The Continuing Mess!... adjustments needed to improve the experience for all.

October 9th 2016. Harvest Festival

The second mess…….. I painted a work called “plenty” which one little boy came up to me and said…”I think that I like this painting more than your first one”… A great compliment… and a real confidence booster that having met me only once he felt sufficiently comfortable to approach me with his opinions.

Once my room was half full of eager to start public, I closed the door in order to have the formal start that I felt would improve things. The formal start went very well, the younger children understanding that nothing real could appear in the work.

My confidence started to wain when confident adults felt that they could leave the room and the children in my capable hands. Then in came the second cohort who didn’t understand the task and made it clear that my strategy to have a second order start for latecomers was completely flawed. In the first messy church adults stayed and painted jointly or in aprallell. This time they were happy to leave….. which took me away from the role of teacher into the parent hading out wet wiped washing brush handles and basically loosing the purpose of why I was there/ the activity was taking place.

What was successful was that I gave small canvases to the group which facilitated the clearing up procedure. However the new paint stations encouragedpeople to waste large amounts of paint and made washing up an hour and a half nightmare.

Conclusion. A great success to be built on but many things that were right in the first session went wrong….. adults have to support and be vigilant at all times…. can’t take you eye off the ball/ become overly confident when children have paint …… maybe in a few more weeks…??

And it was clear to me that the more I took control, using all my teaching skills and authority …the better the response/ result. Discuss this with Helen not to over step!! CRB Forms. One Formal Start. Clear Direction to the Theme. Throw away cling over the palletes. Small tubes of paint discouraging waste. All children with an adult. Adult helpers with specific tasks Paper Towels, Fresh Water Paint Mixing, Brush Holding….leaving me to circulate, formally assess work in progress and ensure a positive outcome for all participants. Plenary….link to start etc….