Scribble Art Experiments at San Leandro High School
In February of 2021, I collaborated with teacher Teryn Kravitz to conduct an arts integration workshop with two of her 9th grade biology classes. Her students were researching information about the vaccine for COVID-19.
I observed two of Ms. Kravitz’s (online) classes. Of course, that means I took sketchnotes. Drawing helps me to focus and observe. I noticed that Ms. Kravitz was very good at guiding her students through critical thinking and inquiry routines. She also made sure to include time to check in with how the students are feeling.
We met several times to plan an arts integration workshop along with two other San Leandro teachers, Gaia Pine, a colleague from the Integrated Learning Specialist Program, and Sally Barry. This was all coordinated by Christell Lewis of Young Audiences of Northern California.
For the workshop with students, we started with a variation on the scribbling routine that I shared on YouTube. Ms. Kravitz’s classes had spent the previous two weeks evaluating news reports about the (not-yet-released) vaccines, so that was the topic of their art.
We started with an initial prompt to scribble in multiple colors on paper as a way of connecting with and expressing the artists’ feelings about COVID vaccines. Then, use those scribbles to make new art about those feelings.
Here is the rubric that students would use to grade their own work. We went over the rubric together noticing that successful art would “come from my heart,” then got into the art-making together on zoom.
After the workshop, the students had another two weeks (including spring break) to finish their art. From the examples below, you can see that the students responded with a wonderful diversity of styles and reactions.
The next phase of our project would be a 2-part workshop with other teachers at the school. We reviewed the results of the workshop with Ms. Kravitz’s class together using Jamboard to exchange ideas. Then the teachers used the same process to create their own art about their experiences teaching during the pandemic.