Reflections from Articles

After reading the three articles, my thoughts began to brew as to how I could use more and more arts in my classroom. With a background in music, like one of the examples in the article, I too want to bring in more music and art reflection and interpretations. Why wouldn’t this be a great way to decorate our classroom with deeper thinking and in such a creative way. I’d like to think longer on how to incorporate the standards into a creative lesson plan. I’m determined to use art in such a way that it will still cover the expectations of standards and learning goals.
Speaking of standards and teacher expectations, I was glad to read about the importance of the arts in education and its relation to standardized testing in the United States. It motivates me to think differently about my lessons after being reminded that art allows for multiple answers to be accepted instead of just one like on standardized tests. Much of what we are expected to prepare our students for are these standardized evaluations. It makes me wonder how we are preparing students for the real world with real decisions that have more than one possibility.

Hello Denise!
I am just getting oriented to lead this course. I am a former K6 art teacher, then art educator at college level for over 20years, and now back in the inner city teaching K8 art! Just last week I was showing artists that use color to the 1st and 2nd graders – Rothko, Elsworth Kelly, Frankenthaler, and Joseph Albers. They loved the use of geometric and organic shapes. Soon they were sharing what the artwork made them think of. I asked them if each one thought of another idea, would everyone be right? That was a new idea – but they quickly adapted to the multiple answers in the arts. The reason for it is that those artists were giving the interpretation of the art to the audience who would brig different ideas to the table!