Teacher Time: If You Want To Learn Something, Teach It Yourself
I’m probably getting ahead of myself but...
My middle school students and I are still working on composition using lettering as an art form and devices like the dot grid, graph grid, italic grid, word containers (shapes), and more embellishments like flourishes and small illustrations. We’re doing this in preparation for a collaborative project with the music class. They’re going to create their own album art for music they create in their music class (which is a pretty sweet project, if you ask me).
In keeping with the theme of the month, I’m still lettering women’s topics, but using the devices I’m trying to teach them about…Problem is, I have to teach myself first!
Longer phrases can be scary for a new letterer. I thought I would start with something I felt strongly about to see if I could make it work.
And I found this beautiful one (see the photos)!
The inspiration to this lettering piece is here on IG. I thought the video was not only humorous, but truthful. I think it’s human nature to feel divided about the success of others if you’re working hard, but not getting the results you want. But, negativity only breeds negativity…It takes real growth to truly be happy for someone else and not feel like it’s threatening your own crown or that you’re being looked over in some way (whether true or imagined). For myself, an extremely late bloomer in all things life, I became a really big believer in the idea of celebrating oneself. Taking time to regularly acknowledge the good things about myself gives me the power to celebrate others too without feeling like I’m less than. I can be a sister and not a competitor. If you haven’t already, it’s a great life skill to to teach yourself.
All that aside, a quick glance at my IG shows me there aren’t many long-form lettering posts. I’ve always wanted to know how…But, I’ve never had the confidence to try it until now. I’m telling you…teaching gives you superpowers!
Since it’s likely they’ll letter their own title and lyric in this project, I thought using word container shapes and showing them some ways to use them would work. We’re starting simple with the circle. I also showed them some ways that I’ve used shapes to contain words before like the apple I made for World Teacher Day last year.
Getting them to make the jump to using the full space of the circle and the word containers can be tricky. So, on our second class, we continued with the circle, and
I gave them a limit of three words again (unless they’re feeling extra spunky, of course).
I let them use one of my phrases or choose one of their own three-letter, school-appropriate phrases.
I let them pick their own word containers to fit inside the circle. You can see some examples of word container shapes in the second photo of this post.
If they choose their own phrases, they’re more invested and they come up with great stuff like, “Never Give Up” and “Racism is Wrong”.
Sometimes, I choose one from class to show them how I might do it in the time we have together.
None of my sketches are perfect and my on-the-spot compositions are even less so. But, they get my point across.
Naturally, I don’t expect any of them to do a piece this long…But, you never know what your kids might try and it’s a good idea to get the lay of the land before they go there on their own. An example or two doesn’t hurt either.
So, the key takeaways today?
Be the best example you can be…and don’t be a hater.
