Elementary Arts Group (Fine Arts)
Section 9  Methods for Instruction (printable version)

(Describe how students are prepared to teach in the specific content area.)

The Arts Group minor is available only for prospective teachers in elementary programs. Candidates are prepared to utilize a variety of instructional approaches and to address the various learning styles. The education students experience lecture and demonstration, small group and peer teaching, individual projects and partnering on team projects in the art and music department.

The students take two courses in the Fine Arts Department. FA 101 introduces them to the concepts, which are further developed in FA 300, a course focusing on teaching methodology. In visual arts, education students study art history and they also work in the studio. The students take two courses in the Music Department. MUSC 104 introduces the students to the content and concepts of music education, and MUSC 320 provides them with a laboratory for experiencing music and opportunities to play keyboard and melody instruments. The students take two course in the Technology Education Department. TEDU 253 develops concepts, and TEDU 354 develops curriculum applications.

In keeping with the national standards for visual arts the arts group focuses on understanding and applying media, reflecting upon and assessing the merits of their work and the work of others, using art for communicating and thinking, examining how aspects of history and culture are communicated through art, and making connections between the visual arts and the other arts.

The Fine Arts program offers a discipline-based approach to Art Education. Students inquire into art history, criticism, art making and aesthetics. The courses are discipline-based. Students of teaching learn about the arts and they learn through the arts. In other words, they learn subject matter in a way that supports teaching it. They explore various art mediums and use the mediums as a strategy for learning. Students also learn with arts.  A teacher may introduce students to an historical epoch with a song or a poem, study the paintings to study the period, and examine letters and other artifacts in the archives. The art education course introduces prospective teachers to the intellectual and creative development of children and engages the prospective teacher in the creative process.

In the Visual Arts course, students work one-on-one from the inception of an idea to the elaboration and refinement of that idea. They explore a variety of art media and technology, including a digital camera and projection system. They use CDs that provide virtual tours of art museums and visit INTIME. They write lesson plans that integrate art, technology, and subject matter.

In keeping with the national standards for music education, The Arts Group prepares teachers who can sing, perform, improvise melodies, respond to music, read and notate, listen to, analyze, evaluate performances, understand the relationship between music and the other arts, and understand music in relation to historical and cultural heritage.

The Music Education program works from an experiential base. Their approach to music education curriculum is integrated. Music, listening, and movement are integrated throughout the academic experience. The program emphasizes reading and writing music, as well as performing and listening to it. The curriculum in the Music Education courses is correlated with what prospective teachers need to know about music and what they need to know about the K-8 curriculum. 

For many years, technology education was named “Industrial Arts,” suggesting that the conscious use of knowledge and proficiency, technological competence, inventiveness, and expertise in workmanship were acquired through experience. The focus was using tools in an artful manner to design and make products. The field of study now called “Technology Education” encompasses more than industrial arts. Courses focus on hands-on experiential learning using a variety of technologies, including cameras, computers, videos, machines, tools. In keeping with the Technology Education Standards, the students develop problem-solving, critical thinking and media literacy skills,  integrate technology across the curriculum, and develop a technology education portfolio.

Assessment is an integral part of the instructional design and the methodology in each of the disciplines that contribute to the Arts Group minor.

The Fine Arts faculty demonstrates multiple methods of student assessment appropriate for the arts and they use these methods to assess students’ ability to:

The Music faculty demonstrates methods of student assessment appropriate for music and they use these methods to assess the prospective teacher’s ability to:

The Technology Education faculty demonstrates and uses the following forms of assessment.