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Section 3: What Excellent Visual

E D U C AT I O N
Arts Teaching Looks Like What Excellent Visual Arts
What Excellent Visual Arts Teaching Teaching Looks Like: Balanced,
Looks Like: Balanced, Interdisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, and Meaningful
and Meaningful
Rene e S andel l
Renee Sandell
Professor of Art Education, George Mason University
[email protected]
As a qualitative language, art
Interweavings: What Excellent Visual Arts explores how, in contrast to what is,
Teaching Looks Like by enabling people to meaningfully
Judith M. Burton
Professor and Director, Art and Art Education create and respond to images.
Teachers College Columbia University
[email protected]
Visible Threads: Excellence in the Higher
E xcellent visual arts teaching for 21st-century learners
increasingly combines technology with artistic knowledge
Education Classroom and skills—a combination that has already transformed
Lynn Beudert the nature as well as nurture of contemporary visual arts
Professor of Art, University of Arizona education in and out of the public schools (NAEA, 2009). In
[email protected] today’s participatory culture, the preoccupation with acts
of transformation (e.g., “makeovers” of bodies, fashion, and
spaces), fascination with talent (e.g., in music, dance, and
cooking), incessant demand for innovation, and habitual self-
revelation through blogging and social networking combine
to compel the need for greater clarity and access to creative
expression and critical response. These often are expressed
through divergent and convergent thinking abilities—
interactive visual thinking skills that shape meanings in school
and society. Today’s “screenagers,” who are rapidly becoming
tomorrow’s citizens, progressively require capabilities
to encode and decode meaning in response to society’s
plethora of images, ideas, and media of the past, as well as
contemporary elements of our increasingly complex visual
Download your electronic version now! world. This section explores how balanced, interdisciplinary,
and meaningful pedagogical approaches contribute to
Examine evidence for the capacities that excellent visual arts teaching that fosters development of
art education develops in students and
visual literacy needed by all learners from “cradle to grave.”
what it can prepare them to do in Learning
in a Visual Age.
In developing visually literate citizens with visual arts overarching concept or “Big Idea” (Walker, 2001) that reveals
knowledge, skills, and habits of mind, excellent visual arts the artist’s expressive viewpoint relating art to life as well as
teaching must engage all learners with art in a myriad of other disciplines. In investigating context(s), or when, where,
forms, ideas, and purposes. As a qualitative language, art by/for whom, and why the art was created (and valued), learners
explores how, in contrast to what is, by enabling people to comprehend the authentic nature of artwork by probing the
meaningfully create and respond to images. conditions for and under which the art was created from our
contemporary perspective, as well as those of foreign and
Excellent visual arts teaching helps learners navigate through previous cultures.
our visual world using two qualitative and interlinked
experiential processes: creative expression and critical
Teachers and others can use FTC
response. Through the transformative process of creative
palettes to encode and decode a
expression, visual learners generate artistic ideas that can be
elaborated, refined, and finally shaped into meaningful visual
variety of phenomena…
images and structures. Through the informative process
With contextual information, learners can perceive the
of critical response, visual learners perceive, interpret,
intention and purpose of the artwork. Their abilities to
and finally judge ideas connected to visual imagery and
explore, interpret, and evaluate art is enhanced by identifying
structures both past and present. Fully engaging students
the personal, social, cultural, historical, artistic, educational,
with these processes occurs through three interactive “studio
political, spiritual, and other contexts that influence creation
thinking” structures: demonstration-lecture, students-at-
and understanding of an artwork. As learners distinguish how
work, and critique (Hetland, Winner, Veenema, & Sheridan,
the form and theme work together within specific contexts,
2007). Informed by research, excellent visual arts teaching
they see how a balance of qualities shapes layers of meaning,
cultivates eight studio habits of mind that help individuals
revealing the artwork’s nature as well as its significance and
learn: develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express,
relevance. Learners’ insights, assessments, and questions
observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand the art
resulting from balanced FTC exploration can lead to deeper
world. These habits of mind develop essential 21st-century
engagement, understanding, and appreciation of art and its
literacy and life skills in all students.
relationship to other areas of study—and life itself.

