Generalists as primary educators are in the position to integrate art frequently into classroom instruction (Seidel, Tishman, Winner, Hetland, & Palmer, 2009). Since their perceptions determine the quality and frequency of visual art experiences for young children, teacher education curriculum for this population is vital to the outcome of art…

In this article, Jaehan Bae describes one of the assignments he created for an art methods course for education majors (preK-8). In it, Bae asked preservice teachers to research the food as well as other aspects of a culture of their choice. Through this assignment, he hoped the preservice teachers would "explore art and the world through…

Located in Napa, California, the Oxbow School is a 1-semester boarding program for visual arts, critical inquiry, self-discovery, and community. Oxbow's pandemic story concentrates on a series of assignments designed to help students cope with the transition to emergency online instruction amid isolation and uncertainty. The images illustrating…

What should science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education look like? In the context of educational policy, the STEAM conversation has intensified and spread across the United States and some other counties (Eger, 2015; Yakman & Lee, 2012). This article advocates an arts-integrated approach to STEAM education and discusses…

Preservice teachers are typically educated in university settings and learn teaching methodology through coursework. Many preservice teachers find themselves underprepared for handling challenging situations in art classrooms. Teaching is very often influenced by contextual factors such as the space and design of the classroom, demographics and…

Ekphrasis celebrates and cultivates the relationship between artwork and poetry, particularly encouraging the use of written and verbal descriptive works to enhance the art education experience for students. This article discusses various ways ekphrasis could be incorporated in the art classroom. Ekphrasis highlights the strong connection between…

This article describes a studio assignment grounded in social learning theory and intersectionality completed by preservice teachers during their first art education class, enabling students to begin to develop nuanced understandings about categories of difference. A studio assignment combines experiences in museum, community, and school settings…

This article demonstrates how Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) art discussions and subsequent, inspired artmaking can help reach the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, & Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA). The authors describe how this was achieved in a remedial…

This first written assignment of the semester for the author's undergraduate introductory art history class--an essay where students describe and reflect upon the significance of a family heirloom--is instrumental in meeting class objectives. The author's objectives in this class are for students: (1) to broaden their conception of what art is…

As new approaches have emerged in art education, teacher preparation programs in higher education have revised existing courses or created new ones that reflect those new approaches. At the university where the author teaches, one such course is Diversity, Pedagogy, and Visual Culture (A ED 225). A ED 225 is intended to offer preservice art…

As new media emerge in the common culture, the authors recommend that art educators adopt those media to facilitate deep understanding of visual culture and literacy. They report here on applications of an online image gallery that helps users develop ways to interpret what they see and compose. Over the past few years the authors have…

Rooted in graffiti culture and its attitude toward the world, street art is regarded as a postgraffiti movement. Street art encompasses a wide array of media and techniques, such as traditional spray-painted tags, stickers, stencils, posters, photocopies, murals, paper cutouts, mosaics, street installations, performances, and video projections…

Art is visual literacy, some would say more basic than writing and speaking, because it is not hampered by the barrier of language. The process of creating a visual narrative and understanding visual literacy is multi-faceted. Because similar cognitive strategies are used in the practice of both visual and written literacy, incorporation of…

Describes a personal analogy exercise used to experience metaphors and understand the ability to think metaphorically. States that students engage in an "I am" writing exercise where they select a portrait and write answers to such questions as "how are you like the portrait?" (CMK)

Asserts the importance of incorporating art criticism into art instruction to achieve quality art education. Presents and discusses art criticism formats. Includes three figures illustrating a typical student's written art criticism, that same assignment after teacher evaluation, and an example of a student gradebook. (CFR)