What's next after Youth Art Month? Youth Art Month (YAM) is an annual observance each March to emphasize the value of art education for all students and to encourage support for quality school art programs.

You've just participated in one of the most rewarding activities for art educators--Youth Art Month (YAM)! During the month of March, you may have held observances of many kinds, in schools, libraries, stores, and other places. Your celebration may have included exhibits of student artwork, promotional tools such as buttons, posters, and bumper stickers, a proclamation from your mayor and local officials, collecting quotes in support of art and art education from leading citizens and from young students on what art means to them, artwork in symphony programs, on billboards, restaurant placemats, in utilities, customer flyers, and on supermarket bags. Whatever you've done, be sure to submit photos and articles about all your events, newspaper, radio and television features, interviews, and other coverage of your observance to your state Chairperson.

The state Chairperson will submit a record of all these state observances to The Council for Art Education, Inc. (CFAE). CFAE then reviews and gives awards to the states submitting a record of their observances. To find out the name of your state Chairperson, ask someone from your state art education association or CFAE, P. O. Box 479, Hanson, MA 02341 or [phone] or [e-mail]. The purpose of this report is to:

* Allow the state Chairperson and other organizers to evaluate the effectiveness of your state's observance and report to the membership at your Fall state art education association meeting.

* Share your experiences with other states.

* Enable your state to participate in CFAE's annual award program.

This report should be sent to reach the Council office no later than mid-July to be reviewed by the Council's Committee to Promote Art Education, comprised of NAEA officials, representatives of The Art and Creative Materials Institute, Inc., and other interested organizations for annual award consideration. So, be sure to get your information to your state Chairperson before the close of the school year.

CFAE, its Board of Directors, and the National Art Education Association are appreciative of your participation in YAM. Each state observance helps build upon our worthwhile work to raise awareness for quality visual art education programs for students nationwide. We also encourage and recognize the efforts of the state art education associations that use YAM as an art advocacy tool to promote this need and increase the funding for quality art education in their states.

Thanks to generous contributions from donors, CFAE raises awareness through national YAM observances, including the display of the YAM Flags at the 2004 Congressional Arts Caucus Reception, the eighteenth Annual National YAM Flag Event, and distribution of YAM information and display of the YAM state flags at several national conferences. These national and state activities show federal and state legislators, education officials, businesses, community leaders, teachers and parents the importance of keeping visual art education funded and in the schools.

school arts

Call for Articles

High School Articles Wanted!

We are currently seeking articles appropriate for the high school level. We are also seeking articles that fit our ClipCard format.

If you have a lesson that you would like to share that is suitable for the high school level, then we encourage you to submit it for publication. In writing your article, keep these questions in mind: "What is important to teach?" "Why is it important?" "How do you assess student performance?" "How do we advance in art education?" "How do you teach for success?"

Review recent issues of SchoolArts. Notice the balance of photographs and text in feature articles (high-quality photographs and high-resolution digital images reproduce the best). Good photographs of student artwork and close-up shots of the art-making process lead to the best design. Length of articles varies from about 300 to 800 words.

Please include the National Standard that applies to your lesson, along with your name, school address, e-mail address, and home mailing address. For more extensive guidelines, please check out our website at www.davis-art.com/schoolarts/guidelines.asp.

If you have a lesson that you would like to submit as a ClipCard (one of our most popular features), please follow the format below:

Significant problem: Forty words describing the art problem and why it is relevant to the lives of students.

Essential Concepts: Thirty-five words describing the important objectives or essential skills taught by the lesson.

Materials: List materials needed in twenty words or less.

Guiding Practice: One hundred and twenty-five words describing the questions and directives that will guide student learning.

Assessing Learning: Sixty words describing how student learning will be assessed.

See page eleven of this issue for examples of ClipCards.

Send your article along with one high-quality color photograph or slide of a student solution to the art problem to:

Eldon Katter, Editor

SchoolArts Magazine

464 E. Walnut St.

Kutztown, PA 19530