Tucker School Visual Art Mission Statement

The Visual Arts curriculum emphasizes development of students’ skills and understanding of creating (art); promotes knowledge and understanding of the historical and cultural context of the arts; uses a variety of assessment methods to evaluate what students know and are able to do; provides opportunities for students to make connections among the arts, with other disciplines within the core curriculum, and with arts resources in the community.

(Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks)

           Art is essential in education. Students engage in art production, art history, art criticism and aesthetics to broaden their understanding of self and community, to place the arts in a historical and cultural context, and to experience the arts as a universal form of human expression and communication. As the art teacher at Tucker elementary school, I make connections among disciplines by working together with the classroom teachers. Art classes deal with art concepts while linking art to other content areas. Students create and assess their own art as well as look at and discuss art from other cultures and periods in history. Student art work is displayed throughout the school.

         

Art units comply with the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Frameworks Five Learning Strands:

• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the methods and materials unique to the visual arts.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the elements (color, line, shape, form, texture, value, space) and principles of design (unity, balance, pattern, contrast, rhythm, movement, emphasis).
• Students will demonstrate their powers of observation, abstraction and invention by using a variety of media and materials.
• Students will demonstrate knowledge of the process of creating their own artwork: drafts, critique, self-assessment, refinement, exhibition.
• Students will describe and analyze their own work and the work of others using appropriate vocabulary, and interpret the meanings of works citing structural elements and expressive qualities to justify their interpretations.