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.

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.

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.

The editors of this volume contend that the current paradigm of standardizing Higher Education through an outcomes-dominated approach can constrain the educational process, where teachers may feel pressured to resort to risk-aversive methods that satisfy the learning-outcomes and assessment agenda. As a result, the ability of teachers and learners to inform, critique and develop their understanding of subjects together may be being lost. This book contains a variety of alternative approaches teachers have used to develop ways of 'humanizing' and deepening the learning process, through drawing on the creative arts and humanities - including cinema, literature, dance, drama and visual art - in a range of disciplines, it is argued by the editors that these 'arts-based inquiry' approaches have opened up possibilities for transformative learning as concerned with whole person development through opportunities to connect the-intuitive, emotional, relational and creative with the analytical and logical ways of knowing.

This comprehensive, up-to-date art methods text presents fundamental theories, principles, creative approaches, and resources for art teaching in elementary through middle school.

Exploring Studio Materials: Teaching Creative Art Making to Children is a transformative approach to teaching art in elementary and secondary schools. Based on the model of how real artists create their work, the text encourages teachers to work with the most common media and materials found in the Pre-K-12 curriculum. Hafeli provides a rich blend of real-life examples and suggested classroom activities in order to help fledgling art teachers learn how to implement creative arts programs that will produce exceptional results. Rather than following a structure based on preconceived ideas, the book encourages experimental techniques with the materials that teachers commonly use in elementary and secondary classrooms. Therefore, teaching methodologies emerge from the activities themselves, rather than vice versa. Based on her own research, teaching, and contemporary approaches to arts education, this approach is an effective model for bringing artistic creativity into the school curriculum. Distinctive Features * Encourages teachers to work with the most common media and materials found in the Pre-K-12 curriculum * Establishes a meaningful, organic, and creative process in which teachers are discovering along with students * Includes a rich combination of real-life examples and suggested classroom activities