What worked well for this art experience? Why?: 

From my perspective the lesson went well because students were engaged in thinking about the relationship between what they are drawing and what they are thinking about. We wanted students to make a cover that is meaningful to them in some way. Students were engaged in thinking about important things in their life, and they were therefore making meaningful artwork. Students were also thinking about the importance of a sketchbook in the art making process. This also allowed for them to make a meaningful work of art. Similarly, when I was going around asking students questions they were able to articulate what they were thinking about and why that was significant to put on the cover of their sketchbook. This was a sign for me that students were thinking about what they were making, and making meaningful art. 

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What didn't work well for this art experience? Why?: 

The main aspect of this lesson that didn't go well was that students were taking what we had shown them on our sketchbook covers and applying that directly to themselves. While in this case they were still thinking about something that is important to them, they weren't developing their own ideas and way of creatively expressing themselves. This didn't work well because we wanted them to find something that was uniquely meaningful to them. I also think it didn't work well to have this split up into two class periods. Students were only working on pieces of paper on the first day, which made a simple project take longer than we were hoping. 

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What would you do differently? Why? 

I think alongside what didn't go well, I would only go through the process of ideation. This would allow for students to think about possibilities for what they could put on their sketchbook, but not necessarily give them a example to follow. We could ask questions like who is an important person in your life?, What kind of activities do you like to do?, etc. These questions would get students thinking about possibilities, but not necessarily confine them to a specific idea through a specific example. When students are introduced to an example, their mind can sometimes have a more difficult time getting out of that thought pattern. It may be effective to give students a sheet with ideation questions. This way if they are stuck, and can't decide on what they want to do, they can go to the sheet. However, that also allows for students who have already developed their ideas to dive into the making of their sketchbook cover. For the second part, I think it may have been helpful to have students start working directly on their cover of their sketchbook. This would first of all get them in the mode of developing an idea and continuing this development throughout the process. Students wanted to come up with a perfect plan before adding anything to their sketchbook, but if everyone was starting on their sketchbook students would focus on that process, and continue the development of ideas through that process.