Left vs. Right - The Right Side

A big change happens in middle school when it comes to kids and their art. Kids change from "loving art and being proud of their creations" to feeling that they "can't draw." It has everything to do with their brains changing and it breaks my heart. So we spend some time learning about our brains and how they work, with art.

We talk about how the left side of their brain is what they use for most of their learning.... Math, Science, Reading, Writing, Social Studies, etc. The left side of their brain is really good at drawing "symbols" but symbols don't really look like the "real object" and therefore we start to say we "can't draw."

Students spent a class time learning how to "see and draw" using contour line skills. These drawings are always amazing to the kids. They learn that if they take their time, look, and use the right side of the brain, they CAN draw. 

They practiced these at home and we did a digital drawing on DrawingPad here at school. 

...drawing  an object at home on paper...

....digital drawings at school...

Students did a great job of focusing and drawing both on paper and digitally. You can check out more digital images on artsonia.  It always amazes me how many kids prefer paper and pencil to drawing digitally.