The Art Teacher's Survival Guide for Secondary Schools E-Book

Helen D. Hume

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 535

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

An invaluable compendium of 75 creative art projects for art educators and classroom teachers This authoritative, practical, and comprehensive guide offers everything teachers need to know to conduct an effective arts instruction and appreciation program. It meets secondary art teacher's unique needs for creating art lessons that cover everything from the fundamentals to digital media careers for aspiring artists. The book includes ten chapters that provide detailed instructions for both teachers and students, along with creative lesson plans and practical tools such as reproducible handouts, illustrations, and photographs. * Includes 75 fun and creative art projects * Fully updated to reflect the latest changes in secondary art instruction, including digital media and digital photography * Heavily illustrated with photographs and drawings For art teachers, secondary classroom teachers, and homeschoolers, this is the ideal hands-on guide to art instruction for middle school and high school students.

Leseprobe

Contents

About This Resource

The Author

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Basic Survival Strategies

Get Off to a Good Start

The Day-to-Day Stuff

The Art Classroom

Equipment and Materials

Safety

Get Support for the Art Program

Get Support from the Staff

Get Support from Students

Make Your School Look Good

Public Relations

School-Business-Community Partnerships

Personal Development

Organize a Field Trip by Bus

The In-School Field Trip

Chapter 2: The Art of Teaching Art

The Universal Curriculum of Art

The Elements of Art and Principles of Design

Handout: Line

Handout: Color

Handout: Shape

Handout: Form

Handout: Value

Handout: Texture

Handout: Space

Handout: Unity

Handout: Balance

Handout: Proportion

Handout: Contrast and Variety

Handout: Emphasis

Handout: Movement

Handout: Rhythm and Repetition

Art History

Timeline #1. 35,000 BC–500 BC

Timeline #2. 500 BC–AD 500

Timeline #3. 500–1000

Timeline #4. 1000–1500

Timeline #5. 1500–1750

Timeline #6. 1750–1875

Timeline #7. 1875–1950

Timeline #8. 1950–Present

A Few Basic Skills

Chapter 3: Drawing

Project 3-1: Introductory Exercises

Project 3-2: Contour Hand Drawing

Project 3-3: One- and Two-Point Perspective Drawing

Project 3-4: Twig to Tree Landscape

Project 3-5: Drawing Bones

Handout: Skeleton

Project 3-6: Figure Drawing

Project 3-7: Self-Portrait, Black and White

Project 3-8: Pastel Self-Portrait

Project 3-9: Soap Resist Cityscape Mural: Group Project

Project 3-10: The Art Journal

Project 3-11: Nature Journaling with Clare Walker Leslie

Project 3-12: Hundred Neediest Cases

Chapter 4: Painting

Project 4-1: Bowl of Eggs

Project 4-2: Acrylic Self-Portrait

Project 4-3: Paint to the Music

Project 4-4: The Great Outdoors: Plein Air Painting

Project 4-5: Public Art: The Wall Mural

Handout: Watercolor Experiments

Project 4-6: Watercolor Your Way

Project 4-7: Encaustic Painting

Chapter 5: Printmaking

Materials for Printmaking

General Instructions

Project 5-1: Stem, Leaf, Blossom: A Botanical Illustration in Drypoint

Project 5-2: Watercolor Monotype

Project 5-3: Pop Art Collagraph

Project 5-4: Nature Collagraph

Project 5-5: Introduction to Relief Printing

Project 5-6: Relief Print

Project 5-7: Finishing Touches

Project 5-8: Collage With Prints

Preprinting Possibilities

Project 5-9: Brayer-Printed Paper

Project 5-10: Paste Paper

Chapter 6: Photography

It’s a Digital World (Almost)

Handout: Composition Tips for Great Photos

Handout: Some Photo Assignments

Camera Controls

Make Light Work for You

Taking Photos for a Portfolio

Project 6-1: Learning to Look: Photo Appreciation

Project 6-2: Photo Essay: Family Celebration

Project 6-3: Improve Your Digital Photos

Project 6-4: Change Your Color Digital Photo to Black and White

Project 6-5: Digital Composite

Information: Black-and-White Film Photography

Project 6-6: Developing Film

Project 6-7: Basic Black-and-White Darkroom Printing

Handout: Digital Definitions

Handout: Digital Key Commands

Chapter 7: Computer Graphics

Project 7-1: Drawing Simple Shapes

Project 7-2: Pop Art Self-Portrait

Project 7-3: Advertising Poster or Flyer

Project 7-4: Design an Area Rug

Project 7-5: Everybody Needs a Business Card

Project 7-6: Animal Alphabet Book: Group Project

Project 7-7: Create Your Own Reality (Cityscape)

Project 7-8: Illuminated Manuscript: Vector-Based Drawing

Chapter 8: Fine Crafts

Fiber Arts

Project 8-1: Trash Quilt (Group Project)

Project 8-2: Yarn Bombing (Group Project)

Book Arts

Project 8-3: Book 1: Accordion-Folded Book

Project 8-4: Book 2: Sewn Signature Book

Project 8-5: Book 3: Stab-Bound Book

Ceramics

Handout: Ceramics Definitions

General Suggestions

Handout: Greek Pottery

Project 8-6: Coil-Built Greek Pot

Project 8-7: Make It with Slabs

Project 8-8: Wheel-Thrown Pot

Chapter 9: Sculpture and Architecture

Sculpture

Safety in the Sculpture Class

Project 9-1: Clay Sculpture and Modeling

Project 9-2: Ceramic Sculpture Portrait Head

Project 9-3: Casting with Paper Pulp (Whole-Class Project)

Project 9-4: Casting with Plaster (Cooperative Learning)

Project 9-5: Plaster Carving

Sculptural Carving with Stone or Wood

Handout: Tools, Definitions, and Basics for Carving Stone

Project 9-6: Stone Carving

Handout: Tools, Definitions, and Equipment for Carving Wood

Project 9-7: Wood Carving

Project 9-8: Assemblage (Group Project)

Architecture

Project 9-9: Poster Board Bas-Relief Architectural Ornament

Project 9-10: Public Art: Call for Entries

Chapter 10: Careers in Art

Handout: Careers in Art

Project 10-1: Portfolio

Project 10-2: Career in Architecture: Architectural Scale Model

Project 10-3: Career in Art Therapy: Mandala

Project 10-4: Career in Fashion Design: Wearable Art

Project 10-5: Career in Commercial Illustration

Project 10-6: Career in Industrial Design

Project 10-7: Career in Photography: Photography Specialty

Bibliography

Index

To art teachers everywhere. You have shared your love for art, and inspired,

comforted, and given something to students that can never be taken

away—an appreciation for the beauty they and other artists created.

