Praxis: Walking the Talk in Art Education (Guenter)

"The arts humanize the curriculum while affirming the interconnectedness of all forms of knowing. They are a powerful means to improve general education."
-Charles Fowler 

With ongoing budget cuts, focus on assessment outcomes, and the need for students to achieve and produce results in their classroom studies, the challenge to educate others about the integral role that art education provides continues to be a priority. This new year of 2009 will provide many venues and opportunities for you to gather educational information and resources to apply in your teaching, to improve your personal artistic endeavors, and to share with your colleagues at the local, state, and national levels.

A worthy New Year's resolution for the NAEA membership is to rededicate ourselves to art education, reflect on why we teach art and why we find art education so important to include in our curriculum planning. We KNOW it is important for our students, but we are not always able to explain this knowing in words. Having the ability to connect education theory and art education processes into realistic, creative, and meaningful classroom practice is the key.  The word for this is praxis--translating an idea into action.

The intent of NAEA and this newly redesigned web site is to offer you support, resources, and wonderful adventures both personally and professionally. The networking and collaborative spirit that we gain from our annual conventions and state conferences gives us the renewed energy to carry forward current trends and the ongoing need of advocacy for arts education to all areas of our vast and diverse nation. Knowing the expectations for sound art education instruction coupled with the insight of your district's and the state expectations allows you to make informed and meaningful curriculum decisions that can be very creative and inspirational for you and your students. Praxis. I challenge you to put our art education intentions into action. We need to "walk our talk" about art education and all that it implies.