Right Brain vs. Left Brain

As art teachers we know the struggle of the left brain vs. the right brain.

photo credit

In 6th grade I feel my students really start to change into I can't draw, I am worried about what others think, preteens. Therefore we spend a lot of time talking about our brains in 6th grade. We talk about how the left side of our brain often gets more "time on task" while our right brain is better at art stuff. We do lots with our brains in 6th grade... and so to start the year I had them create left and right brain drawings.

They started by drawing one thing they love right in the middle of their folder cover. Instead of a brain we illustrated the saying "they have ________ on the brain." Then they add things to the left side of their image that shows how THEIR left brain works. They finished by adding things to the right side of their drawing that shows how the right side of THEIR brain works.

We talk about how playing football is both... memorizing the x's and o's of the plays is left side of the brain while enjoying the act of playing is a right side of the brain activity. We talk about how the measuring and following a recipe when baking is a left side of the brain activity while choosing the colors and frosting are a right brain activity. It really is fun to listen to the kids as they discuss how the activities they enjoy use both sides of their brain.

To finish the assignment they colored the image and handed in some really neat images.  You can check out more of them over at our artsonia site.