Cover design by Wiley

Cover image: © Linda Wein, Visions-Arroyo Seco

Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hume, Helen D.

[Survival kit for the secondary school art teacher]

The art teacher’s survival guide for secondary schools: grades 7–12 / Helen D. Hume.—Second edition.

pages cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-118-44703-1 (pbk.)

1. Art—Study and teaching (Secondary)—United States—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.

N363.H86 2014

707.1’2—dc23

2013028770

ABOUT THIS RESOURCE

If you are looking for fresh, imaginative ways to teach basic art skills while exploring a variety of media, this ready-to-use Survival Guide is for you. It presents a studio-based secondary school art program that combines art history and appreciation with how-to-do-it lessons and classroom survival skills.

This all-in-one book is written for seasoned or inexperienced teachers of secondary school art students. Others who will find it useful are artists, homeschoolers, teachers of other specialties, and institutional or recreational art coordinators.

The more than sixty-five reproducible projects and eighty alternative suggestions encourage individual creativity, while giving introductory notes and specific information for the teacher and step-by-step, clearly stated directions for students.

Each project contains a list of materials, goals, and objectives based on Visual Arts Core concepts; explicit directions; appropriate vocabulary; and illustrations. A number of projects are appropriate for group or research activities. Each project encourages an individual approach to creativity.

Overview of the Book

Chapter One gives an overview of basic survival strategies for a student-centered art program. Suggestions are given for fostering a studio atmosphere that encourages individual problem solving; getting support from administration, staff, and students; and helping students improve their skills.

Chapter Two, “The Art of Teaching Art,” includes history and cultural connections. Eight timelines show connections between the visual arts and other fields such as science and mathematics, literature, and government. Information on elements of art and principles of design is given in reproducible handouts.

Chapter Three, on drawing, presents teaching skills in a variety of drawing media such as pencil, pen and ink, charcoal-eraser, and fine-line markers. Projects include contour drawing, perspective drawing, drawing from observation, portraiture, and art journaling.

Chapter Four, on painting, covers painting with most media: watercolor, ink, oil paint, soft and oil pastels, and acrylic. Projects include plein air painting, painting a large mural, watercolor exercises, and encaustic.

Chapter Five, on printmaking, covers the basics of printmaking, with projects of varying degrees of difficulty. Preprinting projects using brayer prints and paste-paper lead to basic printmaking techniques that include collagraphs, reduction prints, linocuts, and watercolor monotypes. After-the-print techniques combine drawing materials, collage, and photocopy transfers to enhance the finished print.

Chapter Six, on photography, deals with the realities of today’s photography, concentrating mostly on the basics of composition, camera functions, and taking digital photos. Projects include changing color photos to black and white, a photo journalism assignment, and photo appreciation. Basic instructions for developing film and darkroom printing are included.

In Chapter Seven, on digital graphics, students are encouraged to use their own photos as a basis for some of the projects. Lettering projects can be combined with images to design a business card, an invitation to a special event, or a poster design. A group project alphabet booklet will challenge students of all levels.

Many of the projects in Chapter Eight, on fine crafts, continue enduring traditions, such as ceramic slab, coil, and thrown pots, a sculptural ceramic project, and carved clay. Fiber projects in weaving and quilt design in cloth, paper, or computer are included. Book design is also explored.

In Chapter Nine, on sculpture and architecture, students may work in a variety of found materials in papier-mâché, recycled and molded paper pulp, carved wood or stone, plaster, and clay.

Chapter Ten, on careers in art, introduces a variety of techniques that a student might experience when actually working in the field of art. These include projects in graphic design, clothing design, architectural model making, children’s book illustration, and industrial design.

THE AUTHOR

Helen D. Hume taught most of her career in the Parkway School District in St. Louis County, Missouri. Courses she taught were advanced placement art history, photography, sculpture, design, crafts, and graphic design. Later she taught and supervised preservice art teachers at universities in the St. Louis area. When her husband was transferred, she taught for three years in the Antwerp, Belgium, International School, where she established the art program, and later she taught for three years at the International School of Vale do Paraiba, São Jose dos Campos, Brazil. Her degrees are from Webster University.

She is an active member of the Missouri Art Education Association, the St. Louis Artists Guild, the St. Louis Symphony Volunteer Association, and serves on the Manchester Arts board of directors. A prize-winning artist, she is a plein air painter, photographer, and graphic artist, participating in individual exhibits and group shows.

This is her ninth book for art educators. Her other books are A Survival Kit for the Secondary School Art Teacher; Art History and Appreciation Activities Kit; American Art Appreciation Activities Kit; The Art Teacher’s Book of Lists; A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher; The Art Lover’s Almanac; The Art Teacher’s Survival Guide for Elementary and Middle Schools, 2nd edition; and The Art Teacher’s Book of Lists, 2nd edition.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My gratitude goes to Joan Larson and Marilyn Palmer, friends and art teachers extraordinaires, who agreed to act as consultants on the book. Their experience and common sense have been invaluable during the writing of this essentially new book. The professional advice these two outstanding teachers have given as they have reviewed and given input on each chapter has kept me on track and helped me realize anew how creative art students can be when turned loose to imagine. Their students are lucky to have had such wonderful, dedicated master teachers.

