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Synthesis And Conclusion 

         This Concepts in Art Education course, was both intellectually challenging and rewarding. During this course we read and discussed a variety of research articles, discussed different art education theories and were able to see these theories in action while participating in the service learning opportunity with Community Connections.  I can break down the concepts I’ve learned into three categories: the art making process, the approach to teaching art and differentiation in the classroom.

        When it comes to the art making process, there is a wide variety of theories we learned that encapsulate this. The first theory that comes to mind is Rhoda Kellogg’s theory. According to Kellogg, children world-wide exhibit several patterns that are the same including scribbling, basic shapes, diagrams/combines, and pictorial drawings. Building off her theory, Viktor Lowenfeld’s research resulted in the finding that when it comes to the art making process, children go through six stages while developing their artistic skills. These stages are scribble, pre-schematic, schematic, dawning realism, pseudorealistic/age of reasoning and period of decision/crisis of adolescence. I observed examples of both Lowenfeld and Kellog’s theory while teaching Community Connections. It was interesting because the students in Community Connections all fell into different categories of development. Most of my students drawings consisted of scribbles and basic shapes, however, there were a few students who had begun to draw pre-schematic drawings when they had finished the class project early. Another concept I learned regarding the art making process is the idea of the originator instinct. Being an originator means that the artist is the cause/reason the artwork exists also known as the artistic causality. I was able to witness this in my service learning when teaching the students lesson three (Favorite Place Dioramas). During this lesson every student took on the role of the originator when creating their idiosyncratic dioramas of their favorite place (real or invented). Students were able to take on the role of the originator because this lesson was largely based on choice and deriving personal meaning.

          When thinking of approaches to teaching art and what I’ve learned, the first concept that comes to mind is the idea of process vs. product. This concept suggests that in order to provide my students with the best possible art making experience it is important to emphasize that it’s not necessary to think about something to make but instead discover what the media will do. In other words, when teachers provide options and open ended projects students have more room to focus on the process vs. the product which typically results in a more successful experience and artwork. Process and product are equally important however when student’s enjoy and focus on the process the product tends to turn out good and the student ends up having a more well-rounded art experience. Another approach to art education that I will definitely continue to incorporate in my lessons and classroom is the theory around intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation can be experienced as interest, involvement, curiosity, satisfaction, or positive challenge when reacting to qualities of an art task itself. Examples of intrinsic motivators would be divergent thinking through play, preference of art materials, and content having a personal relevancy. Another theory that is an example of intrinsic motivation is choice based learning. By allowing students choices when creating artwork the students will experience freedom to create artwork that connects to them and that they are proud of. Choice based learning and teaching also promotes learner independence. Which relates to creating an environment where self-directed learning is the norm. The ideas of choice based learning and intrinsic motivation have influenced how I formulated lesson plans for my service learning experience. All of my co-teaching group’s lesson plans involved an aspect of choice, whether that choice was what materials to use or what to create, choice based learning remained an important part of our lessons. The result of having choice was that every student’s final artwork was completely unique to them and each student was able to be a true originator.

     Differentiation in the classroom is a crucial aspect to teaching that prior to taking this class I knew little to nothing about. Using differentiation in the classroom means that you design lessons that require students to think critically, make choices, problem solve and interact with their materials. Differentiated instruction also focuses on incorporating interest related choices that match the level of student readiness which in turn allows student’s to gain confidence in their abilities and make greater connections within their learning. Something else that falls under differentiation in the classrooms is learning styles. It’s important to understand that every student has a different learning style and to incorporate every type of learning style in the lessons you create. The four learning styles are visual, kinesthetic, written and auditory learners. In our fourth lesson (imaginary creatures) we appealed to all four learning styles. We used a lesson menu for ideation which appeals to the written learners. In the beginning of the lesson we showed a video, verbally explained the process we were going to go through and demonstrated different clay building techniques, this appealed to our auditory and visual leaners. Lastly we appealed to our kinesthetic learners by allowing them time to play and experiment with the clay prior to beginning to build their creature. By appealing to all four learning styles in our lesson, no student was left confused about the task at hand.

     Overall, I have learned a tremendous amount of new tools and information to put in my teaching tool belt and use throughout my future career as an art teacher. I feel as though the readings, research and experience of service learning that made up this course has given me a solid foundation from which to continue to grow and I look forward to what my future education classes will teach me.

 

 

Citations

Fountain, Heather L. R. Differentiated Instruction in Art. Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, 2014.

 

Jaquith, Diane B. ""When Is Creativity?"" The Journal of the National Art Education Association, January 2011.

 

Koster, Joan Bouza. Growing Artists Teaching Art To Young Children. Delmar.

 

Zurmuehlen, M. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

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