Every year, every trimester I start all of my classes with projects in drawing. Drawing is like the ABC's or Art class (at least MY Art class). Without a foundation in drawing, most other projects we explore would be very difficult. I always tell the students that no matter what, they WILL get better at drawing. The only students I've ever taught that didn't get better, were those who chose to not do their work. The 6th graders always start off by sketching white buttons. For the first day they are on their own without any assistance. The results are always, "interesting" and typically don't show much detail. Each day following, we start class at the board where I show them how to do something new with their buttons (3-D, highlights, shading smooth, showing value, counting details, ect.). For that day, they have to focus on what we have discussed. After about 4 days of this, the kids sketch their "Final Buttons" (by then, they couldn't be happier to be done!!). Before the kids turn them in, I have them compare their first button sketch to their last. All of the kids talk about how much they have improved...I love it! I've included one random example of a student's first sketch and 3 of the final sketches.
