art.jpgOnline Resources for Art Educators

Art education is an incredibly important, yet often underrated subject in today's American schools. Studies have shown that a strong education in the arts can lead to increased creativity, individuality, and understanding of other cultures, yet many programs are cut from schools due to funding and a lack of interest. We at Guide to Online Schools appreciate the importance of art education at schools and would like to help teachers by providing a comprehensive and useful resource on art education. Here teachers will find general information on teaching, tips based on the age of the students, and a list of art supply stores.

General Resources - Tips for Teaching Art - Art for Elementary School - Art for Middle School - Art for High School - Art Supplies

General Resources

  • Annenberg/CPB: For elementary, middle, and high school teachers, Annenberg offers professional development programming at no cost. The majority of their programs are in the form of visual media; each program features an overview, a printable page, and access to a program DVD.
  • ArtsEdge: ArtsEdge, The National Art and Education Network, is a national art education association whose mission is to connect people to art resources and spread knowledge of arts education. The website has three main categories: teach (lessons, standards, and how-to's), connect (articles and advocacy), and explore (arts days and meet the artists).
  • ArtLex: ArtLex is an online art dictionary that lists more than 3600 definitions relating to art and visual culture. Each entry is supported with images, cross-references, quotations, and pronunciation notes.
  • Art Museums: Art Museums is a program that provides a variety of resources to art teachers, including lesson plans, workshop opportunities, teaching tips, and art programs for home school. Their free lesson plans feature art projects that teach about other cultures and the environment. All lesson plans link to a detailed online instruction guide.
  • ArtsWork: ArtsWork, run by Arizona State University, is a useful resource for all art teachers. The site details the national and model art standards and includes explanatory materials about art assessment. In addition, there are links to art organizations, art education websites, and art advocacy groups.
  • The Getty: The Getty Museum offers unique resources for K-12 teachers. There are resources for the classroom (lesson plans and guides) for every grade that include tips and tools for teaching. In addition, there is a professional development section listing free workshops and programs.
  • National Gallery of Art: The National Gallery of Art, "a place where teachers and students can connect art and curriculum," is a national foundation that provides extremely unique art resources. The lesson plans attempt to connect different subjects into art; for example, there is an "art and ecology" lesson plan, which focuses on exploring the connections between art and ecological issues. Teachers can explore resources by curriculum, topic, or artist.
  • Smithsonian Education: Smithsonian's Art and Design webpage features downloadable lesson plans targeted at specific grade levels (K-12). Teachers can search for lesson plans by subject or by grade; lesson plans link to an overall description and a PDF file of the lesson.
  • TeacherVision: TeacherVision hosts hundreds of art resources for teachers, including lesson plans and printable activities categorized by grade level (K-5 and 6-12). This website is also unique because it features lesson plans linking art to other academic subjects (reading, science, math, music, and even Harry Potter!).

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Tips for Teaching Art

  • Art Teacher Tips: Art Teacher Tips was written by Laurie Bellet, an art specialist at the Oakland Hebrew Day School in Oakland, CA. The article gives many practical tips about running an art classroom such as "keep your paintbrushes clean!" and "what art teachers need to know about color."
  • Tips for Teaching Art: Duniway Elementary provides an online document listing art teaching tips. The goal, according to the document, is to create a stress-free environment while being prepared for the lesson. These useful tips will help teachers to achieve that goal.
  • Tips for Teaching High School Art: Because high school students are one of the more difficult groups to teach, this website has an article dedicated to providing useful tips for the high school art teacher (written by a current high school teacher). The article addresses the difficulties and rewards of being a high school art teacher, while giving relevant advice.
  • The Teaching Palette: The Teaching Palette is a blog for art teachers that is "dedicated to teachers who constantly work to perfect the art of education." The blog features helpful categories such as teaching techniques, how to use positive reinforcement, and dealing with off-task behavior.
  • Teachnology: Teachnology, an online teacher resource, lists art-teaching tips written by actual art teachers around the United States. Each tip is a supported by a paragraph giving advice on some aspect of art education; examples include "using a student as a model" and how to demonstrate "the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional."