There is no way to ever appropriately thank the artists, arts educators, and friends whose love of creating art and teaching have enlivened the book. They have answered my questions and allowed me to use their ideas and illustrations of their work or that of their students. In particular, I wish to thank Grant Kniffen, Beth Goyer, Linda Bowers, Suzanne Walker, John Nagel, Michael Swoboda, Linda Hertelendy-Wein whose encaustic painting is on the cover, George Schweser, Beth Kathriner, Eric Ludlow, Emily Dames, Laurie Kohler, James Daniels, Daniel Raedeke, Gwyn Wahlmann, Delphine Williams, Alan Kmetz, Traci Bolda, Tracy Jay, Barbara Aydt, Christine Vodicka, John Dyess, Robert Shay and the late Bill Vann’s family, Kathy Schrock, Clare Walker Leslie, Lisa Sisley-Blinn, Timothy Smith, Marceline Saphian, Elizabeth Concannon, Thirteen Squared Art Group, Charles Goolsby, Harriet Fisher Thomas, Elizabeth Cavanagh Cohen, Christine Sarra, Joanne Stremsterfer, Brian Crawford, Katy Mangrich, Tom Lutz, Clint Johnson, Johanna Prinz, Susan Hume, Helen Moore, Weavers’ Guild of St. Louis, Amy Kling, William Perry, John Tiemann, Adam Long, Peggy Dunsworth, Christa Ollinger, Carrie Finnestead, and Stacey Morse.

Lynn Ezell of the National Art Education Association and NAEA President Dennis Inhulsen have given me good advice. Dr. Jennifer Allen, who spoke at the Missouri Art Education Association, was especially helpful in clarifying my understanding of the Visual Arts Core Standards.

And I wish to thank the staff at Jossey-Bass whose careful attention to detail has been so appreciated for making the book more readable. I especially want to acknowledge senior editor Marjorie McAneny, whose experience and sensible approach to writing have been invaluable; editorial program coordinator Tracy Gallagher; vice president Lesley Iura; production manager Pamela Berkman; production editor Susan Geraghty; and marketing manager Dimi Berkner. Copyeditor Sarah Miller made it easier to read and had some great suggestions. Cover designer Jeff Puda has a great understanding of what it takes to make a book appealing. They will never know how much I have appreciated their help in this and previous books.

Without the help of museum and artists’ representatives, it would not have been possible to include museum prints in this book. Stacey Sherman of the Nelson-Atkins has been especially supportive in helping me to select illustrations for all of my books from the time I began writing books. Others whose help is deeply appreciated are Kristin Goode of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University; Shannon Sweeney of the Saint Louis Art Museum; Anita Duquette and Kiowa Hammons of the Whitney Museum of Art; Carlie Forsyth of the NewArtCenter Gallery, Salisbury, UK; Shelley Lee of The Roy Lichtenstein Foundation; Ryo Munakata of the Munakata Shikô Memorial Museum, Tokyo; Randy Smith, Jean Ponzi, and Deborah Frank of the St. Louis Botanical Garden; Jen Sweet of Citygarden, St. Louis; Maria Elena Murguia of the Artists Rights Society of New York; Kathryn Pawlik of VAGA; and Liz Kurtulik of ARTS Resource Images.

We thank the following for permission to use the works from their collections:

Mildred Lane Kemper Museum, Washington University:The City II

Museum of Modern Art:Whaam!; Moon; Target with Four Faces

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:Still Life; Pablo Ruiz with Itch; End of Day Nightscape IV; The Steerage; Olive Orchard

St. Louis Botanical Garden:Limon S. Remi; Trash, Really? (Quilt)

St. Louis City Garden:Bird; Two Rabbits

Saint Louis Museum of Art:Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Ornament from the Scoville Building; In Praise of Flower Hunting

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut:Big Wood Island

Whitney Museum, New York City:Music Pink and Blue II

ARTS Resource Images:The Twenty Marilyns (Private collection, Paris)

Chapter 1

Basic Survival Strategies

Get Off to a Good Start

Get to Know Your Students

Students are at an important stage in their lives. They are capable physically of doing almost anything an adult can do and are in the process of becoming independent thinkers and responsible members of society. You have an opportunity to contribute to their general knowledge: things that educated people know. This is possibly the last time the student will have a formal art course, perfect personal skills in art, and prepare for a career in art. Perhaps you are the teacher who develops in a student a lifetime appreciation of and love for art.

Friendliness and an Interest in Your Students

These will go a long way toward fostering an ongoing relationship. Avoid sarcasm, as it is often misinterpreted, although humor and an appreciation for your students’ sense of humor will be a saving grace. Find out what your students are involved in (work, activities, other classes). Go to some student events in which your students participate (sports events, plays, or concerts); you will be glad you did. They also like to know that you have a life outside the day at school, and they don’t mind hearing about it once in a while. Use a conversational tone while sharing problem-solving techniques as if the students were your colleagues.

Fairness to All

Fairness to all students should be ingrained in your teaching. It truly is important to remember that all students deserve equal time: those to whom everything comes easily deserve your attention as much as those to whom nothing comes easily. Start conversations with the in-between or nondemanding student; you will always learn something about him or her that you hadn’t realized before. Be sensitive to the possibility of gender bias.

Encourage Good Decisions

Albert Burr, one of the greatest principals I’ve ever met, says that we are teaching high school students to become decision makers. If they show poor judgment, we need to give them greater guidance, or even make decisions for them, if necessary, until they learn to make better decisions. Help students develop skills, responsibility, respect, and the ability to build personal relationships. Let them know you have very high expectations for achievement in your art class, as that is the tradition in this school.

Think about Each Individual

Try to spend a quality few minutes with each student every class day. I found it was useful to review the class list, really reflecting on how each student was progressing and also reviewing whether that student and I had spoken about his or her work that week. Tell them that each of them is entitled to 11/2 minutes of your time every single class period, and while they may not get exactly that amount every time, over the period of the week they will receive their 71/2 minutes. I’ve had students come up and say, “I’m ready for my 11/2 minutes today.”

