The Top 5 Myths About Choice-Based Art Education % %
10 Things No One Tells You About Being a Choice-Based Art Teacher Curriculum Approaches % %
This year I decided to take my lessons and place them in centers by art medium. WOW, have I learned a lot! First, know your Artists! I have worked with this group for 2 going on 3 years and decided, yes my Artists need more choice. Last summer, I spent a lot of time brainstorming and gathering bits of information from TAB to modified to 'woooo' look at what that art teacher just did!!! Have you seen my Pinterest board, it's crazy! In my 8 years of teaching, I have customized my ever-evolving lessons with state & local art standards, new products & techniques and all-in-while providing students with a choice. At least I thought I was.....It all started when I stepped back and looked at the 140+ pieces of a grade level art project and then I looked at the overall 700+ pieces of artwork hanging up in the school....and a list started forming of what choices do I actually provide... Without going into a looonnnggg typed conversation, I was ready to start providing more choice. During summer camp, I did a little test run. I had 6 tables, with different techniques at each and simple steps that gave the students free-range of what he/she wanted to make. The short of it, artists worked too quickly, messes were left and a lot was thrown away. In Aug. 2015, I knew my Artists needed a direction and a finished vs not finished example. I introduced 3 lessons in one day. Yes, short, sweet and to the point. K-5 all listened to art history, watched a demo, and then sketched their idea in a sketchbook in 45 minutes. I mentioned more to 4th and 5th, if they had a different idea on what they wanted to create, then they may sketch that idea. Prepping materials for the first 3 projects was easy drawing, collage and winter scene. Each grade level had a box with project size paper and any extra handouts or special materials. For example the collage table already had paper, glue and scissors ready to go when the next class walked in. I trained table helpers to pick up their colored table folder, pass out sketchbooks and look at the binder Art Studio Steps. Below, is my sort-of started examples for each lesson. This was the 1st week of introducing the art centers. After this I had 18 different lessons a day but really 6 lessons per 3 art materials for 6 weeks. I did this first with drawing, collage and winter scene, and then, watercolors, weaving and clay. (Side note: I will have an all clay week next year because of field trips, holidays, etc. reasons.) Next, we started to create. The first week of art centers was A LOT OF REPEATING MYSELF, but after we got past that, I could see how some artists were following my example, some were taking their time and choosing to do something different (but they were still making a winter scene, or a collage, or a still life etc.), and then there were some, "Mrs. J, I'm finished now what?" They wrote an artists statement (see TPT) glued to back of artwork and I began teaching them how to upload their work to artsonia! Some artists I had them create another..same materials different subject matter. I even came up with a way to change out artwork SUPER QUICK, mounted paper with 2 paper clips. (yes, most times I had to place a small amount of tacky-putty near the bottom of the picture). When I looked at the artwork now, I began to see variety and hardly any looked like my teacher example. Next year, I will mount a colored paper to the artwork before hanging it. I also loved that the students name was always visible, and so did parents/visitors. I need to re-vamp the teacher's name cards next year, give it a little more POP! I could have an artshow at any time. Every class has artwork hanging up all year long. With each class creating a collage or a painting, I had to come up with a way to remind myself which artwork belong to which grade level. So.....I colored coded my drying rack. I found board at lowes, the guy cut 5 sheets of 4x8 feet into 24"x24". I'm placing a colored laminated paper on each board with the grade level on labeled. This to took some training, but even when coming back in on a Monday, I have no trouble remembering which teacher's bucket the artwork goes in, even if it's missing a name. As the new semester begins, I will be introducing 6 new lessons over 2 class sessions. I have placed labels above my tables, made teacher examples that show Day 1 vs Day 2, created an upload station, made free art stations for early finishers (basically ATCs) and re-organized and labeled available materials. Pictures will soon follow.
All resources from the Simply Art Ed TPT store that would be useful to a TAB or choice-based art classroom! These could be used for any grade level, but are ideal for 3rd - 8th.
5 Essential Centers for Choice-Based Classrooms Curriculum Approaches % %
I have had a wonderful 29 years teaching elementary art and 28 of those years took place at New Palestine Elementary. Next year I will be teaching at New Palestine High School where I will have the opportunity to work with many of my former elementary students. The adventure continues! Standing next to 2014 Youth Art Month exhibitors whose work is on display at the Indiana State Capitol.
8 Classroom Management Tips No Choice-Based Teacher Can Be Without Curriculum Approaches % %
Place students at the center of their educational experience as you explore choice-based approaches in the art classroom.
Welcome to our Choice-based Art Studio! This is my first year adventuring into Choice-Art and I couldn't feel more energized ...
Kinders just finished an artist study about Georgia O'Keeffe. After watching a few video clips, reading a few books and having d...
Welcome to our Choice-based Art Studio! This is my first year adventuring into Choice-Art and I couldn't feel more energized ...
Hey fellow art teachers! Ever wonder how to introduce to students to choice based art education? I've gotten so many questions about ju...
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SLOs in the Arts - many schools are implementing Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) as part of defining student growth and teacher evaluation.
