Today I learned an incredible lesson. The lesson was taught by 5 and 6 year olds. They didn't know that they were teaching me, nor do I think they cared-but what I learned today will forever change me as a teacher.
I have been teaching color theory, the color wheel, and mixing colors since my first year as an art teacher. I have done this many different ways with many different variations on projects. For my very youngest students I use the book "Mouse Paint" and then step-by-step we go through the color mixing process. As I ended the lesson yesterday I had a conversation with a VERY knowledgeable Para regarding why I felt it so necessary to lead the students step by step through mixing primary colors to make secondary colors. As I spoke with her it became clear to me that she thought that the kids would be much better served by experimenting instead of me taking them step by step.
All hail Para-educators! I took her idea and ran with it. Today I read the book, and then I did a short demonstration of how to get two different colors of paint onto their papers and "mix" them. I have a "coloring page" with 3 mice on it with very large ears that the kids glue onto a 12 x 18" piece of drawing paper to give them lots of room to experiment. Once my short demo was finished, each child had their paper, red, blue and yellow tempera paint and 6 paintbrushes. Then I shut up and stood back. I explained to this classes para/aid what I was hoping would happen, and she agreed. Often, left to their own curiosity children will discover, learn, and explore more than we could even imagine!
What these young kinders produced on their own was far superior to anything done in the past. Their conversations, and discoveries were everything I had always hoped for when I originally wrote this lesson, but had never quite achieved. As teachers (and parents) we need to remind ourselves that the most important discoveries children make are often the ones made on their own.
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