How to Teach Art in the Classroom
Here are some ways for how you to teach art in the classroom. There are a lot of different ways for how to teach art. And there’s lots of different ideas and projects for how to teach art in the classroom. Learn some different art teaching strategies in this blog post from an artist and teacher.
Jackie Partridge Art
I am a professional artist I have my Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, where I learned about fibres and material practices. I graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts, learning about acrylic, painting and drawing, so I consider my art practice of mixed media art you can see my art by visiting my website www.jackiepartridge.com.
As a mixed media artist that works with a variety of different art materials, and techniques I try to bring in variety in my teaching style. Offering variety to students helps them find art supplies, techniques, and styles they are interested in!
I am also a certified teacher for students in grades four through 12 and I have experience teaching all of the different grade levels. Recently, I am working at a private Montessori school where I am teaching students who are three years old all the way to 14 years old so I have a lots of different teaching experience that I wanted to share with you.
If you are new to teaching art, you will want to keep reading below.
How to Teach Art in the Classroom
These are teaching strategies are great for anyone teaching in the classroom or teaching in the home school setting, but I will get the strategies specifically for teaching in the classroom.
How to Teach Art-Follow the Curriculum
It is really important to follow the art curriculum and get yourself familiar with your curriculum depending on where you are living.
The art curriculum is designed to teach the foundations of art, so it's really important to make sure that you are covering these foundations in the different art lessons that you do. The students need to learn the foundations so that they can pursue a creative career if they choose. To learn more about art-related careers-click here!
Here are some of the foundations that are covered in the art curriculum, so that you can understand how to teach art. When you are planning your art lessons, you want to make sure that you are covering these foundational art topics in your lessons.
Art Foundations:
Students understand how to use a variety of different art materials
Students understand how to do a variety of different art techniques
Students are exposed to artists from different cultures
Students are exposed to artists from history
Students are exposed to contemporary artists
Students understand about the elements and principles of design
Students understand basic composition, especially for older students
Students can communicate what an artwork means or expresses
Students use the creative process when creating their artwork
Students understand health and safety concerns related to art
Students learn about different careers related to art as well as creating an art portfolio
Students understand different education outside of the high school classroom. This is especially applicable to high school art students.
These are of course the main art foundations, but you will want to consult your art curriculum for where you are located to make sure that you are covering all of the art foundations that you need to include in your art lessons.
As you can see, these are broad and general art foundations that you should be covering, but you have a lot of flexibility in terms of what you're covering and the age as the student and what they can handle doing.
How to Teach Art - Consider Their Age and Abilities
For example, with art techniques, this is going to depend on the age of the student and their skills and abilities for using that technique. If the art technique is challenging, then you will want to do this technique with older students who might be in high school. If the art technique is easy, then you can do this with primary students in younger grades.
Here are a bunch of different art techniques to expose your students to. Consider their grade and their skills and abilities for whether or not, they will be able to handle these different art techniques.
Some Different Art Techniques:
Portrait drawing
Landscape drawing
Still life drawing
Abstract painting
Ceramics or sculpting
Printmaking
Sewing
Hand embroidery
Weaving
Watercolour painting
Mixed media art
Photography and photo editing
Digital art
Artist or artwork research, and writing
Sketching
How to use materials properly
How to clean up from materials and store materials properly
Hand paper making
And so much more
Follow me on Pinterest for more art ideas for how to teach art!
When working with younger students you want to ensure you are teaching the basics like how to hold scissors, how to carry them when you walk, how to cut a straight line, etc.
How to Get Ideas for How to Teach Art in the Classroom
There are so many ideas out there online for how to teach art in the classroom. I love using Teachers Pay Teachers you can check out my TPT store that has a variety of different art lessons, activities, and worksheets.
I have free art resources for you as well click the button below to check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store and be sure to follow my store by clicking on the star at the top so that you can receive notifications for new products and freebies.
Download my FREE Symmetry Figure Drawing pages for grades 4-7 by clicking here!
Pinterest is a another wonderful place to get ideas for different art lessons. You can follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the button below where you can see lots of different art lessons and ideas that I have for students get all grades.
YouTube is an another wonderful and free resource to use. I have a YouTube channel called Jackie Partridge Art that focuses on acrylic painting. I have lots of different acrylic painting tutorials that are suitable for students ages 7 and up with a focus on beginner painting. I also have lots of tips videos that are very helpful for teachers. You can check out my playlist by clicking on the button below. Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I like the videos to show your support. Thank you so much for doing that!
Teacher Art Development
I have helped art teachers with art portfolio so that they can better support their high school art students in creating art portfolios for college and university applications. If you are unsure how to support your students in the process of creating art portfolios feel free to contact me below by filling out the contact form and I would love to help you with this process during a coaching call with me we can start by booking a free 15 minute discovery call on zoom just fill out the contact form below if you are interested.