Balancing Structure and Choice in Your Curriculum (Ep. 487)

In today’s episode of Art Ed Radio, Brooke Morse joins Tim and shares her journey in art education, discussing her teaching philosophy, curriculum development, and the balance between structure and student choice in the classroom. She emphasizes the importance of artist statements, self-reflection, and the role of art as a means of personal expression and community connection. Brooke also offers valuable insights and advice for educators looking to implement TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) in their classrooms.

Full episode transcript below.

Resources and Links

• • Join the Art of Ed Community
  • Follow Brooke on Instagram
  • View Brooke’s website
  • What Do New Teachers Need to Know About Curriculum?

Transcript

Tim:

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by the Art of Education, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

On today’s episode, I am excited to welcome a brand new guest, Brooke Morse. Brooke is a sixth through 12th-grade art teacher with a really wide-ranging teaching background from elementary to high school. She’s worked as a STEAM coordinator, and she has a very interesting path that has taken her through discipline-based art education, project-based learning, and now a really cool combination of student choice, teaching for artistic behavior, and studio habits of mind. So I’m very excited to talk to her about how she balances all of that today. And then beyond the classroom, Brooke is also a working ceramic artist with her own studio. She’s selling her work and she is bringing some lessons that she learns from her own creative practice back to her students.

You know, and she’s also involved with community work. She’s a program coordinator at the Salmon River Fine Arts Center, where she lives, doing youth camps and workshops, and gallery initiatives, and just trying to bring art to a broader audience. But for today, we’re going to focus on the curriculum on how Brooke builds her curriculum and how she balances discipline-based art education and choice.

She sort of blends that structure and choice in ways that are helping our students grow as artists, grow as people, you know, and I want to see what that looks like with sixth graders and how it sort of builds and spirals and how that structure develops as students get older and how she does that gradual release of responsibility to give them more choice. I think she’s got a very interesting framework.

When it comes to her curriculum, how she balances skill building and creativity, and just bringing in the power of reflection and how students learn. So I’m excited to talk to her about all that. She is here, she’s ready to go. So let me bring on Brooke Morse.

Brooke Morse is joining me now. Brooke, how are you?

Brooke:

I’m great, how are you?

Tim:

I’m doing really well.

I’m thrilled that you’re on the podcast and you have not been here before. So I’d love to begin with an introduction. Can you tell us about yourself and your teaching or your art that you create? Anything else that you would like to share?

Sure, yeah, so I’m currently a sixth through 12th grade art teacher. And in a past life, was, I guess I started my career in middle school and then I was a little bit bounced around to a different, couple different spots. I did a K through six art education for a little bit.

I worked as a STEAM coordinator at a innovation school in Massachusetts for about three years. And that was a really cool experience. And that kind of opened up all of the possibilities that I now practice in my education experience now.

But I moved back to New York and now I’m a sixth through 12th grade art teacher.

Tim:

Very cool. Very cool. And can you tell us a little bit about the art that you create? what you make on your own?

Brooke:

Sure. So I’m a practicing ceramic artist. So I have a studio at my house. And my ceramics are in a couple of shops around this local area. It’s something that’s so incredible to me because I can come home and learn more. And it’s definitely like a meditative and relaxing experience for me.

And I bring that back into the classroom. So that’s such a really cool thing as a teacher to be a practicing artist and like learn new things and then be able to show them to your students as well. I’m also a program coordinator over at the Salmon River Fine Arts Center, where I design community programs that extend beyond the classroom. So I do youth art camps.

Student workshops, adult workshops, and public art gallery initiatives. So that’s really awesome. love all aspects that I do. I think that the arts just bring people together. And at the core, I see art as a vehicle for both personal expression and community connection. ⁓ My teaching always aims to bridge those two together. So it’s a really…

kind of holistic experience that I guess I have through all of my jobs that I can do.

Tim:

I love how they all interact. They all probably feed on each other, like, really, kind of inspiring you in all different ways. So I really, really like that. Now I wanted to ask you a little bit about curriculum, because I feel like when we first met, our first discussions were all about curriculum, how you put things together. So I wanted to ask you about, you know.

Just an overview of what you do with your curriculum. I know you try to blend discipline-based art education, DBAE, and teaching for artistic behavior, or TAB, for those who don’t know. And like those are very disparate philosophies. And so ⁓ I think a lot of people would be curious about how you reconcile that. Can you talk about how you kind of blend those approaches and how you put your curriculum together?

Brooke:

Yes, absolutely. When I did, I left as a STEAM coordinator and moved back to New York and got a position as a sixth through 12th-grade art teacher. And I was really trying to figure out how to get the philosophies of project based learning and STEAM education into my classroom ⁓ through the means of art. And that’s where I

heard about tab education, teaching for artistic behavior. And I did a lot of research on how to implement that in a high school level. And I didn’t find much research out there for the high school level. I think that a lot of tab education is elementary based and play based art philosophies. But I think there’s such a an incredible opportunity for us to be able to tap into that in the high school level.

So I tried to figure out a way that I could structure my classroom so that I could teach kids basic principles of art and how to run an art studio. but also implementing this choice behavior, and this opportunity to be able to express yourself and what you love and to learn through failure and to grow. So I did a lot of research, and there were definitely some flaws with the system, but I think that I’ve kind of figured it out pretty well. So what I started doing is I’m a middle school and high school art teacher.

