I have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and my thoughts are centered around my move to high school. I have been running a middle level choice art program for about 5-6 years (lost track), and now I find myself ready to move to our high school next year. This brings up a lot of thoughts about purpose, and goals for my program. In middle school I was focused on building artists, but artists that had lots of time to grow, so my focus was on inspiring them, helping them to see that they were all artists, fighting against societies notion that if you couldn't automatically draw realistically that you were not gifted in art.
Moving to high school, art becomes an elective; whereas in middle school almost every student was in art, some several times! This has gotten me thinking about the purpose of the program. If the middle school program continues to inspire, and help them see that they are artists, then I will see a lot of students. I will really be able to hone their skills as artists, to help them develop and refine artistic behaviors, and truly become independent artists, ready to go out to art colleges, and to other careers where they need to be creative.
As I develop my new curriculum this summer I will keep you updated on the process...things I am thinking about so far:
-Ways to transition Art 1 students to choice by starting with more controlled projects based on the habits and behaviors, transitioning to more and more choice towards the end of the semester
Moving to high school, art becomes an elective; whereas in middle school almost every student was in art, some several times! This has gotten me thinking about the purpose of the program. If the middle school program continues to inspire, and help them see that they are artists, then I will see a lot of students. I will really be able to hone their skills as artists, to help them develop and refine artistic behaviors, and truly become independent artists, ready to go out to art colleges, and to other careers where they need to be creative.
As I develop my new curriculum this summer I will keep you updated on the process...things I am thinking about so far:
-Ways to transition Art 1 students to choice by starting with more controlled projects based on the habits and behaviors, transitioning to more and more choice towards the end of the semester
- Composition
- What is a sketch or practice verses a finished work?
- What are the Elements and Principles for?
- How to appropriately use materials in the art room
I have started work on a website for high school too (UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!)
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