Reporter: Najirah R.

Macay
Mindanao State University- Main Campus
Marawi City
College of Education
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Strategies for Engagement and Getting Inspiration

"We have got to work on keeping these children engaged with the world."
- Temple Grandin
One of the struggles that art teachers encounter in school is that some students are not
motivated enough to participate. Some students do not exert effort and do not finish within the
deadline resulting in incomplete output. Some hurry for the sake of completing the task resulting
in rushed work.
Children engage more in their art creation process if they love and believe in what they
do. As an elementary art teacher, it is important to be sensitive to your students' thoughts and
feelings. The goal of art for young students is for self-expression. If children realize that their
artwork can be a tool to showcase some of their ideas, they will be more likely to enjoy and give
more heart in creating their work. And where do they get these ideas? These can come from their
personal experiences or feelings they encounter from their environment.

Maisie proudly presents her work about herself. She paints the letter M, which is the first letter of
her name. Children take pride of their work and tend to engage more if the topic is about them or their
interests.
 When introducing a lesson, an artist, technique, or concept, it is important to use different
approaches and relate how these are relevant in their daily lives. Also, keep in mind that the
artists or culture that you are featuring also got their inspiration based on their own thoughts and
experiences so they will have more understanding of why should they also put some heart into
their own creation. A "hook" is the introductory part of the lesson where you will try to get the
attention of the students. The art teacher should set the mood of the class to get the students
ready. The goal of the teacher in this part of the lesson is to engage the students and bring out
their personality and creativity. This is better than making students work hard for grades or for
other external rewards. As art teachers, we should try our best to elicit intrinsic motivation. When
children are engaged, it makes teaching art a lot easier because students enjoy working for
themselves.
The following are some things to consider when planning your lesson.
Examples Sample Goals and Activities
Relate the lesson or technique Q and A (Landscape painting and
to their own experiences; composition) Who among
interests, and prior Start with a question that you have lived in the
knowledge. arouses their curiosity. provinces? What can you see?
Inquire and probe. Ask them Can you describe life in your
what they already know. grandma's barrio?
"Note that children have Use relevant videos, icons, or (Printmaking: rubbing,
limited experiences, so it is topics. stencils, or texture prints)
best if you relate abstract Show a short video clip from
concepts to something that is Find a story/cartoon the movie Jurassic Park or a
tangible, or they have character/toy that is similar or cartoon version featuring a
experienced. relevant to the featured artist. dinosaur footprint fossil.
The material or icon to be
used should be relatable and
experienced firsthand by the
student. It should be concrete
and easy to grasp so children
can understand. (Create a human figure using
clay sculpture found objects,
and recycled materials) Show
a video clip of the creation of
Olaf (snowman from the
movie Frozen and discuss
how the girls formed spheres
to make the body and found
objects such as twigs to make
the arms, etc. This may be
cliche, but children can relate
and engage more with their
 work. You can proceed
afterward with the actual
video on clay sculpture.
Give students an opportunity Show-and-tell. (Painting animals) Who has a
to choose and express pet? What is your favorite
themselves. Let them talk about animal? Can you tell us why
themselves. This is good it is your favorite?
Try to find at least one aspect practice for communication, Who has a (happy/sad)
of the activity where they can listening, and encouraging memorable experience with
choose and exercise freedom, respect. an animal?
even if it is a teacher-directed Exercise choice. (Drawing Philippine houses)
activity. Let them choose the reference
Acknowledge their Give students an opportunity photos to be copied.
experiences and thoughts. to choose and develop their
own style. Examples: nighttime/daytime,
colored or monochrome, with
Examples are choosing colors background or none. It can
to use or adding/remove an also be a place where they
element. have been, or a house of their
thinking of a theme. grandparents, etc.
Freestyle activities (Printmaking) Produce
original design to silkscreen
Ask the students what is the printing to convey a message
first thing that comes to their or statement.
mind about a certain topic or
issue. Let them doodle/sketch Example: What comes to
it from their imagination your mind when you think
without judgement about natural disasters in the
Philippines? How can you
help? Think of an object or a
symbol that you can relate it
with.
Explore multiple intelligences Song and Dance (Mask making) Play a video
and approaches introducing about the Masskara Festival
your lesson. Start your lesson with music and ask students to copy the
and movement. dance or the movement.
Games (Graphic design and logo
making) Guess the name of
Play a physical game, the famous companies based
guessing game or role-play. on their logo or role-play or
sing their famous commercial
Aside from discussing the Art Story (Arts and crafts in
module, lessons from their MIMAROPA) Use a map of
English, Math, or Science Read a story or poem from a the Philippines and discuss
class can also be used as book or collaborate with geography and places as
springboard to relate the art other subject teachers to introduction to the culture of
activity to the lesson. discuss their lesson (English, the Mangyan.
History, Math, Science, TLE,
etc.).