my session with the art class on making their own emotional map of the area went very well. Originally I’d stipulated that they have to map the local town the school was in, but most children in the class did not live in the town and were bussed in. This was a major issue and after discussing with the art teacher (luckily we have some free time after each class to catch up) we’d decided to widen the area the children can map.
So this session had two aims;
– one they decide on the area their map will cover.
– And next they decide on the important features they will illustrate.
Started off with my showing a wide range of maps, highlighting that maps are a 2d visual representation of our 3d world. Despite their apparent message of objectivity, maps select and even distort, because maps, like all images, are made for purposes, and those purposes influence the final form.
That this is an art class and that our maps will be about image creation; using their immediate world as inspiration. For children who worried about having to draw I emphasized that their map does not just have to use drawing, but photographs and text (typography/writing) as well. Also that they will be collaborating and creating a collective map.
Session was excellent & maybe should have started with this session. Probably one of my focuses of getting them out of the school grounds was a distraction?
Another big benefit of this session was that I had become very worried (from the last session before half term) of how a couple of groups (one in particular) had a personality clash and I had not seen these groups really jelling together and creating a piece of work – I imagined most of my time being fire fighting the discord. This was resolved by moving a couple of children into different groups that matched the sort of mapping the individual child wished to work on.
Another benefit was one of the children voicing what’s the point to this from previous week – too can I bring in some photos of him doing bike jumps in the area he wished to map (some woodland outside town that has bike jumps).
We then used google earth for them to each show their chosen area to map and hear about what they would be showing.
A fascinating choice of locations were chosen and the reasoning behind their selection. These varied from very wide geographic spread of four towns along a major A road; a large supermarket, including car park; local village; nearest biggest city (shopping / recreational); and the bike jump area outside town. Great possibilities and I can’t wait to see their ideas develop, unfortunately only have 3 wks (that is 3hrs) left now!
