Julie Steinberg

February 11, 2015

A&HA 4078
Journal #3
Exploring Paint
Exploring Paint & Learning the Elements
I closed my eyes and felt the paintbrush, as an extension of my arm, touch the paper. As I
explored the feeling of the paintbrush and the many ways the paint can go on the paper, I thought
about how important it is to give children this low-risk, enjoyable time to simply explore what
painting feels like. As Smith (1993) discussed, children are very much motivated by their
pleasure in the feel of paint, by their interest in the mysterious phenomenon of making colors
change, and by making marks appear where none were before, all which come out of the
experimentation with the material (p.18). Instead of it becoming a task: paint thisour work
with paint was truly an explorationof line, shape, texture, and color, just as we hope it will be
for children.
When we create experiences with paint that are open-ended and explorative, children
have agency and are able to construct their own meaning with the material. As Smith (1993) said
it, beautifully, One of the profoundest rewards of young childrens work with paint is their
developing sense of themselves as active and competent agents, able to interact and be effective
in the world (p.31). As teachers, we can create these exploratory, pleasurable experiences for
children that lead to their own discoveries about art elements, design and expression, as well as
teach self-reflection and thoughtful attention to craft (Smith, 1993).

Curriculum Ideas for Paint

This weeks excerpt by Judith Burton (2004) has grown my thinking around planning
curriculum, specifically lesson objectives. As teachers, we often hear the word objective and we
think about the skill or content we hope to teach children. While this is important and necessary,
Burton (2004) reminds us that we also want our objective to be rich enough to provoke
additional issues, ideas, extensions, and questions which act as a spur to curiosity, imagination
and invention (p.31). To do the latter is a much greater challenge, but critical for children we
teach.
Burton (2004) provides some examples of focused and fundamental objectives that I plan
to incorporate in my literacy teaching. For example, children can explore mixing combinations
of color and learn that different combinations can be groupedin a painting based on: different
places, a scary story, weather, mood, atmosphere (Burton, 2004, p.35). I imagine teaching these
ideas to my students as a reading or writing lesson, as we learn how authors show setting, mood
and theme. Children could explore this as both readers of books, as well as writerswhen they
are the authors of their own stories. Burton (2004) also gives an example objective that students
can learn that shapes and colors can depict feelings or relationships in a painting. I would use
such an objective with students, considering characters feelings and relationships, again within
reading or students own writing, through the exploration of paint.

References:
Burton, J. M. (2004). Refining the objective. A Guide for Teaching and Learning. pp. 30-44.
Smith, N. (1993). Experience and Art. New York: Teachers College Press. pp. 17-39.