Tuesday, December 20, 2022

T Stands for Illuminated Initial Bookmarks with Middle Schoolers, Again.

I had the pleasure of teaching illuminated initial bookmarks to two more classes of 9 and 10 year olds from the same school as last time. Talking with other teachers, this age group is supposed to be the most difficult to teach. If you're teaching children, or thinking about teaching children, my friend, Andy Fish broke down the age groups and wrote about the pros and cons of teaching babies to adults. Andy also labeled the pre-teens as "children born of hell."

I had two, one hour classes with the 9 and 10 year olds to teach.. I don't know whether it was a combination of the school and parenting, or the kids being on their best behavior because they wanted to make sure they were on Santa's nice list. These kids were well behaved, excited to be at the museum, and engaged.

The class was only an hour long so I find it helpful to have a small project and to break the project down into steps and show examples of what they can do. 


We talk about decisions artist need to make. Whether to hold the paper in landscape or 


or portrait. Whether to use only one initial


or to use all three.


We talk about some of the things they like such as pets


or things they like to do like playing soccer and basketball.

I talk about how medieval artists used real gold or silver to add bling to their work. We can't use real gold or silver in these classes, but we have gold and silver markers. Boy howdy, are those gold and silver markers a big hit. If you're teaching kids, make sure you're supplied with metallic markers.


I tell them that medieval artist pretty much worked in traditional colors of red, green, and blue, but that we aren't limited to that color palette. They can use any colors they like


I tell them how they can put the initials in a box, if they want.


This little girl was making a bookmark for her mom and included things her mother loved. Coffee (which is my drink reference), ramen noodles, hearts, and stars.


This little dude was a medieval artist in a former life with his fancy initials.




The gold and silver markers are a godsend


I try to keep the class so we all work on the same step at the same time. I think it helps them to have a road map to follow. Not just the kids, but I do this for my adult classes, too. 


When the Eldest was in grammar school, she would race through the project before the teacher had finished giving directions. There will always be a couple of kids like that.


Make sure you have another project or two for them to work on while their classmates finish the project. Fortunately for me the coordinator for this class, had several sheets of coloring book pages of medieval initials, knights, and ladies available to color.


My fallback plan is having a stack of larger drawing paper so they can draw whatever their hearts desire.


Sometimes the class gets too noisy. I find Gentlemen! Ladies! May I have your attention, please. Usually works. Sometimes I have an assistant who claps and chants things like One, two, three, eyes on me! And can instantly bring silence to the room. Be sure to thank your assistant for helping you to keep order and to keep kids on task. 

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.

39 comments:

  1. That sounds like fun, love what the children made. I always taught 10 - 18 year olds, and sometimes it was hard! Valerie

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    1. Maybe it was because the class was only an hour long, but these kids were so well-behaved

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    1. The kids from this school are all very talented

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  3. You must be a fabulous teacher! I loved hearing about how you planned the class to make the best of all the different challenges, and also to make it fun.

    best...mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. I think rule number one is to make it fun. If they learn a little something along the way, that's a bonus

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  4. Such fun art and so glad you are sharing your wonderful talent with the young (and us). Makes me smile! Merry Christmas, CJ and happy T-day too. Many hugz

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    1. It's important to me to keep the gentle arts from dying out

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  5. These are great, and it looks like fun. I always taught 14-18 year olds and I loved them. It was mostly fun. The little ones were scarier to me than teenagers. Smile. And the adult administrators could be the scariest of all-and the most demanding. Happy T day CJ. hugs-Erika

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    1. I'm always glad that I'm not alone when I teach. There's always an aide or a chaperone or two for morale support

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  6. I have taught kids to bead. Girl and Boy scout troops and kids that came to my scheduled classes. I loved teaching the kids. They have no boundaries yet and create from within. I love what the kids have created. I know you are a good teacher. Have a lovely day.

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    1. At this stage they haven't got into the I'm not good enough or I can't. So always exciting to see what they come up with

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  7. These are great again, seems like they are really getting into it. I loved the last ones too. lol children born of hell, I would have though the teens would be worse than the pre-teens no? Happy T Day! Elle/EOTC xx

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    1. I think middle school is worse than high school in terms of being picked on and bullied

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    1. A good assistant is worth his/her weight in gold

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  9. Awesome work from your students and I enjoyed reading about your class-thank you for sharing with us. This sounds like a good age to work with too Happy T and Merry Christmas

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  10. I want to be an honorary 10 year old. That looks and sounds like such fun :) Happy T Tuesday!

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    1. I do the same class with my adult students. 😉

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  11. I was blown away by some of those bookmarks. Some of the children drew better than I ever could. Nice you found one that would work for T Tuesday, too. Thanks for sharing these fun drawings with us for T this Tuesday, dear CJ.

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    1. When I saw the bookmark and asked the little girl if it was coffee, and she said yes. I knew that was going to be my T Day ticket

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  12. Bet you are like my "Peter May" - he was the best teacher and learning was FUN!

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  13. I'm a bit ambivalent about teaching kids. Teaching craft and art projects usually worked, and I absolutely love what you wrote how to do this - you are so right about everything. I also taught German to kids and I didn't enjoy that very much even though I had a very small class. Nowadays I only teach German to adults and I love that very much. Challenging as well but on a different level, and a lot of fun.

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    1. I don't have a lot of experience teaching kids, but I have enjoyed the kid classes I have taught. Sometimes teaching adults isn't always a piece of cake.

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  14. Gosh those bookmarks turned out great CJ! What a huge success! I so admire you for teaching these kids classes! Merry Christmas! and Happy T day! Hugs! deb

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  15. How amazing are all those bookmarks, they did such a fantastic job and must have really enjoyed the class too 😊. Well done to you and your assistant for teaching the class and helping them get creative. Happy T Day wishes and Happy Holidays! Hugs Jo x

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    1. They had a good time and were happy to be on their field trip

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  16. I love what you are teaching and seeing examples of what the children made. I wish I was a kid so I could take one of your classes.
    Happy Tea Day and Merry Christmas,
    Kate

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    1. Even my adult calligraphy students do this project. I'll be teaching two sessions of an online calligraphy class Tues. 6-9 PM, Session 1 01/24 - 02/28, 6 classes. Tues 6 - 9 PM, Session 2 03/07 - 04/11. Take one session or both. Continuing students work on advanced topics. WAM Online Classes 😉

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  17. Didn't they do a good job. So cute. And so did you.

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  18. I love how organized you are in your teaching. I like an order of steps. I am sure you are a great teacher. Those bookmarks were fun and great at the same time. Happy T Day. Merry Christmas!

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  19. These are some creative work of children. They have done all the bookmarks nicely. My son is 9yo.I agree with Andy's comments on this age group as I suddenly see changes in my son's behaviour including what my friends say about their children of the same age :)
    Merry Christmas & happy holidays!
    Happy belated T day too…

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    1. I'm glad these kids were engaged and well-behaved.

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