April PD with Visual Art

During the April subject-specific PD Day , the Arts teachers had the opportunity to watch “Most Likely To Succeed”, which I previously wrote about here.  This documentary film really resonates with Arts teachers, as it aligns with ideals of project based learning so prevalent in Arts courses.  Next up, a video presentation and discussion on equity in the Halton Board, as well as a presentation and discussion on bolstering the numbers of students taking Arts courses in Halton.

So after absorbing a lot of information over the course of the day, the last session, the visual art teachers tried a different method of processing and discussing the topics of the day by doing what they do best: drawing!  The question posed was “what are the ideal outcomes of art education”?  Some of the answers were resilience, collaboration skills, grit, student driven learning, and confident students.  Really, that list of outcomes are desired in any class. However, the art class is particularly well suited to build those soft skills in students. Art Teachers are faced with two pronged questions: how can we advocate to students and parents, to share how we are building those soft skills in our classes. As well, how can we make sure we are achieving those ideal outcomes in our classes? Big questions for a Friday afternoon!

Have a look at what the secondary visual art teachers were playing with: