Building bridges and goodwill in the school can go a long way in advocating for our programs. In my Art 1 classes we have created name illustrations before, where each letter shows off a student’s interests. We have even done this with international languages HERE.  
 
This year I asked my 2nd year art students to pick the name of a staff member and create a name illustration that shows off what they do in the school and perhaps show a bit of their personality. I posted a list of staff that included administration, secretaries, custodians, and teachers. Students put their name next to the staff member’s name so we’d avoid duplicates. I knew we would not be able to get to everyone in the first round, so I kept this list for future versions of this project.
 
My school is a tiny one, so most students did not need additional information to do their illustration, but a few needed to go off and interview their subject. I am including a PDF below of an interview sheet you may find helpful.

​We did sketches and a round of peer feedback before going to a scale size drawing. These were measured and when complete transferred onto thicket watercolor paper. Some used light tables to transfer their designs, others used carbon paper. A few just re-drew it. I had a few requirements that were reflected in my rubric.

• Names had to be planned with a ruler for neatness
• Colors must be layered
• Include a background element to create unity
• Adding shadows would help exceed expectations
• Maximum length was 24 inches.

 
Most students used a paper that was 6 x 24 inches to work on. One student went as wide as 12 inches because of their design. We found that names that were 5 letters long could be 4 inches tall. Longer names needed to be about 3 inches tall. I created an example so that students would understand my expectations in using a ruler to layout their design.
 
When the names were displayed it sent shockwaves through the school. Teachers were so delighted to be the subject of an art project, and delighted to learn they would be gifted their names to post proudly in their rooms. I believe we build some bridges among staff and it was a great way to start off the school year.

Incorporating international languages in a music illustration project.

​Music is a great motivator for students. They have a passion for it and strong opinions. I have done a music illustration before HERE, but in this lesson, we will focus on international languages. I decided to partner with our Spanish teachers for this lesson, but you could open it up to any language the students want to choose. Maybe they can research their own cultural backgrounds and use music from that culture. I am Irish, Swedish, and Belizean. I could research music from those countries. I could also put country names in a box, and have students pick from that to do some additional research. That might be a great connection to World Cultures.
 
I would advise students sign up on a list so that the same song is not illustrated by several students. At the moment, BTS is very popular, but I don’t want 10 versions of their current hit illustrated. Others may feel differently though.
 
Students found a song, found lyrics, and translations. They were to focus on one line or chorus of the song to illustrate.  Our Spanish teachers would see their sketches to confirm the language was “school appropriate.” You may need to discuss this with students ahead of time. If a song includes a “curse word” I ask them to pick another song or use symbols like #%?! To represent the word.
 
My requirements were these:

• Lyrics must be integrated into the image
• Colors must be layered
• Include overlapping to give the illusion of space

 
While students work, I will find the music on YouTube and create a play list to listen to in the background as students work. It’s great for them to hear songs from other cultures and gain a broad appreciation.
 
When we display the work, students do a little writing on an index card with a translation of the lyrics and a little explanation about why they selected that song. Students earn additional points on my rubric when the song has personal connections to themselves. 

Fun activity to begin a new art class and build relationships! 

​This is a fun activity I tried this year with great success! I didn’t invent this, but did give it a try based on a post on Facebook. I think this would work well in grades 4 and up, and can be modified in many ways for your population.
 
The first week of school can be hectic. In high school schedules might even still be changing, so diving into a formal art project may be a waste of supplies. This game was a great way for students to get to know their peers, build relationships, be silly, and perhaps introduce them to some important art history images.
 
How I did it: I had some safety goggles on hand and foil. So I covered them to create blindfolds students could wear. I put my students into teams of 2 to 4. With blindfolds on, I showed the sighted partners an image for 1 minute and told them to memorize it. Then they had 4 minutes to describe it to their blindfolded teammate to draw. They handed their teammate color pencils, but were forbidden to touch them or move their hands.
 
At the end of 4 minutes, I judged the images and awarded 1 extra credit point to the “winning” team. If I had a tie, I held the works up for the class to choose a winner. I encouraged students to fully describe the image to their blindfolded partner before beginning, so they had an idea what they were trying to draw.

We also did the same thing with the target image up the whole time. That went well too and might be preferred for some students. Another option would be to unblindfold the partner once the image was taken down, so that final images might be more cohesive.
 
Another derivation would be to have the image printed out and placed behind a cabinet where artists couldn’t see it. Then team member have to run back and forth to the image to describe it to their teammate to draw. This might be awesome for the youngest artists as it gets them moving more. Having students all draw the same image makes it easy to compare and contrast the results, but experiment with other methods as well.
 
Though the images we got were… awful, we had a lot of fun, they got to know each other, and were introduced to a wide array of artwork we would dive into later in our course. Comment below with how you might make this game work for your students!
 
Here are some other blog posts to help you start off the year right.
Just click the title to navigate.
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Starting a New Year of School
First Year Teacher Advice & Resources
First Impressions
Why Students Need Art
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​Helpful Book Resources Linked Below. Just click the cover.