Observation Drawing with Children: A Framework for Teachers

This book offers teachers guidance in helping children develop the mental and physical abilities used in the discovery and creation of meaning through drawing by: Giving students extensive experience with materials • Keeping in mind developmental guidelines • Planning lessons with clearly defined objectives and in carefully crafted sequence • Choosing objects suitable for the given age group and appropriate to lesson objectives • Fostering aesthetic qualities • Motivating and responding to children as they draw.

Each chapter begins with a Developmental Framework that will help teachers keep developmental characteristics in mind when planning art curricula. The book contains 23 detailed Lesson Plans for classes ranging from Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. Each plan includes the Objective, the Materials to be used, the Room Arrangement, Motivational Dialogue in the form of teacher’s questions and children’s responses, Evaluation of the results, and suggested Extensions. Examples of children’s drawings accompany each lesson.

"The work of the teachers and children in this volume argues forcibly for a radically different conception of drawing development and for a much more active and thoughtful form of teaching.... It is especially powerful to have this argument coming from a working group of teacher-researchers. After all, it is they who must have the will and the understanding to create classroom cultures where each child, not different children, thinks and speaks in many languages."
—From the Foreword