OOPS!!!

Implementing the "Oops Box!" to keep students from thrashing their artwork.

The Issue:

Do you students throw away six pieces of paper during class after making one or two lines? Mine did too. Ugh! How do you explain to students that their work can develop and grow? Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean the whole paper needs to be trashed. I found a solution.

The Inspiration:

Did you ever read this book?

Well if not, you should.

This book talks about how you can turn a mistake into a work of art by making it a "beautiful oops." One of my favorite pages is the one where there is a rip in the page, and it is turned into the mouth of an alligator. Students love this book. It was the inspiration for the "Oops Box!"

The Idea:

I needed to encourage students to use less paper, and inspire them to work longer on their art work. The idea was this: I would create a box where students could put work that they didn't want to work on anymore or that they made a mistake on. This art work could then be taken by another student and used to make a work of art, or to sketch out ideas.

The Installation:

It wasn't hard to find a box for the work to go in, but I needed the students to own it, and make it their own, so I passed the box around a couple of classes and had them decorate it and make it beautiful. Then I filled it with all the art works that had collected in the collage and recycle bin. It was very full.

The Introduction:

I introduced it in the front of every class with enthusiasm:

"You have this really cool new thing in your classroom. It is called the 'Oops Box!' If you have artwork that you no longer want to work on, you should put it in here, and someone else can turn it into a 'beautiful oops.' If you are looking for something to do in class today, come over and check out some of the papers in here. One of them might inspire you."

For some students, this was all they needed to get started, and they began to grab things out of the "Oops box!" all the time. For others, I had to push a little more:

"I'm bored!" they would exclaim.

"Can I give you a challenge?"

"Okay," It was rare for someone to not want a challenge. If I gave them the challenge, and they didn't want to do it, that was fine. But it was still worth hearing.

"Let's go look through the 'Oops Box!' together."

Before too long, they would find an artwork in there that they thought was really cool and they would state: "This isn't an Oops! This is cool!" They would take it back to their desk and start the job of making it their own.

The Initiation:

I can't say that it went perfectly to begin with. Some students still needed an extra push not just to take work out of the "Oops Box!" but to put their unwanted work in it instead of the recycling. I needed to create some hype. I had a plan. One of my students walked over to the recycle bin one day to throw out her painting. I looked at her and said, "Wait!"

"What?"

"Is this something that can be turned into a 'beautiful oops?'"

"No."

"Can I turn it into a beautiful oops?" She was immediately intrigued, and agreed to let me have the painting. I asked her to sign it first. The result is below:

She was so excited to see it and it made her start pulling art out of the "Oops Box!" immediately. She also started to encourage other students to do the same. She was so excited that a work of hers had become "Cool!" I think she will carry this experience

with her for some time.

The End:

Some students got really into the "Oops Box!" One of them even used most of the box on one project about how not all art is beautiful to everyone, but that doesn't mean it isn't beautiful. Here is her work: