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Art Education

Undergraduate Overview

Art Education Undergraduate Overview

You don't have to choose between art and education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). We believe great artists make great teachers.

The interdisciplinary bachelor of fine arts curriculum for undergraduates at SAIC encourages students to prepare for life as boundary-crossing 21st-century artists. While completing an undergraduate art degree, students can also become boundary-crossing 21st-century teachers.

Students apply to the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education (BFAAE) program in the spring of the sophomore year. While continuing their coursework to develop their artistic practices, students in the program also develop their teaching practices based on contemporary artmaking. BFAAE students graduate with the skills (and license) to teach art, design, and new media in public schools and other settings.  

The Art Education faculty are nationally and internationally known artists and scholars whose own work models a commitment to new forms of art education in which students and teachers creatively and critically investigate today’s issues and make art and culture that is meaningful and transformative for themselves and their communities.

Art Education Courses for Studio Majors and Students Enrolled in Other Programs

Students pursuing bachelor of fine arts degrees in other areas also take Art Education courses to support their work as emerging artists interested in community arts practices, socially engaged art, and teaching artists in schools or museums.

Courses include:

  • Doing Democracy
  • Cultural Approaches to Production
  • Art in the Community

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education

The BFAAE program educates students to become teachers of art, design, and visual culture while continuing to strengthen their own artmaking practices. The Art Education community supports students in becoming engaged and reflective teacher artists whose pedagogical work fosters the emergence of more just and joyous individuals and societies.

The program fulfills requirements to become a licensed PK-12 Visual Arts teacher in the State of Illinois. SAIC's teacher preparation coursework contributes to (and may meet) the teacher licensure requirements for other states and countries. See the Teacher Licensure Disclosures information found at the link below.

BFAAE students have a high rate of securing well-paying teaching jobs upon graduation. (Starting pay for an art teacher in the Chicago Public Schools is $50,000+) The Art Education Department receives more requests for referrals of recent graduates than we can meet. Our graduates build art education careers in schools and other educational settings throughout the United States.

BFAAE Program Guide 2024-25
*See the Testing Requirements section of this page for an update from the ISBE regarding the edTPA

Sample BFAAE Student Agreement 2023

Teacher Licensure Disclosures [PDF]

Below are links to the SAIC Department of Art Education's recent Title II reports. The following information is provided in accordance with Title II of the Higher Education Act, section 207(f)(2):

Admissions Requirements and Curriculum

  • You must meet the following criteria to gain admission to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Art Education program:

    1. Admission to SAIC's undergraduate division.
    2. Consultation and transcript analysis with the department's Licensure Specialist before or during the first semester of sophomore year.
    3. Submission of a departmental application during the second semester of sophomore year. Application must be submitted by the first Monday in March for admission in the spring semester to begin coursework in the first semester of junior year. 
    4. Teacher candidates begin the art education program during the first semester of their junior year. The BFA in Art Education program is a four-semester sequence. For a comprehensive list of program requirements, please refer to the BFAAE Program Guide.

    BFAAE Application Requirements

    • BFAAE Application Form 
    • Create an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) system account called ELIS. Directions to be provided by the Licensure Specialist in the invitation email.
    • Resume (1-2 pages) Include teaching experiences, other work experiences, exhibitions and other art experiences, awards and honors, and list of competencies in media, equipment, and software. It will be reviewed during your interview with the BFAAE Director so you can receive feedback prior to submission by the application deadline. Contact SAIC CAPX for resume assistance.
    • Portfolio of 12-20 artworks in digital format (images of 2D and 3D work as well as time-based works). Some applicants may have fewer examples of artwork to include due to the timing of the application or if they are a transfer student. Images of 2D and 3D work as well as time-based work may be included. Examples of artwork should demonstrate proficiency in a range of different media and materials, including digital proficiency, as well as show the current focus of your artistic practice and conceptual interests. Prepare your portfolio as a sequence of images in a PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides file. Devote one slide to each artwork/video. If you need to include multiple images for the same piece of artwork you may fit them to one slide if possible. Otherwise, multiple slides may be included to show different features of the artwork if necessary. Each artwork should be labeled with the following information on the slide with the image: Title of work, Date of work, Medium, Materials used, Dimensions or duration.
    • Artist Statement (300-500 words) Provide context for the artwork included in your portfolio by discussing the themes and theories which inform your artistic practice. Elaborate upon the artistic, social, political, or personal relevance of your artwork as well as its material, conceptual and formal attributes.
    • Teacher Mission Statement (300-500 words) Explain why you want to teach art. 
    • One Recommendation: Use the Letter of Reference form included in Application & Instructions packet.  The Letter of Reference form must be submitted by email (by recommender) by the first Monday in March to the BFAAE Director. (See Letter of Reference Form for details.)

