Arts teachers help students develop knowledge and fundamental skills while weaving in opportunities for creativity and independence. The challenge is to achieve a balance between teacher-led instruction and active, self-directed learning. To achieve mastery, students cannot be passive consumers of knowledge; they must actively construct and apply what they learn.
How do teachers help students develop as artists?
Assignments reflect increasing knowledge, skills, and experience
Instruction is thoughtfully sequenced to support student development
Artistic roles are age- and level-appropriate
Students experience increasing mastery and autonomy in the arts
Learning Goals
The goals of this workshop are for you to:
Construct a working definition of instructional “scaffolding,” and determine how it can help students develop as artists
Identify teaching sequences that effectively scaffold student learning
Redesign an instructional sequence to better foster students’ development