Project Based Learning

While designing the art curriculum for the year, I have to consider these ten 'commandments' for project based learning:

1) Begin with an end in mind: an outcome that is attainable and understandable but manipulative for all students, 2)Make tough topics fun: sometimes all those old dead French guys (the Impressionists, the post-Impressionists, etc.), can be daunting..how to make them interesting? 3) Focus on standards; the Art standards revolve around the mediums, processes, history and vocabulary of the art room; most projects naturally involve all the standards. 4) Keep it Simple; instead of looking at a body of work, focus on a theme or one painting. 5) Start a project off with some fun: a movie, outside walk, game or dance (look at all the animals in a Marc Chagall painting;I and the Village); do the chicken dance, make a chicken hat). 6) Keep the project close to student's experience: learn about African American art and the Great Migration; have the student's painting show how his family came to this area, 7) Set deadlines...most of our work is done in a week (1 hr), but students are free to come in at lunchtime and work on it. 8) Balanced assessments: rubrics (1234), observation, portfolios.
9) End with some excitement: an online gallery of the student's work, an interview about the work 10) Test the project before you begin: Why should the kids have all the fun? I always try some of the materials, processes and ideas before presenting it to the class.

Project based learning is easy in the art room: The very nature of making art involves making choices, using natural curiosity, being a decision maker, being a problem solver, using creativity and resourcefulness. The possibilities of a partnership between technology and art are exciting and endless for making project based learning in the art room new and relevant.