    For a comprehensive list of program requirements, please refer to the BFAAE Program Guide.

    Note: Completion of art education program prerequisites does NOT guarantee admission to the teacher preparation program.

  • SAIC’s BFAAE (Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education) program educates undergraduate students (teacher candidates) for teaching art, design, and new media in elementary and secondary schools. Through this 126-credit hour program (the same number required for other BFAs), students become creative, critical and reflective teachers of contemporary art and culture while fulfilling the current State of Illinois requirements for PK–12 Visual Arts licensure. The BFAAE is designed to be a full-time program completed during the final two years of earning an undergraduate degree.

    Coursework in the BFAAE program balances artmaking and learning about the theory and practice of education with experiences of teaching in a wide range of school settings. All education coursework is arts-focused, taught by faculty who combine expertise in art and cultural theory with deep knowledge of teaching. BFAAE teacher candidates continue to take Studio, Art History, and Liberal Arts courses while working toward their teaching degree.

    Interwoven throughout their art and education coursework, teacher candidates experience teaching in elementary and secondary schools in the Chicago area. Teacher candidates observe in schools and other educational settings (such as Local School Council and School Board meetings), design and teach short projects during visits to schools as part of their education coursework, and participate in seven-week Apprentice Teaching placements at the elementary and secondary levels. BFAAE coursework and teaching experiences prepare teacher candidates to work with English Language Learners, to support students in reading in their content area, and to differentiate instruction for students with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.

    BFAAE Curriculum Overview: Students beginning BFAAE coursework in Fall 2021

    STUDIO

    60 Credit Hours  

    • Drawing (6)
    • Contemporary Practices Core Studio Practice (6)
    • Contemporary Practices Research Studio I (3)
    • Contemporary Practices Research Studio II (3)
    • Painting (3)
    • Printmaking (3)
    • Ceramics OR Sculpture (3)
    • Sophomore Seminar (SOPHSEM-SPINE) (3)
    • Practices of Art and Design Education in Schools and Community: Teens and Adults, ARTED 3900 (Professional Practice-SPINE) (3)
    • Cultural Approaches to Production, ARTED 4100 (3)
    • Studio Electives* (24)

    *Studio courses must include a minimum of 12 credits of 3000 or 4000 level courses.

     

    ART HISTORY

    12 

    • ARTHI 1001 World Cultures and Civilizations: Pre-History to 19th (3)
    • ARTHI 1002 Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture (3)
    • Global Comparative Art History or Global Comparative Visual and Critical Studies (VCS) (3)
    • Art History or VCS Course: Additional elective (3)

     

    LIBERAL ARTS

    30

    • English (6)
    • Natural Science (3)
    • Math (or another Natural Science) (3)
    • Social Science (6)
    • Humanities (6)
    • Doing Democracy: Schooling in the Anthropocene, ARTED 3125 (3)
    • Becoming Human: Evolving Conceptions of Human Development, ARTED 3021 (3)

     

    ART EDUCATION

    18  

    • Practices of Art and Design in Schools and Communities: 

    Children and Youth (3)

    • Practicum: Elementary and Secondary Experiences, ARTED 4390 (3)
    • Apprentice Teaching (Capstone), ARTED 4900 (12)

     

    TOTAL CREDIT HOURS

    120

Qualifying for Teaching Experiences in Schools

Teacher candidates complete 550 hours of preclinical (during core Art Education courses and Practicum) and clinical (during Apprentice Teaching) teaching experiences under the supervision of a mentor teacher in a school setting and a SAIC Art Education Faculty Supervisor.

During the initial BFAAE orientation, teacher candidates will be given information on how to complete the Chicago Public School (CPS) Fingerprint-based background check. If the results of the teacher candidate’s background check do not meet the Chicago Public School district’s standards, the candidate cannot continue in the BFAAE program.

Candidates teaching in schools are considered mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) when observing or teaching in school settings. Candidates must complete the Illinois Department of Human Services Mandated Child Abuse Reporter on-line training and have a record of their completed training on file in the SAIC Licensure Office at the beginning of their teacher preparation coursework (before visiting schools).

