Week 3: Focussing on Sketchbooks

This week I tried to pay close attention to the students as they worked on their sketchbooks. Through my observations I found that some students were eager to tell me what they were drawing while others became shy.

One student name Jiyeon is always eager to discuss the things she is drawing. This can be seen in the two short clips.

In this video Jiyeon describes her drawing of her, a bunny, an apple tree, and picked flowers. I found that she was inspired by the stuffed animal rabbit that she had brought with her to class. I think this is important to realize how popular culture and consumer culture affect children's artwork. What they see around them permeates into what they create. Jiyeon is also interested in the idea of "girl things". She tends to draw princess like figures. In her drawing the figure and the bunny are picking flowers. The bunny becomes personified and is able to do the same things the figure can.

This is a video where I came back to Jiyeon later in the period. She has begun a new drawing.

In this video the bunnies becomes the central theme. Here the bunnies are holding flowers once again but this time are swimming in a pool. I enjoyed the fact that Rachel interjected in the conversation. This shows how children interact with others while they are creating in their sketchbooks. Rachel gave her interpretation of what she thought Jiyeon meant by swimming. Rachel interpreted that Jiyeon must have a swimming pool at her house and that is where the bunnies would swim. I can then assume that Rachel has a swimming pool at her house or knows someone who does. Upon asking Jiyeon she said she does not have a pool at her house. Through further investigation and luck I found out through Amanda, who works at the YMCA, that Jiyeon takes swimming lessons at the Y at least once a week. This activity is clearly something that is sticking in Jiyoen's mind as she is drawing in her sketchbook. I enjoyed seeing how her other activities cross over.