Paper products: creativity is step to business success - on the Art Career Track - art project

MATERIALS

* White and colored paper

* Scissors, tape, markers and staplers

* Computers and printers

* Fake money

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will ...

* learn to work in a cooperative group sharing ideas, teamwork and social interaction.

* continue development of their independent thinking skills, depending less on the teacher direction and more on their own self-reliance.

* potentially accomplish Goal 4 or 5 of the visual arts standard framework: Goal 4 "Students create original artworks based on personal experiences or responses"; Goal 5 "Students develop skills in the visual arts and appreciation for using the visual arts in lifelong learning."

In my "Business Exploratory" classes, I challenge my students to create out of paper a product that they will sell during an in-class swap meet. It's part of my 10-week class where I teach sixth- and seventh-graders how to start a business. Business itself is a creative process: An entrepreneur creates a business from nothing, fulfills a need and provides jobs, as well as earns a living.

It all starts with an idea and after I place my students in groups or "partnerships," I ask them to develop a product. I hold up a blank sheet of white paper and tell them that this is their natural resource for the product; in a week they will be asked to try and sell the product at a spot in the room to other students in the class using fake money. I give each group a few sheets to use as "prototype" paper where they can practice their designing. They can use as much prototype paper as they need.

While I have white and colored paper at school, some students want to use their own paper: index cards, tissue paper or bright-colored sheets. I am always amazed at the ideas the students generate. The more unique the product idea, the better it will sell. Some of the best-selling ideas include paper flowers, stickers, magnetic-backed pictures (I never said they could not add something that was not paper to the paper), skateboard ramps made out of cardboard, paper picture frames, cardboard animals, origami and jewelry.

A few students will develop drawings and sketches or fancy lettering to sell. Some create basketball, football or penny-toss games, or their own game for the class to play. Each group of students is unique.

This project works with both grade levels, but the sixth-graders seem to get the most passionate about developing the business, but seventh-graders do well also.

Once they have a product idea and have made a prototype, the group checks with me to see if they can continue that idea into production. I will allow most product ideas to be mass-produced for the swap meet. I have only a few rules: First, no too-simple products. Some students want to avoid using their imagination and make paper airplanes, helicopters or "poppers"--if students can easily make the same product, they will not buy it. Plus, some products like "poppers" can be annoying. Second, I do not allow them to add candy to the product--students end up buying the product just for the candy.

Other than that, the only rules in place are the ones they set on themselves and their imagination. Some students will stay safe and just use the paper, glue, markers, stapler and scissors that I supply, while other groups will allow their imagination to expand in unlimited ways.

Paper comes in many colors, shapes and forms, such as cardboard, index cards and tissue. They can also add things to the paper, including pipe cleaners, straws and magnets. Some students generate artwork on the computer using graphics programs at home or school. Some go on the Internet looking for ideas.

My mission is to not limit my students--to allow their imaginations to take them where they want to go, without excess rules or teacher examples. It helps when I'm passionate about the creative process and constantly challenging them. Some groups will struggle for an idea, so I do have a box of "products," bought over the years, that students can rummage through for ideas. But "the box" does not come out until the group has had sufficient time to create a product idea on their own. I will offer some suggestions if it's obvious that the group needs help, but most groups have no trouble thinking of products that would sell.

After they have developed an idea, made enough products to sell, and created a small poster advertising their product, we set up a swap meet in the room, with each group getting a "booth" (desks put together), and I give each student $20 in "Baxter bucks" to spend on products. The ultimate satisfaction to the student is not the grade they receive, but that their product sells at the swap meet.

I found that classes with students who have family or friends that own businesses appear to get more involved in the project than those that don't. However, I believe all students should be given an opportunity to experience this creative process.

Students are only constrained by their own limits or teacher limits set on their imagination, so let students create without boundaries and see where it takes them. As Albert Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge."

John Baxter teaches English and Business Exploratory classes at Valley View Middle School in Simi Valley, Calif. He also serves as the yearbook advisor.

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COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group