Excellent Visual Arts Teaching is Balanced

Balanced FTC methodology may be made visually accessible
In contrast to stereotypical “make and take” school art
through the FTC palette, a graphic organizer that contains
projects, art is a vital and core subject that should be seen
both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary criteria to
as balanced, interdisciplinary, and grounded in meaning and
deepen learner engagement and connections (see figure 1).
inspiration. Furthermore, traditional overemphasis on formal
Learners can use this tool with any work of art, such as a
qualities (in terms of studio materials, as well as art elements
painting, to uncover visual evidence through observed formal
or design principles) is insufficient in a digital global world
qualities (e.g., line, color, composition, scale, style), explore
where social and other forms of communicative media are
relationships embedded in thematic qualities (e.g., big ideas
prevalent in daily life.
represented and connected to other artworks, art forms,
and subject areas), and discern various types of significance
By using a balanced approach to studying form, theme,
and relevance rooted in contextual qualities (e.g., historical
and context of an artwork, learners can create as well as
period, circumstances, force, and value). Designed to activate
discern layers of meaning in visual language, as revealed
divergent and convergent thinking by generating and
in the following equation: Form+Theme+Context (FTC)
“mixing” information, the FTC palette helps learners make
= Art (Sandell, 2006, 2009). In exploring form, or how the
interdisciplinary connections while inspiring open-ended
work “is,” learners differentiate an artist’s many structural
and deeper inquiry. Teachers and others can use FTC palettes
decisions, embedded in the creative process, that lead to a
to encode and decode a variety of phenomena, including
final product. By examining theme, or what the work is about,
literature and music along with art lessons, museums, and
learners explore what the artist expresses through a selected
 Form + Theme + Context… FTC Palette for Decoding and Encoding Visual Art
ART = FORM + THEME + CONTEXT
How the work “is” What the work is about When, where, by/for whom and
WHY the work was created/valued

Title: _______________________________

How does a balance of formal, thematic, and contextual qualities SHAPE layers of meaning?
FORMAL + THEMATIC + CONTEXTUAL
Broad Subject/BIGIDEA: WHEN:
Actual Composition:
WHERE:
Subject Matter:
Art Elements (line, shape, color, texture,
value, space); BY/FOR WHOM:
Point of View:

WHY:
Design Principles (emphasis, balance,
harmony, variety, movement, rhythm, proportion, Visual Sources: Intention/Purpose(s):
unity):

Art Historical References:

2D&3D Qualities: Significance/Relevance:

Personal
Size/Scale:
Literary Sources: Social

Media/ Materials: Cultural

Other Arts Connections:

Historical
Music
Processes/Methods:
Theater
Dance Artistic
Film & New Media
Educational
Skills: Other Subject Areas:
⇒ Math Political
⇒ Language Arts
Style: ⇒ Science Spiritual
⇒ Social Studies
⇒ Physical Education
Other: ⇒ Vocational Education Other
 2012 Renee Sandell, PhD
http://naea.digication.com/FTC/Home//
FTC Insights, Assessments and Questions:

Figure 1: Form+Theme+Context: FTC Palette

for Encoding and Decoding Visual Art.
©2012 Renee Sandell.
other matter to discern meaning by equally rebalancing Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates Project in New York
formal structures with thematic relationships and significant/ City’s Central Park; the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt,
relevant contexts. the largest ongoing community arts project in the world;
and designed fashion creations on Project Runway and other
Excellent Visual Arts Teaching is Interdisciplinary television programs.
A balanced approach to FTC reveals art’s interdisciplinary
nature that correlates with the sciences and humanities, In Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World,
among other disciplines, connecting to life past and present. Heidi Hayes Jacobs (2010) observes of the arts: “central
While the teaching of art in the schools traditionally has been to becoming an educated person is the cultivation of an
limited in terms of instructional time and curricular emphasis, aesthetic sensibility and the capacity to give form to ideas
this qualitative language has natural and vital linkages with and emotions” (p. 55). This observation points to the need to
all school disciplines. According to John Goldonowicz (1985): reexamine the arts and its relationship to traditional school
Like French or Spanish, art is a language disciplines. Excellent visual arts teaching helps learners
that can be learned and understood. make interdisciplinary connections between art and life,
It is a form of communication that one while developing visual-communication skills leading to
can learn to read and speak through authenticity and multiple forms of literacy that will facilitate
study and practice. Reading art means community interaction and global understanding.
understanding a visual statement.
Speaking art means creating a visual Excellent Visual Arts Teaching is Meaningful
statement. When art seems strange or Focusing on the exploration of art’s meaning as derived from
meaningless, it is only that this language a balanced and interdisciplinary FTC approach, excellent
is yet to be understood. (p. 17) visual arts teaching draws on art’s sensory nature to inspire
individual enlightenment while building community.
Drawing multiple connections between art and other subjects Nurturing Daniel Pink’s (2005) six new senses of design, story,
to include English, science, mathematics, physical education, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning for a 21st-century
social studies, music, and religion, Goldonowicz concludes “whole new mind,” excellent art teaching helps learners
that “art can communicate that which is universal and that for develop visual literacy, defined as “the ability to interpret,
which there are no words” (p. 17). use, appreciate, and create images and video using both
conventional and 21st-century media in ways that advance
When “read” in terms of multiple connections between their thinking, decision making, communication, and learning”
forms, themes, and contexts, artworks easily relate to other (Visual Literacy, 2005). Delving deeper into the nature and
disciplines of study such as history, science, and language pedagogical benefits of these six senses, a learner who
arts. For example, the Bayeux Tapestry is a visual historical demonstrates a cultivated sense of…
document; its narrative of the Battle of Hastings in 1066 depicts
Design… can create and appreciate human-made
the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, as
objects that go beyond function and may be perceived
well as the events of the invasion itself. The Bayeux Tapestry
as beautiful, whimsical, extraordinary, unique, and/or
is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry woven on a
emotionally engaging;
vertical loom—measuring 1.6 feet by 224.3 feet. Annotated
in Latin, the needlework narrative also has recorded scientific Excellent visual arts teaching helps learners to work

