Value Lesson: Tints and Shades

 

Monochromatic is one of the easiest color schemes to teach. Take a color and add black and you got a shade of the color. Take a color and add white and you got a tint. It's that easy.

I've been wanting to start an Upcycling unit for a little while and when someone left a pile of discarded 3.5 foot strips of chipboard at my classroom door, I decided that painting the strips and  making a chain from them would be an easy way to create something sculptural from something that would otherwise be garbage... all while teaching how to mix paint to create a variety of values.

My elementary school and multiple complex needs students painted green on one side of each strip and blue on the other side of each strip.  We lined up the strips from dark to light and rather than keep just the green or just the blue on the outside, we alternated blue on the outside and green on  the outside, which makes the chain look one color from one point of view and another from a few steps to the side.

I glued the links using hot glue with enough overlap to make the loop slightly bigger than a foot in diameter. It took twelve links to stretch from floor to ceiling.

And then today, on Earth Day Eve, I hung the chain from the ceiling in the hallway outside my room using the colors of the blue seas and green lands that cover mother Earth. It was a great way to discuss the use of value in color and the way we can value the planet that sustains us. It was a great way to talk about reusing materials that would otherwise be thrown away. It was also a great way to build a classroom community discussing how we are each a link the class and world chains and can do our part to solve problems. Happy E-ART-H Day everyone!

Wings from Jean!

Jean Gerdes was my Jr. High Home Ec. teacher and the reason I wanted to spend the rest of my life making things. My first assignment in her class was to sew a bean bag chair!  What could be more empowering for a 12 year old than to make their own furniture?! Under her tutelage, I cooked quiche, designed a gingerbread village and nurtured my hard boil egg baby, learning practical skills that I carried with me my entire life, while making goals for future things to learn. It was in her class that I decided I would one day design and sew my own wedding dress (check), make my own wedding announcements (check), and decorate my own wedding cake (can I count my sisters' cake? I was too busy the day of my own reception). Looking back, it seems a little strange for a tween to be planning for a wedding, but it is what it is.

Fast forward fourteen years and guess who was there to cater my wedding reception....Miss Gerdes! Turns out that even though I moved out of Pennsylvania after high school, my mom ended up teaching Family & Consumer Science with Jean for years to follow so we were able to keep in touch.  When I told my mom I wanted to quilt, Jean shipped me the quilting safety pins, and plastic rolled quilt holder thingies, and detailed instructions. A short time after her long distance tutelage, I completed a quilt for every bed in the house.

I love the idea of not only being a life-long learner, but a life-long teacher! When my mom talks about so-and-so being one of her kids, we, as her biological children don't take offense. My own children understand that my students have a special spot in my heart, and will be "my kids" for life, in the same way that Jean remains my teacher and cheerleader today.  A few months ago when I found out that I was a top ten finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year, Jean wanted to celebrate with me. She took a piece of artwork that my students made of an Eric Carle inspired butterfly, and created a stained glass version of the piece. Thanks to to a kind maintenance friend at the school, it is hanging in my classroom window. It serves as a reminder that I can be a second-mile-life-long teacher and advocate for my students, as Jean Gerdes is for me.