As a first year teacher I thought “yessss, I can do whatever I want??” I quickly realized that was a somewhat overwhelming task. Although I loved that freedom, I don’t feel I was taught how to set up a curriculum…lots of strategies, history and techniques. I knew I enjoyed teaching certain topics and my students enjoyed learning about them but I always wondered in the back of my mind “was I doing enough? Was I teaching them the right stuff?”. Having been there, I want to give you some ideas of how you could organize your curriculum. If you want to know more, check out our podcast Curriculum Mini Series available on iHeart, Spotify and Anchor.

Number One: Styles

Our current curriculum is a nice blend of styles and cultures. Keep in mind, you want to enjoy your curriculum too! The more excited you are, the more your students will be too. Some styles we enjoy teaching are Impressionism, Pop Art, Expressionism, Abstract and Cave art. We have found students really seem to enjoy these styles and they are ones we are passionate about as well. Somewhat related to styles are teaching about artists that have some wild or crazy stories. That always keeps the students intrigued. Also, anything that you can find a way to relate to them. We think this is why Pop Art is such a big hit because it is popular culture and can be adjusted to whatever is occurring at the time (even if you’re reading this 5 years from now). 

Number Two: Skills

Although our curriculum is not organized by skills, we have a lot of specific skills all of us art teachers we like to teach within each style or culture. This could even be broken down more by materials, processes and Elements of Art. Maybe it’s helpful to break each quarter into something different. Some skills we enjoy teaching are scaffolding clay throughout their elementary art experience (similar to how high school would have Ceramics 1, 2, etc.), blending different materials, collage, radial balance, painting, weaving. Clearly there are SO MANY other options as well. These are just some thing that seem to really interest our students. 

Disclaimer…we are two, white women who live in a primarily white area. We have done a lot of research behind the cultures that we teach, but we are not perfect and don’t know everything. If something is incorrect, please let us know so we can make it right! We are passionate about teaching art through cultures and won’t don’t want to do any cultures a disservice. 

Number Three: Cultures

Throughout my art education, I feel like I was mostly exposed to focusing on styles, With our ever changing world, I absolutely love having cultures as a focus in our curriculum. I honestly tend to be a little more excited when I teach cultures over styles, but I get, that’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Truthfully I could go on about cultures in the art room forever (and ever), but the ones we enjoy teaching about and our students enjoy learning about are: LatinX, Asian art, African art, and Australian art. We’ve found too if there is an appreciation month for a culture, that is a great time to tie it into your curriculum map, or shortly before so it can be on display in your building. It is also helpful to think about that students in your school and what culture that come from so they can feel seen and represented. You won’t be perfect when it comes to teaching about different cultures, so be willing to accept advice and ideas from others who know more about it and do your research!

Keep blending,

Hayley