CHOICE-BASED ART EDUCATION
Organization of supplies makes easy access for students
Philosophy & Methodology
Choice-based art education's philosophy is based on
students experiencing authentic art making and becoming the artist. The
methodology is based on students choosing content,approach and media.
Art Educator Role
Choice-based learning allows the art educator to foster creativity by meeting the needs, interests and strengths of student artists with open-ended questions and qualitative feedback. The art educator facilitates and coaches student artists to explore, play, examine, analyze, collaborate, reflect and create art that is meaningful and relevant to the student artist. The art educator designs layout of strategically placed studio centers close to each center's highly organized and labeled supplies. Art educators create independent learning menus and posters. At the beginning of class, they gives brief five-minute group demonstrations or presentations to introduce techniques, skills, contemporary artists, art history, themes, issues, styles and design thinking challenges. The presentations should form from big ideas and essential questions for implementing enduring understandings (what you really want the students to remember for a long time). State and national standards are aligned with content,but they should not drive the presentation. Created from analyzing students' needs, interests and strengths while in the studio, the presentations and demonstrations should excite their curiosity and promote intrinsic motivation for engaging in artmaking. I suggest using contemporary artists and pop culture and today's global issues. While circulating through the studio centers, art educators can concentrate on talking with individual student artists (facilitate and coach struggling artist) and orchestrate small group demonstrations at a particular studio center. Also, asking and interpreting students' suggestions for studio centers aids in planning presentations and demonstrations. Art educators should encourage student artists to share and empower them to facilitate to their peers. While the focus is fostering creativity which entails the student artists have full choice, the choice can become modified by the art educator's choice(s) especially when interdisciplinary studies are assigned. See Resources for TAB's Continuum of Choice-based Learning and Teaching. Assessment may hinder creativity and deters intrinsic motivation. Assessment is ongoing as formative assessment is formed from observations of student artists' behaviors(challenged, motivated and engaged) and summative assessment is formed from finished artworks (portfolios) and written reflections. Student exhibits and displays may also be used as assessment.
Student Artist Role
Student artists will choose their content, approach and media for engaging in relevant,meaningful artmaking. Student artists may choose to follow the demonstration/presentation or engage in their own interest. As they work at their own pace, they may work alone or choose to work with another student(s). They will have many opportunities for tutoring peers, mastering skills and techniques, taking risks, playing, embracing mistakes, collaborating, exploring, experimenting, discovering, analyzing, reflecting and creating. Student artists are responsible for setting up their studio centers with the necessary tools and materials and cleaning up. Students will write reflections for finished artworks and create portfolios. They will select artwork for school exhibits, art shows and online school art gallery.