Mentoring

A number of school districts now include mentoring programs for new teachers. A mentor and mentee might meet up to six times a year, perhaps getting a release day to visit a school in a different district. Colleagues whose schools have such programs support them strongly, stating that it benefits both teachers. If you are a new teacher and your district does not have a formal mentoring program, seek advice from experienced teachers or your state’s art education teachers’ association blog.

The Day-to-Day Stuff

Arriving in Class

Keep a table next to the door on which you place handouts and art paper if needed for that day’s lesson. As students pick these up on their way in, it piques their interest. Ask students to get their work in progress from the storage area and be seated and ready to work in time for attendance.

Attendance

In most schools attendance is tracked online. To make class start faster, call the names only of those you think are absent—just in case they are not seated, but are somewhere in the room.

The Seating Chart

It took me almost fifteen years of letting students seat themselves anywhere to realize that posting a seating chart on the door on the first day of class would improve my teaching. Photo rosters are available to teachers in many districts with an online database. Make a seating chart by cutting up and pasting the faces and names on paper with restickable glue stick to make strategic seating moves within the first few days. Make a copy for your convenience or that of a substitute. After a week you can leave students seated where they are and take down the chart, reserving the option to move a student or two if necessary. A colleague says that her daughter told her that allowing students to sit anywhere without a seating chart only helps kids who already have friends in the class, because they always sit together. But it isolates the kids who don’t have friends in the class and makes it harder for them.

Develop a Studio Atmosphere

You’ve tried to make the room as functional and artistic as possible, and you can expect students to get out materials and be ready to work, allowing you your few minutes at the beginning of class. The perfect studio atmosphere fosters independent learning and self-motivation. Ideally your principal could walk into the room, bringing important visitors, and your students would all be working as you quietly walk around having soft conversations with individuals or small groups.

Motivation

Sometimes reality isn’t too far away from this ideal if students know that you expect work to be completed within a given time period and if they are working toward a personal goal such as developing a portfolio or completing something for an exhibition. Teacher and student assessments are other motivating tools, as students are aware that you expect them to be on task while they are in the art room. Include a rubric in your lesson so students know what your expectations are. Common Core State Standards for the Arts will emphasize independence and creativity.

Getting Students’ Attention and Keeping It

Consider yourself the coach. You’re there to give the pep talk and get on with the game. Because you are smart enough to know that your instructions should be short and sweet, you will notice when students are not watching you. I have found that the most effective way of control is to interrupt yourself in the middle of a sentence and just look at the student who is talking or involved in something else. You can look at the ceiling; act as if you have nothing else to do in the world but stand there patiently waiting.

When he or she notices that the class has gone silent and finally looks at you, give the kindest fake smile you can summon and continue. You don’t have to do this very many times for your students to get the message that you expect their attention. It is far easier to allow students to control their peers than to demand respect. But don’t push your luck. Notice when you are beginning to lose even the most polite of students. Students of that age have about a twenty-minute attention span (as one of my students pointed out to me).

Nonverbal Discipline

Even though you may have no official rules, you still have rules (or expectations, if you like). Let students know you like secondary school students and you like teaching them. If someone is giving you problems, never call him or her out in front of peers, but find a chance to get the student outside the room and ask, “What did I do wrong today?” This usually stuns them, and they realize their behavior was inappropriate. Sometimes you find out the major problem that student is having that particular day and can be of help. Sometimes you realize you’d better let it go with that student for that day.

Silent Signals

With so little time to talk with each student in a class period, there are many ways to send quick, silent signals. A smile, silent nod of approval, or thumbs-up lets someone know he or she is remarkable or at least is on the right track. Sometimes a raised eyebrow or widened eyes give the student the idea that you’re less than pleased with behavior. It can convey the unspoken message “I can’t believe you are doing that” or “Oh, how you have disappointed me.”

Electronic Devices

Every school has different policies concerning cell phones and other electronic devices. Working within that framework is important so that students can expect the same policies from every teacher in the school. Some districts allow cell phones in class, and teachers are encouraged to develop lessons in which students can use these remarkable research tools. Some schools leave it up to the individual teacher, and you need to make a decision and clearly state it to students, abiding by what you have said you will tolerate. A conversation about the use of cell phones can be a good lesson on respect. Would you use a cell phone in church? During a stage play? A teacher deserves the same respect that is shown in these settings.

Take Advantage of Technology

Most schools have computer technology in place, and art teachers have access to labs or have computer classrooms in the art department. Many schools have interactive whiteboards and document cameras that allow the teacher to put together a slide show of large visuals to share with the students. Some of these programs offer interactive games and art-related videos. Have students take digital photos of their own work, title it, and place it in a digital folder labeled with the project name. Or you can take the photographs, placing the work on the floor or on a neutral-colored wall to record. You can use selected examples to show students if you teach this project the following year.

Original Resources

Although students can easily learn how to copy something, such as a scene from a magazine or a celebrity portrait, that process is teaching copying rather than teaching how to make art. They might go to the Internet or a book for research, but unless they make significant changes from images that are not their own, it neither fosters the feeling of achievement nor results in originality. Instead, encourage students to develop personal ideas from their own sketches, photographs, and interests.

Vary Your Teaching Methods

Students respond well to a variety of methods of presentation. As you select projects or techniques to explore, think of ways to present them that do not involve long lectures. Demonstrate, write on the board, present selected portions from videos, introduce them to artists through the many beautiful books available at libraries or images on the web, pose questions, host visiting artists, take them on field trips (even within the school)—anything you can think of to keep them involved in and excited about their own learning. Help students develop listening skills through good questioning techniques: “What will we do first? Then? Then?” Use adequate wait time; it may save time in the long run. Move freely around the room when you are teaching something—proximity is a wonderful way to keep students involved. Try not to end an introduction with “Any questions?” Most students have them, but don’t want to admit ignorance. If a student asks a question about something that you thought you had already made clear, act as if it is the greatest question in the world; someone else will also appreciate the answer.

