This week we received a great letter from an art teacher in Arizona who teaches 7th grade students about architecture.
Thank you for noting our work and letting us know what you are doing! This teacher works with her students on a 9 week rotation teaching them about architecture.
“Wall Posters”
The students draw on the walls (the walls are covered with an erasable paint) and they have drawn some great images, called “wall posters”. See the one here, with the Sears Tower (oops, I mean the Willis Tower – us Chicagoans often find it difficult to call the tall tower by the new name.) What a great pun to have a big needle piercing the top of the structure as the illustration tells about the fact that the World Trade Center is only taller because of the height of the needles atop of them. The students draw these “wall posters” and then they talk about them in front of the class.
The wall posters are a great idea. They display work very publicly, but they are also temporary, so the kids can draw something without feeling too precious about it. Rather, it can be like a sketch and they can keep drawing and redrawing it to improve their ideas and their drawing skills. And it can be LARGE. Of course you can photograph any drawing too, so it can last electronically.
The idea of integrating drawing and storytelling with the study of architecture is fun and exciting for us to see in action. We highly recommend it and so does this great art teacher. Thanks to you, Ms. Blocker and your students!
This site, Remodelista, has a good article about painting the walls with Dry-Erase paint. That is one way to make a wall ready for “wall posters.” Find the dry erase paint here: [amazon_link id=”B000PGBCOC” target=”_blank” ]Rust-Oleum 241140 Dry Erase Brush-On Kit, White[/amazon_link]