Teacher Licensure Requirements

SAIC's BFAAE teacher preparation program is approved by the Illinois State Board of Education. The BFAAE degree meets the current requirements for the State of Illinois PK-12 Visual Arts Professional Educator License. SAIC's teacher preparation coursework contributes to (and may meet) the teacher licensure requirements for other states and countries. When requested, the SAIC Licensure Specialist works with graduating teacher candidates to identify steps to investigate how to become licensed in other places.

The State of Illinois Board of Education testing, assessment, and coursework requirements periodically change. As a result, candidates for Illinois licensure may be required to complete a different set of courses, tests, and/or assessments than those noted above if they delay graduation and licensure.

Teacher candidates must successfully complete all of their program coursework, and meet ISBE mandated tests before recommendation for licensure.

Testing Requirements

There are two tests that the Illinois State Board of Education requires teacher preparation candidates to complete and pass during and upon completion of a teacher preparation program. It is important to understand that these tests are mandated by the State of Illinois. The SAIC Department of Art Education is obligated to ensure all candidates have met these legal requirements before recommending the candidate for licensure.

Test 1: ILTS Visual Arts Content Area Test (214)To be completed and passed for licensure entitlement to apply for Illinois licensure by state law.Test scores are valid indefinitely.
Test 2: edTPA Clinical Practice AssessmentTo be completed and passed during the Apprentice Teaching semester. By state law, must be passed before conferring Illinois licensure. See testing information in appendix or contact the Licensure Specialist.*Definitive information on the period of validity of an edTPA score is unknown at this time. Check with SAIC Licensure Specialist.

For information on the current scores needed to meet ISBE requirements, see the BFAAE Program Guide on this SAIC Art Education website or contact the SAIC Art Education Licensure Specialist.

*The Illinois State Board of Education has temporarily removed the requirement of passing the edTPA for teacher licensure. Please review the edTPA Addendum at the link below for more information

edTPA Addendum-ISBE Testing Change August 2023

Courses

Title Catalog Instructor Schedule

Description

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.

Class Number

2067

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 402

Description

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment¿recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools.

Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives.

Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Open to junior BFAAE students only or permission of instructor.

Class Number

1021

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 403

Description

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment¿recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools.

Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives.

Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Open to junior BFAAE students only or permission of instructor.

Class Number

2246

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 403

Description

Relating contemporary and traditional artmaking approaches and culturally responsive pedagogy with curriculum, project, and instructional design methods, this course provides prospective teachers and teaching artists with knowledge and skills needed to structure learning experiences through which children and youth in elementary schools, middle schools and community settings enhance their creativity, develop technical skills, understand a range of artmaking practices, make personally meaningful works, and explore big ideas. Course participants will structure teaching plans that identify students¿ prior knowledge, scaffold learning, use multiple teaching and learning strategies to promote student engagement and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. They will learn to articulate clear and verifiable core learning objectives, select relevant national and state standards and design assessments that capture essential student learning without standardizing students¿ artworks. Teacher reflection based on critique, student input and assessment data will be used in an iterative process of editing and redesigning curriculum. Connecting visual and verbal literacies, prospective teachers will make use of reading, writing and speaking activities that engage students in interpreting art and analyzing visual culture as well as using picture books as a source of inspiration for their personal storytelling and artmaking. Teachers will learn to select and/or develop reading level-appropriate art and culture readings to support learning.

Studying a range of art education practices will provide teacher candidates with theoretical perspectives from which to build their own unique pedagogical approaches. Readings include works by Maria Montessori, Viktor Lowenfeld, Anne Thulson, Lisa Delpit, Vivian Paley, and Sonia Nieto as well as overviews of Reggio Emelia, Teaching for Social Justice, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Studio Habits, Visual Thinking Strategies and Principles of Possibility

Course assignments will include readings and discussion responses and researching artists, artmaking approaches and pedagogical practices as well as writing project and lesson plans accompanied by teacher artwork examples, image presentations, readings, assessments, and other instructional materials, as well as documenting plans and student artworks. Participants will teach small groups of students in elementary schools with English Language Learners.

All student must complete and pass Chicago Public Schools Background Check.