Give Open-Ended Assignments

Try to avoid “classroom” assignments in which you already know what the end result will be. Instead, teach projects that foster independence and the opportunity for divergent thinking. If you state that you expect creative solutions, you will usually get them. If you give general expectations within such an assignment, there is still a great opportunity for personal reflection. Secondary school students are particularly introspective, and “about me” projects often yield exciting outcomes.

The Sovereign Feline

Nicole Brawley. This cat brings a smile to the owner of any animal. Parkway North High School, St. Louis, Missouri, teacher Grant Kniffen.

Each One Teach One

If you are teaching something complicated, you will need many different approaches and repetitions to get information across. Enlist your students as teachers! When they notice a classmate who might not understand the process, ask the student to be a teacher for a minute. It won’t hurt them, and having to explain a process to someone else may clear up any misunderstanding they themselves have. It never hurts to have the steps written on a poster or the board and to expect students to take notes.

Students in Grant Kniffen’s advanced class were challenged to do a large acrylic portrait. When an open-ended assignment such as this is given, one can expect excellence and creativity.

Self-Appraisal

In order to develop confidence in art making, students must feel comfortable taking risks. When you talk with a student about his or her work, find a balance between praising the work too highly (unless it deserves it) and appearing to hate it. Art is personal, and criticism has to be tactful. Rather than saying, “This needs improvement” (in which the student hears “My, what an ugly face you have”), encourage the student to appraise the work with questions such as “What do you think might happen if you moved this line?” or “What is the next thing you might do on this?” Let them know that yours is only one opinion, and that ultimately they must make the final decisions. I have found that when students ask a couple of fellow students for suggestions, it is helpful to both parties.

Self-Portrait

Alexandria Stanley, acrylic, 48 × 60 inches. This student’s portrait includes items of furniture, discarded jeans, and a favorite teddy bear. Parkway North High School, St. Louis, Missouri, teacher Grant Kniffen.

Grades in the Art Class

Most secondary school art teachers grade work primarily on completed art projects, and there may be only six per semester. Tell the students that these are the “big exams” in your art class. Try to work your evaluation expectations into your grading sheets for each project, allowing students to determine whether they have met the criteria before the artwork is turned in to see if more needs to be done. Some “perfectionist” students may not meet deadlines, and you can issue an in-progress grade that will be raised if the student completes the project shortly. Let them know that the grade will be revised to reflect the complexity of their work.

Grading must be completely objective according to your criteria. Students easily relate a percentage grade in art to those they receive in other classes. Since units can run very long (sometimes weeks), these grades become very important to the semester grade. A written test is usually given less weight in the semester art grade. Although most grades are entered on a school’s website, with both students and parents having access to them, you may find that students still need to be reminded of their responsibility to keep track of their progress to avoid being surprised that a missing project will result in a lower semester grade.

Schools and districts handle excessive absenteeism differently, with students usually being allowed to complete all work missed for excused absences such as illness, doctor appointments, and religious holidays, but some penalty given for a certain number of unexcused absences.

Portfolio

In general, all art students will keep their work in a portfolio. Independent study students and students in Advanced Placement will maintain an online portfolio that might be used later to apply for admission to an art school.

A journal is particularly useful at this level. Students can paste in works or sketches they drew on a scrap of paper outside of class. Art teacher Cara Deffenbaugh found that her students sometimes left her sticky note observations in their sketchbooks as artifacts. These journals became part of the students’ portfolios.

Overcome the “I Can’t Draw” Syndrome

Art is so much more than drawing, and while students can be taught to draw, they need to be told that each person is valued for unique experiences and ideas and that you will build on the skills and knowledge they already have. Reassure them that just as they couldn’t expect to play the piano or baseball without learning the basics, anything new has to be learned and practiced. Students who have been taking art since early elementary years may arrive in secondary school with greater confidence in their abilities to problem-solve and ready to try anything. One art teacher tells students that “talent” is less important for success in art class than the ability to listen to directions and work hard.

The first project should be nonthreatening, one in which all students have the same opportunity to succeed, no matter how well they draw (perhaps a collage). If students get off to a good start, they are usually willing to try different things later.

Never Draw on Students’ Work

If you want to show students a way to improve their work, use a piece of tracing paper, place it on the artwork, and draw on the tracing paper, then wad it up and throw it away! Or draw it with a fingertip or pencil eraser. Teacher Joan Larson says she is famous for her “air drawings” over student work. Or make a hasty line or two on a sticky note. If you make changes for them, you are essentially telling them that you are a better artist and that their work isn’t any good.

Teach Art History Often and Keep Them Moving!

Teacher Helen Moore feels that art history should be part of every project, every medium. She teaches classes in several subjects, introducing students to art history through games. She places posters on tables around the art room, giving students various standards for selecting a poster or portion of a poster. They use sticky notes to place on a poster that they think meets certain stated criteria, and have lively discussions as they look, examine, defend their selections, and learn! When the teacher plays devil’s advocate, asking questions that challenge students to consider why they made their selections, everyone stays involved.

Teach Visual Literacy

The purpose of art education is to teach students to see and interpret. Students will become design-literate consumers by becoming aware of beauty, whether it is found in nature or created by designers. Good taste is not necessarily instinctive. Discussion, criticism, and analysis of good and poor design should be part of every art course. Get students to find examples of “kitsch” (good design taken a step beyond its intended use—for example, a reproduction of the Venus de Milo with a clock on her stomach). Explain that every time they select something to wear or decorate a room, they are making choices about design. Seeking to develop creativity, imagination, and originality is basic to the teaching of art.

Keep the Room Clean

All students should be expected to do their share in keeping the art room respectable. Most are more than willing to clean up their own mess, but have to be encouraged to share work throughout the room. Assign a small, different group each week to be responsible for the extras: the paper cutter table, the sink, scraps picked up from the floor, and work tables. It certainly isn’t fair to expect the last class of the day to clean up after all the previous classes, and that class usually is already responsible for putting chairs or stools on the tables. The evening cleaning crew should never have to clean anything but the floor. One teacher labels the art tables or rows with numbers and rotates the cleanup of the common areas by the numbers. To show the system is fair to all, a large calendar is posted with a number written for each class day.

