'Art in Early Childhood' by Leah Levinger and Ann-Marie Mott

So many of the things that Levinger and Mott (1992) mention in “Art in Early Childhood” really resonated with me. I agree that as teachers it is so important to “explore and try out some of the materials for [ourselves] in order to understand the child’s experience with art.” If we don’t know what the materials and what they can do, it’s unfair for us to expect or ask of certain things from our kids.

I also never really thought of the different stages that children go through with their art representation. Though, of course, I’ve seen children’s art at different developmental stages and have obviously noted differences in their artistic representations, I never though about the fact that all of that was linked to their development. So that was an interesting revelation for me.

I also greatly agreed with the fact that art can and should be integrated throughout the curriculum. Many children often seem to gravitate toward art as a method of expression and representation. I think that as teachers if we don’t integrate art into all aspects of our teachings, we may be excluding a large chunk of our students and stifling much of their thinking. As Levinger and Mott state, “art represents another opportunity for children to recreate and symbolize their experience” (1992), and I think it’s so important for us to provide them with that opportunity at every point possible.

'Talking with Young Children About Their Art' by Robert Schirrmacher

I don’t think I ever really stopped to think about how I respond to children’s art before. My first reaction often is to say something along the lines of “Oh, that’s so beautiful!” or “Wow, that looks great!” I would never diminish or harshly criticize a child’s artwork, but I never thought that being overly praiseful could be an issue in its own right.

I completely agree with Schirrmacher that “children should create to express themselves, not to please adults” (1986), it just never occurred to me that I was perpetuating the latter with what I thought was just complimentary encouragement. 

Very soon after completing the reading, we had an art activity at my fieldwork placement, and I made a real effort to watch how I approached children about their art, trying very much to focus on the design qualities of their work as opposed to my perceived aesthetic reaction to it. 

However, I also think that often children strive for that acceptance and appreciation, especially with their artwork, and though it’s important to help foster in them a feeling of creating their art for themselves and expressing how they feel or what they think through that art, I think it’s also important to offer them that reassurance and appreciation of their work that they’re seeking. That’s not to say that we should say things like “Oh that’s so pretty,” but perhaps maybe amend that to “That technique that you used to create that effect in your art is really cool.” 

'Art Experiences for Young Children' by Naomi Pile

I found it so frustrating to read that some teachers exhibit such control over their students’ explorations as to limit color choice in children’s painting experiences. And the rationale that children are too focused on their movements to appreciate or really need color options is even more frustrating to me.

As Pile says earlier in the work, “Our job as teachers is to sustain an atmosphere conducive to [our students’] growth, to find experiences that will stimulate learning, and to present materials with time and space adequate for expression.” Those teachers who limit the materials for their students to explore with are not performing that job, in my opinion.

Perhaps the concern is cleanup, but my reaction to that would be, “Come on! It’s just paint!” In my opinion, it’s not worth the consequence of keeping a child from finding their full potential in working with the materials. And besides, students can – and should – be enlisted to help in the cleanup. Guidelines for cleanup procedures can be set before students are given the materials so they know what is expected of them.

In my opinion, it’s not for the teacher to say what colors can and can’t be used in a child’s organic exploration of paint and other art materials. Yes, I think students need to be taught how to interact with the materials to a certain degree so that brushes aren’t being used to fling water at other students and so that cleanup runs smoothly. But when it comes to their work with the materials, students should be given every opportunity to familiarize themselves and work with ALL of the materials available to them.

'Collage and Construction in School' by Lois Lord

Collage is a great way to introduce children to the concept of artistic expression, and it’s easy to do in any classroom, as the materials you need are minimal — found materials, paper and glue. I appreciated Lois Lord’s mention of how collage also helps children learn about various surfaces, textures, colors and patterns. That means that as the teacher, it’s our duty to provide a variety of materials for our students to use. 

The collage activity can also be used as a way to connect art and curriculum. A trip to the park as part of a social studies or science lesson can be the catalyst to gather materials for our collages later. As Lord (1996) notes, “Selecting materials for collage not only gives children intense pleasure, but also gives them an opportunity to make independent choices” (p. 13). And if done properly, it can also give them an insight into an aspect of social studies or science as it connects to the materials they have chosen.

Presenting our students with a variety of different materials also plays an important role in construction. “If we believe that children should have three-dimensional experiences, we should expose them to many additional materials which have other kinds of possibilities and limitations. These experiences will add to their knowledge of materials and enable each boy and girl to find the kind of medium best suited to his [or her] expression” (Lord, 1996, p. 39). By allowing our students to explore various materials, we are allowing them to discover what materials they are drawn to and want to use in the future, as opposed to forcing them into a pigeonhole of one type of artistic expression.

