Arts Statistics ((according to Americans for the Arts Action Fund))

Here are some statistics about the arts and how it benefits kids....

Resarch shows that young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours on three days a week for one full year or more are:

* 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement

* 3 times more likely to be elected to class office

* 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair

* 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance

* 4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem

In addition, young arts participants as compared with their peers are likely to:

* Read for pleasure nearly twice as often

* Participate in youth groups nearly four times as frequently

* Perform community service nearly twice as often

The fact is: arts education makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child, and has proven to help "level the learning field" across socio-economic boundaries. Art also has proven to make a measurable impact on at risk youth by deterring delinquient behavior and truancy problems while also increasing overall academic performances.

In addition, art education strengthens student problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success. Plus, it gives students a deeper appricieation of the world around them!

Source: Dr. Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University, for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

And also the Americans for the Arts Action Fund

So, the point I'm trying to get across is....ART EDUCATION (and other arts) are important in our schools!! Art benefits students tremendously and helps them in other areas of their schooling. It can give new way for childrens imaginations, creativity, emotions, and so much more!!! It is an academic area which needs to be funded more and paid more attention to in the school systems.

And I will leave you with this quote from Sheila Bergman, P.S. Arts' Executive Director:

"The arts are critical to a child's education. They develop creative intelligence that encourages communication of ideas through image, sound, and movement."

Art Education Videos

...Art Education Videos...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcHkjfTUqCY



^^ Go to this website to watch a funny video where they sing about art education topics (using a paper bag puppet!!!!)


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y069pwHmU40&feature=related



^^ This website talks about technology in art education...


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW9GKBAsQ20&feature=related



^^ Art education Public Service Announcement...

Interdisciplinary Issues in the Artroom?

When you think of art class, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Creating, being an individual, paint, clay, paper, glue, freedom? Well, those are some of the initial thoughts that come to my mind when I think of the art room. However, there are many other aspects which are incorporated into the art room which do not deal with art directly.

Music, history, the environment, geography and many other areas which are taught alone in the school setting. These areas can help the art class and make curriculum more interesting and teach students more about art and these areas as well.

When learning about ancient cultures or famous painters, this is incorporating history into the art lesson. You need to incorporate history into the art room because you want to know about the very beginning of art and history famous artists. Without art history in the art classroom, what would you learn about when wanting to look back on previous works from centuries ago? Although, history is incorporated into the art room it is not the type of history you learn in history class. This type relates to the art room, however, some people may not realize that history is being incorporated into the lesson. Not all interdisciplinary connections are as subtle.

Take music for instance. There are many activities which relate to music which can be icorporated into the art room. You can listen to different cultures music and their art at the same time. While you are creating you can also be listening as well. I'm sure that when you think of art class you do not usually think of incorporating music into the lesson; unless you are thinking about bringing your Ipod to class, but that is not what I'm talking about. Ancient cultures, of course, listened to music and also created art. So why can't you incorporate music into your lessons about art class? Students will be able to learn about art and music at the same time. This may be fun for some students and listening to music may help some students work more efficiently and keep them on track.

Teaching students how to recycle and use natural resourcese to create art is another type of interdisciplinary connection which is more subtle when used in the art room. When teaching students to use certain materials to create art, rather than throwing these materials away, you are teaching them how to re-use and recycle materials. This will benefit the environment because you are not wasting these items by throwing them away; items which could potentially harm the environment. Also using natural resources in the art lesson incorporates the environmental aspects of school into the art room. Students will be able to learn about natural resources and how to use them in their art works and also learn about the different kinds of natural resources. Both of these issues can be incorporated into the artroom subtly and will benefit and inform the kids in the art aspect of the issue.

I believe that incorporating interdisciplinary issues into the artroom is beneficial to all. Students have seperate classes to learn about these different issues; such as history class, music class, ecology class, etc. but when students learn about these things in art class, they are taught differently than in these regular classes. They get to learn about these issues in a differnt point of view, from the art point of view. And I believe it is important to learn about all disciplines in different points of views. Students who do not like history class may like how history is incorporated into the art lessons. There are different strands of issues which can be related to just about anything. And incorporating these issues into the art room will help students see these issues in a different light. Some students will learn a great deal by incorporating these other issues into the art curriculum. It is important to give all students a fair chance at learning and by incorporating other disciplines into the art room, you are expanding on the issues which they will learn (only these issues will relate to the art world.)

Computers in the Art Room

Computers are everywhere in today's society. Kids and adults are around computers daily and most peoeple use computers everyday. So should they be incorporated into some of the art room curriculum even if students use computers in other classes?

Computers are something that really need to be monitored and have blocks on. There are many dangerous websites and other negative aspects that students may stumble upon when working with computers. However, I believe that computers can be beneficial in the art classroom. If these computers are allowed in the art room they should only have the art software on them that will be used for the art classes. If the internet is needed, there should be blocks on certain websites, however, to use the internet there should be a password which needs to be used to enable access to the internet. A password which should change daily to ensure students will not log onto the internet when they are not in need of it.

