Connecting craft to classrooms: Crafting an American Style lesson plan exchange.In the spring of 2004, I invited arts educators from around the country to participate in a collaborative lesson plan exchange project. The goal: Elevate craft education in the classroom with Crafting an American Style, a documentary on the history of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, airing nationally on public television. The project: Screen the video and develop an age-appropriate lesson plan based on Crafting an American Style, to be posted online for arts educators to download for free. The participants: Five educators representing Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Virginia.The project was first introduced to five art-education students from Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public university in Flagstaff, Arizona in the United States. As of Fall 2007, the university has 21,352 students, 13,989 of these are situated in the main Flagstaff campus<ref name="Enrollment" />. (NAU (1) (Network Access Unit) An interface card that adapts a computer to a local area network. (2) (Network Addressable Unit) An SNA component that can be referenced by name and address, which includes the SSCP, LU and PU. ). This resulted in a group lesson plan that touched upon visual arts visual arts npl → artes fpl plásticas visual arts npl → arts mpl plastiques visual arts npl → , technology, ceramics, and American history. Their lesson plan raised key concepts, including introducing students to the distinctions between fine art, craft, and hobby craft. This included cognitive exercises as well as a hands-on approach with multiple production activities such as basket weaving, ceramics, bookmaking bookmaking Gambling practice of determining odds and receiving and paying off bets on the outcome of sporting events and other competitions. Horse racing is perhaps most closely associated with bookmaking, but boxing, baseball, football, basketball, and other sports have , stained "glass," and paper marbling. In addition to sharing lesson plan activities at the elementary level, NAU student Jessica Mitchell introduced paper marbling to program producers at the American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is the largest of the television syndication distributors of programming for public television stations in the United States. It began in 1961 as the Eastern Educational Television Network Conference in Miami, Florida. The Crafting an American Style Lesson Plan Project was also introduced to arts educators at the Maryland, North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. , and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of State Art Education Association conferences in the fall of 2004. In the spring of 2005, our project debuted at the National Art Education Association Conference in Boston. Crafting an American Style opens students' eyes to the rich world of American craft illustrated through photography, interviews with art historians, craft industry professionals, and demonstrations by contemporary craftspeople crafts·people pl.n. People who practice a craft; artisans. in the fields of glassblowing, ceramics, textiles, and woodturning wood·turn·ing n. The art or process of shaping wood into forms on a lathe. wood  turn . Introducing
the rich culture, origins, and pioneering spirit of the American craft
movement is crucial to student understanding of art and its role in
American history.
The Crafting an American Style Lesson Plan Exchange Project is just one example of how a small project with a big concept can evolve and open new doors for educators, students, and schools in America. Afterall, if we don't find ways to bring craft to the classroom, who will continue the legacy of the American Arts and Crafts Movement to become America's future craftspeople, gallery owners, art enthusiasts, art collectors, and art educators? Connect to Other Educators Art educators teaching all grade levels are encouraged to bring craft into their classroom with Crafting an American Style. Download free lesson plans at www.craftinganamericanstyle.com. Send your new lessons to be added to the Web site by sending an e-mail to DebraA@rosengrp.com. Debra Anderson is a public affairs coordinator for The Rosen Group, an arts marketing and publishing agency. 410.889.2933 ext. 222 |
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