Ongoing+Discussion

//Click on **EDIT**, leave a comment with a section of the curriculum and then click on **SAVE** so that everyone else can read and comment on your ideas and suggestions.//

In the space below, copy and paste a section of the proposed curriculum that you like or do not like and but it in bold type. Supply your ideas, thoughts and comments below and your name so that we can get more info from you if need be. Others can comment further on your comment or post some of their own. As for the rest of this Wiki, please do not delete the ideas and thoughts of other members, if you disagree simply state it directly below their comments so that both people have equal say. Thanks!

//Example:// “The arts both express and engage the human spirit in profound and powerful ways. They give our children and youth a sense of the world outside themselves, uniquely touching the timelessness of history and the limitlessness of the universe while helping them celebrate community. The arts are an integral part of Canadian society.”** - I think that there is adequate coverage of Canadian studies in the new Social Studies Curriculum, and that reference to (not studies of) the history of art around the world is valuable. Carrie Waldo
 * Introduction

The proposal suggests the integration of music, art, and drama to a greater degree than what is happening now. This will not effect our school to any great extent, since this is what we already do with our Fine Arts Focus. I am also a big supporter of the integration of the arts because I believe that it helps students deepen their learning in other curricular areas. However, I am greatly concerned that art will lose it's validity as a subject of its own. It is important for children to learn history, skills, and techniques and to develop these skills through art curriculum. This development is fundamental for students to be able to be successful when working on integrated projects. I believe that the proposed approach to teaching Fine Arts through modules at the high school level may be beneficial in many areas. However, I do also have concern that students will not have the opportunity to develop their skills to their fullest potential by being able to "pick and choose" modules. I believe that we all need to be challenged to discover our potential. Allowing students to be selective to what they learn to this extent may not offer them an opportunity to discover new interests, abilities, and talents.Katharyn

Excellent comments Katharyn. Along with Visual Art, I also teach one course in CTS (Photography), so I am somewhat familiar with the way the module approach to teaching and aquiring credits goes. The module approach, for Fine Arts, has one particular benefit, from my perspective: it would allow a teacher, like myself, to create more Art courses, than just my Art 10, 20 and 30 (and AP Art in some cases). Right now, I have several students in grade 11, who will complete their Art 30, this semester. In other words, any given student in my school can complete Art 10, 20 and 30 within three consecutive semesters and then have no Visual Art left to take in their grade 12 year, or even in half of their grade 11 year and all of their grade 12 year. This makes some students sad, because they love Art! With the module approach, I could find three Visual Art and Visual Art-related modules and make a three credit "course" out of them (which is what we did with Photography). In the end, this would allow me, as an Art teacher, to teach even more Art than I am now. Of course, the "picking and choosing"of modules does pose issues, like Katharyn pointed out above. For instance, it's scary to think of a student combining a dance, painting and band module into a one semester "course"- it may be a scheduling headache and might be awkward to structure, overall. I think it would be up to individual schools to "manage" the picking of these modules. Finally, I appreciate Katharyn's comment about the "over-integration" of Fine Arts into other subject areas - meaning we risk losing our programs as independent and respected classes, unto themselves. Jonas