An Aesthetic Eye

My friends will be quick to tell you that I am not artistic.  My one major creative outlet is theatrical directing, which also has a really technical side to it, which I think is why I'm successful at it.  "But you sing!" people tell me.  Sure, but I don't compose!  Give me a paintbrush, charcoal, a lump of clay, and I will look at you like you have three heads.  And then proceed to make something wildly subpar.  Even when it came to decorating my college dorm room, my friend AB did most of it last year -- and what she left behind never made it onto the walls.

But here's what I've learned:  in the classroom, visual aesthetics are crucial to creating a positive, welcoming, and fun environment.  Uh oh.

Fortunately, as we discovered in Mindset, a book I read and reviewed some time ago, nothing is fixed!  Intelligence, creativity, and other traits are not quantities set in stone -- we can improve anything if we work on it.  (See also:  Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.)  Teaching has given me a great opportunity to practice creativity.  Here's a few things I've learned (plus examples from my classroom!).

1.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Are my third graders likely to notice that, since I used scissors instead of a paper cutter, the edge of that piece of paper curves up in the middle?  And even if they do, will they care?  Probably not.  A big challenge for me is letting go of my inner perfectionist.  The perfect is the enemy of the good.

Definitely not straight lines.  Definitely no students care.

2.  Visual arts not your strong suit?  Become friends with some word processing software -- I'm a Microsoft Office girl myself.  Using MS Word I can find fun fonts, cool effects, and nice straight lines.  For me, this is so much less stressful than writing bubble letters and trying to make my title perfectly centered!

Much more fun to look at than just a black and white piece of paper!

3.  Need something bigger than a piece of A3 paper?  See if your school has a die-cut machine and make it do the work for you.

So much less stressful than writing block letters -- just roll and stick!

4.  If it's colorful, you're well on your way.  Displays should be vibrant, exploding with color!  Instead of printing out something with black text on a white paper and sticking it on the wall, use a colored font with a glow effect, and matte it on a piece of construction paper.

5.  Pinterest is an incredible resource.  Even though I'm not a superstar artist, there are a lot of teachers out there who are -- and they share!  Do a quick search for what you're looking for and in no time flat you'll have a hundred resources at your fingertips, and a million ideas to make your own.

A sign for one of the learner profile attributes, encouraging students to try new things!

6.  Does the idea of writing on the board make you squirm?  I know a lot of teachers, myself included, dread this task.  Look into a document camera, which can project an image of what you're writing on a non-threatening piece of paper in real time, or hook your computer up to a projector and type instead.

Awesome idea I saw in one of my school's kinder classrooms -- put your timer under the document camera so students can see how much time they have left.

7.  Last but definitely not least -- employ the students.  It's their classroom, so invite them to take ownership of the space.  Have them contribute to making displays, labels, and signs.

In the middle is our central idea, "The solar system is comprised of unique and interconnected parts."  The index cards have facts that students have found out about space.  They splatter painted the backdrop and colored the planets.

Creativity takes practice and time.  Some do have a natural aptitude for it, but others of us need to put in a little more work!  And apparently, it's paid off -- to the likely shock of my college buds, all my friends here have commented on how well-decorated my apartment is :)

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Currently reading:  this article, sent to me by a coworker
Current high:  Halloween with my kiddos!
Current low:  scheduling nightmares