Teaching Art Creatively

Teaching Art Creatively is packed with ideas and inspiration to enrich teachers' knowledge and understanding of art and design in the primary classroom. It synthesises the philosophical and practical elements of teaching, encouraging a move away from traditional didactic approaches to contemporary classroom pedagogies to develop children’s creative potential. With an emphasis on recognising the value of children’s art and how to support children’s creative and artistic processes, key topics explored include improving your own creativity, competence and confidence helping children become independent artists starting points and imaginative contexts for art and design individual, group and whole class work art inside and outside the classroom how to develop visual literacy the value of working alongside artists the contribution of art and design to children’s overall creative development Teaching Art Creatively offers a new model of visual arts education in the primary years. Illustrated throughout with examples of exciting projects, children’s work and case studies of good practice, it will be essential reading for every professional who wishes to embed creative approaches to teaching in their classroom.

In Play and Creativity in Art Teaching, esteemed art educator George Szekely draws on his two classic volumes, Encouraging Creativity in Art Lessons and From Play to Art, to create a new book for new times. The central premise is that art teachers are not only a source of knowledge about art but also a catalyst for creating conditions that encourage students to use their own ideas for making art. By observing children at play and using props and situations familiar to them, teachers can build on children’s energy and self-initiated discoveries to inspire school art that comes from the child’s imagination. The foundation of this teaching approach is the belief that the essential goal of art teaching is to inspire children to behave like artists, that art comes from within themselves and not from the art teacher. Play and Creativity in Art Teaching offers plans for the study of children’s play and for discovering creative art teaching as a way to bring play into the art room. While it does not offer a teaching formula or a single set of techniques to be followed, it demystifies art and shows how teachers can help children find art in familiar and ordinary places, accessible to everyone. This book also speaks to parents and the important roles they can play in supporting school art programs and nourishing the creativity of their children.

This engagingly written, research- and practice-based book defines how art teachers can build on students’ creative initiatives without depending on adult-imposed lesson plans and school requirements. In doing so, art educator and author George Szekely explores the role of the arts in developing children’s creativity and sense of purpose, and reminds readers that students in the art classroom are unique artists, designers, and innovators. Against the backdrop of a school culture that over-emphasizes compliance and standardization, Szekely recognizes the importance of the role of the art teacher in supporting the artistic independence and creative flare that occurs naturally in students of all ages in the classroom. Providing real-life examples of classrooms and schools that work towards championing child artists, this text arms teachers with the skills necessary to listen to their students and support them in presenting their ideas in class. Ultimately, Szekely challenges readers to focus the practice of art teaching on the student’s creative process, rather than the teacher’s presentation of art. Written for pre-service and in-service art educators, teacher educators, and researchers, Teaching to Support Children’s Creativity and Artistic Independence demonstrates that an openness to youthful and inquisitive visual expression inspires a more rewarding learning experience for both teacher and child artists that can support a life-long love of art.

This book is a theoretical and practical guide to implementing an inquiry-based approach to teaching which centers creative responses to works of art in curriculum. Guided by Maxine Greene’s philosophy of Aesthetic Education, the authors discuss the social justice implications of marginalized students having access to the arts and opportunities to find their voices through creative expression. They aim to demystify the process of inquiry-based learning through the arts for teachers and teacher educators by offering examples of lessons taught in high school classrooms and graduate level teaching methods courses. Examples of student writing and art work show how creative interactions with the arts can help learners of all ages deepen their skills as readers, writers, and thinkers.

Creative research methods can help to answer complex contemporary questions which are hard to answer using conventional methods alone. Creative methods can also be more ethical, helping researchers to address social injustice. This bestselling book, now in its second edition, is the first to identify and examine the five areas of creative research methods: • arts-based research • embodied research • research using technology • multi-modal research • transformative research frameworks. Written in an accessible, practical and jargon-free style, with reflective questions, boxed text and a companion website to guide student learning, it offers numerous examples of creative methods in practice from around the world. This new edition includes a wealth of new material, with five extra chapters and over 200 new references. Spanning the gulf between academia and practice, this useful book will inform and inspire researchers by showing readers why, when, and how to use creative methods in their research. Creative Research Methods has been cited over 500 times.

This volume provides early childhood educators with the theoretical framework and background knowledge needed to design creative arts activities for young children from infancy through the primary grades. Illustrated with children's artwork, this work features child-tested, open-ended dramatic arts, music, creative dance, and visual art activities that foster children's creativity. Examples of teaching in action model how to be an enthusiastic and effective teacher of the arts process.

Creative teaching as well as teaching creativity are cutting edge issues in psychology today as recent academic and popular media coverage has shown. This volume expands on that interest with chapter authors drawn from interdisciplinary areas. It includes examples of creatively teaching across the education system, including preschool, K-12, undergraduate, and graduate level education. The variety of subjects covered by the chapters include psychology,math, science, and reading. In addition to creative teaching which may lead to enhanced learning and achievement in students, as well enhanced creativity,another focus is teaching with the objective to enhance creativity.