This paper explores the contextual value of solitude in learning; in so doing, it attempts to suggest an alternative method of instruction that is based on aesthetics as the reciprocal relationship between emotions and intellect, and between action and contemplation. Such an aesthetic education or method seeks to guide the student towards the…

A walk down Main Street can be very much like a stroll through a museum gallery--visually rich, inviting unexpected choices, aesthetically rewarding. This article explores the concept of shop windows as visually ordered compositions, much like paintings and other art objects, and suggests some approaches to applying this concept in teaching a…

The arts, multimodality, and new literacies studies, each with its own distinct principles, together can redefine literacy and what constitutes being literate. To recognize the roles that each of these fields plays in literacy necessitates a cultural shift in reading, interpreting, creating, and responding to a range of multimedia messages. The…

Suggests a technique for developing the students' appreciation of literature through the study of paintings. (RB)

InnerSpark is a residential summer arts training program for high school students established by the California State Legislature (California Education Code sections 8950-8957) in order to make it possible for "artistically gifted and talented students, broadly representative of the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the state, to receive…

An exhibit of children's art can imitate the type of arrangement, movement, music, and color used by contemporary art museums. (CK)

Disadvantaged boys in New York painted outdoor murals on walls of buildings. (CK)

As educators of gifted students, the authors see more schools climbing aboard the differentiation wagon, and students who have been identified as cognitively gifted receiving services beyond logic worksheets. Everyone still has a long way to go, however. As classroom teachers become more familiar with characteristics of giftedness and begin to…

As a young art teacher, this author was inspired by the advice of Faith Ringgold, who emphasized the importance of creating time during each day to create art. This advice led the author to develop a painting discipline by creating "The 40/40 Challenge" for her students in Painting I and Painting II classes. The 40/40 Challenge is a voluntary…

A humanities course that teaches an appreciation of tradition and culture through the visual arts includes consideration of contemporary art as well as classic paintings and sculpture. Study of Leonardo DaVinci's "Last Supper" provides an exercise in the intellectual approach to religious painting, while the portrait of Mona Lisa by the same…

Five projects in the arts, such as drama and facepainting, provide a day's worth of class activities. Detailed instructions for each project, including materials and procedures, are given. (JL)

The author discusses techniques of making students aware of colors. (MF)

What is happening in arts teaching and learning in our classrooms? Recent NEMP reports tell us that Year 4 students are not performing well but that there is an increase in scores at Year 8. This new professional development resource builds on research into teacher practice in Years 0-6 classrooms in New Zealand primary schools. It offers new…