significance: It includes a representation of Halley’s Comet, with a range of materials, decipher orientation and

which is seen from Earth at 75-year intervals, as a strange star place in the world, make visual choices ranging

at which the people gaze in fear. Similar artworks can enlarge from tattoo images and their body placement to the

learners’ exploration of fiber artworks from diverse historical selection and organization of spaces, objects, and

periods and cultures. Examples include Hmong story cloths; materials.

Huicholl yarn paintings; Mola appliqués; Asante Adrinka

cloth; Amish quilts; Miriam Schapiro’s femmage paintings;
Story… communicates effectively with others by Excellent visual arts teaching is balanced, interdisciplinary,
creating as well as appreciating a compelling narrative; and meaningful; as a result, every art lesson can be viewed
as a work of art on its own. Through art lessons that are
Excellent visual arts teaching helps a learners develop an
designed to help learners fully visualize—creatively express
awareness of history and culture, understand text and
and critically respond—at each developmental level,
subtext in the news and media, gain insight into plot and
excellent art teaching can readily enhance all six senses in a
subplot as well as conflict and resolution, exchange ideas
single lesson. This results not only in the creation of hundreds
with enhanced interaction and transparency for clearer
of uniquely expressive artworks, but also the ability to make
connection.
informed judgments leading to sensitivity, understanding,
Symphony… synthesizes ideas, sees the big picture, and appreciation by future citizens in our visual age.
crosses boundaries, and combines disparate pieces into
Mindful of technology’s prevailing role, constant evolution,
a meaningful whole;
and worldwide impact, art education’s 21st-century emphasis
Excellent visual arts teaching helps learners build
on visual thinking for literacy looks remarkably different from
deeper understandings and relate learning in and out
its 20th-century focus on art products and their display.
of school, perceive one’s self as an evolving life learner,
Excellent visual arts teaching holds a crucial and central place
able to discern the meaning of “friendship” from social
in the curriculum in cultivating human potential both today
media, and grasp relationships among conflicting
and tomorrow: It directly engages all learners in perceiving
ideologies.
our increasingly visual world to discover “so much MORE
Empathy… understands another’s point of view, is able than what you see…” (www.arteducators.org/advocacy). The
to forge relationships and feels compassion for others; nature of that discovery transfers readily to other school
subjects and qualitative life experience locally and around
Excellent visual arts teaching helps build tolerance
the globe.
and foster kindness, consideration, and caring while
reversing cyber- and other forms of bullying, gossip
R efere n c e s
and antipathy.
Goldonowicz, J. (1985). Art and other subjects. Art Education,
Play… creatively engages in problem-solving, benefits 38(6), 17.
personally and socially from flexibility, humor, risk- Hetland, L., Winner, E., Veenema, S., & Sheridan, K. M. (2007).
taking, curiosity, inventive thinking, and games; Studio thinking: The real benefits of visual arts education.
Excellent visual arts teaching helps make learning New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
fun, collaborative, experimental, and assists learners Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential education
in taking risks, lightening up from self-criticism, and for a changing world. Alexandria, VA: Association for
taking oneself too seriously. Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Meaning… pursues more significant endeavors, desires, National Art Education Association. (n. d.). Art Teachers
and enduring ideas, has a sense of purpose, inspiration, nurture 6 senses in developing visual literacy... Retrieved
fulfillment, and responsibility in making informed choices from www.arteducators.org/advocacy
toward higher-order thinking skills and transformation; National Art Education Association. (2009). Learning in a
Excellent visual arts teaching underscores the value visual age: The critical importance of a visual arts education.
of learning experiences, builds pride in contributions Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
given and received, fosters responsibility (vs. cheating) Pink, D. H. (2005). A whole new mind: Moving from the
and respect for teachers and parents invested in the information age to the conceptual age. New York, NY:
development of every student, developing into an Riverhead Books.
accountable citizen of the world. (NAEA, n. d., p. 2)

Continued >>>
Sandell, R. (2006). Form+Theme+Context: Balancing
considerations for meaningful art learning. Art Education,
Interweavings: What Excellent
59(1), 33-37.
Visual Arts Teaching Looks Like
Sandell, R. (2009). Using Form+Theme+Context (FTC) for
rebalancing 21st century art education. Studies in Art
J udit h M. B ur ton
Education, 50(3), 287-299.

