Week #7 Common Core

My experiences in this class and my growing familiarity with Mary's research constitute most of my experience with the new Common Core objectives.

From what I can tell thus far, the Common Core seem to be a distinct reaction to No Child Left Behind with it's emphasis on standardized testing, rote memorization, reductive thinking, and the kind of learning experience it encourages.  The Common Core Standards emphasize evidential reasoning, seeking multiple solutions, collaboration, plasticity of thought in light of new information,  understanding of purpose, and cultural awareness.  I am inclined to view this as an improvement and a move in the right direction toward preparing our students for a future in a hyper-connected, media saturated, multicultural world, in which innovations and creative solutions will be warranted to solve global problems and meet the demands of a society that looks very different than it did a generation ago.

Art certainly takes its place at the table when goals like these are guiding education, so long as we approach it correctly.  Art education will have to transform to meet these kinds of objectives just as much as math and science will.  But the good news is, it should be easy and liberating for us.  We can shift our focus away from flat formal skills-based lessons and begin building our curriculum around understanding visual culture, problem solving through art, and expressing ideas about the shared human experience through universal visual language. 

As we discussed during the VTS seminar a couple of weeks ago, VTS supports virtually all of the common core objectives for language arts in a number of ways.  Some are crystal clear (i.e. Students comprehend as well as critique, they demonstrate independence, they value evidence, and the come to understand other perspectives and cultures).  Others are a bit less obvious , but the connections are still there.  I think VTS is ideally suited to introduce students to viewing art in a meaningful way.  The days of the droning, one sided, history lecture are over.  Its about time.