What Makes A Quality Art Lesson Plan?

Reflection:  What Makes A Quality Art Lesson Plan?

There are really so many aspects that make a quality visual arts lesson plan.  If I have to just name 3 or 4 of them I will pick the aspects that are most important in my mind. 

Hands-on-learning is something that I find to be extremely important.  Making sure the students are constantly involved in the whole lesson is a must.  If we involve the students right from the get go they will have a much harder time losing interest.  If the students feel involved they will participate more and have a more memorable experience. 

Fun & exciting lessons are also a must.  If we, as teachers, are not finding new and exciting ways to teach our lessons, then we will get bored and lose our enthusiasm.  If we are not excited about what we are teaching then our students will not be excited to learn what we are teaching.  We need to challenge ourselves to find new ideas not just for our students but for ourselves.  We need to be life- long learners always searching for new ideas and never losing our passion.

Mind, heart and body need to be stimulated.  We have learned before about the cognitive, affective and psychomotor being included in a good lesson plan and I totally agree.  In order to have a good effective lesson we need to make sure that we are teaching the required material.  We need to make sure that we are letting the students discuss their feelings towards art and not be afraid to say what they were trying to express with their art piece.  We need to find a way to integrate the art into a psychomotor experience that will get the students moving but also allow them to act out their feelings in movement and expression.

Acknowledgement is such a wonderful thing.  I think that one of the most important aspects to a quality visual arts lesson plan is in the way we assess the students and their work.  I look at it like acknowledgement because we are assessing but most of all we are acknowledging the students individually and letting them know what we like about their work or the process of their work.  Who does not like to be acknowledged?  Students will feel a sense of pride if their teacher points out certain things that are good.  Teachers can use this as a way to give helpful hints in a tactful way so that they do not discourage the student’s creativity.

I have found some interesting websites regarding quality visual arts lessons and I feel that most of them have good ideas.  Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what they consider to be the most important aspect but that does not make them right or wrong.  The text had some good points but I really liked the dinosaur lesson plan example on pg. 77 because it includes all the important aspects in a good lesson plan.

http://lagringachilena.blogspot.com/2010/01/week-2-what-makes-quality-art.html

http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/Compose.htm

[1] Clements, Robert D. “Emphasis Art” 2010. Ninth edition