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The elementary program consists of art teachers who provide each elementary student (grades 1-5) with a 40 - 45 minute formal art class every 2 weeks. All elementary art lessons are specifically designed to correlate with the Standards of Learning in the other disciplines in the elementary curriculum. The elementary art class becomes a vehicle for expanding math, science, history, and reading in visual terms. Simultaneously, the young student also learns the vocabulary and techniques basic to the visual art discipline. In the middle school in grade 6, art is one of four subject areas that is presented in an exploratory series. In grades 7 and 8 students may choose to take art as a semester elective.
Visual arts education in high school (grades 9-12) is an elective. The content of Art I, II, III, and IV is aligned with the 2007 Virginia Fine Arts Standards of Learning, Visual Arts section and is organized into four specific content strands or topics: Visual Communication and Production, Cultural Context and Art History, Judgment and Criticism, and Aesthetics. These courses provide the student with a wide range of hands-on experiences with different media, materials, and tools as well as some historical background on various art periods. This sequence of courses encourages the student to discover and exploit his or her personal talents and to begin to specialize in a particular media. The student may continue to develop his or her art talent by taking Studio Art. Advanced Placement courses in Art History, Drawing and Studio Art are available. In addition Chesapeake offers a variety of special courses such as air brush design, arts and crafts, ceramics, drawing, jewelry making, painting, and screen printing.
Two major exhibits of student work are held annually--the Spring Elementary and Secondary Art Shows and the Student Gallery Competition. The Spring Elementary and Secondary Art Shows are presented at the Chesapeake Square Mall for two weeks in May. Elementary work is exhibited during the first week and secondary work is exhibited during the second week. Prize money and ribbons are awarded to secondary students. The Student Gallery Competition sponsored by The Virginian Pilot newspaper is held at the Scope in downtown Norfolk. Chesapeake students in their junior or senior year are selected to compete with other area students for prize money and ribbons.
The Virginia State Visual
Arts Standards of Learning, adopted May 20, 2000, by the Virginia Board of
Education, provide the (K-12) foundation for the Chesapeake Public Schools
art program.The Virginia Visual Arts SOL and Chesapeake Public Schools'
art program are both based upon discipline-based art education (DBAE)
principles. The following description off DBAE is from the Getty Institute
normals website--www.artsednet.getty.edu/
What is Discipline-Based
Art Education?
Discipline-based art
education (DBAE) is a comprehensive approach to art education that takes
advantage of art's special power to educate. DBAE is an effective means by
which to help students experience the visual arts in a variety of ways.
The Getty Institute adopted
the ideas of art educators who had been calling for a more holistic,
comprehensive, and multifaceted approach to art education. The creation of
artworks and inquiry into the meaning of the arts are the primary means
through which we understand human experiences and transmit cultural
values, hence, the visual arts should be an essential part of every
child's education.
Educators who take the DBAE
approach integrate content from the four disciplines that contribute to
the creation, understanding, and appreciation of art. These disciplines of
art provide knowledge, skills, and understandings that enable students to
have a broad and rich experience with works of art.
- by making art (art
production);
- by responding to and
making judgments about the properties and qualities that exist in
visual forms (art criticism);
- by acquiring knowledge
about the contributions artists and art make to culture and society
(art history); and
- by understanding the
nature, meaning, and value of art (aesthetics);
Not only do teachers
incorporate paintings, drawings, sculpture, and architecture into their
lessons, but they also include fine, applied, craft, and folk arts.
Students work with and study a variety of visual images and objects that
carry unique meaning for human beings from all cultures and times.
Although there are DBAE
curricula, DBAE itself is an approach to instruction and learning in art
and not a specific curriculum. It exists in many forms to meet the needs
of the community in which it is taught. Examples of variation include
selecting one or more of the disciplines as a central or core discipline
for helping students understand works of art; featuring settings such as
art museums or community centers and the original artworks they collect or
display; integrating the arts with other subject areas; and pursuing newer
technologies.
This approach is compatible
with the goals for art education stated by the National Art Education
Association and many state departments of education.
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