The Art Curriculum At Roosevelt
Hello Roosevelt Families, friends and colleagues!
My name is Susan Deming and I am the art teacher at Roosevelt. I teach all first through fifth grade students once a week for 50 minutes.
I teach a rigorous, authentic and standards based art curriculum centered on art practice. As an artist myself with many year's experience in drawing and painting, my goal is to create an art studio environment where students learn and practice art skills, processes, materials, tools and visual thinking to create original and expressive works of art. All first grade students come into the art class loving to draw and paint and make art. Their art is exuberant and full of stories and they are always excited about trying something new. My aspiration is that over the next five years in art class, students will retain that exuberance and love of creating art, grow in their art making skills, develop visual problem solving skills and create as much art as they can while they are students at Roosevelt.
My guiding focus in teaching art is the California Visual Arts Standard: Strand 2.0, Creative Expression. This strand emphasizes the application of artistic processes and skills, using a variety of media to communicate meaning and intent in original works of art. Art is a discipline where the best learning occurs by doing, making and being consistently involved in the materials and tools. Art gives students the opportunity to process what they have learned, to be creative, to make something that is generated by their own interests, points of view and aesthetic taste and awareness. In addition, elementary age students love to look at each other’s art and have a great joy in sharing what they have made. For me as teacher, the students are truly inspirational in their excitement and joy in creating and looking at art.
Art helps all of us grow and develop as individuals and a culture. It brings beauty and knowledge into our lives. My goal is to provide the students at Roosevelt with the skills, materials and knowledge they need to participate on whatever level they choose in a creative and artful life!
