Promoting divergent forms of thinking.....

I have realized this past week, what we have here is a vein of educational gold. Choice based art education promotes an individual's divergent thinking abilities in a psychologically profound and personally meaningful way. This kind of program provides an openess in the curriculum that gives students freedom to explore, invent, examine and go deep into aesthetic experiences and subject areas related to student interests far beyond any other kinds of programs I am aware of. Student's take full ownership of the direction they move in. The electronic portfolio element of our program will provide students with a dynamic assessment process that allows for self-reflection of the purpose and direction of individual work and provides an accountability tool.
I remember listening to my friend and colleague Clark Fralick talk about complex operations "start small, go big..." and also the words of encouragement from Barb Andrews, Teri Eastes, Kathy Douglas, Diane Jaquith and John Crowe. Because of their work and encouragement, I am about to cross a pedagogical threshold into a new and exciting instructional dimension.......more later....