Culminating Art Projects That Boost Students’ Confidence

The first few weeks of my art class are always an exciting adventure. Smiling out onto a sea of faces, I know that there is an ocean of potential in the room, but it’s not yet clear who is eager, who is unsure, who is anxious, and who is ambivalent. Some students chose my class as their elective, but many are there simply because it’s a humanities credit they need or the only class that fit into their schedule. On the first day—acknowledging that while many of them aren’t feeling confident, others might be looking to build their portfolio for art school—I tell them that my goal is for everyone to find success no matter where they fall on that spectrum. A “getting to know you” form through Google Forms helps me gauge this as well.

I set up my class so that students consistently develop their skills throughout the year with a variety of projects so that they can feel proud of the work that they produce.

Center Learning Experiences Around Positivity and Effort

Before we begin our first project, a simple color wheel painted with watercolor, we read Peter Reynolds’s brilliant story “The Dot.” I read it aloud to them just like I would have in my elementary classroom years ago. You would be surprised how even 11th and 12th graders will huddle up for story time. The story’s important message about encouragement, patience, perseverance, and creativity becomes the basis for our classroom culture. These are also the most important qualities of a successful artist—even more than explicit talent. It’s through fostering these habits and expectations in the art room that students find their stride and push the boundaries of their capabilities.

The other important part of supporting students’ success in the art room is clear expectations and procedures around materials and cleanup. Our color wheel project teaches them how to follow simple directions, retrieve materials, use them, share them, and clean them up. Just like in my elementary science room many years ago, there’s a lot of modeling, using timers, and revisiting expectations.

Each quarter, students reflect on and present their work to their peers. This builds a classroom culture around understanding the thought and effort that went into each other’s work. They also celebrate each other’s work and concept for their piece through instant feedback on sticky notes at the end of each presentation. Since students only present to each other, one person at a time at their table, it allows for a more relaxed and conversational experience. This also builds a more collaborative culture that normalizes conversation focused on practice and process, not just product.

Present Final Project Options Informed by Student Interest

By the end of the third quarter, the art room has become a place where students understand routines and expectations. They have felt successful and know that the art room is a safe environment for them to fail, experiment, and push through when they hit a snag. It’s at this juncture that I get them started on the final unit of the year, “Choose Your Own Adventure.”

For the final project of the year, I present students with a choice of three prebuilt projects based on what they reported wanting to explore more in our midyear reflection. This year’s projects are “Working in 3D” (clay or plaster), “Fundamentals of Painting,” and “Digital Art” (using Procreate on an iPad). Each project is built out from beginning to end with weekly lessons and tutorials as checkpoints to familiarize students with the medium and tools needed. Students sit together based on which project they chose so they have a support team and can easily share materials. After four weeks of learning the medium, students pitch their own project idea using the medium they chose.

The central theme this year is “Self-Portrait Reimagined.” In their proposal, they must explain their approach to the theme, list what materials they’ll need, provide a work of art created by another artist that shows the approach they’re interested in trying or inspires their approach in some way, and provide a preliminary sketch of their project. For example, students completing the “Working in 3D” project have been working with either clay or papier-mâché. Their final project might be a mask, a figurine, or even something abstract using those materials as long as it ties back to the central theme.

Making the last big unit of the year all about their interests and what they can do independently leads to a truly engaging six weeks where they get a chance to embody the course’s one central goal. This independence, however, is not easy for all students, even if they did choose their medium and will choose their approach to their final project. There are a few seniors with a bad case of senioritis, and there are students who miss class and fall behind.

Include Support for Multilingual Learners

I also have emerging multilingual students in my classroom who need extra support in making sure that they understand what part of their project they should be working on and what their weekly goals are. I give them translated copies of the project overviews for them and provide the weekly goals in their home language along with English on the slide that stays on the board during class.  

I discovered Canva’s translation tool, which allowed me to easily create materials in multiple languages with the click of a button. Other times, I used the “Translate document” tool in Google Docs, though this can get tricky with Arabic, which is justified to the right. Since the projects are set up ahead of time, with all due dates prepopulated into our learning management system, Canvas, it’s easy for students to know where to pick up from, what they missed, and what’s coming down the line. All of the materials are translated there for students who need it. My room is also always open at lunch so that students can come in to make up for lost time.

This is the second year that I’ve used the last quarter of the year to be mostly student-directed, and I will definitely continue the tradition. The best way for students to truly believe and know that they can make art is by working independently as an artist would, pursuing their own interests and interpreting a theme through art in their own, unique way.