The art classroom has many working components, and art teachers have develop the extraordinary skill of switching between big picture, over-reaching lessons to individual attention and focus. This process of macro to micro continual focus shift makes our teaching dynamic, over say, lecture-only style instruction. Included in our methodology are the eight studio habits of mind, which cover: Develop Craft, Engage and Persist, Envision, Express, Observe, Reflect, Stretch and Explore, and Understanding Art Worlds. These habits are a process that is non-hierarchical.
When I assess students in the art classroom, I first map out a set of units for the year that covers relevant concepts, skills, artists, techniques and media. I have plans and expectactions how the year will progress, but more than in any other discipline, we must have fluidity. Students may need remediation or enrichment, depending on the level a student grasps a project.
In my units, which are broad themes with several supporting projects to illustrate the concept, there is room to demonstrate application in multiple ways. For example, when studying the color wheel: we discuss as a class, using a smartboard and individual empty color wheel, what primary, secondary, tertiary, analogous, and complimentary colors are, and how we make them by mixing colors together. Then we'll color in the color wheel with markers or colored pencils. We'll do an exercise targeting complimentary colors by drawing an American flag, but coloring it in using the opposite colors. Once flags are colored in orange, green and black, students are told to stare at the image, then quickly look at a blank page. Our mind will trigger an afterimage of the correct color scheme. A subsequent project will include physically mixing paint colors together, then including relevant artist Piet Mondrian and do a painting project based on his work. Then we move into value scales, and how many shades and tints one could get out of one color. Then finally students do a full scale monochromatic painting in grayscale with one small focal point of color.
Within the above mentioned sample unit structure, students are exposed to Developing Craft and Observation by introducing them to paint, how to mix colors, how to blend, how to create shades and tints, how to develop an eye to match and reproduce certain hues. By playing with paint and experimenting, they are Stretching and Exploring. By building up more basic techniques to the Mondrian painting and the monochrome project, students learn to take the sequenced skills learned and Envision their own personal works and Express what they are drawn to. By being exposed to a multiple amount of projects to understand color and the application of paint, students are Engaged and Persist in their own art making. At the end of any art project, students are given a rubric that breaks down how I grade their work. For more involved projects, such as the monochromatic painting, we will have a class critique, which focuses on constructive criticism and a chance for students to voice out what they liked the most and what they think could be improved of their own and their peers' work. This is a chance for students to Reflect and Understand Art Worlds in an open-forum setting of evaluation.
I believe that students should be exposed to a broad range of materials, artists, techniques, presentations and concepts. Engaging students must be varied so that students have the tools and means of expression to plan, develop and use critical thinking skills in their own work. Some students may be drawn to just drawing, others sculpture. Some may have never thought they would enjoy watercolor or clay without exposure. Art history is vital to include as inspiration. All of this, with direction, mentorship and encouragement allow students to grow as artists and as individuals.
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