Closure

Having discussed how you handle the first few minutes of class, the last few minutes are also important. Begin cleaning in time for students to do a good job and not leave it for you to do (five minutes for normal work, ten minutes for 3-D work). After work in progress is stored and work spaces are cleaned, students may remain at their desks or tables to visit. When students line up at a door, some feel they need to get an early start to the next class. Have a moment of closure that might sum up the good work that was accomplished that period or talk about the coming day. If you begin the year with the expectation that they will remain seated, it is relaxing and calming for everyone.

The Art Classroom

Add Visual Excitement

There are always a few days before school begins when you can think about the first impression your classroom will make as students walk in the door. As a visual artist, you have access to an unlimited number of art reproductions, timelines, and instructional placards. Yes, these are wonderful and useful in teaching, but in profusion can become a little too much of a good thing. Change them frequently if you want students to notice them.

Where Is the Color?

Are your walls the same as other walls throughout the school, or might you request the opportunity to paint at least one of them in an up-to-date museum color? Or as teacher Meg Classe did, paint each wall in a different museum color: dark purple, Naples yellow, magenta, and cornflower blue (or lime green). Perhaps you can use fabric as inspiration, draping it somewhere just to soften things a bit. If you have a bulletin board, cover it in color before adding pictures to it. If you have collected folk art or souvenirs from your travels, display them. Make your art room an exciting place to be.

Teacher’s Desk or Work Table

Arrange your room so you can see every face and the door from your desk. Don’t allow students to sit with backs to you or to sit behind you. Make sure you can see students’ eyes when you are talking. Try not to sit behind your desk much, as you will be a more effective teacher when you move around—a lot! The desk is a barrier between you and students that can make it difficult for the shy student to ask you a question. You’ll never find the “hiders” unless you move around. Be flexible when arranging student desks and tables. What works well for one project may need to be completely moved around for the next one. If you work with students in a computer studio, perhaps your desk should be placed more to the side so you can monitor students’ progress. Students will often be seated at a stationary table, but should have freedom to be up and moving as they get materials, observe other students’ work, or find a different spot from which to draw.

Equipment and Materials

Where to Put It

There is seldom as much counter space as you need to keep materials out for easy use. Normally materials are brought out as needed and stored in a closet until needed again. Make every effort to find a place for everything, and keep it there until needed. Have locking storage for expensive or specialty equipment. If there is something that you know you might need one day but don’t have room for now (clay or paper, for example), perhaps it can be stored in a closet not too far from the art room.

Storing Supplies

Depending on your storage situation, there is nothing more colorful than stacks of paint or paper or yarn arranged on top of cabinets like a spectrum. Think how much you enjoy going into an art supply store—can you create that same atmosphere in your classroom? And, of course, if you have cabinets, arrange some of the great things you have collected for a still life on top of them. This could include all kinds of wheeled vehicles, musical instruments, large machine parts, discarded large toys, an antique chair, and so on.

Label materials such as markers, clay, and liquid paint by date, placing the newest materials behind the purchases of the previous year and using the older items first. If you find you have materials that are several years old and you never get to use reasonably fresh items, give the old stuff away to other teachers in your school or send an e-mail to art teachers in your district or state, announcing a grand giveaway.

Student Storage

Ideally you have a drawer or shelf for each class where work in progress can be stored in a “portfolio.” Students are expected to bring their own drawing pencils, eraser, black fine-line marker, and sketchbooks to class (and to label all of these with their names, using the marker). A storage place for wet work may be a drying rack or newsprint to protect the floor of the hallway outside the art room.

Loaning Supplies or Equipment

If a student wants to borrow something valuable (even your pencil) during class hour, have them leave a forfeit (keys or something small you can keep safely in your pocket) that can be retrieved when they return the equipment. If you loan something that will leave the classroom or overnight, ask people to sign it out. Mark anything that might be borrowed in large letters with permanent black marker.

Safety

Yes, secondary school students are physically capable of doing almost anything adults do, but they are not fully experienced, and sometimes they do not think as far in advance as you would like (I always felt they were 98 percent adult, 2 percent little kid). You owe it to the students to provide safe materials, a safe environment, and instructions on proper use of tools. Never take their safety awareness for granted. Specific safety reminders are also given in the appropriate chapters in this book (ceramic, sculpture, and printmaking).

General Safety Suggestions

No matter their ages, a few students can be counted on to point a staple gun at someone and see if it “shoots.” Allow a staple gun to be used only after you have given instructions and gotten a guarantee from the student that it will be used only as you have agreed.

Extension cords should not snake across floors. Compliance with local fire codes regarding these is imperative. If they must cross a floor, covers may be placed over them to protect students from tripping.

Check to make sure that your fire extinguisher has been inspected or replaced each year. Make sure you understand how to use it.

Have electrical equipment (kiln and electric drill) inspected each year for safe operation.

Flammable solvents should be properly stored in a metal cabinet.

A kiln ideally should be in a well-ventilated area. It should be properly vented and have eighteen inches of space between it and any wall. Students should be told never to touch it or anything that is drying on top. If it is adjacent to the art room, firing should be done overnight.

If students are working with something that might splash or cause a foreign object to get in their eyes, insist that they wear safety goggles.

Safety in Cutting

Students should know how to use a craft (X-acto) knife and a metal ruler to make a straight cut on paper.

Make the assumption that the edges on precut purchased paper are straight.

Always

keep the guard on the paper cutter. When giving instructions on proper paper cutter use, remind students to always check to see where the holding hand is before bringing the blade down.

If students cut on a paper cutter, point out that they can measure at the top ruler, using the grid on the bed of the paper cutter to perfectly align the paper. Show them how to hold the paper with the left hand so it does not move or slide.

Whatever the cutting tool (single-edged razor, craft or X-acto knife, or linocut tools), remind the students to always keep the noncutting hand behind the blade in case the knife slips.

Count craft knives and make sure all are returned at the end of the hour.

