It’s soccer season and basketball season at the high school. For some reason, they are taking these kids out of class a couple of times a week, before or right when the get to my 7th period class. It was never this bad with football – usually they’d leave 10 or 15 minutes early, max.

I’ve created some art assignments the students can do at home to make up the points missed in class. I rarely give homework, but when sports collide with academics, the kids have to take extra homework into consideration. Some of them are whining, of course. They think that extracurricular activities trump curricular.

These sheets ask the student to draw an image from a photograph which has visual interest and good contrast. Students are asked to draw the full range of values, and to use their pencils to measure the correct angles and proportions. No tracing is allowed. These assignments can be used as one-day lessons or for regular homework too.

I took all the photos. Teachers are welcome to use them within their curricula. I otherwise retain all copyrights to the photos.

Click on the image below to download all 6 assignment sheets in PDF (3.3 MB).

UPDATE 2/4/07: Student Work

Many students have completed these makeup worksheets now. A handful of students have tried to get away with about 20-30 minutes work on a drawing, thinking I wouldn’t know the difference. I do. Here are some examples from students who did spend the time needed paying attention to value and detail:

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Classroom Distinctions by Tom Moore, New York Times.

IN the past year or so I have seen Matthew Perry drink 30 cartons of milk, Ted Danson explain the difference between a rook and a pawn, and Hilary Swank remind us that white teachers still can’t dance or jive talk. In other words, I have been confronted by distorted images of my own profession — teaching. Teaching the post-desegregation urban poor, to be precise.

Although my friends and family (who should all know better) continue to ask me whether my job is similar to these movies, I find it hard to recognize myself or my students in them.

So what are these films really about? And what do they teach us about teachers? Are we heroes, villains, bullies, fools? The time has come to set the class record straight.

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This morning, I’ve got 6th and 7th graders comparing the merits of various horror movies such as The Ring 2, Wolf Creek, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  I guess it was common for kids this age to watch R rated horror movies when I was a kid, but I think movies are far more gruesome nowadays.

I saw Wolf Creek. It was good, and it was scary. It’s got some very gory moments. It’s not for 12-year-olds.

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