This year, I started at a new school. I was aware that my new graduating class, the fifth-graders, would miss out on much of what I had to teach them. My predecessor was beloved, but every teacher brings a different philosophy and skillset to their students. For instance, there are some master artists that I believe all of my graduates should be familiar with. When one student asked, “Who’s Dalí?” I realized there was work that needed doing. My solution was a crash course in art history.
Art teachers encourage students to tell stories through their art. Young students listen to a read-aloud and create clay creatures inspired by the book, elementary students illustrate influential figures in art history, middle-school students juxtapose natural and human-made elements through narrative compositions, high-school students manipulate images to create imagined landscapes, and more.
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