'Arts as Epistemology' by Karen Gallas

I really appreciated the focus in this piece on incorporating various modes and forms of art in the classroom curriculum. Just like it’s important for us to introduce our students to various mediums with which to create visual art, so too is it important to encourage our students to explore various forms of art to figure out in what way they can better express themselves.

As Gallas (1991) notes, the challenge lies in “developing an integrated arts curriculum that provides a range of arts experiences that will offer opportunities for all children to communicate their new knowledge and expanded understanding of the world” (p. 28), because every child expresses him or herself differently. “The challenge, then, is to ensure that the range of experiences is broad enough to reveal each child’s voice, and that those experiences spring from events that all of the children have shared in common” (Gallas, 1991, p. 28).

I also really connected with the notion that the arts can help all students access knowledge, regardless of cultural or linguistic backgrounds. I think of myself as an educator who’s really attune to the fact that our classrooms are multicultural, and the presence of art in the classroom allows students of various cultures and abilities to express themselves and to share their cultural and family backgrounds with the rest of their students in an organic and natural way. “The arts make it possible for all children, regardless of their differences, to participate fully in the process of education. ... They enable all children to recognize the breadth and depth of their learning” (Gallas, 1991, p. 31).

'Visualizing Experience' by Edith Gwathmey and Ann Marie Mott

I think it’s such a shame that the importance of visual arts in the curriculum is often dismissed and that art is more and more being omitted from the basic K-8 curriculum, as Gwathmey and Mott point out. Art plays such a key role in allowing children to express themselves. Even if students have well-developed language and communication skills, they often express more and different things through their artwork. At a younger age, especially, “children’s limited power with the written word is in sharp contrast to their expressive abilities with art materials” (Gwathmey & Mott, 2000).

I am enthused by the fact that in my classroom my cooperating teacher incorporates many visual arts projects into the curriculum. However, though these projects are related to the social studies curriculum the students are learning, they rarely involve the students’ work in their art class with their art teacher. “When schools offer art, the art teacher often works alone in the art room and rarely communicates with other teachers or becomes involved with their ongoing curriculum” (Gwathmey & Mott, 2000). Though the art teacher and the students’ head teacher communicate, I would love to see more interaction on the curriculum and joint art projects that intertwine between the classes.

When building my own classroom curriculum, I plan to incorporate various elements of the visual arts into my students’ daily curriculum in other subjects. I also will make it a point to develop a relationship with the art teacher in my students’ school (if there is one) to discuss cross-curricular activities and work together on consistency throughout projects and throughout the curriculum so that students can really get a holistic learning experience.

Museum Trip Reflection & Burnham Response

Taking the trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with our class was a very different museum experience from the one I usually have. I honestly prefer to go to museums alone so that I may take whatever amount of time I want looking at and thinking about the pieces that attract my attention. I often feel pressured to hurry up or slow down when at the museum with someone else who is moving at a different pace than I am. 

However, when going with a class for educationally related purposes — and especially if the visit is tied into something students are studying as part of another subject area — I can appreciate the value of going with a group. I did enjoy hearing other people’s opinions on the masks we were discussing and noticing things that others pointed out that I didn’t initially see in the pieces. It definitely opens your eyes up to various elements of the art, as well as to the fact that different people perceive art differently.

I also really appreciated the activity of sitting down to sketch a piece of art. It really made me slow down and look at one piece in great detail. And it promoted the development of a connection with a piece of art. When you sit there and really study a piece and really work to capture every little detail, it becomes much more meaningful to you than just walking by, taking a glance and reading the card next to it that tells you all you need to know about it.

I think it’s so valuable for us as teachers to plan museum trips and create activities that really speak to our students’ experiences and encourage them to explore the art, derive their own conclusions and make their own connections. “What is apparent [to our students] is their feelings, the urgent need to bring their own experience to the work of art and the desire to ask their own questions” (Burnham, 1994, p. 521). I really connect with what Rika Burnham says there. It’s so critical for students to be able to experience art for themselves. If they’re just fed information that has not relevance or connection to them, then it’s just memorizing rote facts, not really experiencing the art for what it is. 

Regurgitating the “facts” for students “severely limit[s] the possibility for a perceptual and personal relationship with a work of art. The students realize their participation is irrelevant, that other people have already defined what is important and significant” (Burnham, 1994, p. 521). I liked the approach that was taken with us where we were asked guiding questions to scaffold our thinking but weren’t fed information. We were asked to think for ourselves and notice things in the art for ourselves. Toward the end of our discussion, some questions were answered by looking to the information card accompanying the mask display we were discussing, but most of our conversation revolved around what we noticed, not what historians or archaeologists or museum curators wanted us to notice.