Prerequisites

Must complete ARTED 3015, ARTED 3021 and any 2900 course

Class Number

1024

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 409

Description

Relating contemporary and traditional artmaking approaches and culturally responsive pedagogy with curriculum, project, and instructional design methods, this course provides prospective teachers and teaching artists with knowledge and skills needed to structure learning experiences through which children and youth in elementary schools, middle schools and community settings enhance their creativity, develop technical skills, understand a range of artmaking practices, make personally meaningful works, and explore big ideas. Course participants will structure teaching plans that identify students¿ prior knowledge, scaffold learning, use multiple teaching and learning strategies to promote student engagement and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. They will learn to articulate clear and verifiable core learning objectives, select relevant national and state standards and design assessments that capture essential student learning without standardizing students¿ artworks. Teacher reflection based on critique, student input and assessment data will be used in an iterative process of editing and redesigning curriculum. Connecting visual and verbal literacies, prospective teachers will make use of reading, writing and speaking activities that engage students in interpreting art and analyzing visual culture as well as using picture books as a source of inspiration for their personal storytelling and artmaking. Teachers will learn to select and/or develop reading level-appropriate art and culture readings to support learning.

Studying a range of art education practices will provide teacher candidates with theoretical perspectives from which to build their own unique pedagogical approaches. Readings include works by Maria Montessori, Viktor Lowenfeld, Anne Thulson, Lisa Delpit, Vivian Paley, and Sonia Nieto as well as overviews of Reggio Emelia, Teaching for Social Justice, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Studio Habits, Visual Thinking Strategies and Principles of Possibility

Course assignments will include readings and discussion responses and researching artists, artmaking approaches and pedagogical practices as well as writing project and lesson plans accompanied by teacher artwork examples, image presentations, readings, assessments, and other instructional materials, as well as documenting plans and student artworks. Participants will teach small groups of students in elementary schools with English Language Learners.

All student must complete and pass Chicago Public Schools Background Check.

Prerequisites

Must complete ARTED 3015, ARTED 3021 and any 2900 course

Class Number

1025

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 402

Description

This studio seminar is centered around intergenerational queer art-making within the context of The LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project, which is a partnership between The Senior Services Program at The Center on Halsted and faculty members Adam Greteman and Karen Morris of SAIC. This spring course is run as a workshop in which students focus on intergenerational creative production with LGBTQ+ elders. Classes will be held at both SAIC and Center on Halsted. Students and elders will share a meal together after class meetings at Center on Halsted, and take at least one field trip together.

A range of artists, works, scholars, and activist groups will be introduced during the first third of the course as students get to know one another and the purpose of the course. This will potentially include the following: Marlon Riggs, Lesbian Avengers, Chase Joynt, ACT-UP, Ron Athey, S.T.A.R., Paul Preciado, E. Patrick Johnson, Mickalene Thomas, and others. Over the course of the latter 2/3rd of the semester, students collaborate with LGBTQ+ elders in small groups to conceive and produce work related to LGBTQ+ experiences, histories, and issues. Each small group decides on topic(s) and medium(s) while working with the instructors to create a list of relevant readings, films, and/or podcasts they will engage as part of the research and production process.

Over the course of the semester, students collaborate with LGBTQ+ elders in small groups to conceive and produce work related to LGBTQ+ experiences, histories, and issues. Final projects might take the form of visual art, video, oral history, photography, writing, a podcast, or something else. This work will be showcased on the project¿s website (generationliberation.com) and have the potential to be expanded into a range of other educational resources.

Class Number

1022

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

MacLean 112

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2038

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 402

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2039

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 409

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2040

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 706

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2266

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 403

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2268

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Lakeview - 1004

Description

The Apprentice Teaching course continues learning experiences begun during practicum placements in the fall semester. This course provides licensure candidates with experience investigating significant, contemporary concepts and themes within a contemporary art and design context in elementary and secondary Chicago-area schools. Apprentice teachers will complete a 7-week elementary/middle school placement and a 7-week high school placement as well as attend a weekly apprentice teaching seminar at SAIC. Apprentice Teachers will be challenged to maintain high ideals of creative, critical, and relevant curriculum as they engage the complex realities of public school teaching.

Students will read a selection of texts that ground curricular theory within teaching practice. This will assist them in learning how to translate their curriculum development knowledge into pedagogy.

