I'm currently placed at an Elementary charter school in Fort Green, Brooklyn, and this past week I had the pleasure of observing a second grade art class. I ended up sitting down at a table with four second graders- one girl and three boys. The assignment they were working on that day was to draw an animal. They could use markers and pencils to draw their animals and they were also allowed to glue bits of cut up paper to their projects. All of the children were working diligently on their animals but they seemed to be having a good time. One boy, however, started to grow very frustrated because he didn't know what animal he should draw. "Should I draw a panda or should I draw a zebra?" he kept asking the table. His classmates tried to help him decide. "Which animal is your favorite?" they asked. The boy said that his favorite colors were black and white and that he liked both animals so he couldn't decide. He sat and thought without drawing for a few minutes and then his art teacher came over and asked him if he needed help deciding what to draw. He told her his diliemma and she said, "Well, last year I remember you drew a lot of zebras in class. Maybe this year you can try something new and draw a panda!" The boy seemed satisfied with this logic and began to draw a panda.

Before joining the second graders' art class, I would have assumed that any 7-year-old would jump at the chance to try and learn new things.This scenario was interesting to me because it seemed to prove how difficult it was for people of all ages to step out of their comfort zones, take risks and try something new (especially when it comes to art).