If cutting through thick board, several short cuts may be needed to go through the layers.

To cut a “window” in paper or cardboard, the cuts extend slightly beyond the corner so the corner will be perfectly square and the center will fall out. Use a metal ruler, preferably one with cork backing, and place the ruler over the

mat

area, not the hole, holding the ruler firmly in place. If the cutter slips, the border will not be damaged.

Recommended Safe Materials for Schools

Manufacturers go to great pains to develop safe materials for students, and if you still have materials that do not have the CP (Certified Product) or AP (Approved Product) manufacturer’s seal that is given by the Art and Craft Material Institute, I recommend you discard them. Even university classes have adopted the following nontoxic materials and methods:

CP or AP pencils, watercolors, tempera, acrylic, oil sticks, crayons, chalks, and colored pencils

CP or AP water-based inks instead of oil-based inks

CP or AP pastes for papier-mâché or CP or AP cellulose for papier-mâché

CP or AP clear acrylic emulsion to fix drawings

CP or AP lead-free glazes for ceramics

Mineral spirits instead of turpentine or kerosene

Water-based markers

Shellac containing denatured alcohol

Food or vegetable dyes (onion skins or tea) in place of procion dyes

Oil paints that end in

hue

(cadmium red hue) instead of toxic cadmium-based paints

Get Support for the Art Program

Keep the Administration Informed

When a student or staff member has done something special, send a memo to the principal and put it in daily announcements and on the school’s website. Personally invite all administrators and guidance counselors to the exhibitions or send a handwritten invitation (another use for student power). Discuss student artwork with administrators, pointing out a student’s creative approach to problem solving. Discuss different students’ approaches to the same project and explain why you encourage those differences.

Ask for Administrative Support for Your Budget

A strong art program costs money! You will never have as much money as you would like, but try to get enough to support a strong curriculum. Keep accurate records of your expenses. Conserve supplies and keep equipment repaired, replacing only as needed. Some districts auction items no longer needed, with the proceeds going back to the department that sold them.

Plan Ahead for Large Expenditures

If you plan a large project such as a mural and it will improve the appearance of the school, you may be able to obtain funding from the administration. If the curriculum is changing, try to get sufficient money to start new courses from some source other than your yearly budget.

Invite Visitors

Encourage administrators, school newspaper and yearbook teachers, and parents to drop in on your class if you have something special going on or even if you don’t. Invite visitors to talk with students and to discuss their work with them. The opportunity for an administrator to talk with students during class is rare. Visitors enjoy observing both the bustle and quiet activities of the art department.

Show Off Your Students and Your Program

Visual arts specialists understand the importance of fine arts courses in education and have an opportunity to show what is happening in the classroom, whereas many disciplines can only use testing. School administrators, guidance departments, and sometimes state lawmakers play a vital part in decision making about your curriculum. You, the visual arts expert in your school, must be prepared to let others know that art has a curriculum, just as any other discipline does.

Your Website

Many districts now encourage or expect each teacher to have a regularly updated website, which is a link inside the school’s overall website. This is a place to tell the community about your background, degrees, qualifications, exhibitions, and experience, including photos of your own artwork. Your website will also probably include a page for each of your classes. A course outline (syllabus), special handouts, notices of upcoming art shows, pictures of student artwork, even digital slide shows can be included on each class’s page. This can be a great way to communicate with parents and students. An automated signature at the bottom can be a link to contact you by e-mail. Your district may have a “Publication of Student Information” consent form that is signed by the student’s parent or guardian and will allow you to photograph your students and their work for the district’s websites. Of course, with the ease of getting that information out, you need to keep it updated on a routine basis (preferably monthly).

Get Support from the Staff

Get to Know Staff Members by Name

In a large school it is all too easy for teachers in every department to remain in their offices, getting to know close colleagues well. You can get to know other staff members by becoming involved in school committee work, working as a class sponsor, or becoming a representative for your teacher association. Don’t be a stranger! Look at a yearbook to connect faculty and student names with faces.

Act as a Resource Person for Other Teachers

Many non-art teachers realize that student learning can become more interesting when students are asked to add visuals to a project. As your school becomes more “art-oriented,” it benefits everyone. Many teachers simply want suggestions or ideas for something that might enhance a project. Send a memo to the teaching staff offering to help them in any way you can. Help when you can with suggestions for posters and bulletin board decoration. Suggest to teachers that they enlist help from any of their students who take art. Offer to help create a literary and visual art magazine showcasing short prose and poetry. Often your students’ art works well with the themes in student writing.

Get Support from Students

Display Student Work

Make students proud that they “belong” to the art department. Because constantly changing exhibits is time-consuming, let students help in creating displays. Students become aesthetically discriminating when they see all the different interpretations of one assignment displayed together. Label pieces with easy-to-read student names (in at least fourteen-point font). Put signs near the displays indicating the name of the class in which the works were made and any prerequisites for taking that course.

Ask Students for Suggestions

Students and teacher work together to help make a class successful. It is not the exclusive responsibility of one or the other. If the classes are good, students will support the program. No form of promoting enrollment is as strong as students talking with each other about courses. Examine your classes each year; see which projects were less successful than others or definitely need to be replaced. Try new things. Don’t be afraid to “bomb” once in a while. A good saying for art teachers is “It is better to be among the wounded than the watchers.” Or, as art teacher Lauren Davis used to say, “No guts, no glory.”

Encourage students to ask questions when they don’t understand. If there is something they especially want to learn, they should let the teacher know. Don’t be afraid to let them know that you are also asking questions of yourself, willing to make changes, and always trying new teaching approaches. Ask the students; they will tell you.

Artist of the Week

Think of the thirty or more students a year to whom you can give the lasting memory that once he or she was an Artist of the Week. It can’t always be the person who draws best or who intends to pursue a career in art, but perhaps a student who has just one outstanding work to show that week. Seeing their name on a placard next to a small display can give great satisfaction to students. Awarding a certificate signed by the art teachers and principal is a nice addition.

