Middle School
Learning Through
Competing
Maggie Tucker
Here it is, late November,
and I am sitting on art
show deadlines for my
middle school classes.
There are many events to be considered, from the local newspaper’s
“Design an Ad” to our Regional
Junior Scholastics. Considering the
possible payoff, as well as the more
probable rejection, is it developmentally appropriate to subject my students to competition? Is this a learnable skill, just like contour drawing?
And if it is, what is the best way to
teach it?
These are the considerations I
face after more than eight years of
teaching art at the middle school
level. I remember all too well the
faces of my eighth-grade students
last year upon
learning that
a fellow classmate won an
award for (in
their opinion)
lesser work. Or the moment my
leading student-artist, the one I was
sure would win a gold medal in the
Regional Scholastics, didn’t place at
all. Left with the awful feeling that
I had introduced pain without remedy, I resolved to approach this year
differently.
ground themselves in how different
art competitions work. For example,
a panel of three artists evaluates
our Regional Scholastics. The student art is judged “blind,” by media
category, using
By mid-year, my class of a six-step rubric.
Assistants in the
eighth graders has coalesced competition will
into a caring team. pick up a piece,
hold it for the
judges’ review, and bring it closer if
the judges so desire.
Preparation for my students
really begins with their work in
the sixth grade. Not only do they
evaluate their own work with each
project, using appropriate rubrics,
but we also affirm our individuality
in class-wide reviews throughout
studio practice until the culminating critiques. The shyest among my
students learn to share the vision
that compels their work. By eighth
Preparing for Competition
Just as coaches never let athletes
prepare without a clear understanding of the rules, my students now