Apprentice teachers will plan, teach, assess their students¿ work, and evaluate the effectiveness of their lessons and teaching strategies. Apprentice Teachers will teach a culminating curriculum project, video-record their instruction of this project, and submit these videos along with written analysis to the nationally standardized, Illinois State Board of Education-mandated edTPA assessment.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 4390 and completion of the Transition Points as listed in the BFAAE Program Guide

Class Number

2269

Credits

12

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

MacLean 919

Description

This course provides an overview of curriculum theory by exploring curricula as historical, cultural, social, and political texts and practices. Students will interrogate the ways in which curriculum often reifies and propagates knowledge, values and beliefs that benefit the dominant culture and reinforce the normalcy of competitive capitalistic ideals, racial hierarchies, oppressive gender binaries, and the exploitation of nature. Critical approaches to curriculum that defy and challenge these hegemonic conceptions of curriculum will be examined. Through the process of these explorations, students will develop an understanding of how curriculum shapes the social, political, emotional, psychological, and physical structures in which teaching and learning occur. Students will learn how to develop multilayered art curriculum that critically addresses urgent and crucial topics and themes that are marginalized by or neglected within much contemporary K-12 curriculum.

Students will read a variety of historically significant and vital contemporary curricular theorists who represent a broad diversity of educational philosophies: educational essentialism; child/student centered curriculum; critical pedagogy; feminist pedagogy; critical race pedagogy; queer pedagogy; culturally sustaining pedagogy. Students will also read texts representative of art education curricular philosophies that evolved congruently with these general educational theories: discipline-based art education; visual culture art education; teaching for artistic behavior; social justice art education.

Students will participate in class in a variety of ways ¿ small and large group discussion, active
listening, and in-class writing assignments. Students will create speculative art curriculum projects that creatively and critically explore contemporary issues of import in society that are particularly germane to young people in grades K -12. Students will give presentations that demonstrate their fluency in curriculum theory and development as well as growing mastery of engaging presentation styles and formats.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Open to MAAE or MAT students only or with permission of instructor.

Class Number

1855

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Gender and Sexuality

Location

Sharp 706

Description

This course explores current issues in museum education and audience engagement with an emphasis on implications for practice. Students will engage with concepts such as partnerships, accessibility, youth engagement, community outreach, public programming, and more. Students will also explore museum practice as it is shaped by legacies of colonialism, systemic racism, misogyny, and other forms of exclusion, in addition to addressing urgent questions about museums in the COVID era and beyond. Students will directly engage with museums in Chicago and elsewhere both remotely and in person (where safe and appropriate), and will regularly interact with practicing museum professionals, primarily at the Art Institute of Chicago. Discussions and projects will be supplemented and inspired by readings and other media, as well as museum visits and conversations with guest presenters. This course is based upon the premise that public cultural institutions must be seen as important sites for life-long and at-will learning (entertainment and pleasure). Along with libraries, public museums are one of our nation?s few institutions that offer all citizens access to essential opportunities and resources.

Class Number

1851

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Teaching, Art/Design and Politics, Museum Studies

Location

Sharp 404

Description

This course addresses the complexities of teaching a studio art or seminar course at the college level. Various teaching approaches and structures will be explored including leading discussions about ideas and art, conducting critiques, working with diverse groups and individuals, instructional design (curriculum, syllabus, project assignments, etc.) and demonstrating and presenting ideas and materials. We will examine issues related to arts assessment for individuals and for institutions. We will consider evolving conceptions of teaching in different higher education contexts?art schools, liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and research universities. Gain practical knowledge about teaching strategies. Develop your own teaching philosophy, portfolio and curriculum examples. Assemble a 'tool kit' to build your teaching career.

Class Number

1853

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Class, Race, Ethnicity, Teaching, Art and Science

Location

Sharp 409

Description

What egalitarian ideals have shaped our conception of public education? How has the promise of democratic schools been undermined by white privilege, racism, class-based discrimination, inequitable funding, colonialism, patriarchy, and disregard for the human impact on the natural world? This course builds a foundation for understanding the politics of schooling by exploring the struggle for democratic education in Chicago, contextualized by contemporary global decolonial practices in education. Students will consider how shifting conceptions of schooling are responses to the contemporary cultural moment¿recognizing how curriculum supports the beliefs and needs of the status quo as well as how curriculum might critique and propose new ways of being as individuals and as societies. The course explores a broad range of histories, philosophies, and approaches to schooling, including Freedom Schools, Native American boarding schools, transformative justice in education, play and free child movements, teacher-led movements, environmental studies, and the fight to defend ethnic studies programs as well as attempts to re-segregate and privatize public schools.

Artists, designers and scholars to be studied include Tonika Lewis, Eve Ewing, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Jose Resendiz, Borderless Studios, Interference Archive and Alexis Rockman. Readings from the field of art education by Doug Blandy, Laurie Hicks, and Mark Graham will trace the emergence of eco-art and place-based art education curriculum. Field trips include visits to school sites, Chicago Board of Education meetings and exploration of CBOE archives.