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Painless Origami for the Choice-Based Space Physical Space % %
Place students at the center of their educational experience as you explore choice-based approaches in the art classroom.
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My association with Clark Fralick goes back to 1996 when I first met this new hot shot art teacher out of Purdue University who was hired into our district! Clark and I began to teach a gifted and talented class on Wednesdays early in the morning where we would develop one of the first electronic portfolio programs in our state. Later, Clark was putting together summer art camps and invited me to teach in one of them in 2005. That experience evolved into our Blocks Paper Scissors Summer Art Camp program. One of the learning strategies that came out of our camp experience was the concept of the "art game." Art games can be developed or directed by the teacher or the students. Art games can be implemented individually or collaboratively. Art games are wonderful interventions for students who for one reason or another are not creating art. One of the art games that Clark developed that exploded my mind, was marble painting. Marble painting is a one of a kind experience that is multifaceted and can easily be developed with some simple tools. Of course one needs marbles, paper, bottle caps filled with paint and a cardboard box! The cardboard box is tilted from side to side, back and forth, creating gravitational forces to move the paint-covered marbles across the surface of the paper. Plop the marbles into the caps of paint, drop them onto the surface of the paper, now tilt the marble painting box from side to side. Let's see where this activity will lead us? What will happen if I move the box this way or another way? Is this a game? Or is it something else? Marble paintings work with little kids, and they work with big kids! What other mark making games can be devised by the teacher or the students? After I began working at New Palestine High School in 2014, I began experimenting with the facilitation of collaborative games. One group of boys who were energetic varsity baseball players, were very responsive to a game we developed called "U-Draw, I-Draw." This game can be played with simple materials, including pencils, rulers, paints, stamps, stencils and any other mark making material one can get their hands on. The game is simple. I take a turn at drawing a mark or an image on a large piece of paper. I could have a time constraint in order to move the game along. Once I make my mark, I pass it on to the next player. Everybody takes a turn. Now the marks can be connected to other marks. Once we have drawn enough marks, we can begin to paint the spaces. What will the image look like once the spaces have all been painted? The painting process can be achieved with students working simultaneously. Once the work is done, what kind of conversation can we have about this experience? What could we write about this experience? The artist statements will be very interesting! "I draw, U draw," can be played with very simple rules including rules the players create on their own. In this example, the players were very interested in painting in the spaces they had created so they took turns to paint a space so the other players could critique their painting method. This led to a very tightly painted abstract work with lots of hard geometric edges. During the event, we talked about "duende" and it's meaning to the Surrealists. The role of the TAB art teacher is to facilitate art learning that is meaningful to the student. This often means consensual learning. What Clark and I discovered is that when children have ownership of their activity, whether it be a game or an experimental format, consent and the sharing of power about how one directs their activity is incredibly important. What other art games could be developed for children who are reluctant to participate in traditional studio centered art making? Is there power in a collaborative art making experience that affects certain children as opposed to singular activities? The teacher collaborates with a student in a game of "I-Do, U-Do. The teacher introduces the student to stenciling and the concept of layering mark making materials."
A choice-based classroom constantly evolves and improves to provide a productive, innovative environment conducive to all learners. As you reflect upon your practices last school year, it is important
The marble runs were a big hit at the County Art Show. Mrs. Hall, the art teacher at Greenfield Central Junior High School, the host of the show, told me her 7th and 8th graders wanted to make marble runs too! I think the marble runs have provided one of the most satisfying building/construction experiences to our students ever. Working with gravity, slope and basic attachment techniques has never been more gratifying.
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Our WildcatsCreate Choice-based art studio currently houses 8 studio centers. Here is a tour of our current format. To get a glimpse in...
One of the best areas of my room is the free choice station. It immediately answers that usually tricky question, “I’m done. What do I do next?” Setting up a free choice station is a great way to make sure that the creativity keeps flowing in your art room, even when the projects are finished. […]
In the art room we have a chart that looks like this: Each class has their own page. As I circulate around the room, I instruct chil...
This year I have posed a question to my students. Where do art ideas come from? I started a bulletin board where children could write an answer and tack it up for all to see. At first most of the answers were things like "my imagination," "school," "my art teacher".... I started to ask them to be more specific. Are there things in your life, your own unique experience, that would be good ideas for art projects? After they cleaned up their work at the end of class the children began to flock to the board to see how many creative sources they could come up with. It only took a few more specific comments to set the display ablaze with creative thoughts. Now things like "milkshakes," "dinosaur roars," "mermaids," and "the Empire State Building" have found their way into our art room.
Our WildcatsCreate Choice-based art studio currently houses 8 studio centers. Here is a tour of our current format. To get a glimpse in...
Alrighty. Here's a common Art Ed issue that tends to stress us out: What to do with those early finishers? Those kids who genuinely finished their work of art two weeks before everyone else? You know
End of Project Reflection Assessment Design % %
Twenty wide-eyed six-year-olds rush into the art room after patiently waiting outside the hallway. While most of the children gather around ...
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