EARLY CHILDHOOD Collaborative MONSTER Challenge the value and importance of creating opportunities for preservice teachers to work with children. This collaboration was an exciting and rewarding learning experience enjoyed by all involved. Nicole Romanski F antasy play and imaginary worlds are natural forms of creative inquiry for children. Our visual culture recognizes children’s fasci-nation with monsters and magic with animated films such as Trolls, Despi-cable Me, How to Train Your Dragon, and Monsters, Inc . As art educators, we can provide a place for young students to harness their personal interests so their creative ideas can flourish. My education and art education majors worked together with kin-dergartners on this activity as a way to learn about the young students’ artistic development and celebrate their creative ideas. Throughout my experiences teaching education meth-ods courses, I’ve come to recognize Art Ed Students Visit Kindergarten The lesson began when twenty art education majors spent an afternoon in the artroom of a local elementary school, teaching and assisting in four kindergarten classes. As the young students entered the artroom, their eyes widened with curiosity about their guests. The kindergartners gathered on the carpet and the college students took turns teaching various aspects of the lesson. Kindergartners were intro-duced to the challenge of inventing and drawing their own monsters and later sending them away with the pre-service teachers. The work of graphic artist Dave DeVries and his Monster Engine Project was shared (see Web Link). A preservice teacher read the book I Need My Monster by Amanda Noll, asked guided questions, and referred to the vivid illustrations as the story unfolded. After the story, the kindergartners’ challenge was to create a monster they would want to have as their very own. Drawing Monsters Another college student stood at an easel and invited the kindergartners to Caption assist her in drawing a large monster. The children stretched their hands high, anxious to share their imagina-tive ideas as the preservice teacher drew. Each child was then invited to partner with a college student and draw a monster of his or her own. The adult partners listened to the kindergartners’ ideas and watched as they drew their monsters. After the drawings were completed, each preservice teacher assisted his or her kindergartner in discussing and writing about the mon-ster’s traits and characteristics, such as interests, personality, and abilities. Kindergarten Monsters Go to College The drawings traveled to Kutztown University, where education majors waited to participate in the next phase of the collaboration. The challenge for each preservice teacher was to cel-ebrate a kindergartner’s monster draw-ing by integrating it into his or her own artwork. The new piece was to trans-form the child’s contour line drawing into a monster with three-dimensional Education students Nicole T. and Corrine C. use chalk pastels to bring their kindergartners’ monsters to life. 16 DECEMBER 2018 SchoolArts
School Arts Magazine DEC 2018: Page 20
