Art Therapy

After watching the students in my class get so stressed over practice ISTEP tests, and just their general work load, I wondered about letting them do art projects simply to calm them down. I wish that I had the opportunity to actually implement this with my students, but even though I didn't, I wanted to do some research on the topic.

Art has always been a fairly soothing activity for me, right up until I decided I hated whatever piece I was working on and simply wanted to finish it so I could move on with my life. I saw the same thing with my students. Every time they were given an assignment that had any artistic element to it, they focused all their attention on it until they were told their time was up. It was incredible to see on their faces what I had been feeling my entire life: the relief of stress by the simple action of forcing everything other than the piece you're working on out of your mind.

Personally, I call it allowing my brain to shut off for a while. I don't even notice it happening; I'll be working on a project, thinking about one thing or the next, and suddenly it will be minutes or hours later and I'll have a finished piece and no recollection of how I spent my time. I get so focused on the movements of my hands as I work whatever medium I'm using into whatever picture I had in mind when I started that my brain just goes blank.

It's an amazing feeling to me to "wake up" after hours of working with a stiff neck and aching back, but also visible progress. I think that's part of why I love art so much, it's something you can gauge visually. The progress you make learning new skills in the classroom tends to be very abstract, something you can't actually see because it's all in your head. Art is different, art is tangible.

Livestrong.com has several ideas for reducing stress in the classroom, including art activities. Stress Relief Choices has an Art Therapy page for adults that has art exercises that could easily be adapted for the classroom to give students a few minutes to just relax.

I am a firm believer that teachers can easily give students free relaxation art time while still covering standards and teaching other subjects. Just because they don't know they're learning doesn't mean you can't find a way to teach them new skills; it just takes a little bit of digging to find the perfect activity.