If there is one subject that is difficult to learn during the pandemic, it’s art. Many students don’t have access to materials and equipment at home that might be essential to the course. This kind of situation puts a lot of stress on all those involved, as it’s very difficult to complete the wide range of tasks that exam boards set in order to even get a pass.
Due to the current pandemic, there is already more than enough stress involved, without adding to it in the classroom. As a teacher, you want to keep your students motivated and immersed in their online remote learning while keeping them on track with the course, which can be very tricky.
Sometimes, students don’t have the materials or the money to get the tasks done; others will have families that don’t seem to understand that they are still in lessons even though they are at home, and will interrupt lessons and demand that they do chores during the day.
Having to contend with these can make online schooling difficult. But here are three ways that an art teacher can make their students happier when using online remote learning.
1 Spark their imagination by getting them to broaden their thinking and inspirations
Getting your students to read poetry or finding a niche to concentrate on can truly help with their creativity, especially as recent times have been very challenging for everyone. Have them respond to a piece of music, another piece of art, or even just the items in their rooms to get their imagination chugging away.
Even the smallest bit of inspiration can help them work, even if it means they are off-task from their work focus for a little bit. Or alternatively, you could run it as a project on the side.
2 Hold a virtual exhibition of their work
You could showcase their work on an online exhibition platform. While this type of virtual event may be impractical in the “real world” and aimed at a much larger audience, the ability to create these bespoke events virtually expands the size of the audience that can be reached.
Not only will that raise the profile of the students among potential customers and employers, but it will also elicit feedback from more areas that their work would reach normally, giving them a new or fresh perspective on their online remote learning work.
3 Do more photography within the projects on the course
Many kids these days have phones and cameras. So, creating a photography project might be a good way to go. It could simply be playing around with light or angles or through different topics. As mentioned before, this might be a great way to get your students’ imaginations working and act as a great starter to a project. Collecting photographs and references is a big part of art, and it’s good to let your pupils become more practiced in those essential skills; and what better time to do this than during the current pandemic?
Also Read: How to Prevent Student Cheating During Remote Learning?