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Art for Elementary School

  • Art Criticism Skills: One of the basic skills a middle school art student begins to practice is art criticism, an extremely important aspect of art. This website has resources for teaching children "how to read a painting;" there is a description of the general process and links to online galleries for students to practice their criticism skills.
  • Art Podcasts for Middle School Teachers: This online podcast directory has an extensive archive of podcasts aimed at middle school art teachers; podcasts include a "lesson share," classroom stories, and current news in the art world. All podcasts are completely free and can be downloaded instantly .
  • Arts in Education: This "Arts in Education" webpage, by New Horizons for Learning, is a database of art related readings for educators. Articles include "Stimulating the Brain and Senses Through Art" and "Teaching Basics Through the Arts." The articles encourage learning more about the arts as an integral part of basic education.
  • Incredible Art – Middle School Art: Incredible Art provides links to middle school art lesson plans submitted from teachers around the world. Each lesson lists an objective, procedure, and materials needed; some even have pictures of the finished student work. The site is currently undergoing renovation to organize the lesson plans for easier navigation.
  • Middle School Art Curriculum: This PDF document details a complete middle school art curriculum. It describes basic objectives, essential questions, and evaluation methods. It also has links to other art resources at the bottom of the document.
  • Middle School Net: Middle School Net has a long list of links useful for art teachers, including links to art museum websites and different cultural art sites. There are also curriculum and lesson guides available, technology resources, and information on professional development.

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Art for Middle School

  • Classroom Discipline: This page on classroom discipline, from incredibleart.org's Art Teacher Toolbox, gives an excellent, detailed, but not overwhelming guide to dealing with the challenges any teacher in any subject will face at some point. With links for further reading, ideas from educators, and a "golden rules" of classroom management, this classroom discipline page should be a required stop for any new teacher.
  • Developing a Discipline Plan for You: Humboldt University's Thomas H. Allen has created a guide to help teachers develop a discipline plan, diagnose problems, and change their plans to fit different situations. Complete with summaries of seven different models of discipline and lists of rules, consequences, etc. culled from brainstorming sessions at educator workshops, Allen's page has what every teacher needs to prepare a disciplinary approach for the classroom.
  • Discipline by Design: The Honor Level System, a proactive discipline approach that aims to show respect to the student, is used in schools across the country and their website provides many helpful hints, information, and assistance regarding classroom discipline. The site claims its "11 Discipline Techniques" receives over 10,000 visits a month, and also worth checking out is "Techniques that Backfire."
  • Discipline Help: Billing itself as "a reference for handling over 117 misbehaviors at school and home," Discipline Help reveals the causes of misbehavior, the needs being revealed by such actions, remedies for successfully combating bad behavior, and common mistakes teachers and parents make.
  • How to Maintain Classroom Discipline (video): This black-and-white educational video from 1947 demonstrates that, even though a lot has changed (spitballs probably aren't the most dire classroom issue anymore), there are still some golden rules that will always remain true. A positive attitude, a sense of humor, and a sense of respect that goes both ways were, are, and always will be key to creating an atmosphere of learning.
  • Positive Classroom Discipline: From education expert Fred Jones' website. The book Positive Classroom Discipline is currently out of print, but selected chapters are available on the site.

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Art for High School

  • Art Studio Chalkboard: This website is suited for high school students, teachers, and advanced artists. The lessons focus on the fundamental practices of art, such as figure drawing, perspective, and shading. It also has information on painting techniques for acrylic and oil painting.
  • Center for Education Development in Fine Arts: The CEDFA provides a current Art Curriculum Framework document that details four main areas of art development: perception, creative expression/performance, historical/cultural heritage, and response/evaluation. It does not explain individual lessons separately; rather, it describes the overall art courses as a whole.
  • Incredible Art – High School Art: Incredible Art has a wide range of art lesson plans available in different categories – architecture, art history, portraits, and recycled art are just a few. All of the lessons are organized into categories for easier searching. There are also links to other resources such as supplies and current art news.
  • University of Pittsburg – Secondary Art Education: The University of Pittsburgh provides an extensive list of tools for teaching secondary school art. These include links for lesson plans, art galleries, and art schools.

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Art Supplies

  • Art Supply Warehouse: The Art Supply Warehouse has art supplies available for purchase online. The site features an e-mail notification service, which alerts customers to current discounts. Gift cards are also offered.
  • Blick Art Supplies: Founded in 1911, Blick Art Supplies is an online art supply store that focuses on quality products at discounted prices. There are a multitude (and a wide variety) of supplies – supplies range from audiovisual equipment to printmaking materials to educational materials.
  • Cheap Joe's Art Stuff: Cheap Joe's art stuff is an online store and catalog that has an extensive array of art supplies. There is an "E-Savings" program for customers to receive discounts and there are video art lessons available.

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