Samantha Hughston

Art 133
Unit Paper 5
11/2/16
Unit Paper 5: Structures & Systems
The big idea of Structures and Systems helps teachers to guide students in a direction in
which the students gain an opportunity to learn about an idea, and build enough knowledge about
the idea, so they hopefully become personally connected to the idea. For example, a 21st century
approach to teaching art in some schools according to Eisner (2002), The arts teach children
that problems can have MORE than ONE solution and that questions can have more than one
answer (p. 29). When a student becomes interested in the idea and can relate to the idea on a
personal level, explores the idea and in turns asks questions, the end result is that the student
gains more knowledge and builds self confidence. Many times when a student has self
confidence it allows them to feel creative. Creativity is an importance function for people
because it allows people to be divergent thinkers in all aspects of their lives. According to
Walker (2001), By using big ideas, students find that artmaking is more than creating an
interesting design or learning particular technique with a specific medium: artmaking also
becomes an expression of important ideas related to their own live and the lives of others (p.
144). In our fast paced society, where technology changes almost daily, being able to be creative
and, also, a problem solver, as individuals makes people with those skills much more
employable.
When reading the 10 Lessons Arts Teach I immediately thought how I would like to take
those lessons and put them on a plague and hang it in my future classroom. I feel this way
because when my children were quite young I had a poster on my refrigerator titled Children
Learn What They Live written by Dorothy Law Nolte. I want my future students to walk away

from my class at the end of a semester feeling that they have not only learned to express
themselves as artists, but, also that they have learned more about the visual art world we all live
in today. I want them to realize that there are many forms of art and multiple versions of art
mediums at their disposal for them to utilize as artists. One of the first big ideas I will be using is
heroes. I would start by using VTS images to stimulate the students and incorporating essential
questions. I believe that by having a plague hanging in my future classroom for students and
parents to be able to read they will all have a better understanding of how I intend to conduct my
classroom.

References
Eisner, E. (2002). The arts and creation of mind. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Walker, S. (2001). Teaching meaning in artmaking. Worchester, MA: Davis.