Make Your School Look Good

Make Your Program Visible

Just as successful sports programs and musical and dramatic events give students opportunities to share their talent, an art program should show what your students are doing. One advantage to displaying artwork is that it needn’t be a one-time event, but can be ongoing.

Hang Artwork by All the Students Outside the Art Classroom

Although you might prefer to hang only outstanding art, all students benefit from having their work exhibited. If you hang the stronger works at each end and in the middle, every student’s artwork looks good. Students should automatically identify their work by using a fine-line black marker to print the following information on a preprinted label: name, grade level, title of the work, name of the course, and teacher (the card also serves to inform other students which courses they might like to take next year). Keep labels and a black fine-line pen in a box lid taped to your desk, and students can label work for display (and neatness is appreciated).

Changing Exhibits of Student Artwork

Mount displays on walls throughout the school such the wall outside the main office, inside the library on top of bookshelves, and in glass-fronted cases in the entry hall. These displays should be changed regularly. A general rule of thumb is that the farther the artwork is from the art room, the stronger it should be. Standard-size frames that are affixed to the wall and open easily make frequent changes possible.

Principal’s Art Collection

At the end of the year, hold a contest in which the winner will leave a work of art as part of a permanent display in the principal’s office, the library, guidance department, or other prominent location. A parents’ organization could sponsor this contest, furnish a small prize, and frame the work of art. It costs little more to affix a brass plaque with the student’s name and the year to the frame, and the student will never forget the honor. A digital print of the artwork can be made to include in the student’s portfolio.

The One-Day School Show

Near the end of each semester, hold a huge one-day show in the school entrance lobby (if your department doesn’t have a large enough area) in which every student in the department has at least one work on display. At the spring show, feature a few students who are graduating with a grouping of their own work. This display requires a great deal of student power and help from a couple of parents. Send special invitations home with students for all parents and grandparents, and invite district officials. If you can coordinate the visual arts exhibit with a musical or dramatic event that brings in community members, so much the better.

Invite teachers to all-school art shows through written and personal invitations. Ask your students to give their teachers adequate notice, so that those teachers can bring an entire class to see the show for fifteen minutes or so.

The purpose for doing all this work for a one-day exhibit is that you often have to move worktables and chairs out of the area to make space for viewers, and you would not want any of the work to be taken or defaced. Schedule a few students each hour to act as hosts throughout the exhibition.

District Art Exhibition

Even if yours is the only high school in a county, you still can have an art department exhibition somewhere outside the school. It may be a community library, recreation center, mall, or bank, but make the effort and give it publicity. A large district may sponsor an all-district, all-grade-level show to which all students and their families in the district are invited. It offers a chance to see what is happening in the other high schools. This event might be held inside a big mall or all-purpose recreation center.

District Gallery Website

Another venue for an ongoing district art display is a district Gallery Website. This is a good place for a district to spotlight artistic growth from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It can be set up so a viewer can look at just ceramics, for example, from grades K–12 or compare photography from each of the district’s high schools. It is important that teachers keep the Gallery Website current, so viewers always see new and exciting things.

Monumental Artwork for the School

Think Big

Look for an empty spot crying out to be filled with a large work of art, or see if existing artworks in such a spot are dated and need to be replaced. Get permission and funding first! To get inspiration, look at artwork done for new buildings and hotels. Two possible projects are wall murals or huge bas-relief wall sculptures. If you know that you will be physically unable to hang something large or will need scaffolding, enlist the help of the district’s building and grounds staff. Plan ahead: estimate time schedule, costs, dedication ceremony, and publicity. Some schools use tiles made by students to enrich an outdoor seating or garden area.

Public Relations

Publicity Guidelines

Local newspapers, community newspapers, Internet newsletters, and TV stations are always looking for interesting stories. If your students have participated in an art-related service project or have completed a monumental work of art for the school, try to get recognition for their work. First discuss with your principal the possibility of getting publicity for a student or group of students.

Many school districts have public relations departments that specify the policy about publishing students’ names with photos. Use permission forms if necessary. If adults are featured in an article with students, identify them by name and title (for example, Principal John Jones and Art Specialist Mary Doe).

If you submit an article about this event, include the 5 Ws and H: who, what, when, where, why, and how. If this is an event to which the public is invited, be specific about the date, time, school name, address, and phone number or e-mail of a contact person for further information.

Principal’s Newsletter

Most schools post their news on the school’s website once a month. Update the community on what the Art Department is doing—shows, competitions, and the like.

Competitions

Keep your eye open for opportunities throughout the year for local or national art competitions for high school students. Some of these offer financial benefits such as college scholarships or cash prizes. Others may be juried shows or opportunities for students to have their work displayed or published. Local businesses sometimes sponsor a competition for a logo design or artwork to be used in an advertisement. One of these real applications might be beneficial to an entire class, but you do have a curriculum to teach and may prefer to offer some of these to a few individuals to enter if it appeals to them.

Read the directions carefully about how and when the work must be presented and how it will be returned. Fortunately, many art competitions can now be juried by sending the work online or by sending a CD. If work must be sent and returned by postal mail or any other method that will cost, make sure you consider it a worthwhile competition. Follow presentation directions to the letter! If the regulations specify framed work with wire attached for hanging, it will likely be rejected if the work isn’t ready to hang. Also keep in mind that some students will want to keep their original work or at least color photocopies of it to show at college portfolio reviews.

Type “high school art competitions” into a search engine to bring up competitions sponsored by banks, specific states and counties, colleges and universities, and art supply companies. The Congressional Art Competition is sponsored annually by the House of Representatives. Entry information may be found on the Internet. The art is displayed in Washington, D.C., and the winning student often is invited to attend, expenses paid. Area universities will sometimes host a high school exhibition in a nice gallery setting, with a reception for the opening. This is a great chance for high school artists to feel success.

School-Business-Community Partnerships

Public Art

State and local transit authorities sometimes sponsor a call for entries for public art that will be used to decorate the interior or exterior of their offices or transit stops. Many communities around the country have organized city arts groups that welcome student assistance in producing public art.

Temporary Mural