As art educators, we are often faced with the need to defend our curriculum and it’s impact on the students we teach. Art education, to us, is an obvious leg of learning that not only enhances personal development but all other traditional academic learning.
Since the release of Drawing with Children and the expansion of the Monart Method through Monart Schools, our students have met and exceeded our expectations in and out of the classroom. How the Monart Method helps your students learn outside the studio:
2 . All Monart lessons contain academic content in a Fact Sheet page, so that the students can learn academic information about the subjects they draw.
3. The policy of silence during drawing lessons carries over into other subjects and helps attention span enormously. Students actually want quiet to draw, since you cannot draw and talk at the same time.
4. Children have a “built in” motivation to draw. When given the time and space, it’s easy to get hooked to the calming and creative effects that drawing gives. Even students dealing with ADD or ADHD will amaze you as they spend an hour or more drawing in quiet concentration and not wanting to stop when the session is over. Parents and teachers for years have given us feedback that there is a definite increase in attention span in other areas of their lives.
5. Problem Solving Abilities: Realistic Drawing has an aspect to it that most of the other art activities do not have. If a child is drawing a realistic object they are faced with the subjects of proportion, perspective, and creating three-dimensionality on a flat 2 dimensional piece of paper. All of these subjects require critical thinking skills and problem solving. Because the student is motivated to have their drawing represent the object realistically and to be satisfied with their results, they will put effort into learning visual perception skills and solve the problems that arise.
6. If Howard Gardner says so….
“Mona Brookes’ well-chosen words and illustrations broaden our conception of learning in the arts and suggest ways in which the arts can contribute productively to the mastery of other disciplines.” – Howard Gardner
If you’re interested in learning more about the Monart Method, Drawing with Children or the new Monart VIDEO teacher training, visit: monart.com