Visual Literacy. (2005). 21st Century Learning blog.

The hallmark of outstanding
Retrieved from http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/
blog/2005/10/visual_literacy.html
teachers resides in the flexibility
with which they interweave the
Walker, S. (2001). Teaching meaning in artmaking. Worcester,
MA: Davis.
many demands of their teaching
lives, and how they embrace the
diverse and often divergent
learning needs of their pupils.

O utstanding elementary, middle, and high school art

teachers network their knowledge of art, students, school
culture, and settings into rich repertoires of instructional
action. These teachers frame their work within “ecological”
views of their art classrooms, in which interrelationships
among psychological, social, aesthetic, and pedagogical
judgments form complex-coherent and contextually nuanced
patterns of behavior. Exemplary art educators understand
that the visual arts constitute important ways of knowing and
learning for all children and adolescents, for they are among
the primary languages through which personal and cultural
meaning are constructed and find echoes within each other.

The hallmark of outstanding teachers resides in the flexibility

with which they interweave the many demands of their
teaching lives, and how they embrace the diverse and often
divergent learning needs of their pupils. In sharp contrast
to the prevailing emphasis on identifying menus of singular
qualities thought to exemplify outstanding teachers, this
White Paper captures the dynamic interweaving of insights,
skills, and personal qualities that research studies suggest
characterize excellence in an age that increasingly calls for
reflective-critical visual skills.

