Art Education

Putting the A in STEAM

Ms. Henson's goal is to inspire a spark of creativity and for students to see the world is full of art. She wants to foster confidence in her young artists and to give them the chance to grow. Using the growth mindset, our students learn from making mistakes, they are taught to use a wide variety of techniques taught, and learn how to self reflect for success across the content area. Through exploration of various techniques such as exploring paints and color mixing, printmaking, textures, collage, clay and form; students are able to create masterpieces they can take pride in. From the softness of a brush stroke, to the bold streak of a crayon, students are given a new voice. Art education provides students with new avenues for communication and connections in their world. Using an arts integration approach, we are able to enhance and enrich classroom lessons by connecting to lessons and life in innovative ways. By integrating art and fostering a supportive classroom for students to explore and grow, these qualities build upon each other in a way that creates a strong learner, a strong learning community and strong sense of viewing art.

At McCaw we teach art through a Discipline-based art education (DBAE) process. DBAE promotes education across four disciplines within the arts: aesthetics, art criticism, art history and art production. A focus objectives of DBAE is to make arts education more parallel to other academic disciplines, and to create a standardized framework for content.