There are many programs which incorporate graphic design elements into the program. There is the photoshop program, for instance, which is used a great deal of the time when you get into certain college courses. These types of programs are the types which should be taught in the art classrooms of middle and high schools. If a lesson or unit is about graphic design, students should be able to use computers to go along with this lesson/unit to create their projects. Also, by allowing students to get aquainted with the computer software at an earlier age (no earlier than middle school levels- maybe 7th grade and up should have accessability to computers in the art room) these students may find something they have an interest in and want to pursue. Computers are a good thing to become familiar with and use in today's society because they are very prevalant and are probably not going away anytime soon.

Coming from personal experiences I never used a computer in the art room until college. When using the art programs on these computers in college, I was totally lost. I had no idea how to use the programs to create anything. However, once I learned how to use these programs some, it was much easier and more understandable to use these different software. Now if I have to use a computer to create an art like project I dont struggle like I used to because I finally learned how to use these art programs.

My personal experience with computers leads me to believe that getting the computer into the art room at an earlier age than college level will help students who enter the college level to know and understand some of the programs they have to use. If students are exposed to computers in the art room and the different art programs at an early level, other than college, they may find something they wish to pursue as a career and will want to study that in college.

Just because the art work is done on a computer rather than by hand does not mean that the final outcome was not the creative brainwork from a student. The student still does the work on the computer, however, the computer is a different art medium which is used to create a work of art. All students should be exposed to ALL art mediums whether it be traditional or contemporary art mediums.

Can we not give all students a fair chance at using an art medium whether it be art mediums you apply and use with your hands or an art medium which is also a technology? If we dont allow students to use computers in school at an early age, are we depriving them of a different type of art opportunity? Are we depriving them of a new art medium which they may wish to pursue as a career? How will students know what they like or dislike if they are not exposed to it until it may be too late?

Performing Art...in the art classroom?

When you think of teaching in the art room, what comes to mind? Creating 2D or 3D works of art? Using crayons, paint, paper, glue, scissors to create something?

Well children in past years have only created pieces using these mediums and other hands on supplies. However, children can be expressive and creative in other ways in the art room. Would you ever think of using the performing arts in the art room to help students express themselves?

Growing up all I ever used in the art room were the traditional mediums you would find in the art room. Paint, paper, crayons, markers, etc. Not until I got into college did we experiment with using the performing arts to create a piece. We used performance and movement to show a piece of art that we had studied. We used different movements and poses to express the feelings, emotions, poses, etc. that were found in the art work we studied. For instance, the group I was in looked at Picasso's piece titled "Guernica" (below). Each person in the group was a different "character" in the work. We moved around and tried to capture what was originally captured in the 2D piece. Overall, I really enjoyed getting up and moving around in the art room. It was something new and different that I never would have associated with art class before. I really believe that performace should be incorporated into the art room more whenever possible. You can use so many works and come up with so many ideas to incorporate performace and movement into the art classroom. And your students will also enjoy it as well because it will be something different!

By using this form of contemporary art (performance/movement) in the art room, students will be doing something they have never done before in the art room. It will help them get away from the traditional mediums, however, not completely. By incorporating some movement and performances into the art room students will be actively involved in their art class. They will be able to get up and move around, work in groups, and express themselves differently rather than using 2D media. Sometimes getting up and moving around in a class can help students express themselves differently; also some students may be more talented at expressing themselves through performace pieces.

By incorporating many different mediums and options into the art room you will, hopefully, be hitting on everyones talents and interests. If you think about it, performance is a different type of art medium, so why hasn't this been used in the art classrooms more frequently?

Issues

What type of issues should be allowed and what type of issues should not be allowed to be discussed or brought up in the art room? Who is to say what is and what is not art?

There are many issues in which the art room is faced with. So what are the topics in which we are allowed to discuss in the art room? Are art educators supposed to stick to all of the historical aspects of art? Or should they be able to discuss topics which are more recent in our society?

Growing up in the '90's I only remember learning about Picasso, Monet, and other famous artists from history. We didnt learn about recent artists or contemporary artists. They were all from years and years before. But in today's world there are more contemporary artists which could be discussed in the art room. These artists could inspire kids and show them something new that they may enjoy doing. These types of contemporary art could benefit some kids, so why not incorporate contemporary art/artists into the art room? Are art educators allowed to look at and discuss these artists? Or do they need to stick to the "black and white" artists who we've studied all along.

With this day and age there are so many new and unusual things which could be incorporated into the art room. However, what is stopping many people from incorporating these contemporary artists into the art curriculum? Are they afraid to incorporate these newer artists? Are they afraid to steer away from the "norm"?

When I observed at an elementary school, I saw the teacher doing projects with the kids which dealt with century old traditions from different cultures. They were not studing new issues or art. Do educators have a specific criteria that they must follow or can they steer off from that and incorporate newer aspects of art into their lessons? It just bothers me that these kids are doing the same exact projects that I had done 14 years ago when I was in their shoes.

I dont believe it is a negative thing to incorporate more contemporary artists into the school curriculum. I mean it is a good thing to learn about art history and those artists, however, once and awhile it is a good idea to steer away from that and learn about newer artists and their art. Students need to be exposed to ALL types of art, new and old.

How will they benefit from art education if art teachers just teach them all about art history? Are we as art educators doing our jobs by not exposing them to the contempory art and artists?