(watercolor in a spray bottle) and showed the kids where to put their paper to dry before I did the rest of the lesson. This would have left me free to help more with their graffiti tag art and not have to supervise the paint table. Now I know. We weren't trying to spraypaint a message, just get some color on the newspaper.
Before they could start their letters, we measured the paper and marked the center. Then we wrote our names (whatever they were using for their tag) in the upper corner of the paper, counted the letters, and put the middle letter in the center of the paper. (They should know how to do this so their posters and book reports turn out better too). I showed them how to do simple block letters and let them make them outrageous (arrows, flames, etc...) I emphasized that graffiti is bold so letters should be nice and fat, and they should touch or overlap. I also showed them how to do a drop shadow - they really like that part although it's hard. I have a ton of scratch paper that I've saved from the other teachers and this is what we used to do our art. This worked very well for this type of activity, then the kids felt free to keep trying and practicing until they got it right.
This took two lessons, some students had a lot a free time during the second lesson. I let them free draw. I also reminded them that they could add other grafftiti elements to their newspaper - there is plenty of room. And some kids did keep embellishing it. I didn't say no guns or gang symbols, I just waited to see what they did and I never had to tell a student that theirs was inappropriate. H. Corin
