beachnut Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 My 9th grade DS LOVES to draw, and I try to incorporate drawing into assignments quite a bit in our history and literature studies. But my brain is fried and I'm looking for some creative ideas on allowing him to draw while still learning at a high school level. Some creative things we've done so far: notebooking pages that incorporate drawing and writing (for taking notes during lectures or while reading Spielvogel history text), creating a newspaper of Ancient Greece, drawing a comic strip of a key scene in the Iliad, hand-drawing maps of various ancient civilizations, illustrating short biography cards, creating a "Wanted" poster for a character in the Epic of Gilgamesh, etc. Any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choirfarm Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Design a costumes or uniforms make a diarama (sp??) of a scene Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 You mentioned illustrating biography cards... You could let him illustrate any lit/ historical fiction books that he is reading.... or movies that relate to topics of study. I mention this becuase my dd who is in 8th grade this year LOVES The Lord of the Rings trilogy. For a couple of years now, she has been sketching scenes from the movies. She has several notebooks with beautiful drawings. She has been able to improve her techniques over time. Her drawing was never an assigned part of school. It began as a personal past-time, and now it is a major interest.... I can see how art might become integrated in whatever she chooses to study or do as a career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie4b Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Is your question to give him a legitimate reason to do something he likes (draw) or a way to help him continue to develop in art? My answer would be different depending on the goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtnTeaching Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 For us, this was more geography-related than history, but I could see where it might work well. The kids were required to find and draw something that would be an example of an architecture style, famous place, or not-so famous place related to the country we were studying. Taj Mahal, Big Ben, Grand Canal, African landscape, etc. They would also write a paragraph or so to describe the picture. Maybe he could focus on the architecture of the time period? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachnut Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 Thank you for the ideas -- especially the architecture and costume design slant. I never thought of that. And we watch quite a bit of history/lit-related movies, so sketching scenes would be another great way to incorporate more drawing. Laurie4B, I'm looking for ways to give him a legitimate reason to do something he likes (draw), while still learning high school level material in world history and English. DS often gives me the bare minimum when I give him a typical assignment like writing an essay, outlining the history text, etc. But any time I incorporate drawing into some element of an assignment, he will give me 110% effort because he loves drawing. So, while I do still give him the typical writing & outlining assignments, I also want to spice things up and tap into his passion, but do it in a way that is truly meaningful and relevant to what we're studying. In doing so, he gets to do what he loves while I get to see his best effort. Does that make sense? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 What about looking into the significance of symbols? There must be a proper name for it, but certain styles of Australian Aboriginal paintings can be read if one knows what a certain shape represents. I saw an exhibition on West Africa and the textiles section had different patterns that meant different things also. Presumably there is some significance there and it wasn't something someone made up to sound important! Others have mentioned architecture and costume design. The same patterns can occur in both architecture, textiles and embroidery. I don't know that this is relevant to your history studies, but it's cool anyway. :) Rosie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaissance Mom Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 I have my children keep a history journal. They choose what they think is the most important or most interesting event/person/whatever from their weekly history studies, illustrate it, and caption it. The illustrations and captions are pretty simple for the youngers but my 8th grade dd does some quite elaborate sketches, portraits, political cartoons, collage, etc. The best part, IMHO, is that it forces all of them to prioritize and then summarize. I don't ever direct what to put in their journals -- just that it has to be from that week and done neatly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laughing lioness Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 Choose a famous drawing/painting from the time period he is studying and copy it. Copywork isn't just for littles :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In The Great White North Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 We have done: free hand maps (continents, countries, towns) portraits (of specific people) characters (ie. a knight) calligraphy and illuminated letters architectural drawings/facades/floorplans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted December 15, 2011 Share Posted December 15, 2011 My dd created a history notebook that to me is like creating her own textbook, but very artsy. She had hand-drawn maps, calligraphy-type quotes, all different styles. I was kinda sad when we went to more traditional work for American/Modern history. In some ways, she liked it better because it was more mindless, which just confirms my thinking that she learned more the other way. Julie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beachnut Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Thank you for giving my brain a nudge with the creative ideas. I can see DS enjoying just about everything you all suggested. Thanks for the inspiration! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphispeg Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Is he funny? How bout a cartoon a la Thomas Nash? Or a comic strip of a small piece of a story? Maps are good, make them around a concept...like those old jr. high product maps. Drawing a picture of a place or character just based on a verbal description...that could get v. interesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.