Response Repertoires: Occurrences in Classrooms

To the informed observer, art classrooms are special spaces in
which timing and movement become important facilitators
of personal and shared learning (Burton & Hafeli, in press).
Effective teachers do not hurry youngsters to settle down
and pay attention immediately; they wait for pupils’ natural framed in terms of deep and focused learning that call for
rhythms to reset themselves from prior classrooms, like eyes critical reflection, investigation, invention, and personal
moving suddenly from dark into light and needing time generativity. Within the framework of their instructional
to adjust. Teachers move as if partners in a larger rhythmic orientations, teachers move back-and-forth, inspiring
choreography whose repertoires include sitting close, learning at ever greater depth. They integrate concerns
standing back, leaning in, turning round, looking but not with materials, artistic-aesthetic concepts, and techniques,
speaking, pausing to comment briefly or at length, touching while pacing their responses to the experiential lives,
and confirming; they seem to be everywhere at once, at least perspectives, and questions of their pupils (Burton, in press).
in a tacit sense (Burton & Hafeli, in press). Teachers who are In this way, they call into play the intricate imaginative
literally and figuratively present to their pupils at all times and mind-expanding capacities of young people in the
(regardless of whether that presence is acknowledged service of constructing and expressing personal meaning in
explicitly) create an ambiance of overall cohesion, trust, and visual form.
availability.
In the world of outstanding teachers, learning is clearly
The choreography of movement within the art classroom framed; it builds in complexity and nuance in the context
is critical to important learning that would not happen of dialogues in which pupils are invited to reflect on their
otherwise. Teachers who acknowledge pupil rhythms allow personal associations by sharing experiences, taking
time for them to stop by each other’s work to engage in imaginative leaps, and developing critical reflection. While
dialoging, receiving and taking, sharing and confirming, and individual teachers have their own presentational styles,
explaining ideas and new techniques (Burton & Hafeli, in challenging dialogues tend to range across different
press). Facilitating a practice of shared classroom give-and- functions. Questions are posed to problematize assumptions,
take enables youngsters to act like artists in their studios to solicit direct answers; at other times, dialogues provoke
who seek moments of inspiration away from their canvases reflection and imagination and consideration of concepts,
by thumbing through well-used books, exploring digital feelings, ideas, and actions. At times, dialogues are calibrated
resources, or examining the work of peers. All children are to the specifics of an individual’s needs or experiences
born image-makers and image enjoyers, and they need to and sometimes to the interests of a group. Experienced
enrich the horizons of their own visual resources through teachers are adroit at juggling a variety of responses,
thoughtful interactions with others. and are able to push forward the learning at hand while
transcending boundaries and extending possibilities (Barrett,
By exercising the freedom of personal investigation and 2003; Barbules, 1993). Dialogues inspire complex mental
inquiry, youngsters at different developmental levels take processes that invite listening and negotiating within the
hold of their own learning, discovering how to learn from each flow of different and diverse kinds of classroom interactions.
other’s experiences as well as from their teachers. In this way, Dialogues shape a common language, providing a forum for
they also act autonomously within the group while still being children and teachers to find new ways of talking about the
part of the larger whole. Within the social and psychological practice of art. Handled well, dialogues carry learning beyond
interactions that characterize the classrooms of outstanding the determinants of verbal language, and project naturally
teachers, children acknowledge the difference between into the kind of thoughtful engagements with materials that
learning from the teacher and from each other, knowing underpin the creation of informed visual images.
what is possible from whom, and moving seamlessly and
with little trouble from one to the other (Burton, 2004). The pattern of challenges to reflection, thought, and
imagination offered by outstanding teachers, along with
Multiple Outcomes: Learning and Imagination the open-ended sharing of pupils’ artistic responses, shape
Within the rhythmic flow of the art classroom, outstanding individual contexts of learning over time (Green, 1995).
teachers are clear about what they want pupils to learn Rather than direct their pupils toward prescribed or a priori
while acknowledging that there are as many routes to outcomes, effective teachers foster individual interpretations
that knowledge as pupils in their classes. Objectives are
while opening these to critical contemplation among the to nurture or challenge individual learning. Responses to
group (Dewey, 1934/1980; Hargreaves, 1994). This kind of individual pupils’ meaning-making needs, while framed by
exemplary teaching proceeds with rigor, inviting reflection in lesson objectives, draw upon teachers’ reflective ability to
the exploration and sharing of ideas, and care and invention in take multiple perspectives on their own artistic-aesthetic
using materials; it calls forth a kind of pride in working toward knowledge and re-appraise it in relation to different problems
personal outcomes and assuming thoughtful responses and questions posed by their pupils (Darling-Hammond,
toward others. 1997; Hargreaves, 1994). Teachers accomplish this in ways
that identify the need for specific knowledge or facts while
Ecological Awareness: Continuous Assessment calling into play pupils’ imaginations, leaving them free to
As lessons progress, teachers make reflective decisions establish their own personal objectives and interpretations
about learning within the flow of life in the art classroom. within the framework of the lessons. Outstanding teachers
Teachers interplay responses to individuals and responses to are able to analyze the problem-oriented needs of their
the group, remaining mindful of the impact of the one upon pupils and do this time and again, within the hurly-burly of
the other (Jackson, 1986, 1990). They respond to or initiate art classroom life, in a profoundly moving way.
dialogue with individual pupils, sometimes drawing in others
for discussion along the way. At other times, they enter a Art classrooms can be unpredictable places; teachers
dialogue in progress, acting in give-and-take partnership. respond to surprises and unexpected occurrences by folding
them into the general pattern of learning. The flexibility
In general, outstanding teachers do not think they need to with which teachers accommodate the unexpected is
engage directly with each child in every lesson, nor do they parallel to their ability to transcend the boundaries of their
think they have to intercede in every group discussion. Rather, own artistic knowledge, extending it in new directions that
their presence alone creates an encompassing freedom blur assumptions, divisions, and conventions. Perhaps this
that inspires curiosity and responds to individual children’s embodies the “art” of teaching in that, within the flexibility
need to be recognized and ask questions (Burton, in press). afforded to pupils in managing their own learning, teachers
Outstanding teachers intercede or stand back as they read themselves embrace new insights during the flow of the
the initiating cues offered by pupils, often responding to lesson and are open to sharing new possibilities in the
issues that are tacitly (rather than explicitly) expressed. They knowledge that, in doing so, their pupils will add nuances
ask questions relating to specific pieces of work and inspire and interpretations the teachers have never considered
reflection on problems and dilemmas, seemingly without (Gardner, 1991).
guiding pupils to specific outcomes or telling them what to
do or think (Darling-Hammond, 1997). In the pedagogical Decision-Making in Action
practices of outstanding teachers, such abilities come not While outstanding teachers are uniquely able to make many
only from prior experiences in classrooms, but also from a diverse decisions within the ongoing flow of classroom
combination of explicit knowledge of individuals interwoven life, what is profoundly moving is how they take the time
with insights about artistic-aesthetic and social development. to listen, hear, observe, and shape their understanding in
Together, these responses frame how teachers enter into response to the ideas and responses of their pupils. There
discourse with their pupils and provide a springboard for is a kind of circular reaction here; as teachers shape these
ongoing assessment, diagnosing the need for help or the understandings, so they become lenses through which to
readiness for new and more-demanding challenges to reflect on their own artistic knowledge, and distill from it the
reflection, perception, imagination, and decision making. insights or skills which they anticipate will best support their
pupils’ needs. In other words, they scan their own knowledge
Dynamically Inflected Subject Matter from the various perspectives and needs of individual
Outstanding teachers draw upon internalized repertoires pupils. The ways in which teachers interweave their own
of insights about art and art practice from which they distill development and that of their pupils include an ethic of care
the right nuance, clue, idea, fact, thought, or possibility and commitment of purpose that regulate classroom life and
 [teachers] become lenses R efere n c e s
through which to reflect on their Barbules, N. (1993). Dialogue in teaching: Theory and practice.
own artistic knowledge… New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Barrett, T. (2003). Interpreting art: Reflection, wondering,

