. Investigate a variety of images and artefacts and use them in
unexpected ways or to help to instigate new ideas.
. Study how other artists, craftspeople and designers have worked. . Develop your skills and fresh ideas by working from firsthand
observation and other sources.
. Draw to show that you have looked and understood, and to communicate your own feelings, experiences and ideas.
. Explore and develop ideas using sketchbooks as often as you can. . Research and investigate to find out as much as you can about
concepts surrounding any topic you are working on.
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Communication
Effective learning in the classroom frequently depends on the teacher's ability to communicate and maintain students' interest. A good communicator will engage pupils in the subject matter; convey a perception of its usefulness; stimulate the desire to do well and boost self-confidence. This is not a straightforward task! Everyone is motivated by different values, needs and desires, so you need to communicate on different levels. Some students are motivated intrinsically ± wanting to do well from an inner compunction ± while others are motivated extrinsically ± through outside factors, such as wanting to avoid confrontation or to gain the approval of others.
Good communication begins with thorough preparation. A well-organized teacher can keep the pace of each lesson going while imparting a great deal of information. Communicating your own enthusiasm is crucial. Students react to who teachers are, what they do and how enthusiastic they are about their subject. Your enthusiasm comes from your own confidence, enjoyment of the subject and pleasure in imparting your knowledge and passion. Develop the ability to ask key questions and stimulate open-ended answers. Maintain sensitivity to students' backgrounds or cultural differences and make sure that you communicate clearly to everyone.
Genuine interest in your students helps here, so try to engage with them on a personal level (to a certain extent) and consider how students will perceive your words. Pay attention to their faces as you speak and check that everyone is listening and understanding. Once you have found out what students' strengths and interests are, try to relate projects to their interests and experiences. Ideas for projects that might be relevant to them could be using the local environment, an event in the
news, pop culture, technology or music, for instance. If you can understand their perceptions and viewpoints, you will be halfway to enhancing their interest and motivation in your subject. Fortunately with art, the opportunities to use relevant topics are always there and are often particularly pertinent.
Once you have interacted and established a dialogue with each class or group and with individuals, your next task is to make your students active participants in their own learning. Tell students that they can all succeed and do well in art lessons. For similar reasons, avoid public criticism of anyone's performance in order to keep them enthusiastic and positive about their work. Part of great communication is listening, so always listen to your students and pay attention to their needs, where possible, even when they are not speaking. You can usually see by their work if they are struggling or losing interest, so be ready to offer suggestions or resources that could open up new ideas and inspiration.
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Keep them busy
By thinking, making, writing, designing, creating and solving problems, students' natural curiosity becomes awakened. Keep asking questions without giving solutions; offering students opportunities to think for themselves. Introduce class or group discussions and try to encourage interest and participation, even with the quiet ones. Where possible, allow students significant input into their choices of objectives and activities. Students are more motivated if they have some say in what the task is, how it is to be carried out and presented. The more controlling you are, the less motivated learners will be. By feeling that they have some ownership of decisions and activities in their art lessons, they will be more motivated to succeed and show you that they were right. Giving your students autonomy can be as simple as letting them choose what size paper they use or whether or not to work in groups, choosing a partner or selecting their own still life objects from a shelf, or it can be more complex, such as setting their own time limits for a project or grading their own work. When students feel they have power over their work, their efforts and motivation increase.
Students perform best when the level of difficulty is slightly above their current ability level. If the task is too easy, it will promote boredom and may communicate a message of low expectations or they will think that you believe they are not
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capable of better work. On the other hand, a task that is too difficult may be seen as unattainable, could create anxiety and they might even give up working. One way of determining what is too easy or difficult is to gradually raise the difficulty level of each task as students learn and master activities each week. ^
Freedom to develop
For many years across all subjects, competitiveness in class was encouraged as teachers believed that this spurred learners on. While this can add incentive, intense competition creates anxiety and where possible you should try to reduce students' tendencies to compare themselves to one another. Rather than enhance the experience, this often interferes with learning. In art lessons, where work in progress is evident to all, a certain amount of comparison and so competition cannot be avoided but try to keep it to a minimum. Praise different qualities in all students' work where possible. Frequently remind your pupils that there is no right or wrong way of working and although you have expectations and they have set objectives, there are still many different ways they can achieve this without copying or worrying about others' progress. With this in mind, also avoid any public criticism of students' performance. Help your classes to develop the understanding that mistakes are acceptable and something to learn from; that all artists made or make mistakes and are not ashamed of them. Although you might show exemplar work, again it is essential that this does not make anyone in the class feel inadequate. Try to show work where less able students have made a good effort or tried out something innovative as well as work by students with the greatest aptitude.
Positive feedback wherever and whenever you see effort will build students' self-confidence and so their competence. Recog- nize sincere efforts even if the end result is not perfect. If a student's performance is weak, tell her or him how to improve. Working through problems, students will experience a sense of achievement and confidence that will increase their willingness to learn. While maintaining your authority, create an art room where students feel they belong and can be themselves. People have a fundamental need to feel connected or related to other people. Students who feel they `belong' have a higher degree of intrinsic motivation and academic confidence. Art teachers who encourage student participation, who are warm, open, helpful and organized tend to have the most motivated and determined
An extreme close-up dramatizes the T Rex. Subjects that students have chosen for themselves produce the best results. Loreto College, St Alban's, Hertfordshire
students. Supportive teachers who listen, encourage, respond to student questions and show empathy for students tend to achieve the best grades. Here are some strategies that successful art teachers recommend:
± provide students with time to reflect, to mind map and ask questions ± when they are engaged in a practical activity, allow students to talk ± encourage students to eliminate preconceived ideas and to consider
problems from unusual angles