Welcome to my visual arts education site!

Please visit my Art Education page listed above to view my latest news, projects, and iPad training tools from the classroom.

THE NEW WAVE OF CURRICULUM…

As art educators, change has crossed the threshold of our art rooms in the following three areas:  Bloom’s Taxonomy, National Core Arts Standards, and for my state, the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards.  Let’s face it, we are all needing a little guidance to continue creating strong visual arts programs and promoting advocacy for the arts.  It is my hope to offer some clarity, as well as to share knowledge and ideas with each other.  As we embrace these new changes, visual arts programs must be rooted in creative problem solving skills that enrich our classrooms, and most importantly, educate our students. Let us start our creative problem solving journey with a look at the above trends beginning with the newly rearranged learning levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy…

According to the new Bloom’s Taxonomy, CREATING is now the highest level of learning. This is what we already DO in our classrooms.  This is exciting news for visual arts education!

Next, let’s look at a simplified chart of the brand new national anchor standards from the National Art Educator’s Association.  The anchor standards are listed under the four process headings below.  Please refer to your individual district and national performance standards for assessment possibilities.  The new national visual arts standards also offer eduring understandings and essential questions to consider while planning.

You can find a more in-depth look at the above new arts standards at the following web page: http://www.arteducators.org/research/naea-standards.

The third new change we will take a look at is The Common Core standards adopted in Kansas as the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards.  These standard are based upon the reading, writing, listening, speaking, and language areas needed for each student for all of the grade levels, in every single classroom. These are large documents with a lot of information and require time to study and implement in your individual districts.  The visual art standards, for the most part, at the secondary level are under the heading: Common Core State Standards for Literacy in All Subjects.  All subjects include history/social studies, science, and technical subjects; the latter being the fine arts heading including the visual arts.  This separate set of standards covers the curricular needs of sixth through twelfth grades. (Note: K-5th grades are covered in the main body of the curriculum document.)  Your state and local districts will determine ultimately what role common core will play in your classroom.  Be sure to be a part of the conversation!

I have just presented, an often overwhelming amount of information, to you!  Please take a breath or a break and then read the below chart containing a comprehensible way to sort through this information using a creative problem solving model.  This conceptual model takes you through a practical design process showing how, what, when, why, and where you can use the above ideas with your students.  You will find the design process of problem solving is already rich in learning levels, art standards, and common core standards!  It will be easy to begin the process of showing your students how to think, problem solve, and create like a visual artist.

ENJOY!

Happy planning,

Robin Schuberth