I am excited about the opportunity to apply the excitement from and innovation in our youth classes to updating our program's "mission statement." The latter currently reads: "Youth classes provide artistic skill building and exploration for students, ages 4-18. Courses offer a wide variety of media, each providing basic skill and vocabulary." Should we not include, for example, references to our values of supporting
1. multiple perspectives and learning styles
2. personal exploration and expression
3. child-centered, constructivist pedagogy championing discovery, creativity, and fun
4. shared responsibility for our community and world?
Over the next week, please share your thoughts and suggestions with other program instructors. I expect to cull a tentative summary from your comments by January 12. We will then have the opportunity for final review and for a first application of our newly articulated program identity to the smARTworks program of summer '09.
Happy New Year, Patrick
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I agree, we should update the mission statement to express more about the programs learning styles, goals, etc. A few things to consider:
ReplyDelete-It's important that we find a language or vocabulary that is concise; something that people can identify with.
-Do we discuss the role of our program in relation to the student? Or, do we also discuss the education of instructors. i.e.: The attending of the OAEA conference, workshops, the Reggio Emilia conference.
-Is this something that acts as an umbrella for all aspects of Continuing Ed under the age of 18... or only the Youth Program (14 & under)?
Compared to other programs that I have been an instructor for, our program at PNCA has the best environment. Environments are of course all inclusive! I would suggest highlighting the following:
ReplyDelete-Quality materials and studios.
-Faculty and administration invested in continual learning and self evaluation.
-Art as an exercise for developing creative thinking and problem solving skills.
-Art as an exercise for developing self expression and confidence.
-Challenging curriculum and materials.
-Projects that incorporate larger learning themes in multiple subjects.
-Students commit to a final art show which emphasizes goal setting and diligence.
These qualities are possible in our setting compared to the after school programs I also work in due to our longer class times, student to teacher ratio, funding, and ability to access additional learning tools. Such tools include: field trips to the art museum, galleries, public gardens or zoo, access to the internet and high end computer software, PNCA's library and on campus galleries.
I hope some of this is useful!
oh and also that it is really fun and sometimes we build robots that dance to Devo!
ReplyDeleteHeather made some excellent points that we should definitely highlight.
ReplyDelete"Art as an exercise for developing creative thinking and problem solving skills....Art as an exercise for developing self expression and confidence."
We could also stress:
-The integration of collaboratively focused projects.
-Team-building
-A foundation for long term study through the program.
Also we are the only program I know that changes the perspective our students have on art by having the gallery shows.
ReplyDeleteIt it really amazing how the show pushes their work from "kids arts and craft projects" to "Youth Art". All of our students make the work with the show in mind also, which changes the tone and level of sophistication which they approach their projects with.
What follows are not my own words, but the verbatim quote of a concerned advocate of youth art education at PNCA:
ReplyDelete"To my observation, current presentations are whatever one wants and
whatever lessons one feels like they would like to experiment with. I do
not always see successful or even age appropriate lessons, I sometimes
wonder what in the world was in the instructors mind - what was the
lesson they were trying to do? Or were they simply experimenting with
the students at hand on a whim - lets try this & see what happens. A lot
of teaching, I suppose, can come from that whim base but I feel the
classes are currently lacking in substance. Often I view projects as
instructing the young students to be more dependent vs. becoming
independent thinkers. It appears that many projects are set up as
imitation vs. self expression on the level of the actual student. In a
way self expresson in art could be defined as a mode of expression
according to the mental level of the student. Imitation is expression
according to an adult or other foreign ideals- there seems to be little
that distinguish them from other programs - sure, there may be class
offerings that separate us from others but truthfully, I question this.
I see offerings around the city even use the same class titles or
descriptions as we use."