Show and Tell: I Got C for Art In Primary 1
Teacher Ee Sock 
I was going through my primary artworks and I saw a particular artwork. I went “what the shit is that?”
Another work that I saw that sent me thinking what the hell is the artwork about?
I flipped over the artwork and saw the title Thick and Thin lines.
A Million Questions in My Mind
After the initial shock, my mind immediately went into what was I thinking? Thick and thin lines, that is a valid lesson and it does not seem that hard to teach. Why didn't I understand it?
What is the intention of this artwork? Why didn’t my teacher explained it better.
As a teacher now, I can clearly see that those artworks are a result of me not understanding the brief and intention of creating the artworks. I wondered what happened there.. My mind was filled with questions like
"Why didn’t the teacher explain it again?
"Was it because I did not understand what the teacher said?"
"Was there proper instructions given?"
"Was it because there were simply too many students in the class for the teacher to pay attention to me?"
"Was it because I was distracted? Was it because the teacher did not care for this much?"
I would never know the answers now.
Understanding and Making Connections
One thing is clear though. A child’s performance in art is directly how well they understood the intentions. An artwork showcases a child’s ability to understand, connect, explore, integrate, apply and express. All those process caused the artwork. When I did those artwork, I was missing an understanding, the connection, integration and application of concepts. I could express and create something, but the result was utterly out of context, thus a big fat B-/ C for me.
The Role of Teachers/ Facilitators
Those processes of creating understanding, connection, encouraging exploration that leads to integration are works of a facilitator or a teacher. Not unlike how we learn in other academic subjects.
I am lucky that in my journey as a student I eventually got to meet teachers who helped me with these processes. Leading me to carve a career out of what I understood and loved about this subject.
That experience has deeply impacted how I think about teaching. I facilitate and help children understand why they do art, find meaning connections between their self, world and art. Art is the safe space where they explore the medium and sense of self. The resultant artwork is an expression of what they have integrated…
How we do it in the Art Online Membership for Children
In this month’s Curious Creator Club’s art project, I released a module about lines, colours and observations for the age 5-7.
But instead of simply recording a video for children to copy, I have included additional facilitation videos for parents, sharing the benefits of the projects and how to inspire their children during the artwork creation.
Join me if you also want this in your child's life
If you want your child to be able to use Art as a critical thinking tool to grow, consider joining us in our memberships. Our project videos are carefully created to inspire processes of understanding and finding meaning connections in Art creation. In our Curious Creator Club, we walk parents through how to facilitate the art creation process for your children at home, without the overwhelm and need to be the “expert”. I teach you how I do it.
Come join us for 3 months to try out! Click on link! Curious Creator Club