September 1st Group Work

Yesterday in class, our group began creating a diagram in which discussed important areas of contemporary art education. Each member of the group contributed some of their author's opinions along with information from their own art education experience. Although we have not finished the project, we got a great start. Our major categories, teacher's actions, student's actions, student development, environment, and ongoing processes all branched off into other areas. When discussing environment we touched on the area in which the school is located, the vast technologies available to students, and budget constraints within the classroom. Some ideas based on teacher's actions included their investment in student growth, their ability to adjust lessons based on student's learning, and even giving students responsibilities in which they aid to classroom growth. When discussing student's actions we touched upon student's level of commitment in the classroom and student's taking roles as teachers as they come up with creative lessons for the class and students working with each other (as discussed by the author I read, David Darts). Student development included their growth as artists along with their use of technology to promote their creative education, as discussed by another group member's author. Also, we briefly touched upon Dart's idea of a shift from sole focus on technique to the value of conceptual art. I think these things are all valuable in the discussion of art education, along with many other ideas. Conceptual art along with the discussions on technology are obviously of relevance in the art world today. Based upon yesterdays work it was interesting to see how these five categories all made direct connections to each other. As we finish the project I know that we will continue to see more connections. This shows how the many aspects of education all effect each other.