pupil-learning more fully than the imposition of external
responding. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
rules and exercise of power relationships (Burton & Hafeli,
in press). Burton, J. M. (2004). Devices and desires: The practice of
teaching in K-12 schools. In E. Eisner & M. Day (Eds.),
Conclusion Handbook of research policy in art education (pp. 553-575).
Studies to date suggest a high level of consensus about what Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
makes for outstanding practitioners. The essential question Burton, J. M. (in press). Configuration of meaning re-visited.
is, then, what can we learn from exemplary teachers to help In S. Simmons & L. Campbell, The heart of art education:
prepare all teachers to enter contemporary classrooms and Contemporary holistic approaches to creativity integration
art studios? The response repertoires identified here, within and transformation. Reston, VA: National Art Education
which and out of which experienced teachers shape and Association.
distill their ideas and hone their practice, offer suggestive
Burton, J. M., & Hafeli, M. C. (in press). Conversations in art: The
starting points. It seems that the mastery of knowledge and
dialectics of teaching and learning. Reston, VA: National Art
honing of skills for exemplary practice are underpinned by
Education Association.
three critical requirements:
Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). The right to learn: A blueprint for
• The reflective ability to envision artistic-aesthetic
creating schools that work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.
knowledge from multiple vantage points, and to move
dynamically within and beyond a personal knowledge Dewey, J. (1980). Art as experience. New York, NY: Perigee
base. Press. (Original work published 1934)

• A rich and diverse understanding of the needs, interests, Eisner, E. (1998). The kinds of schools we need. Portsmouth, NH:
and cognitive capacities of learners, and an openness to Heinemann.
listen, hear, and plan in response to the various sources Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think
and starting points that energize their thoughts and ideas. and schools should teach. New York, NY: Basic Books.
• The imagination and flexibility to interweave personal Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. New York, NY:
content knowledge with insights about pupils, and offer Jossey Bass.
appropriate and rigorous actions and skills that take
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times.
learning beyond the here and now.
New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

It is, perhaps, most important to help future practitioners, Jackson, P. (1986). The practice of teaching. New York, NY:
parents, and concerned citizens understand that the Teachers College Press.
experiences that form exemplary art teachers’ repertoires Jackson, P. (1990). Life in classrooms (2nd ed.). New York:
will ultimately be grounded in, and become a function of, Teachers College Press.
the broader ecological educational environments in which
they find themselves (Eisner, 1998). Therefore, a task for
future research is to identify what sustains the formation
of teachers’ individual repertoires, and what impedes their
growth, within the reality of everyday art classrooms and
schools. A more subtle and nuanced understanding of the
work of art teachers in their environments will have direct
impact on the quality and relevance of arts-based learning to
the development of young minds.
 education within their communities; and dedicated mentors
committed to selecting and preparing quality professional
Visible Threads: Excellence in the
educators who ultimately view teaching as their life’s work
Higher Education Classroom and moral purpose. Moreover, faculty intentionally select
Lynn B e ud e r t and prepare future visual arts educators with the following
professional qualities:

• Experienced in using diverse media and technology;

…higher education faculty
• Knowledgeable about diverse cultures and art forms;
members and the future visual
arts educators they teach • Dedicated to making the visual arts accessible and

imagine, contemplate, and promoting visual literacy;

interconnect theoretical, • Prepared to nurture students’ talents and abilities;

practical, relevant, and ethical • Essential in captivating students as they respond to the
aspects of meaningful visual visual arts and visual culture;
arts content. • Skilled at engaging students with various learning styles;

H
• Sensitive to students’ needs and interests;

igher education visual arts classrooms—specifically • Adept at assessing learners;

