10 Lessons the Arts Teacher - Elliot Eisner

Here are 10 reasons why arts are important to our children's education.  I will soon have them posted in every one of my art rooms.  

1. The arts teach children to make good judgments about qualitative relationships.Unlike much of the curriculum in which correct answers and rules prevail, in the arts, it
is judgment rather than rules that prevail.

2. The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solutionand that questions can have more than one answer.

3. The arts celebrate multiple perspectives.One of their large lessons is that there are many ways to see and interpret the world.

4. The arts teach children that in complex forms of problem solving
purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity. Learning in the arts requires the ability and a willingness to surrender to the unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds.

5. The arts make vivid the fact that neither words in their literal form nor numbers exhaust what we can know. The limits of our language do not define the limits of our cognition.

6. The arts teach students that small differences can have large effects.The arts traffic in subtleties.

7. The arts teach students to think through and within a material.All art forms employ some means through which images become real.

8. The arts help children learn to say what cannot be said.When children are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words that will do the job.

9. The arts enable us to have experience we can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what we are capable of feeling.

10. The arts' position in the school curriculum symbolizes to the young
what adults believe is important.

SOURCE: Eisner, E. (2002). The Arts and the Creation of Mind, In Chapter 4, What the Arts Teach and How It Shows. (pp. 70-92). Yale University Press. Available from NAEA Publications. NAEA grants reprint permission for this excerpt from Ten Lessons with proper acknowledgment of its source and NAEA.

Register for Art Classes This Fall!

Image from the KIA website:  http://www.kiarts.org/page.php?menu_id=22

The deadline for fall art classes at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts is coming up!  There are classes such as "Drawing outside of the box"  and "Mixed Media Adventure" that look like a lot of fun!  Sign up here:  http://www.kiarts.org/page.php?menu_id=22

The KIA is located right in downtown Kalamazoo, about a five minute walk from St. Augustine Catholic School.

An Organized Art Room

Main art materials area at St. Monica. 

Now this is an organized art room!  All of the containers contain materials that we use on a regular basis and are color coded for each table.  The students are responsible for all materials and know exactly where they go.  (I know...my students are great!)  I am hoping to gain some more containers throughout the year at St. Augustine and Washington to make it just as organized!

Why Is Art Important?

I was doing my regular check up on Michigan Art Education Standards and Benchmarks and was very happy with what I found!!  First, the art curriculum has been broken down by grade level and is more specific.  I believe it is more applicable to each grade level and has higher expectations of our students.  Second, there are multiple documents about why art is important.  Here is a poll that I found interesting and intriguing.  All of this information can be found on the Michigan Department of Education website.  Check it out!

A May 2005 Harris Poll on the attitudes of Americans toward arts education, commissioned by Americans for the Arts, revealed strong public support. Among the findings:
93%agree 
the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded
education for children, a 2% increase over 2001.
86%agree 
an arts education encourages and assists in
the improvement of a child’s attitudes toward school.
83%believe 
that arts education helps teach children to
communicate effectively with adults and peers.
79%agree 
incorporating the arts into education is the first step in adding back what’s missing
in public education today.
54%rated 
the importance of arts education
a “ten” on a scale of one to ten.
79%believe 
that it’s important enough for them to get personally involved in increasing the amount
and quality of arts education. 

Please support the arts!!!

St. Augustine Sneak Peak

Well I had to be fair.  I spent the day at St. Augustine today and here is a sneak peak into the art room.  I only have a few more finishing touches.  It is cleaned up and ready for learning.  

Can you spot the differences?

The Countdown is On!

Hello my amazing artists!  It is that time.  The school year is about to start and I have been working day and night to make sure we are prepared for another wonderful year.

Sneak peak into St. Monica's room.  There are few differences from last year.  Can you spot any?

I have a lot to share with you so here we go:

1.  I am so excited to be back!  This year I will be teaching at THREE schools!  I will be teaching 1st through 8th grade at St. Monica and St. Augustine, just like last year.  However, I will also be teaching half of the students at Washington Writer's Academy.  I am all over the place so if you need to reach me for any reason, please contact me via e-mail (found on the schools' website).

2.  Mrs. Clearwaters...who is that?  No need to sweat.  You still have your same ol' art teacher from last year (Ms. Presley)  but I got married this summer and have a new last name!  Yay!  I know that it will take some getting use to so if you call me by my old name on accident that is a-okay. I am try to get use to it also!

Mr. and Mrs. Clearwaters being happy.

3.  EXCITING NEWS:  Today an "angel" donated an LCD projector to the art room at St. Augustine!!!  No more walking around the room with an 8"x 11" printout to show artwork!  It will be projected on the wall for everyone to see nice and BIG!  I will show pictures as soon as I get it.

Angel - You will be receiving this card made with LOTS OF LOVE very soon.