Summer Expectations

The snow days have been made up and it is finally the end of the school year.

As my second year of teaching elementary and middle school art was ending, I started thinking about what projects worked well and my general curriculum. I want to fine tune it for next year, which brought me to the questions of course of goals. I have all the state goals for art to go by, but I was thinking about what my personal goals are for what I teach the kids. What specific things do I want them to walk away with and especially what ideas of art do I want to convey.

Here's what I have so far...

I want my students to be able to draw with low stress.

I want my students to feel okay about making mistakes.

I want my students to understand that the amazing realistic paintings they look at at Museums/history are not made by geniuses but are made by people, who learn to use values and tones, and how to see the simple forms of objects.

I want my students to know that there are many art forms and crafts and many reasons why artists make art.

I want my students to know they don't have to like or understand all art, or all the art that hangs in museums.

I want my students to know that if they do enjoy drawing/painting that they don't have to just paint oil paintings, they have many creative options.

I want my students to know that creativity and artistic abilities is not something that flows out of some people - that artists are also crafters and that they work hard learning techniques,  and practice their craft.

I want my students to know that art is a great way to express yourself but that practicing your art skills will only allow you to express yourself better.

 Below are some of my favorite art definitions on the web. Funny how my favorites are from wikis...

The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power

• - google difinitions

• Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way to affect the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture, and paintings. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art

• Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature; The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colours, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic ...

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/art