After 25+ years as an elementary art educator, I have adopted the Choice-based Based Art Education or
Teaching for Artistic Behavior philosophy.
I believe that students should have the choice to work with materials, images,
and techniques at their own pace to develop their own artistic voice.
With my guidance, students in my art room are allowed to work to create meaningful and powerful artwork for them as individuals.
Please do not expect art that is uniform or copies of masters.
All artists are free to design what they feel, see, imagine, and try techniques, new and old.
Kindergarten and first graders' art experience is a bit modified...they have modified choices and centers. I want my youngest students to build that foundation and experience art in more of a teacher-directed environment. Students still have a choice, but they will all work on using scissors, art vocabulary, and studio experiences to stretch their thinking.
Submitted by: Kathy Douglas
There are many wonderful outcomes for both students and teachers using the choice concept of teaching:
The choice teacher is freed from trying to think of a "clever" idea that will engage every student. Instead, students are told that artists make art about things that fascinate them. When doing the work of the artist, students will be expressing their own ideas.
When students choose the work, they are self-motivated; most behavior problems disappear, and the quality of the finished work is quite good.
When students are working independently, the teacher has time to observe students, determining needs that can be met in future demonstrations.
Students can work at their own speed. Some students work on a painting or weaving for four or five weeks, while others may use more than one center in a class period. Students have the opportunity to try something over and over again, leading to mastery.
The choice teacher can introduce something new every week, even though some artworks will take much longer to complete as the students work independently.
Students see an enormous variety of ideas and techniques at the end of class when amazing discoveries are shared.
Choice teaching encourages independent thinking, persistence, and risk-taking, all qualities valued by practicing artists.
Where supply budgets are slim, the choice teacher can order just a few of each item. For instance, there are rarely more than 6 students painting at any one time. We can offer these painters better quality brushes. This would be impossible if every student had to paint.
Most students choose experiences in each of the centers over the time that they are in our schools; however, even if a child never makes a tapestry weaving, she has observed the teacher demonstration, seen the vocabulary and background material in the fiber area and perhaps watched her best friend creating a piece of fabric. There is a lot of learning going on there too!
When students have chosen their work, they can discuss it easily, can describe their working process and false starts, and usually evaluate the effectiveness of the finished work.
Time is used very efficiently; the initial five-minute demonstration and the brief clean-up time leave more time for student work. Additional detailed instruction is given to the small groups choosing the demonstrated topic as they work.
©Katherine M. Douglas 2004
Incredible Art Department https://www.incredibleart.org/links/toolbox/TAB-CHOICE.htm