How Drawing Develops Young Writers
IMPORTANCE OF DRAWING:
We all know about the benefits of drawing for children. It’s an ideal way to develop motor and mental skills. It also strengthens their exploratory, psychological, and emotional development. I found that during lockdown we did guided nearly every single day and the results are amazing - just by doing something "fun".When we started with this, some of the students were saying they don't want to because they can't - but man did that change!! I assume it is because there was no interruptions, distractions or other little eyes watching and they didn't have the feeling that they might fail or make a mistake!! I am so proud of what they have achieved.
My thought behind this was that if they can draw with confidence it will lead to having confidence in their oral language and finally lead into writing about it!!
A child can make magic with a few crayons, coloured pencils and paper. Sometimes, they just scribble. Other times, you see how much potential they have when you see their remarkable pieces of art.
Guided drawing:
- Allows children to strengthen both the rational left side of their brain and the emotional and creative traits that correspond to the right side. Plus, they also enjoy doing so. As with games and playing, a child feels the pleasure of the movement that drawing requires.
- Encourages imagination and creativity. Children are not aware that words are written with specific symbols on paper. This is why they’re often fascinated when they look at storybooks full of colours and drawings – it’s the language they understand. With this they can use oral language and talk about their picture - having agency over their work.
- Develops brain-hand-eye coordination. Many of the children that start school do=id not have any exposure to drawing freely and using their imagination therefore they have underdeveloped coordination between their brain, eyes and hand. they still need ample exposure to activities to improve their fine motor skills. With the guided drawings they get a lot of practice. Little by little, the child is perfecting their drawing technique. They’re starting to discover that the movements they make are related to the lines they’re putting on paper.
- Measures the child's growth. There are milestones when it comes to drawing; they’re similar to the stages of child development. The beginning is always chaotic and the child, seemingly, has no control over their strokes. Then their strokes are cleaner. Then, they begin to do pre-schematic drawings until the age of 6. This is the stage of stick figures (a circle that represents the head and two vertical lines that represent the legs).
- Stimulates concentration and promotes careful observation - in simple words - sit and focus. they will organise their ideas which is needed for writing, this will become easier because they are drawing about what they know!!
- Encourages emotional intelligence - children learn how to identify emotions and then later they can express them on paper using colours.
- Relaxes them and helps them forget about the complicated situations they perceive around them. It allows them to do something fun and enjoy themselves.
- Strengthens their self-esteem. Drawing, painting, and colouring all strengthen a child’s self-esteem. Children want to stand out being an artist. It brings them joy and satisfaction. They feel they’re doing something important. When a child shows you a drawing, they do so with great pride. It’s important to always encourage and applaud the creative work of children. Show interest in what they do and talk with them about their drawing - this develops the oral language as well.
- Is never forced - children will develop this on their own pace. We can only encourage and praise every little effort
BRINGING ART INTO THE LITERACY CURRICULUM
- Raise students engagement through the proces of incorporation something they feel as "fun" and building their interest and love of writing
- Picture writing unlocks the imagination, builds confidence, and develops foundational early literacy skills.
- You've likely heard it said that a picture is worth a thousand words. For a developing writer, truer words were never spoken. All this will be developed as pre writers through Ora language about the picture they have drawn.
- Children have an innate sense of creativity. My own children never cease to amaze me with their new ideas and fresh perspectives. Drawing pictures allows children to unleash their imagination on paper.
- When a child draws a picture, he/she is telling a story. A writer is born the first time your child puts crayon to paper. It is our job as adults to get them to express those ideas
- "Picture writing" is an important first step in the writing process. When pre-writers use picture writing, they are expressing ideas through illustrations. As their literacy skills develop over time, the picture will serve as a plan for their writing. A picture sparks ideas, provides details, and serves as a framework for a piece of writing.
- Children learn that they can be a storyteller. that pictures represent words and ideas. Pictures can help them write.
Let's look at some of my students' growth:
This last picture is a little girl that struggles to hold a pencil and couldn't draw a picture. This is truely amazing and look at the colouring!!
MY NEXT STEP I WANT TO EXPLORE AND USE IN TERM 4:
- Oral language - expose the children to more pictures. the aim is to have the picture visible from the morning as they arrive at school. In the beginning they see it but not realising that it is actually a prompt to get them talking. When we have a bot of time before break or lunch I will ask them what they can see and let them talk about it. I believe strongly in think pair share -this helps with the students who are shy to speak in front of the whole class, gradually this will improve. The next day I will have another picture and hopefully one will see it and mention something. the aim is to have them walking up to the picture and start talking to their friends about it without me prompting them!!
- Always using the 5 senses when you are writing makes it more realistic for pre writers because it is something they know about. Developing language experiences is crucial for pre writers. Art is one way to do that. With the daily picture I want to develop confidence and hopefully when we do integrated curriculum art, they will also spontaneously talk about it naturally. This opens the window where they can start exploring their writing because they are comfortable talking about it.
- Start with Sight - easiest to begin with because they just state what they see - next tsep is putting in adjectives into their writing. they will grow their sentences as time passes. they will start using their imagination and realise it is things they already know.
- Hearing - I am the most excited about this one. This will be difficult in the beginning because you can't hear noises from a picture. You have to start using your imagination. Our next step for writing. While talking to a colleague, she mentioned something I really want to try out in my class. With 5 year olds it is hard for them to remember their story and write it down. With my more independent writers I want to let them record their story on Seesaw. They then have the opportunity to listen to it again and try to write down from the recording. This will eliminate the pressures of not having enough time to complete their story.
- After this we explore the other senses and my hope is that they will have more confidence now to use their imagination and their writing will be amazing!!
- Through art, which is a universal language that everyone can understand, we can close off some language gaps with second language students.
