Now that the first quarter is over, I am able to sit back and look at how this new pedagogy is working. Being an art teacher for 20 years, I've been known for having great displays of student art work in the hallways but all the products came from teacher driven projects and the displays showed many different variations of MY concept. A great example of that was the unit I did last year when I had the 5th graders do value studies of a still life I constructed -- the display consisted of 15+ drawings of that same still life. Granted, the art work was beautiful but the display was repetitive and led the viewer to pick out which student possessed the greatest skill at reproducing said still life. This year, I have seen many people actually stopping to read the artist's statement while viewing the Art Gallery in the hallway and I have overheard comments like, "This is like going to an art museum!" In the art room, I have been amazed by how much thought my students are putting into their work. Even my kindergarten students catch me by surprise -- a number of times, I have thought, "Now what the heck is this all about?" , only to have my eyes opened as I transcribe their thoughts on the artist's statement form. Scroll down and look at the collage with all the holes in it -- when the little girl brought this to me, I couldn't imagine that she would be able to say what her thought was behind this work (other than that she had discovered the holepuncher in the Collage Center!!). Now, as I pass her work in the hallway, all I can see is rain and a flower - from the mouths of babes...