Realizing your art class dreams this year!
One of the greatest parts about working in education is that each new school year brings with it a blank slate with a slew of possibilities. For teachers and administrators, the new year starts in September, not January. As we approach our new year, consider focusing your attention on making your visual arts program as effective and empowering as it can be. Take some time to reflect upon whether the arts are visible in the way your students approach class discussions, problem-solving, collaboration and art-making across subjects. A really good art program infuses its teachings in the way students talk and work; not just in finished pieces of artwork hanging in the hallways (although we love these too!). Here are some quick tips below for realizing your art class potential:
Better materials!
If you cook with subpar ingredients, it’s really difficult to make delicious food. It’s the same in the art room. Using paint, drawing tools and especially paper that’s lower quality not only results in less vivid colors, wrinkled paper, and broken lines but more importantly deprives your students of an authentic art-making experience: working with, respecting and caring for higher grade materials and tools.
Differentiated products
The tell-tale sign of any high quality art class is having finished pieces of artwork that look different from each other. Artists should be encouraged to approach each material and method in their own way, empowering them to guide their own artistic process and have a sense of ownership over their decisions.
Language
Students should be fluent in the language of art-making, meaning they can easily describe the materials they’re exploring and explain their artistic choices. This can happen with classroom art shows at the end of a project, mid-process class discussions or 1-1’s with their art teacher but no matter what, artists should be creating AND talking about their creations.
At Scribble, we are rapidly expanding our reach within schools and would love to provide you with one of our teaching artists or professional development. Our teaching artists use a research-based curriculum developed by master teachers, an approach that has proven effective over our 12 years of implementing programming in schools and only the best art materials! If you’re not yet ready for a partnership, we’d be happy to offer you professional development. We love working with art teachers to ramp up their curriculum, give feedback on their practice or expose them to new materials through art-making workshops.
Email us for more information and happy new (school) year!