Inspirations: Preservice teachers

 There aren’t that many open access articles on the Taylor and Francis Online’s Art Education webpage, but access to the journal’s contents is provided by Grand Valley State University. So, while the Instructional Resources of Art Education, published as part of every bi-monthly issue, might not be a good fit for in-service teachers who have left Grand Valley, or their respective institution. But they are worth exploring for a preservice art educator. 

Attending NAEA’s webinar, “Writing for Art Education”, on July 22, I learned a few interesting things about the official journal of the National Art Education Association (NAEA); what they prioritize, the kinds of articles they publish, etcetera. But what stood out among those things was their Instructional Resources. 

Art Education’s Instructional Resources are, explicitly, articles that are meant to inspire art educators by telling stories about personal experiences. There are a couple of interesting components of an Instructional Resource, as described by the hosts of the webinar, Asavari Thatte and Ashley Mask, the co-editors of the Instructional Resources section of the journal. 

Every Instructional Resource has a positionality statement, where the author lets the reader know about relevant facets of their identity and perspective. Instructional Resources are also not meant to be lesson plans or how-to guides; they connect to practices in art education, but the author of an Instructional Resource doesn’t tell the reader how they’re supposed to use what they’ve written. These resources are submitted by art teachers, but also museum educators and community educators, voices that are exciting to hear in an academic context in art education. 

Grand Valley's EBSCO results, after searching "art education."

The Instructional Resources from Art Education are something that I wished I had a chance to use in my curriculum development class; I highly recommend them to other preservice art teachers at Grand Valley or other schools that have also secured access to the journal. (For Grand Valley students, the journal should be the first result when you search “art education” on EBSCO, with the Resource Type “journals” selected. 

Explainers: "Is Your Continuous Improvement COLORBLIND?"

Sarah Fiarman, Kristen Kyles-Smith, and Alison Lee's "Is Your Continuous Improvement COLORBLIND?" is a helpful, relatively quick read that could be helpful for school administrators and researchers in schools; however, it also clearly communicates how racial bias impacts a school's ability to help its students. So if you're working in a school, the topics discussed in the article probably affect you. 

Fiarman, Kyles-Smith, and Lee identify the colorblindness with which many schools approach continuous improvement and problem-solving, and offer a framework to help teachers and administrators work towards equity these tools focus on race, but could be used to address many different kinds of discrimination. 

1. Disaggregate data on race
2. Focus on impact
3. Avoid a deficit mindset
4. Identify root causes & ways to change

Unfortunately, this article is not easily accessible via open access; however, if you are a student or faculty at GVSU, you can read it after copy-pasting the title into the library's main search function. You can also find open access readings on continuous improvement in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database. 

Fiarman, S., Kyles-Smith, K., & Lee, A. (2021). Is Your Approach to Continuous Improvement COLORBLIND? Educational Leadership, 78(6), 16–21.