3 reasons why we are different

Go Sketch Club is different and proud of it :)

Some of you may have been followers and supporters of Go Sketch Club for a while now (we started over 10 years ago) and some may be new to us. Welcome to all and thank you so much for your support.

Those who are new may not know that we teach art slightly differently here at Go Sketch Club. It all started when I was teaching as a primary school teacher over 10 years ago and found there were a few issues with the way schools sometimes teach art.

1. Many schools (and youtube videos) teach a step by step approach so all children follow along and create the same drawing.

2. There often was not a lot of time in the timetable dedicated to the arts (not the schools fault as there is far too much to fit into a school day)

3. I sometimes saw some teachers drawing over children's artwork to 'make it better' for display (I know! Ouch!)

So about 10 years ago I set up Go Sketch and from the very beginning I wanted to teach art differently.

How I teach art differently

1. Although step by step has it's place for learning some skills, art should be about learning to think and make decisions like an artist so we don't do any step by step. Instead we teach the skills and then give the children the freedom to use those skills however they like.

2. We focus on confidence building by encouraging children to take risks and have a go while building resilience if a drawing doesn't go the way they wanted it to. This is made easier by not doing step by step so instead of comparing their drawing to others (as they are all the same) they get the sense of achievement and excitement when they develop their own idea.

3. We don't talk about 'talent' as a magical gift that only a select few are born with. Instead we acknowledge that everyone likes different art and that one way of drawing is not better than another. The trick is to decide what style you would like to draw in and then practice all the time until you are happy with what you are creating. This creates an inclusive rather than an exclusive atmosphere in our classes.

If you think this approach would work well with your children (and maybe you also!) then why not join one of our courses.

Check out our live classes, pre-recorded class and even our teacher training sessions if you work in schools at gosketchclub.com