Teaching Artistic Behaviors in Art Class

This year the DGS art program has seen some changes. Most notably is a change from a more traditional art room to one that is more student directed. You may have noticed that the work your child/children bring home is substantially different from years past. In the past all students in a particular class or grade level did work of a similar theme and they usually ended up looking quite similar to everyone else’s in that class/grade level. This year students are given an introduction to materials and/or techniques and then the students choose how to apply that information in a way that becomes more personal. The room is broken up into different stations (centers) and the students choose to draw, paint, collage, or work with clay as they see fit. Decision making, problem solving, creativity, and “choice” are central to how we are doing things now. Students are now making authentic child art instead of things that are what we as adults sometimes consider “good”. The students are doing a great job at all grade levels at learning to care for materials, clean up after themselves, and discover different ways to address ideas that are personal to them. In the future I would like to see a fibers (weaving) station and hopefully a technology/photo station where the students can take photos of their work; either in progress or finished. Please feel free to check out the link below to learn more about what a choice based art program is about.

http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/