There's always the temptation in a competitive culture such as ours to give out awards for students good work. Sounds reasonable enough, but is it a good idea to appraise children's maskworks from the classroom with an adult eye? Recently a nearby country school made masks to celebrate midwinter. Many of the students were juniors. The organiser of the mask project put aside ten small trinklets as prizes. One of the parent-helpers then selected ten favourite masks by popping a red dot on the noses of the masks thought to be the best. "It was a mistake" the organiser later told us..."we then had lots of crying children".
Children aren't seeing the same thing as grownups do. To them it's not a piece of moulded cardboard with glitter on it; they're seeing a star cluster or a winter queen!! The (artistic) child sees with his/her whole mind, whilst most adults have forgotten about the wonky eye view of childhood and can only see surface details. If the child has been allowed to make the mask all by themselves, they will simply adore their own creation. They will believe their character is really real and not to receive an award can be heartbreaking. [For a happy solution see above post]
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