Advocating for Rich and Rigorous K-12 Art Education

I began teaching art in 1993, entering the field as Discipline Based Art Education was taking hold. Liking the apparent depth and breadth it gave to art education, I let its tenets be my guide and over the ensuing years, came to think of myself as a "good" elementary art teacher.  I could manage an art room, an art program, and even district art faculty with ease.   I could integrate ANY content area into my art instruction successfully and could design creative and engaging art lessons incorporating art history, criticism, production and aesthetics that students, parents, and administrators loved. I could carry out school-wide and community-wide arts events that showcased the best of my students'  art efforts and received accolades for doing it. I even achieved National Board Certification in Early/Middle Childhood Art in 2004.  Still, something was missing and I wasn't at ease.

Two pivotal encounters in 2006 helped me realize what was lacking, where I was failing, and where I needed to focus my remedial energies. First, I discovered Visual Thinking Strategies in a graduate course at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.  Secondly, I read Sidney Walker's book "Teaching Meaning in Artmaking."  Both encounters helped me see that I wasn't teaching my students to notice deeply or think nor was I stressing personally meaningful expression in the work they were creating.  I'm no longer proud of those early art discussions that revealed only my own  critical analysis and thinking or of those early art lessons that showcased MY creativity, not my students'.  I am proud of my refusal to let "good enough" be just that and of how my quest for something better has revolutionized the quality of instruction I now offer young learners.

To any School Board who might entertain the idea of hiring me in the future; to any parents or community leaders who might wonder what kind of teacher I might be, I offer this "clear and timely rationale....in a manner that laypeople can understand" (Freedman, 2011).

Dear Board of Education, Community Leaders, Parents, and Students,

My name is Mary Franco and I am a career art educator with 17 years of experience teaching children about art. I am writing to advocate strongly for art education in this district, the state and the nation, for without rich and rigorous K-12 visual arts programs headed by highly qualified and committed art educators like me, we will truly be leaving our children behind.

The creative, thoughtful and meaningful engagement of ALL students should be at the heart of all K-12 art programing as we prepare 21^st century students for the future that awaits them. This future, ripe with political conflict, economic challenges, and global interdependence, will require citizens who can see not only what is, but also envision what could be; citizens who are imaginative and creative enough to ask “What if?” and innovative and decisive enough to propose, “Why not?” (Liu & Noppe-Brandon, 2009). These successful future citizens that we are educating will be products of strong visual arts programs.

The creative, thoughtful, and meaningful engagement that I speak of will be fostered through student-centered discussions of visual art and visual culture from past and present as students learn to “read” the visual world. It will be further nurtured through abundant student art-making inspired by the big ideas that have commonly concerned mankind throughout history and across cultures. With this broad yet tightly integrated variety of eyes-on, heads-on, and hands-on activities, and expert teacher support, we will develop critical and flexible thinkers, who can communicate collaboratively and reason with evidence as they  learn to recognize and appreciate multiple solutions to complex problems within and beyond the art room door (Housen & Yenawine, 2001); we will develop minds that can “think through and within [materials] and that are open enough to recognize "unanticipated possibilities of the work as it unfolds” (Eisner, 2002).

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times (cited by NAEA, 2011) stated that “We live in an age when the most valuable asset any economy can have is the ability to be creative – to spark and imagine new ideas, be they Broadway tunes, great books, iPads or new cancer drugs.”  Development of this ability, however, cannot be left to chance. We must teach it, nurture it, and ensure that it flourishes. Only through rich and rigorous K-12 art programing can this be accomplished.  

I hope you will join me in advocating for rich and rigorous K-12 art education. Our children and their future are depending on us!

Sincerely,

Mary J. Franco

References

Eisner, E. (2002). Ten lessons the arts teach. Retrieved from http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/10-           lessons-the-arts-teach

Freedman, K. (2011). Leadership in art education: Taking action in schools and communities.

          Retrieved from http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/Leadership_in_Art_Ed_Freedman.pdf

Housen, A. & Yenawine, P. (2001). Visual thinking strategies: Understanding the basics.

         Retrieved from http://vtshome.org/system/resources/0000/0039/VTS_Understanding_the-

         basic.pdf

Liu, E. & Noppe-Brandon, S. (2009). Imagination first. San Francisco, CA: Jossy-Bass.

National Art Education Association (2011). The visual arts: So much more than what you see...

          Retrieved from http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy/ARTS_ED_e-FLYER_3.pdf