Displays - Please Help

[garrison]

I am having trouble with a member of my staff who seems to have took it upon herself to be responsible for displays.

I don't have a problem with her doing this but we keep conflicting over how displays should look - she always has to have everything laminated and looking like a finished product eg pictures of flowers have to look like flowers or they don't get displayed. I know that the main point of displays is that they should be the childrens creations not an adult masterpiece but she doesn't or won't understand this.

Does anyone know of any articles or researcxh etc I could get her to look at because I have been trying for years now and nothing is getting through

[Guest]

There has been alot discussed and written about childrens work in all mediums, and the feeling is that it is about the "process and not the product", therefore the displays should be about the childrens endeavours not how well your staff member laminates. The creations should show their individual styles , accomplishments and above all their achievements. How well does this person build on the childrens self esteem and how does she respond to an all inclusive establishment ? The children should see that all their creations are of merit and each one should be able to see some of their " work " on display.

Do you have staff who completed the Foundation degree last year as this was part of a module and there are articles and books available about this subject.

You will have to work hard on your staff member, it is almost as if he/she is trying to impress visitors and parents . Oh dear, good luck.

[Guest]

have just found an article. hope it helps

Early Childhood Art: "It's the Process Not the Product," Right?

Oct 3, 2010Daniella Barroqueiro

Art & the Young Child - Daniella BarroqueiroDevelopmentally appropriate practice in early childhood art education: identifying and avoiding the pitfalls of teaching art to young children.

What is the purpose or function of art for young children? Why are artistic processes valuable in early childhood?

 

When these questions are posed to childcare providers and classroom teachers, they are often able to generate many reasons why they believe art is valuable in early childhood education. However, teachers’ well-articulated explanations are often inconsistent with the reality of their daily classroom functioning. Why is this so?

 

For one, classroom teachers often do not have the tools (knowledge and skills) to actually do what they say (and believe) is so valuable for their students when it comes to art. There are many conditions that interfere with the realization of these goals; one of which is fear (of their own incompetence, of the children making a mess, of loosing control of the class). Many teachers have very little art experience themselves, and therefore lack confidence in their ability to teach art effectively.

 

Also, there is often a lack of resources to support ongoing studio art experiences: space and time limitations, no budget for art materials, pressure to emphasize language arts and math and other “core subjects.” With the rigid constraints of the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers have often felt pressured to teach to the test, neglecting their responsibility to teach the whole child. This is a habit that is hard to break.

 

Young Children's Art Activities: Process vs. Product

Often classroom teachers with good intentions attempt to squeeze art into the curriculum by resorting to quick activities that require only low level thinking skills and are little more than tasks of fine-motor practice or following directions, but certainly not art.

 

Here is a tip to help you tell the difference and avoid some of these pitfalls: If the main objectives of an art project are to practice coloring in the lines, cutting on the dotted

 

line and/or following directions, it is probably not worthy of being called art. For art to be authentic is has to be more meaningful than this.

 

For those of you who are of the belief that it’s the process, not the product, that is important, I commend you for escaping the traps of having young children use precut patterns, stencils, cutting on the dotted lines, and coloring in adult-drawn images, to the exclusion of all else. But having heard that well-meaning phrase many times in my contact with early childhood educators, I have observed that a consistent lack of attention to a developmentally appropriate product is problematic.

 

Sensory experiences (finger paint, scented play dough, playing with shaving cream on the table, and so forth), which have an important place in the early childhood and art curriculum, are too often being substituted for complex art experiences that teach skills and concepts and/or allow for creative expression by the individual child.

 

The Child as Origin

The idea behind this buzz phrase: "it’s the process not the product," is to remind educators of developmentally appropriate practice, a process-oriented curriculum where the child is the origin of the artwork, where adult schemas and processes are not imposed on children, taking priority over more natural, more authentic ways of the visual communication of the child’s ideas or feelings. A quality product reflects the learning process and invites the viewer to see value in the experience, whether the viewer is a child, parent, teacher or an administrator.

 

A dichotomy has developed as it often does in education – the pendulum swings too far one way, then, to compensate it swings too far in the opposite direction: in this case, the it swings between a developmentally inappropriate product-oriented ‘"art’" curriculum, and a teaching practice where product is rarely considered, and process is too often treated as an end in itself.

 

Either of these extremes denies the child the opportunity for rich, long-term projects that encourage critical thinking skills, and are authentic and meaningful. Child-centered, multi-step processes that are aimed at producing a more complex product allow children to experiment with media, to learn skills and concepts, to practice and then plan and produce something of value, like the work we see from the schools of Reggio Emilia.

 

Long-term projects can be broken into many shorter work segments, as is appropriate. Working in small chunks of time is especially important for very young children and children with shorter attention spans.

 

The idea is to teach children that with consistent attention over a period of time, they can accomplish something that is more complex or on a larger scale, closer to the way adult artists work and create. This kind of art education is possible when the teacher acts as a facilitator, rather than the director, of learning.

 

Authentic Art in Early Childhood

Asking guiding questions, listening carefully and leading the child to make discoveries are some ways teachers can facilitate this kind of authentic experience in art. The end goal is to have the product reflect the on-going learning experience.

 

When I use the word product here, I am referring to a developmentally appropriate product where the child has ownership of the process and product, where the teacher’s role is merely that of facilitator, guiding children through their own creative process rather than having them reproduce or color in adult-made images.

 

The teacher’s role should be to offer guidance and teach skills and concepts, to provide inspiration, and meaningful choices with the goal of finding a balance between freedom and structure, process and product.

 

 

Read more at Suite101: Early Childhood Art: "It's the Process Not the Product," Right? | Suite101.com http://daniella-barroqueiro.suite101.com/e...3#ixzz1ZANBPkwG

 

 

sorry its so long but I am not computer literate, so can't add as otheres do so well. Does that make sense.

Edited September 27, 2011 by HappyMaz
Just to tidy it up!

[HappyMaz]

ednaloy I've edited your post to remove the additional bits and bobs picked up when you cut and pasted it.

 

For those who would like to access the external site, you can find the article here.

[Guest]

Thank you Maz one day when I retire I am going on a course or two.

[Fredbear]

That's the very reason why we did away with displays persay. We now have a gallery( idea taken from some fantastic person on here). We have 4 huge boards which are numbered and divided in to squared sections. Each child has their own section and it is up to the child if they would like their creations displayed, taken home or put into their learning journal, they also decide if and when they would like to change it . Works fantastically well for us.

[Cait]

How expensive is all that laminating too????!!!

[Guest]

I love this idea :-)

 

 

That's the very reason why we did away with displays persay. We now have a gallery( idea taken from some fantastic person on here). We have 4 huge boards which are numbered and divided in to squared sections. Each child has their own section and it is up to the child if they would like their creations displayed, taken home or put into their learning journal, they also decide if and when they would like to change it . Works fantastically well for us.

[garrison]

LOVE THE IDEA OF THE LARGE BOARDS BUT MY NURSERY IS TOO TINY - WE REFER TO IT AS A 'SHED IN A FIELD' - I MAY JUST HAVE TO HIDE THE LAMINATOR!!