Multitasking, Teaching Illustration, and Creating Memories

The ubiquitous teacher read of novels, chapter books, or special theme unit books is valuable for a variety of reasons, mostly helping students enjoy stories they might not read for years or even ever know existed.  In recent years I have pushed to make each routine of the day serve multiple purposes and provide avenues to ignite student passions that might otherwise be unrecognized.  Our classroom teacher read aloud time is after lunch, providing a resting and regrouping time before setting off on the second part of our day.  The current version of this 30 minute block of time feels enriching while still restful; stimulating, but allowing heavily utilized skills and cognitive processes to wind-down.  I have been selecting unabridged classic and modern books on CD, which we listen to with half the ceiling lights off, digesting food and working on sustained, high quality illustrations and art pieces related to students' independent research projects.

I've brought in some of my professional quality art supplies while students have pooled money to purchase other supplies.  We discuss art movements, techniques, and materials.  And most important to me, I see students undertaking sustained art projects, working for hours, days, and even, in passionate dedication, weeks on one illustration.   I am on this journey with them, working my way through a sign-up list where each student brings something they want me to illustrate for them, on the document projector, seeing the work hour by hour over the course of a week or two to finish just one.  They have found this level of work to be valuable in that the daily effort is witnessed; the mistakes, the choices, the problem solving, and the reflection along the way is shared with them.  The quality of their illustrations and other art projects is astounding.  All the while listening to a great voice actor bring a book to life.  Copied in below are the illustrations I have completed for students thus far.