Course assignments include short response papers and course readings. Students conduct and report on six hours of observations in schools, sites of school decision-making, and in places where people attempt to build democratic processes related to schools. Students will conduct independent research on topics related to contemporary issues and schooling. Each student will prepare and present a culminating project proposal for a school whose curriculum and structures address their political and social concerns and pedagogical vision.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: Open to MAAE or MAT students only or with permission of instructor.

Class Number

1850

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Area of Study

Community & Social Engagement, Teaching, Art/Design and Politics

Location

Sharp 706

Description

Relating contemporary and traditional artmaking approaches and culturally responsive pedagogy with curriculum, project, and instructional design methods, this course provides prospective teachers and teaching artists with knowledge and skills needed to structure learning experiences through which children and youth in elementary schools, middle schools and community settings enhance their creativity, develop technical skills, understand a range of artmaking practices, make personally meaningful works, and explore big ideas. Course participants will structure teaching plans that identify students¿ prior knowledge, scaffold learning, use multiple teaching and learning strategies to promote student engagement and differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students. They will learn to articulate clear and verifiable core learning objectives, select relevant national and state standards and design assessments that capture essential student learning without standardizing students¿ artworks. Teacher reflection based on critique, student input and assessment data will be used in an iterative process of editing and redesigning curriculum. Connecting visual and verbal literacies, prospective teachers will make use of reading, writing and speaking activities that engage students in interpreting art and analyzing visual culture as well as using picture books as a source of inspiration for their personal storytelling and artmaking. Teachers will learn to select and/or develop reading level-appropriate art and culture readings to support learning.

Studying a range of art education practices will provide teacher candidates with theoretical perspectives from which to build their own unique pedagogical approaches. Readings include works by Maria Montessori, Viktor Lowenfeld, Anne Thulson, Lisa Delpit, Vivian Paley, and Sonia Nieto as well as overviews of Reggio Emelia, Teaching for Social Justice, Teaching for Artistic Behavior, Studio Habits, Visual Thinking Strategies and Principles of Possibility

Course assignments will include readings and discussion responses and researching artists, artmaking approaches and pedagogical practices as well as writing project and lesson plans accompanied by teacher artwork examples, image presentations, readings, assessments, and other instructional materials, as well as documenting plans and student artworks. Participants will teach small groups of students in elementary schools with English Language Learners.

All student must complete and pass Chicago Public Schools Background Check.

Prerequisites

Completed ARTED 5015, ARTED 5021, ARTED 5105, and ARTED 5200

Class Number

1856

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 404

Description

The thesis tutorial course is designed to provide the student with the skills necessary to generate research questions, critically evaluate research studies, construct research design, and generate viable thesis project proposals. This will be accomplished through lecture and discussion, and the students developing a research proposal of their own design. The thesis proposal will be presented for evaluation to a professional panel review. The overall concern is that students develop thesis proposals which promise to yield original contributions to the field.

Prerequisites

You must be a Master of Arts in Art Education student to take this course.

Class Number

2043

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 403

Description

This independent study requirement for candidates for the MAAE (Master of Arts in Art Education) or for the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) follows either the MAAE course ARTED 6109--Art Education: Thesis I: Research Methodology or the MAT course ARTED 5290--Graduate Art Education Thesis: Research as Social Inquiry. Students produce a thesis that demonstrates a student?s ability to design, justify, execute, and present the results of original research or of a substantial action research project. Students work closely with an assigned thesis advisor, in addition to participating in supporting workshops, presenting at the annual symposium, and defending the work at a final defense panel.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 6109 or ARTED 5290.

Class Number

2037

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

Sharp 404

Description

This independent study requirement for candidates for the MAAE (Master of Arts in Art Education) or for the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) follows either the MAAE course ARTED 6109--Art Education: Thesis I: Research Methodology or the MAT course ARTED 5290--Graduate Art Education Thesis: Research as Social Inquiry. Students produce a thesis that demonstrates a student?s ability to design, justify, execute, and present the results of original research or of a substantial action research project. Students work closely with an assigned thesis advisor, in addition to participating in supporting workshops, presenting at the annual symposium, and defending the work at a final defense panel.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite: ARTED 6109 or ARTED 5290.

Class Number

2413

Credits

3

Department

Art Education

Location

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