Sisters teachers learn how to teach art

Teachers in Sisters aren't so different from their students. They need to keep learning, too.

Teachers at Sisters Elementary School recently participated in a hands-on inservice workshop with local artist Paul Alan Bennett. Bennett expanded the teachers imaginations by presenting an art project each could adapt to the abilities of his or her students and to any subject matter.

The session was funded by the Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project.

"The theory is that instead of hiring an artist to come in and work with our kids, by having an artist come in and teach the teachers how to do art, we give the teachers a project they can use for multiple years versus just working with one group of kids for one year," said fourth grade teacher Clay Warburton. "Once teachers realize, 'I can do this with this project or with solar systems or when I teach rain forests' and they can use it multiple times of the year versus just having that one artist come in and do one project, it's important."

Bennett's goal was to present a project geared to a group of students working together. The subject matter was not as important as creating a large scale work with connecting lines with no top or bottom or distinction from one side to the other.

"It's a piece that's about the language of art, about line and shape and color," said Bennett.

"What was so much fun was how we worked together and came up with a theme," said first grade teacher Pam Cole. "We all sort of fed off of each other on our colors."

In working with her first graders, Cole feels that having a project with no top or bottom is a huge advantage.

"Wherever they're at is the right place. There's really no need to go back-and-forth over the painting," she said.

Cole also liked the idea of having several students working on one piece.

"You model the fact that it doesn't have to be perfect," she said. "I would do this project with a parent. I'd get some help and bring the kids back to the classroom that are finished, and then the two or three that are still working the parent can help them finish."

Another purpose of Bennett's inservice was to present a project where working as a team is essential.

"I like this energy of them talking and deciding together. That's all part of it. It makes it a unique experience to them. How many things, other than sports, do they, the students, have that brings that kind of excitement and energy into the classroom? There's a lot of individual in reading and math, but this is an opportunity to work together as a group to do kind of an eye-dazzling and physical art piece," said Bennett.