The first lesson was an introduction to diptychs. I started each class by verbally explaining the word diptych. I had the definition written on the board and had each student copy the definition into their notebooks so they could reference it at any time. Then I showed examples of diptychs from a collection of photographs online. I facilitated discussions around each example, asking students what kind of stories they saw in those diptychs. From this exercise, students seemed to understand the concept of diptychs. They were able to describe a story for each example diptych I presented.

Some students even came up with their own ideas for diptychs after our discussion. While I very much welcomed their originality, and normally I would have allowed them to use their own ideas for the final project, I had already planned their diptych images because I wanted them to focus on different types of collages in their diptychs. Although in retrospect, I could have still allowed for more student creativity and independence with this project as the objective was more about creating different types of collages for a diptych not recreating the same image. That is one element of this project that I could change for the future.

Moving onto the first type of collage using construction paper, I first had students make thumbnail sketches of reference images. Then I had them re-draw those same images, this time transforming the objects in the images into simple geometric shapes. Finally, they cut out pieces of construction paper into those geometric shapes and glued them down right onto their sketches. This activity was intended for students to get practice transforming reference images into simple geometric shapes, and using construction paper to re-create those reference images as a collage. Given that with past projects students complained about having the first attempt as the final project, I thought they would benefit from making drafts before creating their final project. However, most of my students were bored by the practice collages and did not take them seriously. They also complained about having to make drafts of their work before making the final project.

Ultimately, their lack of effort with the practice collages resulted in them not recreating their final reference image to the level of quality that I was expecting. Many students were not adding a lot of detail to their collages, instead simply gluing down large chunks of construction paper to represent small aspects of their reference images (i.e., one large circle of brown for a face instead of adding bits of construction paper for the eyes, nose, etc.). I realize that perhaps the way I had structured the practice collages (i.e., recreate a reference image using simple geometric shapes) may not have lent itself to setting my students up to meet the expectations I set for the final collages (i.e., recreate a reference image using complex shapes).

A few students, both those with learning difficulties and not, really struggled to make collages with construction paper. One student even commented something to the effect of “this is for kindergarteners. There’s no way I’m doing this.” I allowed her to paint her final project instead of creating a collage because the goal for the entire unit was for students to create a diptych in which they recreate one reference image in two different ways. If she wanted one of those ways to be recreating with paint, that was acceptable. Along with allowing for more modifications in the materials that some students use for their collages, I would plan this part of the diptych project differently in that the practice collages are focused differently. I could either have them be more intricate and include more details, or I could have the final collage be more cubism-like so the simple geometric shapes are used more intentionally.

When students began their magazine collages, they initially struggled to apply the magazine paper in a collage fashion. Instead of finding appropriate parts of magazine images to fill a space in their reference image (i.e., using small pieces to make a whole), many students were trying to find the exact image from their reference in the magazines (i.e., looking for an actual eye instead of finding brown, white, and black pieces to create the eye themselves). My belief is that because of that misconception about collaging with magazine paper, students were less focused on finding matching textures and more focused on finding matching colors. Perhaps they were also too concerned with looking at the colors in their reference images instead of the possible textures.

Despite some of these shortcomings, many students were able to create diptychs with beautiful collages. Although not all of them finished their projects, even those that were partially finished have a clear potential for excellence. This is a project I would do again, but I would have to restructure my activities to be a bit more intentional for the future.