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my kids in my mind, and how they physically play either at school, or with each other. After our
class readings, I have realized that the term play means so much more. According to Douglas
and Jaqueth (2009), choice based learning is where the student is the artist. Students have the
freedom to access whatever materials, subject matter, and process they wish to make their art
with. In the different forms of this teaching method, the authors stress how important methods
such as experimentation, scribbling, and discovery learning are. It is emphasized that these forms
of play are vital to the student when it comes to enhancing their creative thinking. This choice
based approach in the classroom, is not the easiest for teachers, because they are going above and
beyond a structured lesson plan where everyone does the same thing. While I believe this may be
more challenging for teachers, I believe it would be the most effective for students. According to
Freyermuth (2012), in this environment, the students become the teachers and the teachers
become the students. The students would be able to study things that are directly related to their
lives, which gives it more personal meaning to them. This is where teachers would need to be
well versed in the overall subject that they are teaching, so that they are most helpful when
students have questions about the different things they are learning about on their own.
I absolutely love this method of teaching, and would like to try my best in my classroom
to have it this way. I would ensure that my students have access to an abundance of different
resources (ex: magazines, newspapers, craft items, art supplies, and so on) that could be obtained
through donations, district allotments, or through myself personally. With budget cuts, and art
being one of the first things to go, I could see how as a teacher, it would be challenging
depending on yourself, and the community through donations to make sure you are able to
provide your classroom with the tools needed to have a successful choice based setting.
BIG IDEA: PLAY 2
References
Douglas, K.M., & Jaquith, D.B. (2009). Engaging learners through artmaking: Choice based art
education in the classroom. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Freyermuth, V.K. (2012). One art teachers search for a holitic approach. In L. H. Campbell &
S. Simmons III (Eds.), The heart of education: Holistic approaches (pp. 266-269).
Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.