[LJohnson]

I do think that we are at a point where studio art, art education and art history curricula need to be changed and at this point in time I seem to hear of many schools putting a lot of time, thought and effort into making changes. My school district is just in the very beginning stages of planning out a new curriculum. It is going to be a long, very well thought out and heavily researched process. I think that most schools are really trying to shift gears from some of the old school practices in art education and it appears to me that there is a large movement to attempt to put the main focus on the students and giving them the tools and confidence they need to truly trust in themselves, their own ideas and their own creativity. We are trying to focus on giving them the art education they need by also being sure to keep the joy of creating art to the highest possible degree. If students are not experiencing the joy of creating art and they are not being excited and inspired by what their teachers are presenting to them then we will be failing to bring them a curriculum that will give them the many benefits that a solid art foundation can equip them with for their future.

[LJohnson]

I do feel that present day art curriculum is overall much more culturally responsive to issues of gender, race, age, sexuality and disability issues. As an elementary art teacher I, for the most, part steer clear of sexuality issues, but I do feel that most teachers at this time have been making efforts to improve and are continuing to try to grow in their abilities to touch on these areas through their art curriculum. Most of the teachers I know go out of their way to introduce many female artist as well as artists of varying races. Chuck Close is a great artist to use when discussing various disability issues. I think that art is a powerful tool for addressing these topics due to the amazingly wide variations of art and artists that we have to draw from when teaching. I would say that you can literally think of at least a handful of artists that can relate to each of these topics in some way. It just goes to show that art is everywhere and relates to everything in our lives. I really do think that there has been a movement in art education to use the broadness, the flexibility and obvious creativity of our “subject area” to address these issues that really need to be dealt with and can have a huge impact on the lives of our students.

[LJohnson]

I believe that my curriculum as an art teacher differs from how I was taught by me trying to give my elementary students a more well-rounded art experience. I really do try to give them a taste of everything, but right now our school does not really have an actual curriculum. Each individual teacher is teaching with the Pennsylvania State Standards in mind, but other than that we have free reign to do as we please and as we think is best. We are currently in the beginning stages of putting together a new curriculum and that is very exciting!

As I stated already, in my classroom I try to give a small taste of everything that I can. The things that I believe to be most important. I feel that I am teaching my students much more than I learned in elementary art class. Truthfully, I have very few memories of elementary school art, but I do feel sure that it was not much more than arts and crafts. I know that I never really got excited about art until I got to middle school. I spend lots of time researching and trying to find projects that will have real value for my students and that they will really get excited about. I know that if I can really be excited to teach something there is a much greater chance of my students being excited to learn it and create the project. More and more lately as I am thinking of curriculum I am thinking about making sure that the joy of learning about and making art is there for both the students and the teacher.

[Author]

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