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Lesson Plans


Re: best artists/evidence

[ Thread ][ Subject ][ Author ][ Date ]
gregjuli
Sat, 15 May 1999 08:46:18 -0500

I agree with that idea and will put the question to my Honors art class (
middle school)to get their reactions. This will be a timely question since it
is that time of year that I am to choose some 8th grade students to receive the
Excellence in Art award for their graduation. It is very tough to choose only
a few and I spend good amount of time thinking of who deserves this honor.
Then I think, should we not offer it at all? Well then may be no one should
offer any awards at all in any categories and there are MANY other areas that
students are recognized.

We give recognition to students each month - Artists of there Month- for each
grade level, we give ribbons for outstanding art for our Art Fair and we have
students chosen each year from applications for our 7th and 8th grade art
honors class. At times I have wondered should I change or modify how we
recognize art in our school. At one time there were none of these things at
our school and art was not noticed as it should be. If I take these awards
away I feel a part of the program will blend into the wood work.
All through the year we hear announcements over our intercom about honors and
awards for sports, music, forensics, math, etc. , so why not give art it's due?

When our 8th grade student council students choose a piece of art for the
permanent gallery it has never been a popularity contest ( really!). I listen
as they look over a number of works of art and discuss color , composition,
interesting features or elements. And again it brings attention to our
program.
But I do feel Marcia has brought up some worthwhile points that I look forward
to discussing with my students.
In fact it can be one of my journal questions for the week.

MaryB

marcia m eaton wrote:

> It occurs to me that the discussion about awarding prizes for best artists
> should be put before students themselves. What do they think about
> awarding prizes? Do they feel the same way about giving prizes for art as
> they do about athletic prizes? And these discussions can be tied to
> discussions about art history. What evidence do we have for how choices
> were made about choosing artists to design Trajan's Forum or paint the
> Sistine Chapel? Are these decisions made in the same way today? What role
> does the public play? How do we develop public policy to make such
> decisions? Best, Marcia Eaton