward. For those who do this as a career I fully applaud you!


So here is a short over view of what their final drawings looked like.  We did portraits of a few famous Presidents. For this lesson, the main point was to teach them how to find the shapes and  values and to translate that on their paper. They rub the back of a copy of the picture with graphite.  Then using it as carbon paper they tape the picture on their paper, and trace out the main lines. Removed the picture and then worked very hard on their values,shapes, and texture.  This saves a lot of time in drawing to get to the main point on this assignment which is value. I like to stress that they use at least five values on their picture. 

I will be posting all my students work on my blog "The Drawing Pad"