those that prepare future visual arts educators for careers in • Reflective as they examine the current literature and best
school, museum, and/or community-based environments— practices;
are vital and powerful representations of what excellent
• Committed to their ongoing professional development;
visual arts teaching looks like as we contemplate the nature
• Are advocates for visual arts education; and
of Learning in a Visual Age (NAEA, 2010).
• Involved in the National Art Education Association and
University and college classrooms serve as the crossroads other arts education organizations.1
at which preservice undergraduate and graduate students
Within excellent programs, a faculty member’s approaches to
envision, research, reflect upon, and assume the role of the
visual arts teaching are diverse, yet philosophically aligned
visual arts teacher. Within these spaces and places, higher
with one another and with current thinking concerning
education faculty members and the future visual arts
best practices informed by research in the field. Within
educators they teach imagine, contemplate, and interconnect
these programs, preservice visual arts educators and alumni
theoretical, practical, relevant, and ethical aspects of
express their appreciation for the tangible level of support
meaningful visual arts content. They also realize subsequent
for visual arts education that exists within both the higher
transformation and implementation as accessible and
education classroom and the community at large. Faculty
innovative curricula and pedagogy that contribute to the
members establish long-standing relationships not only
intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual development of
with well-qualified and credentialed mentor/cooperating
children and youth (Eisner, 2002).
practicing teachers, but also with museum and community-
based educators who guide preservice teachers as they
Learning within the preservice visual arts higher education
participate in student teaching, various field experiences,
classroom is facilitated by faculty members who hold
and internships within traditional and alternative visual arts
advanced degrees in the visual arts and education (Galbraith
educational environments. Learning within the preservice
& Grauer, 2004), and are cognizant of and able to model
higher education classroom is complemented and enriched
the professional knowledge, versatility, and dispositions
by the expertise and skills of these practitioners. They
delineated as standards for preparing today’s visual arts
not only provide supportive environments for preservice
teachers (NAEA, 2009). Faculty members are willing learners
educators to interact with learners, take risks, and foster
and scholars of practice; vigorous supporters for visual arts
1
Adapted from art teacher qualities compiled by Renee Sandell for NAEA’s advocacy bookmark,
“A Visual Arts Educator is… “ (2004).
pedagogical relationships, but they are also receptive to new to teach. Like many faculty educators across the nation,
ideas introduced by student-teachers and internees, as well Kimberly Cosier (2006) ensures that preservice teachers at the
as to calls for change when advocated within the profession. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee recognize that excellent
visual arts teaching is about understanding and accepting
What, then, are some of the characteristics—visible threads— difference in peoples, as well as taking action in terms of
of excellent visual arts teaching in the higher education promoting social justice and fairness within their future
classroom? How is the richness of faculty members’ and classrooms. During early field experiences in Milwaukee’s
preservice teachers’ work imagined and shared within this urban schools, preservice teachers discover that, “regardless
setting and consequently made visible through appropriate of race, social class or any other factor, kids care, and that they
theoretical and practical avenues? Selected qualitative need caring, curious, and knowledgeable teachers” (Cosier,
characteristics with examples are briefly highlighted in this cited in Beudert, 2008, p. 68). Within excellent visual arts
section. teaching, pedagogical relationships are visibly reciprocal and
humanely constructed.
Envisioning, Decision-Making,
and Questioning Assumptions Entrusting, Modeling, and Sharing Pedagogical Expertise
Excellence in teaching the visual arts requires making Excellence in teaching within the age of visual learning requires
intentional decisions and professional judgments about that future visual arts educators have a robust background in
the nature of visual arts content and ways in which it contemporary visual art content. This background, however,
will be pedagogically transformed within accessible and becomes diminished unless preservice teachers are entrusted
inclusive educational environments. Those environments are with conveying and sharing what they know as inspired and
considerate, for example, of the gender identities, ethnicities, practiced pedagogues and learners.
socio-economic backgrounds, religious affiliations, sexual
Mindful of their experiences in higher education classes and
orientations, and learning and physical abilities of diverse
through collaborations with students and practitioners in field
multi-aged learners. The higher education classroom provides
experiences, future teachers model, deconstruct, and reflect
an analytical, yet positive and non-threatening environment
upon contemporary art content and instructional practices
in which future visual arts teachers envision, recognize, and
that will engage learners in intellectual and creative inquiry.
evaluate the pedagogical components of teaching and
Preservice teachers within the higher education classroom
learning situations.
at the University of British Columbia, for example, analyze a
As an example, University of Arizona faculty member Marissa variety of instructional approaches that are modeled for them
McClure directs a Saturday morning laboratory school in by faculty member Kit Grauer (Beudert, 2008). These future
which future teachers work in collaborative teams that teachers make critical and informed professional judgments
design and teach curriculum units for urban K-12 children about the appropriateness of various pedagogical methods
and youth. Yet before the school opens its doors each for the transmission of authentic and meaningful visual arts
semester, future teachers, as architects and planners, jointly content. The articulation and demonstration of instructional
envision and build the school from the ground up. With the possibilities implicit within visual arts education allow future
school’s philosophy and mission in mind, they advertise the teachers to recognize that their chosen individual pedagogies
program, work with parents and guardians, write grants for are central to successful classroom learning.
securing student scholarships, as well as anticipate and make
Professional Reflexivity, Identity, and Growth
numerous complex professional curricular and pedagogical
Excellent visual arts teaching requires that future teachers are
decisions before and during the school session.
able to make thoughtful intelligent and practical decisions
in complex and dynamic teaching situations. Given the
In excellent visual arts education classrooms, future visual
experiential, evolving, and changeable dimensions of
arts teachers are asked to suspend their beliefs and question
teaching, excellence in visual arts teaching also requires that
their assumptions not only about the nature of visual arts
future teachers reflect upon their teaching decisions, choices,
teaching, but also about the diverse populations they aspire
and actions.
 As scholars of their own consciousness,
connections with and allegiances between others engaged
prospective visual arts educators in thoughtful curricular and pedagogical practices that lie
reflect upon their teaching experiences within and outside discipline of the visual arts. In excellent
as a means of contributing to their higher education classrooms, preservice educators are
professional growth… exposed to a myriad of professional experiences that range,
for example, from developing partnerships and fostering
As scholars of their own consciousness, prospective visual
collaborations with local schools, museums, and parent-
arts educators reflect upon their teaching experiences
teacher associations to cementing joint ventures with local
as a means of contributing to their professional growth
community organizations.
and taking ownership of their instructional decisions. As
reflective practitioners, they are able to comprehend and For instance, future teachers at Georgia State University
contemplate implications of their teaching—implications participate in providing instruction for children and youth
that often linger within their students at the end of the in urban non-traditional education settings, such as local
teaching day. For example, firsthand experiences garnered refugee shelters and alternative after-school programs
through a variety of means (by participating in school (Milbrandt, 2006). These teachers implement authentic
field experiences, a curriculum course, student-teaching, a academic, technical, and practical content within alternative
community-arts education internship, or within a university contemporary societal and cultural institutions, as well
or college laboratory school) are linked to research, case as develop the traits of “efficacy, flexibility, craftsmanship,
studies of teaching, and readings from the literature. In this consciousness, and interdependence” (Milbrandt, 2006, p. 18)
way, preservice teachers do not ground their professional that are required of excellent teachers. Likewise, preservice
identities solely in their own personal experiences and past undergraduate and graduate teachers at the University of
associations with schooling. Arizona tackle theoretical and practical issues related to
developing grassroots partnerships with local community
Excellent visual arts teaching also requires that prospective
organizations (McClure, 2010), which in turn enable them
teachers think deeply about their own selves as persons and
to acknowledge that undertaking collaborative educational
professionals as they make the transition from preservice
projects requires patience, adaptability, compromise, and the
student to actual teacher. They are able to understand why
ability to hear and respond to the voices of others.
they aspire to become visual arts educators and so educate
others in the visual arts, particularly given the emotional, Experiences like these allow future teachers to comprehend
moral, and political purposes that underlie teaching as the multi-dimensional, collaborative roles that visual arts
a profession. Excellent preservice visual arts teachers educators undertake and forge. Thus, future educators jointly
develop and maintain realistic, ethical, positive, and hopeful share and experience the successes, the nuances, the ups and
aspirations, as they focus on becoming caring, empathetic, downs, and the pedagogical challenges and negotiations
and joyful life teachers (Nieto, 2007) within diverse and integral to the nitty-gritty of daily life within a range of visual
receptive educational communities. arts education settings for children and youth.

