|
July 1, 2002
Resources for Teaching Art
By Roger Gottlieb and Ray Chimileski
Art teachers rejoice. The World Wide Web offers a goldmine of resources for K-12 art education. The "General Resources," "Standards," and "Lesson Plans" sections below contain great leads. But also be sure to visit the "Informative and Entertaining Sites" section, which highlights sites that are a dream-come-true for art teachers and art-lovers.
General Resources
Teaching the Arts, The Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University
A good all-around resource for teachers, offering information on state and national standards; state, national, and even international model curricula; K-12 lesson plans; example of arts assessment and links to other assessment-related sites; and links to arts education sites and arts web directories. There's also a separate section for kids and parents.
Going To A Museum? A Teacher's Guide
Planning to take your class on a museum visit? Visit this site first! It offers a variety of excellent teacher-developed resources: a timeline to help plan every aspect of the trip, sample lesson plans to maximize the benefits of the trip, and links to other Internet resources. Although it's not grade level-specific it does offer valuable and useful information.
ArtsEdNet - A Guide for Learning and Teaching in Art
Intended for anyone involved in art education and created by a "working group of scholars and practitioners," this Getty Education Institute for the Arts-sponsored site is "a tool to help educators and curriculum developers create curricula (for) learning and teaching in and through art." It reflects the National Standards for Art Education for all levels from lower elementary to high school. It also allows teachers to submit samples of student work.
STArt - Support for Teachers in Art
Created by OPEN (Oregon Public Education Network), this site claims it's for teachers who sense there are quality arts resources out there but don't have the time to search. Because it is teacher-friendly, it encourages educators to offer comments, suggestions, and requests. Highlights include the Arts for All Seasons Project, a series of activities linking arts stands with monthly themes; Online Resources, a searchable online index of art-related sites; and STArt Pathways, three step-by-step examples designed to demonstrate use of the site's many features.
Standards
National Standards for Visual Arts Education - ArtsEdNet
This segment of the ArtsEdNet site (described above) is a boon to those concerned with standards-based learning. It features both Content and Achievement Standards for Visual Arts Education, dealing with topics such as: "Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes"; and "Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines." It also features both Scope and Sequence coded to the National Standards and National Standards coded to the Scope and Sequence plus a brief glossary.
McREL - Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning
Founded in 1966, McREL is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving education. The McREL site features a browseable and searchable database of standards, including: McREL Visual Arts Standards.
Lesson Plans
PBS Teacher Source - Arts & Literature: 2000 lesson plans & activities
This site includes lesson plans searchable on 4 levels (Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and High School) on a host of topics, including Visual Arts.
ArtsEdNet
The ArtsEdNet site described more fully above also includes a page of lesson plans for teaching Art. The browseable page has plans under the following headings: Any Grade Level, Elementary, Middle School, and High School.
ArtsConnectEd Classroom
The result of a partnership between The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, and MCI, ArtsConnectEd's goal "is to make arts education timely, engaging, interactive, and pertinent for both teachers and students of all ages." The educational database is searchable by selecting any or all of several parameters or by clicking on "Search Wizard." It is also browseable, and there's even a downloadable Teachers' Guide in PDF format.
Informative and Entertaining Sites
Visual and Performing Arts INFOMINE Search Screen
It's no exaggeration - the INFOMINE site is a "mine of information," and this particular page offers a treasure trove of art-related topics. For example, there's a link to FAMSF: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco featuring "The ImageBase," a searchable image and text database of the 110,000 objects in San Francisco's famed de Young Museum and in the Legion of Honor. Then there's a link to the Louvre Museum's Official Website allowing users to tour the famed museum. And there's a page providing dozens of links to "Exhibits/Exhibitions," "Images/Imagebases," and "Museums." One could spend many productive and fascinating hours here.
ArtLex - art dictionary
With definitions of more than 3,300 terms plus thousands of images, pronunciation notes, and links, this site is a true resource. Clicking on any of the alphabetical links (A-Ac, Car-Caz, etc.) in the left frame brings up a dictionary-like page containing all the words matching that parameter, such as abbozzo or caravaggisti, and very often thumbnail sketches plus links to museum sites. Also in theat frame are shortcuts to longer articles. Click on "Baroque" brings up an explanation of Baroque art plus thumbnails and links.
Artcyclopedia--The Guide to Museum-Quality Art on the Internet
An amazing resource for either serious student or casual art-buff, Artcyclopedia easily achieves its goal of being the definitive guide to museum-quality fine art on the Internet. Users can search for: Artist by Name, Artwork by Title, or even Art Museum by Name/Place. Or you can browse the 7,500-item database by: Movement, Medium, Subject, Nationality, Name, or by Women Artists. For example, clicking on American Regionalism brings up a page with thumbnails for Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, etc. Then clicking on a particular artist brings up another, also clickable, list of online exhibits featuring works by that artist. One cautionary note: teachers will have to closely supervise students to prevent them from "ordering" posters available on this site.
WebMuseum: Glossary of Painting Styles
Although at first glance the homepage seems unimpressive - just a clickable list of 12 major styles from Baroque to Surrealism - the deeper pages will take your breath away. For example, click on "Baroque" and up pops a complete explanation of that art style, with its own embedded links. Following the Renaissance link then brings up a page explaining that period, and clicking on its embedded links for Botticelli, Titian, or da Vinci brings up first thumbnails and then full-screen photos of some priceless paintings that would ordinarily require a visit to Florence's Uffizi Gallery or St. Petersburg's Hermitage.
Gardner's Art Thru the Ages, 11th Edition
A classic Art History textbook first printed in 1926 and made even better by being adapted for the Web. There are 34 chapters, from The Birth of Art to The Emergence of Postmodernism. Each chapter features Study Guides with links to images of art from around the world, plus maps, timelines, and quizzes. There's also a self-pronouncing glossary and a museum tour keyed to the chapter topics.
Art History Resources on the Web
This site, a labor of love from a Professor of Art History at Virginia's Sweet Briar College, provides a truly comprehensive look at art, including Asian Art, African Art, and even art of Mesoamerica and Oceania. Clicking on any of the dozens of homepage categories brings up innumerable links to text and images. The site also contains a country-by-country list of museums plus image banks, and artist directories. Best of all, the site is user-friendly format and not at all pedantic.
Email: Roger Gottlieb
|
