Do you love art so much that you want to share it with others? Can you think of anything more exciting than opening up a child’s world to gooey, colorful art materials and the endless possibilities of visual expression? How about encouraging adults to try something that they never thought they could do?

In Siena’s Art Education program, you learn how to share the thing you love the most: your passion for art. As an art educator, you will help young artists of all ages to discover new worlds of creativity, assist them as they develop their understanding of the visual world around them, encourage them to broaden their technical and intellectual skills, and to express their feelings and thoughts in artistic media.

What is the occupational outlook for a career in teaching art? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, job opportunities for teachers over the next ten years will be good to excellent, depending on the grade level, locality and subject taught. Most job openings for art teachers will result from replacing private and public school teachers who will retire, although art educators might also find themselves working in museums, summer programs, and other places where visual communication is learned.

At Siena, we believe that the best art teachers are also the best artists—talented and well-spoken individuals who are able to share their knowledge about art and its various materials, methods and practices. Your professors at Siena will encourage you to become a great artist so that you have the foundation necessary to become an outstanding art teacher. You will complete all of the course requirements for a degree in Art, either the BA or the BFA. In addition, you will also complete our sequence of four art education classes and the University’s sequence of Teacher Education classes, which help you to satisfy the State of Michigan requirements for teacher certification.

Our sequence of four art education classes is designed to help you:

• understand the history and current theories of art education;
• investigate the latest scholarship on how to help aspiring artists achieve their potential;
• study cognitive development in children as seen through changes in their art;
• develop age-appropriate lesson plans and activities that relate to national and state standards;
• create approaches for dealing with differently-abled children, the gifted, and those with special needs;
• consider how art can be integrated into other areas of the curriculum;
• acquire first-hand experience in planning and presenting lessons;
• work with successful art teachers in nearby schools;
• learn strategies for managing a safe, effective, and well organized classroom.

Learning outcomes

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