Valuing the Communities in Which Visual Arts Educators Rather than merely regarding themselves as an elementary
Work and Learn or secondary visual arts teacher, a museum educator, a
Excellence in visual arts teaching requires that potential community arts educator, or the like, prospective arts
visual arts educators compose their own professional and educators distinguish how excellent teaching is represented
pedagogical lives as future teachers with personal dignity and in visual arts educational venues, within and outside those
a respect for all persons. As future teachers, they acknowledge in which they desire to work and teach. With these insights
that they will be deeply influenced by and dependent upon in hand, they advocate for visual arts education programs,
pedagogical, collegial, and institutional relationships with students, and colleagues, as well as visibly shape the rich fiber
others within the profession. An understanding of the of what excellent visual arts education looks like within the
practices of professional colleagues helps foster potential profession and within this dynamically evolving visual age.
R efere n c e s
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art and design education: Issues and exemplars (pp. 87-98).
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Cosier, K. (2006). The moral responsibilities of teaching. In L.

Beudert (Ed.), Work, pedagogy, and change: Foundations for
the art teacher educator (pp. 67-69). Reston, VA: National
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Eisner, E. (2002). The arts and the creation of mind. New

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Galbraith, L., & Grauer, K. (2004). Art teacher education

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(Eds.), The handbook of research and policy in art education
(pp. 415-438). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

McClure, M. (2010). Riding through the borderlands:

Sustainable art, education, and social justice. In E. P. Clapp
(Ed.), 20Under40: Re-inventing the arts and arts education
for the 21st century (pp. 220-234). Bloomington, IN:
AuthorHouse.

Milbrandt, M. (2006). A collaborative model for art education

teacher preparation. Arts Education Policy Review, 107(5),
13-21.

National Art Education Association (2009). NAEA standards

for art teacher preparation. Reston, VA: National Art
Education Association.

National Art Education Association (2010). Learning in a

visual age: The critical importance of a visual arts education.
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Author’s Note
The author extends thanks to Dr. Marissa McClure, Division
of Art and Visual Culture Education, School of Art, University
of Arizona, for her curricular and pedagogical insights that
helped shaped the ideas within this paper.