Arts education helps students learn to identify, appreciate, and participate in the traditional and non- traditional art forms of their own communities and the communities of others. As students imagine, create, and reflect, they are developing the verbal and non-verbal abilities necessary for life-long learning.

The intellectual demands of the arts help students develop problem-solving abilities and such powerful thinking skills as analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating. Numerous studies point toward a consistent and positive correlation between substantive education in the arts and student achievement in other subjects. A comprehensive, well-designed arts education program also engages students in a process that helps them develop the self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation necessary for success in life. Most importantly, the arts should be experienced and studied for their own intrinsic value.

We will use Schoology as our submission point for asynchronous work. I hope that you will put comment threads to good use as I offer formative feedback toward work you submit and then resubmit. Using Google Drawings to post not just finished work, but submitting work in progress (Presentation Standards) will contribute to your overall portfolio.

The biggest thing is just to stay engaged. You will be guided through all of this and may very well find that forms of self-expression can ward off "doldrums".