An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

Emily Hankins
University of Missouri

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

Watching a child draw can honestly tell you so much about them personally, and how
they will be most successful in their learning. From Esiners article, Ten Lessons the Arts Teach,
the arts help children learn to say what cannot be said (Esiner, 2002, p. 3). This is so true.
Young kids do not always know how to express their emotions in words, and using art is a
fantastic way for students to feel comfortable talking about themselves. This is key for teachers
in order to get to know their students on a more personal level. Working with such young
students, it is so important to develop their language skills in order to express their feelings and
talk about themselves. In Lowenfelds article, What Education Can Learn from the Arts, it is
stated that education can learn from the arts that the limits of language are not the limits of
cognition. We know more than we can tell (Lowenfeld, 2009, p. 6). Art is such a crucial way to
develop this language skill at a young age because these students are so capable and need an
outlet to grow and learn, and art integration can do just that.
Method
For this study, I asked a student in my 1st grade host classroom, named Lucy
(pseudonym) to draw me a picture of her family. The reason that I selected Lucy for my study
was because my host teacher decided that she would be the best student for this interview. Lucy
really enjoys to draw, and she is very good at it. My host teacher gave me 15 minutes to
complete this interview. As Lucy began to draw, the conversation took a natural turn. She began
to tell me about her family, all the members, what they look like, what they enjoy doing. We
spent the next 12 minutes chatting about her family, while she drew her picture. Lucy told me
that her parents are divorced, and both her mom and dad have another partner. She explained this
to me and included her parents second partners in the picture, describing them both in great

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

detail. I did not have to ask Lucy many questions, as she is a very talkative kid. When the
conversation did fall silent, I prodded the conversation by asking her questions about specific
people in her family. I asked her to describe her dad to me, and Lucy proceeded to tell me that
her and her dad have the same color eyes and hair, and she often times gets told that she looks
like her dad.
Findings
Lucy spent pretty much the entire 15 minutes drawing this picture of her family, and she would
have kept going, had I given her the chance.

When I asked Lucy to draw a picture of her family, she immediately began drawing herself
immediately. While drawing herself she talked a lot about what she looks like, and how she plays
a role in her family. Lucy is a first grader, and therefore she thinks very egotistically, so when

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

asked to draw her whole family she immediately wanted to draw herself first. Lucy then
proceeded to draw her younger sister, who is depicted as wearing silly glasses with a fake nose
and a mustache. While Lucy was drawing this, I asked her what her sister was wearing, and she
told me about how her sister often times wears these silly glasses, because she wants to look like
Lucy (who also wears regular glasses). The other people that Lucy included in her drawing were
her dad, step mom, step dad, sister, and her best friend. While Lucy was drawing her family, she
focused a lot on the bodies of her people, and less on their faces. I had to ask her if she was going
to give her families faces, before she did it herself. She also spent a lot of time on everyones
hair. She made sure that each member of the family was portrayed with an accurate
representation of their actual hairstyles, and then she proceeded to tell me about all of their
hairstyles.
As a future educator, watching and talking to Lucy about her drawing gave me some
insight as to how her family is structured, and how she views her family. Lucy is a very quirky,
full of energy for a student, and watching her draw this picture I was able to witness how her
brain works, artistically and in the classroom. I was also able to gain insight into how Lucy
learns; she told me, sometimes my body wiggles, and I cant write or draw. It wiggles when I
am scared. When I was observing Lucy in class, I noticed that she wiggled quite often, simply
because she is antsy and needs to move around, and I thought it was really cool that this was
brought to my attention during the drawing interview.
After working with and observing Lucy I decided that she is in the schematic stage of her
life. Lucy drew the bodies of her family members with rectangles for the midsections, circles for
the heads, and long ovals for the legs and arms because the bodies are usually made up of
geometric shapes in the schematic stage (Brittain & Lowenfeld, 1970, p. 476). Also while

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

observing Lucy draw I realized that although every family member that she drew had slightly
different characteristics, the same general figures were created each time. This is because in the
schematic stage, children have a repeated schema for creating people (Brittain & Lowenfeld,
1970, p. 476).
Conclusion
As I have learned thus far in the semester, and witnessed first hand during my art
interview with Lucy, integrating art into the classroom, lesson plans, and learning in general can
benefit students greatly. As a future educator, understanding how art development and meaning
making in the classroom is very important. By understanding how to integrate art into the
classroom, I feel that my students will be able to think critically and creatively. I believe that
using art to enrich your lesson plans can enthrall your students and push them to think outside of
the everyday class box. When understanding the artistic aspect of students learning, and
curriculum, I will be able to really get to know my students and find ways that they can learn
most successfully. After completing this task, I want to strive to have a more creative
environment in my future classroom, so that all of my students will feel comfortable letting their
minds wander.

An Analysis of a 1st Grade Masterpiece

References

Brittain, W.L & V. Lowenfeld. (1970) Creative and Mental Growth. New York, NY.
MacMillian Co. pgs 474-479.
Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts of the Creation of Mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Lowenfeld. (2009) What education can learn from the arts. Art Education, 6-9.