Scribd
Upload
89 views

Teaching Visual Arts in The Elementary Grades: B. Setting The Objectives

The document discusses different approaches to setting objectives for teaching visual arts in elementary grades. It describes teacher-centered approaches like discipline-based art education (DBAE) which focus on skills, concepts, and assessment, as well as learner-centered approaches like Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) which emphasize student choice, creativity, and self-expression. Effective objectives balance these approaches by considering students' development levels and interests while ensuring coverage of required topics. The ultimate goal is to help students see art as a means of personal expression.

Uploaded by

kabuteh4
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
89 views

Teaching Visual Arts in The Elementary Grades: B. Setting The Objectives

The document discusses different approaches to setting objectives for teaching visual arts in elementary grades. It describes teacher-centered approaches like discipline-based art education (DBAE) which focus on skills, concepts, and assessment, as well as learner-centered approaches like Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) which emphasize student choice, creativity, and self-expression. Effective objectives balance these approaches by considering students' development levels and interests while ensuring coverage of required topics. The ultimate goal is to help students see art as a means of personal expression.

Uploaded by

kabuteh4
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Teaching Visual Arts in the Elementary Grades

B. Setting the Objectives


The Continuum of Choice.
In setting your learning objectives, it is important that you determine what your goals
are before planning out or selecting an art activity. You can find a fun activity from
Pinterest (an online art and crafts social media sharing site) that seems fun to do in your
Grade 1 class, however, if it is out of topic and does not fit your curriculum goals, you
may have to set it aside.
When introducing a new material or technique to children, it is common for teachers to
teach step-by-step, however, a good art teacher should not expect an exact outcome,
rather, give students an opportunity to practice creativity and independence in finding
solutions (Hume 2008).
Art-making is not just about assembling elements and things together in a skillful
manner to create a product. The difference between personal art and a well-crafted
mass- produced “art” product is that personal art reflects the soul of the creator and is
oftentimes unique in the world. That is what the art teacher should always consider
when teaching art to children.
Technical skills and understanding concepts and principles are just tools for the child-
artist to effectively express his or her thoughts, feelings, desires, and experiences to the
world, but should not be the only focus for teaching art.

Sometimes, elementary teachers dwell too much on attaining the learning competencies
that they forget to enjoy the art-teaching process as well. Art teachers are also artists,
and in order to be an effective art teacher, one should teach with his or her heart and
soul, otherwise, it is no different in training employees on how to assemble predesigned
products in a factory.
In Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), Douglas & Jaquith (2018) explained the
progression of choice which is how tasks and decisions are prescribed by the teacher
versus the freedom of choice of the student. TAB is a choice-based approach wherein
students are taught skills and concepts by exploring different media centers, then are
soon free to choose to work on their own concepts, materials, tools, and techniques
toward the end of the quarter or school year.
Students are given opportunities to explore, take risks, make mistakes, and decide for
themselves. Teachers most of the time are facilitators of learning

Approaches in Teaching Art Teacher-Centered Approach


In a teacher-directed learning. The teacher sets the objectives of the activity, materials,
techniques. Theme: etc.. and follows the curriculum goals intended for that grade level.
The teacher enumerates the exact materials to be used and is often strict upon using
other than what’s prescribed.
Depending on the unit plan, the activity might also be focused on the technique;
example, chiaroscuro painting, shading using graphite, weaving. Etc., in which case, the
students should follow criteria to achieve a certain standard.
Planning is crucial so that the teacher can make sure that each class can cover the topics
needed to comply with the performance and content standards by the end of the
quarter. Planning by following the unit plan also ensures continuity of content and
progression of skills and techniques used per activity. In this case, there is already a
definite expected output from the child for each session.

Setting Objectives for a Discipline-Based Art Education Approach


The DepEd Art Curriculum uses the Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) approach to
primarily teach art concepts like art history and technical skills, such as directed drawing,
copying, and painting that measure dexterity, neatness, and accuracy.
DBAE is also ideal for integrating other disciplines, such as Language, Math, and Science.
Assessment is detail- oriented and usually involves a rubric and a written exam which
includes Art theory, Art criticism, and Art history.
Imagination and creativity are practiced although they are sometimes not prioritized in
terms of assessment.
.
In a learner-centered approach, the teacher acts as facilitator and involves a more
spontaneous teaching or open-ended activity that gives more opportunities for student-
lead exploration, self-expression, and decision-making.
The flexibility of a student-centered approach is ideal for younger children who may not
have the same way of thinking as adults. The standards are also not time-bound and
limited, rather, will be dependent on the child’s individual progress and interests.
A good example of this is Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) wherein students are
encouraged to work with the theme and medium that they want in so-called “media
centers” (paint centers, drawing centers, clay centers, etc.).
A learner-centered approach is also ideal for teaching children with special needs who
have different levels of skills, needs, interests, and responses, especially when teaching
in a mixed-level classroom.
In setting objectives for a learner-centered approach, teachers should focus on
developing the child’s creativity and self-expression through choice-based theme and
medium. In TAB, themes must connect with students’ lives and interests to be effective.
Topics for themes can come from students, current events, classroom studies, or can
emerge directly out of student work (Douglas and Jaquith 2018).

In most after-school art workshops for younger children, the focus of an activity is for
enjoyment, fun, and exploration (Art as Play). The focus is on experimenting with
different art media, themes, and techniques.
Teacher acts as facilitator, demonstrating a skill or technique, then gives the students
freedom on how they will apply what they have learned using a theme that they like.
Aside from the standard performance assessment (rubrics), other factors are also taken
into account. These include observing the students during the process, talking to them
about their work, and even how they critique other's work.
Teaching for Artistic Behavior - Also known as TAB, this approach has a three-sentence
curriculum: the child is the artist, what do artists do, and the art room is the art studio.
Children learn the basic theories, concepts, and skills then toward the end of the month,
quarter, or semester, they will choose a problem or a theme that they want, then work
on it until they are able to create an output based on their skill and medium of their
choice.

Reggio Emilia - This approach uses a constructivist self-guided curriculum that applies
self-directed, hands-on experiences in relationship- driven environments that focus
mainly on early childhood education (Moss 2019).
Rudolf Steiner - Also known as Waldorf education, this places the greatest importance
on giving children what is appropriate for their age, with "artistic love and loving art"
(Steiner 1922). Teachers cater learners' imagination and creativity not only in art, but as
a holistic approach to teaching other subjects.

At an early age, it should be embedded in children's mindset that art is used mainly to
express oneself to the world. They should learn that art is something personal no
matter how it is presented and therefore can be subjective. Once their values about
their own art are solidified, then they can observe the work of the masters and other
communities to get inspiration.
By this time, they are able to understand that these works are also expressions of other
artists and culture, and that these are personal and their expressions of themselves as
well. They will learn to be more open-minded, curious on what inspires these artists,
and less critical of others. Teachers should always keep those in mind when planning and
selecting the objectives for an art activity. Teachers should be able to discern how to
balance a learner-centered and teacher-centered approach.

You might also like