2. Art teacher for 5 years
◦ Philadelphia: Special
Education (age 5-21)
◦ Manhattan, KS: Elementary
(k-6)
Currently pursuing my
masters degree at Kansas
State University
◦ Teaching “Art for the
Elementary Teacher” to
undergrads
Background Information
3. Qualitative Study
Carried out by teachers
Results can be
implemented immediately
Empowerment
◦ Helps teachers develop their own best
practices for their unique students
◦ No need to rely on outside “experts”
Action Research
4. Why does my students’ art work often all
look the same?
Botanical Sculpture
5th grade
Wonderings
5. Day 1: Drawing
from observation in
the learning
garden
Day 2:
Presentation on Susan Beiner
Contemporary
Ceramic Artists and
Creation of
Sculpture
Day 3: Painting
Ceramic Sculpture
Andy Rodgers
Lindsay Feurer
Botanical Sculpture Lesson
7. What can I do
to help my
students be
more creative?
What are the
ultimate objectives
of the K-12 art or
ceramics curriculum?
Wonderings
8. Kansas Standards for
the Visual Arts
21st Century
Learning
Reaction to
No Child Left Behind
Defining objectives
9. Learn about the power of visual images to influence human
behavior, their aspirations, and those of society
Explore their own potential to think creatively, to solve
problems with ingenuity, and to respond to events and
experiences with confidence
Discover their artistic heritage and learn to understand the
culture of which they are a part and those of others with
whom they live
Understand that they can effect improvement in the
environment and that they can shape their lives, their
communities, and their nation
Kansas Standards for Visual Arts
10. Kansas Standards for
the Visual Arts
21st Century
Learning
Reaction to
No Child Left Behind
Defining objectives
14. Discussion:
◦ What do you think are the main
objectives of your curriculum?
◦ How does creativity fit in?
What do you think?
15. Research Question:
How are art teachers fostering creativity in
their classrooms?
Methods:
Observation of 3 High School Art Classrooms (3 teachers):
Art Explorations(9th)
Advanced Ceramics (10th-12th)
AP Art (12th)
Field Notes, Teacher and student interviews, student
surveys, artifacts: handouts, rubrics, student work
Action Research Methods
16. Creativity is:
“any act, idea, or product that
changes an existing domain, or that
transforms an existing domain into
a new one” -Csikszentmihalyi
“the process of having original
ideas that have value” -Eisner
What is Creativity anyway?
17. Unique
Ideas
Meaning
Moving beyond formal qualities
and technical skills
18. Four ways teachers foster creativity in the art room:
Feedback
Teacher Methods
Monitoring Student Behavior Traits
Classroom Environment
Findings
19. Critiques
Postpone grading until after revision
Specific Positive Reinforcement
Feedback
20. Pushes the idea expansion (first idea is
usually not the best idea)
High Expectations
Provides exposure to the field
Responds with more questions
Flexibilty in assignments,
time frames, etc.
Teacher Methods
21. Maintaining Rigor
Willingness to take risks
Self-Motivation
Desire for some structure
Monitoring Student
Behavior Traits
22. Building a classroom community
◦ Supportive peer interactions
Foster’s report with students
Classroom Environment
26. Assignments based on
Theme/Idea rather than
technique
Student centered
Creative process scaffolded
Creative process assessed
Recommendations
27. Assignments based on Theme/Idea rather
than technique
Recommendations for more
Emphasis on Creativity
28. Design a vessel that tells a personal story
of a journey
Introduction to an watercolor artist who
uses collected artifacts along with the
painting of the landscape
Vessel must have a foot and a lid, and
thrown/handbuilt in multiple parts
Inverted face sections to contain
“artifacts”
Lid must have a cast glass knob
Journey Vessel
29. Themes based on Student
Interests/Experience
Progressive or Constructivist Learning
Styles
“Do not train a child to learn by force or
harshness; but direct them to it by what
amuses their minds, so that you may be
better able to discover with accuracy the
peculiar bent of the genius of each.”
~ Plato
Recommendations for more
Emphasis on Creativity
30. One of the best things about
progressive education is “its
emphasis upon the
importance of the
participation of the learner
in the formation of the
purposes which direct his “The teacher’s suggestion
activities in the learning is not a mold for a cast-
process” iron result but is a starting
(Dewey, 1938, p. 67) point to be developed into
a plan through
contributions from the
experience of all engaged
in the learning process”
(Dewey, 1938, p. 72)
Progressive Education
Experience and Education: John Dewey
31. Creative process scaffolded with specific
time for activities such as :
◦ warm-ups
◦ sensory stimulation
◦ reflection time
◦ brainstorming
Recommendations for more
Emphasis on Creativity
32. How do you model or scaffold the creative
process in your art room?
Compare the amount of time you spend
teaching technique to time spent on idea
generation
What do you think?
33. 1. Identify the Project
2. Generate ideas
1. Brainstorm
2. Expand on one word
3. Mental Inventory
1. Personal experiences
2. Current issues
3. interests
4. Research
5. Lateral Thinking
6. Thumbnail Sketches
7. Sketch Models
Scaffolding idea expansion
34. Assessment criteria that measure creative
development process as well as the
creativity in the product without over
emphasis on technical skill
The fastest way to
change how we learn is
to change how we assess.
Recommendations for more
Emphasis on Creativity
35. Adding these criteria to rubrics helps “evade the tendency to
place undue emphasis on skills in the use of materials and
techniques and judgments based on idiosyncratic preferences”
Product Criteria: Process Criteria:
1. Visibility of the 4. Investigative work (pursues
intention behind the problem across several works or
picture (visual work experiments, feels challenged
communicates what the rather than discouraged by
student intended) difficulties)
2. Color, form, 5. Inventiveness (student sets up
composition (achieves problem, tries new solutions, willing
desired effects with the aid to take risks)
of visual elements and 6. Ability to use models (seeks out
principles) models [references] to emulate)
3. Craftsmanship 7. Capacity to self-assess
(mastered the materials
and techniques)
Rubrics
(Lindstrom, 2006, p. 59)
37. New research question:
How do art teachers TEACH creativity?
While art teachers employed many methods and
techniques to foster the pre-existing creativity in
students, none really emphasized or taught the
process of developing ideas and creative
outcomes.
Most instructional time spent on learning
techniques and analyzing formal qualities of art.
Conclusions
