"Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB) is a nationally recognized choice-based art education approach to teaching art. Developed in Massachusetts classrooms for over thirty-five years, and through courses and research at Massachusetts College of Art, the Teaching for Artistic Behavior concept enables students to experience the work of the artist through authentic learning opportunities and responsive teaching.

Choice-based art education regards students as artists and offers them real choices for responding to their own ideas and interests through the making of art.  Choice-based art education supports multiple modes of learning and assessment for the diverse needs of students.
Teaching for Artistic Behavior Inc. is a grassroots organization developed by and for art teachers, and serves to promote and support choice-based art education in public and private education settings.”


ARTISTIC BEHAVIOR
Four core practices: Personal Context, Pedagogical Context, Classroom Context and Assessments are the foundation of Teaching for Artistic Behavior.

PERSONAL CONTEXT
Choice-based art education regards students as artists and offers students real choices for responding to their own ideas and interests through art making.
Essential elements:
    * The student is the artist
    * Students control subject matter, materials, approach
    * Student beliefs drive work
    * Students are self-motivated
    * Experimentation and mistakes are honored
Results: personal work and deep learning


PEDAGOGICAL CONTEXT
Choice-based art education supports multiple modes of learning and teaching.
Modes of Instruction:
Teacher:
    * Direct
    * Indirect
    * Whole group demonstrations
    * Small group instruction
    * One-on-one
Student:
    * Peer coaches
    * Self initiated groups
    * Sharing work with the group or class
Resources:
    * Reproductions
    * Books
    * Internet/multi-media
    * Student work


CLASSROOM CONTEXT
Choice-based art education provides resources and opportunities to construct knowledge and meaning in the process of making art.
 Structuring time:
    * Brief, whole group demonstrations
    * Students plan outside of class
    * Students work at personal pace
Arranging space:
    * Environment attractive, inspiring
    * Environment organized for group and individual work
 Managing materials:
    * Highly organized for ease of use
    * Students take responsibility for care of room/materials
    * Students help to collect materials, beginning art process
    * Choosing materials important part of the process
Providing Instruction:
    * Centers provide ongoing instruction and inspiration
    * Centers allow for independent work while allowing teacher to
       instruct in multiple ways


ASSESSMENT
Choice-based art education utilizes multiple forms of assessment to support student and teacher growth.
    * Artistic behaviors are honored and noted in the ongoing
      assessment process
    * Teacher-created documentation captures observations of
      students’ artistic behaviors, needs and accomplishments
    * Rubrics are negotiated between students and teachers and are
      broad enough to affirm student differences
    * Self-assessment occurs on a regular basis, both informally and
      with self-reflection writing
    * Collaborative assessment includes peer coaching, group
      sharing, curating exhibitions and conferencing with the teacher

COPYRIGHT 2009   TEACHING FOR ARTISTIC BEHAVIOR, INC.
http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/artisticbehavior.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TAB-ChoiceArtEd/

TAB and Differentiated Instruction

 Differentiated Instruction is defined by Wikipedia as:

"Differentiated instruction (sometimes referred to as differentiated learning) involves providing students with different avenues to acquiring content; to processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and to developing teaching materials so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in ability."

Differentiated instruction goes hand-in-hand with the TAB art center-based curriculum design and the lesson plans designed to differentiate learning. All lessons that I design and instruct involve a ten-minute mini-lesson that introduces the main idea and problem of the lesson. This can be done with the use of my laptop for Internet use that is visually displayed through a document camera or an Epson projector. I can read books aloud to the entire class with the book itself displayed below the document camera to incorporate reading literature to the students. Searching for artists and artwork is also another way that the children can explore online art galleries and museums while also reading literature via the Internet.