District Introduces Formal Arts Curriculum

At The High School

By Larissa Lytwyn

The Board of Education unanimously approved a formalized ceramics curriculum on April 1, the district’s premier product of what Assistant Superintendent of Schools Alice Jackson described as a gradual implementation of arts curriculum, at Newtown High School.

The absence of a standardized curriculum, she said, meant that classes taught by a teacher specialized in a certain area could be compromised after that teacher transferred or retired.

With the curriculum document, she noted, “Incoming teachers could work with something already established.”

Ms Jackson and Newtown High School art instructor Carol Pelligra designed the ceramics curriculum.

Though experiencing her first year at Newtown High School, Ms Pelligra is a senior-level instructor. She is also a working potter with a full studio in her home.

“My interest in ceramics goes back to when I was a child working with play dough and playing in the mud,” she said.

She taught full-year ceramics program with advanced levels for 25 years in Bridgeport schools.

“Students can use their exposure to ceramics in many types of portfolios,” she noted. “A typical two-dimensional arts student or a student going into mechanical engineering can use the ceramic ware to show their flexibility in their approach to problem solving, critical thinking, and mastery of the materials.”

The curriculum document begins with a rendition of the district’s model, “All children can and will learn well.”

The model is realized through students’ mastery of processing skills, self-directed learning, and cognitive achievement while maintaining healthy self-esteem, courtesy towards others, and competence.

Outlines for all ceramics levels, from basic to advanced, are broken down into core goals, standards, performance tasks, professional and student references and materials, as well as suggested activities. The beginners’ course asks the question, “How has clay shaped human civilization?” Students will study both ceramics’ historic roots in various cultures including African, Native American, and Greek, as well as create their own pieces.

Students will also research ceramics-related careers and become versed in the development of ceramic technology.

The intermediate course questions, “How are tools and technology used to create ceramic products?” Students will have the opportunity to use the various techniques and technology employed in modern ceramics making.

They will also acquire the skills to critically analyze professional ceramic works while simultaneously assessing and improving their own pieces.

The advanced ceramics course, “Self-Expression and Exploration,” allows students to wholly embody the medium.

Students will use the technical knowledge they have acquired to reflect visual elements and principles in their own work.

The logically most hands-on of the courses, the advanced class gives students the chance to create their own glazes from raw materials, create test tiles, maintain equipment, and even assist in keeping material inventories.

The ceramics emphasis, Ms Jackson said, underscores the district’s goal of facilitating more in-depth study.

“American [education] is often described as being a mile wide and an inch deep,” said Ms Jackson.

While impressed with the comprehensive detail of the ceramics curriculum, board member David Nanavaty expressed concern that focusing on one medium limited students’ access to other others.

Ms Jackson, however, explained that art classes intended to expose students to a range of media available in each grade level beginning in kindergarten.

Hopefully, she said, by the high school level, students have gained an understanding of their own artistic proclivities.

Ms Pelligra describes ceramics as a flexible medium. “Ceramics allows the student to work from concept to three-dimensional model,” she said. “It involved all of the art disciplines and concepts combined into one finished piece.”

In the meantime, curriculum for other arts courses across grade-levels is in ongoing development.