Teaching A Diverse Primary Art Curriculum

The ultimate resource for developing a diverse, engaging primary art curriculum based on the work of artists from a range of backgrounds and cultures. Whether your class are drawing self-portraits or collaging with recycled materials, take inspiration from artists that challenge conventions and start conversations. With lesson plans, project ideas and one-off activities, Teaching a Diverse Primary Art Curriculum is a practical guide full of inspiration to empower every teacher to have the confidence of a specialist. Photographed black-and-white examples of children's work inspired by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Victoria Villasana and Ai Weiwei provide a comprehensive guide to primary art lessons that are in line with the National Curriculum and offer opportunities for cross-curricular links. Each chapter focuses on a different art form, including drawing, painting, sculpting, printing, textiles, photography and collage, and contains child-friendly histories of the suggested artists without problematic stereotypes or generalisations about cultures. Feel supported by this practical book to teach pupils about art from women, people of colour and people with disabilities – and let their creativity do the rest!

Without conscious consideration of diversity in the curriculum, there is a danger that teachers fall back on a narrow syllabus. Trainee and new teachers need support to expand their knowledge and understanding of the curriculum to enable them to make active choices to ensure diversity in what they teach. This book explains why and how diversity can be taught through the primary National Curriculum. It includes practical examples of good practice and realistic straightforward ideas and resources to support new teachers to go into the classroom ready to bring diverse voices and learning to their teaching.

The ultimate resource for developing a diverse, engaging primary art curriculum based on the work of artists from a range of backgrounds and cultures. Whether your class are drawing self-portraits or collaging with recycled materials, take inspiration from artists that challenge conventions and start conversations. With lesson plans, project ideas and one-off activities, Teaching a Diverse Primary Art Curriculum is a practical guide full of inspiration to empower every teacher to have the confidence of a specialist. Photographed black-and-white examples of children's work inspired by the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Victoria Villasana and Ai Weiwei provide a comprehensive guide to primary art lessons that are in line with the National Curriculum and offer opportunities for cross-curricular links. Each chapter focuses on a different art form, including drawing, painting, sculpting, printing, textiles, photography and collage, and contains child-friendly histories of the suggested artists without problematic stereotypes or generalisations about cultures. Feel supported by this practical book to teach pupils about art from women, people of colour and people with disabilities – and let their creativity do the rest!

This practical resource emphasizes the special contribution that visual art, drama, music, and dance can make to student literacy and understanding of content area reading assignments. Focusing on those areas where students tend to struggle, this book helps K—5 teachers provide an age-appropriate curriculum that is accessible to an increasingly diverse student population but does not ignore other important aspects of healthy human development. Without detracting from the rigor of a demanding curriculum, Brouillette demonstrates how arts integration allows students to engage with concepts on their own developmental level. Each chapter focuses on a skill set that is fundamental to literacy development, suggests age-appropriate arts integration activities that will build that skill, and offers guidance for fostering a sense of community. “A thoughtful look into issues surrounding arts integration as a viable strategy for increasing students’ achievement and access to higher education and career pathways.” —Kristen Greer-Paglia, CEO, P.S. ARTS “An excellent guide to teachers aspiring to integrate the arts into their curriculum, it is both a delightful and useful read!” —Liora Bresler, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

This project stemmed from my experiences as a white, cis gendered female K-5 visual arts teacher going from teaching in a racially and culturally diverse school to teaching in a school that is 86% white. The goals of this study were first to improve my own practice and analyze my personal biases, second to inform other teachers with similar struggles, and third, to teach my students about a broader range of artists. The lessons I had previously taught revolved around a one-dimensional representation of culture, such as a holiday or tradition, unintentionally creating a stereotype. In addition to the cultural lessons, I also realized I had created a curriculum of white, deceased, Western, male artists. Subconsciously, I felt this was an unspoken requirement because it was what I learned to teach during own undergraduate teacher education. In response, I developed a more culturally responsive teaching practice that introduced my students to new contemporary artists who are diverse in terms of ability, race, ethnicity and gender. My research questions for this study were: What strategies could I use to decentralize whiteness in my classroom curriculum? How can I include a wide range of diverse artists without lessons centered around stereotype-based projects such as holidays or traditions? How will teaching contemporary artists from diverse backgrounds shift the perspective of my students? For this study, I taught 80 5th grade students for three months during the 2017-2018 school year at a public elementary in the north suburbs of Chicago. The four classes met twice a week for thirty-minutes. To answer my research questions, I employed action research methodology and my data included pre- and post-unit surveys, student artwork, personal fieldwork notes and sketches. Among my initial findings were that my students demonstrated a strong bias towards the canon of Western, male-dominated art before I began teaching a more inclusive, less biased contemporary art curriculum, which I anticipated. At the conclusion of the study, my students changed their associations of the term artist to a more inclusive definition which they demonstrated through their art-making and post-unit surveys. Through my own experiences, I recommend that other art teachers analyze their curriculum for bias and adapt their methods to teach contemporary art and ideas that will engage students with a broad view of the world they inhabit.

Multiculturalism is a term that has been much used in educational texts in recent years. Its usage is frequently taken for granted in the rhetoric of curriculum literature. However, it has recently become clear that there are significant variations of interpretations of multiculturalism in different world regions. This book takes a new and deeper look at the notion of multiculturalism through the lens of art education. In educational terms art is a unique tool for the investigation of cultural values because it transcends the barrier of language and provides visceral and tacit insights into cultural change. In order to address the educational interpretations and methods of implementing multiculturalism in different regios of the world, this book contains discussion and analysis of perspectives on art education theory and practice from thirteen countries. The authors of each chapter are respected multicultural experts in their geographic locations who are well equipped to provide unique insights into the particular issues of multiculturalism viewed from the perspective of art in educational contexts. The book as a whole provides tools for the conceptual analysis of contemporary notions linked with multiculturalism, such as interculturalism, internationalism and globalisation. It also provides strategies for art teaching in relation to these ideas. While the term 'multicultural education' is problematic, this book presents conceptual frameworks that should assist educators to examine their own teaching on issues of equity and diversity that are central to the multicultural education debate. ©́

“Educational trends will change and research agendas will shift, but art teachers in public institutions will still need to educate all students for multicultural purposes,” argues Chalmers in this fifth volume in the Occasional Papers series. Chalmers describes how art education programs promote cross-cultural understanding, recognize racial and cultural diversity, enhance self-esteem in students’ cultural heritage, and address issues of ethnocentrism, stereotyping, discrimination, and racism. After providing the context for multicultural art education, Chalmers examines the implications for art education of the broad themes found in art across cultures. Using discipline-based art education as a framework, he suggests ways to design and implement a curriculum for multicultural art education that will help students find a place for art in their lives. Art educators will find Celebrating Pluralism invaluable in negotiating the approach to multicultural art education that makes the most sense to their students and their communities.

A bold, brain-based teaching approach to culturally responsive instruction To close the achievement gap, diverse classrooms need a proven framework for optimizing student engagement. Culturally responsive instruction has shown promise, but many teachers have struggled with its implementation—until now. In this book, Zaretta Hammond draws on cutting-edge neuroscience research to offer an innovative approach for designing and implementing brain-compatible culturally responsive instruction. The book includes: Information on how one’s culture programs the brain to process data and affects learning relationships Ten “key moves” to build students’ learner operating systems and prepare them to become independent learners Prompts for action and valuable self-reflection