Electronic portfolios in the choice curriculum.

Today I observe my fourth graders working at six activity centers throughout the artroom. Earlier, during group instruction time, I demonstrated stencil printing and introduced examples of early American stencil designs. Once the presentation was over, students selected activities from several studio centers. Each center contains examples, materials, and instructions and allows students to work independently in their chosen activity.

Five students who opted for the sculpture center are creating spaceships with paper, glue, and cut cardboard. A handful of their classmates are assembling cut paper, fabric, and yarn to create shadow puppets at the textile center. Nearby, architects and builders construct miniature neighborhoods with hundreds of blocks.

At the drawing center, students interested in cartoon figures inspect diagrams from how-to-draw books, while tour students assigned to the computer center access their electronic portfolios and write reflective statements based on images and video of themselves engaged in art activities. Seven of the twenty-six students in the class have chosen to cut and stipple their own stencils.

The Choice-Based Art Curriculum

Curricula can be defined as the activities teachers employ for whatever it is students are expected to learn. In choice-based art programs, the major learning goal is artistic self-expression manifested through personal context. Empowering students with choices--connecting art experience to interests, passions and expertise--allows students to think and feel like real artists on their own terms. The choice-based art curriculum is intentionally flexible so intellectual and creative growth occur from within the individual's unique cognitive structure. Motivation is facilitated from the inside out.

Three Curricula

Within this approach, there are three curricula going on simultaneously. One is the teacher-centered curriculum--a series of lessons similar to the stencil presentation that tie into state standards or essential learning. The student-centered curriculum, facilitated by the teacher for the student through the studio center concept, often leads to the unwritten third curriculum in which experimentation is afforded, risks are taken, and surprise discoveries are made.

Electronic Portfolios

The dynamic learning processes within the choice art program are further enhanced through assessment with electronic portfolios. Facilitated by teachers and created by students, the electronic portfolio may contain images, text, audio, video, and other digital media to provide evidence of learning from a diversity of art experiences. Reflective writing is a central component of the portfolio, and because learning is situated within the personal context of the student, the writing is often quite profound.

An Example

It's time to begin digitizing. Two students volunteer to take digital photos and a video crew is assembled to film art and interview artists. Their first stop is the construction center. One of the architects has created a large house. Cameras click away while the interview takes place. The architect explains his ideas to the video crew. It is a "maze house" complete with a labyrinth of rooms and passageways. The videographers finish the interview and work their way across the room looking for other artists to visit.

At the end of class, camera equipment is returned and all students begin cleanup. Jpeg and mpg files are downloaded onto the teacher's computer. Students examine video and pictures from a display monitor. I remind students these media files will be accessible in a class folder if they choose to include them in their electronic portfolio the next time they are assigned to self-assessment activities at the computer center.

Choice-based art education augmented with electronic portfolios, integrates creative thinking, and visual, linguistic, and digital literacy into the art curriculum at a personally dynamic level providing multiple opportunities for meaningful, self-directed art learning.

Clyde Gaw is a member of the Teaching for Artistic Behavior Partnership, and teaches at New Palestine Elementary School, New Palestine, [e-mail].