Knowing your students will help you craft your teaching approach.
“L” on Facebook says, “One of the major areas my students struggle with is keen observation. They don't necessarily see the small nuances in value change or follow the slight curve of the contoured line.”
As an art educator I know that blind drawing is a great exercise to build eye-hand coordination, but when I replied with that, “L” said, “but they do not take the time to do this properly. I'm wanting them to actually start seeing. The majority of the kids I have do NOT care one thing about being in art. I need them invested from the very first week.”
We, as at teachers, love art. We love to dig deep, seek nuance, strive to build our skills. The act of creation is it’s own reward. THIS IS NOT NORMAL. Less than 2% of our students will go on to an art-related career so an academic approach to art will only resonate with 2% of our students and turn off the other 98% in a public-school setting. Instead of focusing in on skills and the ability to draw accurately, my advice to this teacher is to design projects that will connect with student where they can express themselves and learn something (elements/principles/techniques/history) along the way. This is the focus of my entire blog and detailed in my book.
If you are teaching an advanced class and all the students have selected art, that’s a very different class than one full of students who must take a semester of art to fulfill a district requirement. We need to be keenly aware of our “audience.” The wrong approach will alienate your students, and frustrate yourself.
The following chart lists 10 major modes of art education though there are likely many more individual styles and combinations as well. Art is a creative subject, so one must assume that teachers may unitize many modes of imparting that knowledge. The way one teaches Origami may necessarily be very different that how one might teach a unit on Abstract Expressionism and using colors and shapes to express emotion.
As an art educator I know that blind drawing is a great exercise to build eye-hand coordination, but when I replied with that, “L” said, “but they do not take the time to do this properly. I'm wanting them to actually start seeing. The majority of the kids I have do NOT care one thing about being in art. I need them invested from the very first week.”
We, as at teachers, love art. We love to dig deep, seek nuance, strive to build our skills. The act of creation is it’s own reward. THIS IS NOT NORMAL. Less than 2% of our students will go on to an art-related career so an academic approach to art will only resonate with 2% of our students and turn off the other 98% in a public-school setting. Instead of focusing in on skills and the ability to draw accurately, my advice to this teacher is to design projects that will connect with student where they can express themselves and learn something (elements/principles/techniques/history) along the way. This is the focus of my entire blog and detailed in my book.
If you are teaching an advanced class and all the students have selected art, that’s a very different class than one full of students who must take a semester of art to fulfill a district requirement. We need to be keenly aware of our “audience.” The wrong approach will alienate your students, and frustrate yourself.
The following chart lists 10 major modes of art education though there are likely many more individual styles and combinations as well. Art is a creative subject, so one must assume that teachers may unitize many modes of imparting that knowledge. The way one teaches Origami may necessarily be very different that how one might teach a unit on Abstract Expressionism and using colors and shapes to express emotion.
Loosely, this chart is organized from the least amount of student choice with pre-packaged lessons to the most amount of choice with TAB explorations, or least student-driven to completely student-driven.
DBAE is listed as one of the least student-driven modes, but one can incorporate more choice as they plan the lesson with open-ended opportunities for choice. For example, a skill you may wish to teach could be illustration, so having students create comic book cover parodies would allow students the opportunity to focus on a character they like. They could create their own, draw a mash-up of two characters that might not normally be paired, or explore themselves as a hero or villain. Student choice can be injected to a greater degree in all modes.
As an educator, you can explore the positives and negatives of each and build your own unique program that plays to your strengths. Each mode, except the first, has something valuable to offer our students. Knowing your students will help you select an approach to meet their needs.
DBAE is listed as one of the least student-driven modes, but one can incorporate more choice as they plan the lesson with open-ended opportunities for choice. For example, a skill you may wish to teach could be illustration, so having students create comic book cover parodies would allow students the opportunity to focus on a character they like. They could create their own, draw a mash-up of two characters that might not normally be paired, or explore themselves as a hero or villain. Student choice can be injected to a greater degree in all modes.
As an educator, you can explore the positives and negatives of each and build your own unique program that plays to your strengths. Each mode, except the first, has something valuable to offer our students. Knowing your students will help you select an approach to meet their needs.
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