Chapters 1 & 2

I was so inspired by (the author) Frank Wachowaik's philosophy of teaching art that I interlibrary loaned several of his published papers. I would be happy to xerox them for anyone in class who is interested.

A summary of Frank Wachowaik's teaching philosophy.
1. Art is not something special done by special people. It is part of our everyday life.
2. Allowing all mark-making and visual statements children make to qualify as art limits their sense of art rather than encourages it.
3. "When art plays a subordinate roll to other subjects, or is limited to stereotypical holiday decorations, it cannot perform a vital role in children’s creative growth"
4. Children need substantial time devoted to art every week. Most art that is created in a limited time period is apt to be cursory and sterile. It takes 45 minutes to motivate and inspire the kids and do the preliminary drawings for a project. A fully finished project takes 3, 4, or 5 sessions.

Three other ideas I found exciting
-have the project let the student “say something” about their friends, pet, selves or world.
-idea of using role playing (ex. students are graphic designers charged with creating an ad for an ecological cause)
-drawing from a taxidermy animal (ex. owl)
Also I enjoyed our classroom management/organization discussion in class. All of the specifics such as "give instructions before you pass out materials' were very helpful but the part that I have been thinking about the most was the idea of speaking to the best self of the child.