What Do I Teach?
A constant weight I carried as a new teacher was answering the daily need to figure out what to teach.
In those early years, I was routinely in panic mode, trying to balance everything, and I made curriculum decisions often just by looking through the limited supplies I had and cobbling together whatever activity seemed the most likely to keep students occupied for the longest time. As I gained experience, my curriculum became more intentional and evolved into a year-long plan of lessons for each grade. When I shifted to TAB, things changed and quickly changed again when I moved from elementary to high school.
I’m now at the midpoint of my career, and my approach to what to teach looks very different. I plan out my curriculum with a wide-angle lens, considering big-picture goals first and spending my time creating my own “how to” resources that support individualized learning. I find that these stay consistent while most other content shifts depending on what my students need at any given time. I will always be a teacher who tries new things. How could I not, because each class is different? The way I respond is with flexible content.
Three Considerations
As I was planning to write this essay I thought about how I approach curriculum development and I came up with three things I consider. I’m going to go through them and end with the most important.
What are the needs of my teaching context?
Every teacher has to start planning what to teach by considering the place where they teach and what requirements it entails. I teach at a large high school as part of a visual arts team of four. We all teach at least one section of Beginning Art and it’s an expectation that we have the same number of grades and cover the same topics. We’ve worked together to plan media-based units and, although we approach them a bit differently, we cover the same general concepts.
I teach a class called Studio, which is entirely student-directed, and Art 3 Honors, which is not, although it includes many opportunities for students to make impactful choices about their work. Our team works together, which means that we all want to prepare students to be successful at the next level, so I have to think about the curriculum with that in mind. This is important to me because I’ve been part of teams who didn’t work together and it impacted students. I’m also expected to incorporate State standards and It’s appreciated when the art department takes part in art shows and competitions.
What goals are essential?
Beginning Art focused on learning media and techniques our department has agreed are foundational. I plan my section to include making meaningful choices about style, media, and content while working within the framework we all follow. The essential goal of this class is to provide an overview that prepares students for each of the multiple classes they can take next.
Studio, a class I created and had approved by the large district I teach in, is completely student-directed. Studio focuses on the creative process, including learning about the different types of work that are options for class time, which scaffold creative decision-making, as well as generating ideas for artwork and managing time. The essential goal here is creating a community where each student envisions and creates successful artwork as they define it.
Art 3 works on interpreting themes, developing original ideas, making informed decisions about media, and managing time effectively. I start the course by covering a few media that we reserve for upper-level courses due to cost, then move to theme-based projects, with increasingly open themes, where students select media and determine content. The class ends with students developing themes independently and creating a series. The essential goals here are as described above, which are intended to prepare students, who are juniors or seniors, for AP Visual Art or to continue studying art at the next level of their education.
What are the needs of my students?
This last guiding question is the most important, though the rest are essential to support it. I start with the baseline need that all students should feel welcome and safe in my classroom. They also need to feel like they are part of the classroom community, to trust me, and to know that I care about them. All students need to be challenged and be supported. Beyond that, many needs depend on who is in any given class. Yesterday, for example, I noticed that there was work with clay, screen printing, and embroidery going on in my Studio class. I’m planning on sharing work by some applicable artists on Monday to inspire and keep the momentum going.
My curriculum is based on important goals and the expectations of my teaching context, but the needs of students are what shape how I teach day-to-day and in the moment. I offer meaningful choices in each course I teach, but I do it differently in each due to the needs of my department. I plan intentionally but I'm flexible as I respond to what I observe. When I'm not sure what to do or catch myself not considering the big picture, I revisit my guiding questions.
What is essential in your curriculum?