• Read through the whole lesson to get an overview of what will be covered.
• See that students can access the masterpiece (helpful if they also have access to several other paintings by the same artist).
• Choose 2 or 3 key concepts that you want to emphasize from the lesson and review them again at the end of the discussion before students begin their projects.
• Familiarize yourself with the supplies in the art box for the lesson. Assemble other materials that you may need (pencils, brushes, paints, etc.).
• Do the project yourself.
• Encourage students to “do their own thing,” their work does not have to look “just like the teacher’s.”

Tanya Narasaki, 1st grade teacher and Lead Teacher of the Visual Arts, at Rancho Rosal Elementary School, CA, uses student journals as a record of students' artistic growth. This also serves as a tool for the development of their process of seeing. When Tanya's students write about art, they get practice in processing and retaining new vocabulary and concepts.

To begin a lesson, students look at the piece of art for one minute (see her Use Your Eyes to Explore the Artwork). Then in silence students spend about five minutes jotting down their ideas about what they see. This is "a quick and dirty" process. Students are encouraged to keep it simple, to make sketches, to think of these as their own personal notes. They are assured that they do not have to be beautifully written, that they will not be on display, that the teacher will be the only other person to see them. The important thing here is process, not product. Later, Tanya looks over a student's journal, treating it as a "toolbox," as she reviews her Rubric for Visual Analysis. Does it contain the vocabulary of art? Does it show growth? Do concepts build on previous concepts? All of this takes time; it is an ongoing process for the teacher and student.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” Albert Einstein

“The practice of writing can enhance the brain’s intake, processing, retaining, and retrieving of information. Through writing, students can increase their comfort with and success in understanding complex material, unfamiliar concepts, and subject specific vocabulary." Judy Willis

Jennifer Nelson, art teacher at Village Elementary School, CA, loves to expand upon the Art in Action lessons. She enriches them to include more history, music, dance, foreign language, and even film.

“The Art in Action program allows me to add drama and music to the lessons,” says Jennifer. “For the first grade Marc Chagall lesson I showed Russian folk dancers and pictures from Fiddler on the Roof (although a different period); I also played music by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky. For the fourth grade Dali lesson I played Spanish guitar music and showed the dream sequence in the Hitchcock movie Spellbound. I often check out art books from the library relevant to the lesson.”

“We have a giant time line going all the way from medieval times to now, showing the Renaissance, Impressionism, and the other art periods. I copy a picture from the Art in Action lesson and hang it on the time line. I also tie in foreign language by teaching students to say “hello” and “goodbye” in the artist’s language.”

“We are tremendously enjoying Art in Action, the students are not bored, and we have no discipline problems. We often hit PLAY ALL on the discussion page – we may not view it to the end, but the students like it. I also show them the samples that others have produced, and that motivates my students to do even more challenging art projects. Our motto is, ‘if they can do it, I can, too.’ “

“The three most important attributes of Art in Action: standards-based, technology based, easy to use.”

• To more easily project the videos or animations for your students, you can use the full screen mode. Just click on the rightmost icon in the control bar under the video. BE SURE TO PRESS "PLAY" (click the triangle) BEFORE YOU ACTIVATE FULL SCREEN. Pressing the escape key will cause the video to return to its normal size.
• Click on the first concept – Style – in the Discussion section. Then click PLAY ALL to give your students some art history background about the masterpiece. Be sure to stop PLAY ALL before moving onto another concept.
• Reinforce key concepts such as line and shape by asking students to draw them on the projected masterpiece with ‘smart’ pens.
• Play music! The Resource section offers direct links to short MP3 downloads at Amazon.com.