At the beginning of a new semester or school year, art teachers have an excellent opportunity to get to know our students through storytelling. National Geographic’s online education website states, “Storytelling is universal and is as ancient as humankind. Before there was writing, there was storytelling” (para. 1, 2024). Students of all ages can tell their stories visually using a variety of materials.
Nine-panel digital collages incorporating studentsʼ interests.
As an introduction to visual communication through design, my students create digital compositions using graphic elements. By using symbols and images found in digital design programs, students can focus on design concepts (balance, unity, repetition, color, etc.) without having to worry about their drawing skills. Students are proud of the results and enthusiastically share their finished pieces with each other.
Asking Questions
Starting this project requires students to generate a quick list based on the following questions, which can be modified to suit your students:
What is your favorite animal?
What are your favorite activities?
Where would you like to travel or visit?
What career would you like to have someday?
What are your favorite foods or types of food?
Setting Up the Image
Once students have their list of ideas, they set up the background of their design using Canva or Google Drawings. The background needs to have nine rectangles of the same size. I demonstrate how to draw one rectangle, then copy and paste it to see if three of them will fit the vertical height of the image. Once the correct size is determined, students duplicate the rectangle to make a total of nine. I also show students how to select and group them so the shapes stay in place while adding elements on top.
Incorporating Imagery
Students use their Chromebook camera to take a selfie, or they can use their name as word art or digital self-portraits from a previous assignment. I ask them to add the title of the project in the middle space along with their photo. It’s important to show students how to change the font style, color, and point size. Once the center space is finished, students search for elements that represent their responses to the original questions.
While students are searching for their images, I display my examples and demonstrate how to resize elements, flip the direction, and change the colors to match my overall composition. I remind students to only use images from the “graphics” category, not the photos or video results. If students have difficulty finding elements that fit their original responses, they can edit their answers and locate elements that relate to their main ideas.
Once all of the elements are in place, students download their design and submit it to Canvas LMS. After completing the assignment, I print out one color copy for each student. The amount of time this project requires varies, but it typically takes two sixty-minute class periods for my students.
Reflection
Digital storytelling can engage students in a creative assignment that allows them to communicate their ideas more quickly. “Digital art serves as a testament to the profound impact of storytelling in the artistic realm, encouraging us to explore the endless possibilities of the digital canvas” (Wilkins, 2023, para.7). While the materials have evolved from cave paintings, hieroglyphs, petroglyphs, mosaics, and paper and pencil, the goal is to get to know our students in order to build a supportive community in our classrooms.
Dr. Jane Montero is an art teacher at Creekside Intermediate School in Dexter, Michigan, and co-editor of the January/February 2024 issue of SchoolArts. MonteroJ@DexterSchools.org
National Standard
Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.
Art teachers provide a variety of lessons for students to communicate their unique stories and ideas. Young students identify starting-place symbols in various texts before designing their own personalized letter designs; elementary students create a mural based on local food systems after learning about where their food comes from during farmer visits; middle-school students create nine-panel digital collages with symbols representing their likes and interests; and high-school students learn how cellphones and comic books can be powerful tools for visual communication.
