I read and reread the article “Designing & Implementing Exemplary Content, Curriculum & Assessment.” The K-12 fine arts curriculum designed by the Indian Prairie School District 204 is impressive and indeed exemplary. VTS would definitely be valuable to a district where one of the fundamental goals of the visual art standards is to ’ guide students to effectively make connections between concepts and across disciplines.’
VTS bolsters contemporary curriculum discourses. Popovich sites MacGregor’s definition of postmodernism, “means realizing that art, present as it is in different situations for different reasons, will provide material for discussion and sharing, but not for resolution in absolute terms.” Wouldn’t this definition be exactly the same for VTS? All views are worthy of discussion, and there are no absolutes. Visual culture, phenomenological text (the part I read AND reread), Autobiographical text and authentic assessment all present the opportunity for students to draw from personal interest and experience, to make meaning and take ownership.
How fortunate for the students and staff alike to have a visual arts curriculum which genuinely supports current research. I found the Illinois state fine arts standards to be well written http://www.isbe.net/ils/fine_arts/standards.htm, certainly a bit more meaty than those for the state of Missouri http://dese.mo.gov/standards/finearts.html
My biggest question, as a VTS Missionary, is how to convert the many art teachers who adhere to the practice of teaching lessons designed solely for the purpose of teaching a skill, an element, or a principle of design? Take a trip to Artsonia. http://www.artsonia.com/schools/rankings.asp?country=98 The top ten in Leadership Rankings, or at least the seven I checked out, feature page after page of student work where each is as ‘cookie cutter’ as the next. I don’t mean to sound like, as my youngest son would say, a hater. I’m sure these are good art teachers who work hard and they obviously take a great deal of pride in the work of their students. What can I do to convince them that technique means nothing without concepts and context?
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