So in sixth or eighth grade, I do DBAE. So I do the Discipline-Based Art Education, where I teach them how to find their own materials, how to set up their own workspace, how to develop their own ideas, how to understand criticism, and their studio practice. So in the middle school, I focus more on how you can become an artist, how artists think, how artists feel, while giving students the opportunity to understand how to write an artist statement and how to ⁓ create art.

themselves. And then in my high school classes, I offer a few different electives, but in my studio art class, it’s run like a tab class with the umbrella of the studio habits of mind. So I categorize all of my units under the studio habits of mind, while opening up the doors of tab education. And for the last few years by doing that, I’ve

been able to reach an incredible potential for the students. And I think that is in itself is worth discussing.

Tim:

Yeah, well, I actually wanted to ask you that because as you’re talking, I’m thinking about how you’re scaffolding things, how you’re putting the framework of studio habits along with tab. And I’m just wondering if you can talk more about, I guess, structure or how you do things, because I feel like a lot of students and teachers for that matter can become overwhelmed by choice, especially if there are too many choices out there or too much choice.

how do you help kids get started and focused on their work but still have that creative voice and still take ownership of?

Brooke:

work. Okay, great question. So in my sixth grade, my sixth graders, I only see about 20 days out of the whole year. So I have to jam pack a lot within these 20 days. And when they get to me, they’re essentially like the youngest kids in the whole school. So there were little babies to me in sixth grade. And they just think it’s a different atmosphere for them because I do get them a little bit more opportunity to be to act and feel like artists than they had in the elementary. And I teach them how to paint. I teach them how to think creatively. I think one of the biggest projects that I do in sixth grade that really opens up that opportunity to kids to be able to fail and feel like they’re still learning stuff at the same time is I do the cardboard arcade, the Cairns Arcade.

deck with them. So they do they watch Cain’s arcade and then they they can they pair up in groups. So collaboration is a big piece of that. They pair up in groups and they make they have a few weeks where they make an arcade game and then we invite the staff and students to come and play their games. There is a trial and error. So we go through the whole design and engineering process. ⁓ So we let

I let the other kids in the classroom play the games and then they give them feedback and then they’re able to go back in and revise their projects and then they move forward. I actually started implementing like glow parties with this as well. soon I have black lights, the LED black light strips that I put in my classroom. So we shut all the lights off and the kids are able to use neon paint to decorate their arcade games, which makes it feel a lot.

Tim:

I’m intrigued.

Brooke:

More like an arcade game. And I shut the lights off and we play arcades for an entire classroom and then we invite all the teachers and stuff. I think that’s a really cool way in sixth grade that I do that in seventh grade. And seventh grade is a very interesting ⁓ realm of human development.

Tim:

That’s a very…

Brooke:

So seventh graders I see for about 40 days and they’re more of the discipline based approach. So I teach them a skill, they figure it out and they’re very much more of the discipline based. When I get to eighth grade, I see them every day for a quarter. So I see them 40 days straight and I start out by teaching them.

color theory and the science behind color theory and the cones and the rods that are in back of our eye and how everyone sees color differently and just the science behind why we see color and that it’s pretty much an illusion. It’s all in your brain. Nobody knows what everyone else is seeing. And then I have them do ⁓ a color blindness test and a hue acuity test to kind of solidify the flat. The fact that because they never think that I’m

right. They think that everyone thinks that color is the same. So it’s nice to be able to like perform a test, you know, that’s I’m not involved in. It’s all computer-based tests, and everyone gets a different score. And then I, you know, I show this small little snippet of a clip from The Good Girl by Zoey Deschanel is the

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it. Have you seen that show?

Tim:

Is it New Girl?

Brooke:

New Girl. Yes, New Girl. Yes. So there’s a part in one of the episodes where Winston is wearing shoes, and they’re green shoes. And he says something to another character. And he was like, my shoes are brown. And then the character is like, What are you talking about? They’re, they’re green. They’re brown shoes. And he was like, Winston, are you colorblind? These are green shoes. And it’s just

really funny and it’s just like a really nice way to like interact with the kids about it. And so after we do that, I do a color mixing unit where I give them the primary colors plus black and white and I give them a paint chip and they have to figure out how to make that. And then I dive into Bob Ross. So it’s.

And it’s so fun because eighth graders are very verbal about their struggles. And it’s, and so it’s very nice to see that they complain the whole time about doing this bad Ross unit. Complain the whole time. They’re very verbal. ⁓ And it’s really, it’s a very cool thing for me as the art teacher to watch them go through the struggle, feel like they’re failing.

tell them they’re doing a great job and they persist and they show grit. And then at the end of the project, they have this beautiful painting. It might not look exactly like Bob Ross’s, but they’re all, every single kid at the end of this Bob Ross unit is just blown away about the fact that they can create this masterpiece in their eyes, you know? So.

That’s kind of how I scaffold the discipline based art principles. ⁓ And then when we get into high school, it’s a whole nother realm of education.

Tim:

So OK, so let me ask you about that. Like as you’re working with high schoolers as you’re working with kids who have some experience in techniques and the discipline based side of things how do you know when kids are ready for more choice? Is it just grade level or is there you know?

Going back and forth in your mind, like is there kind of a we need more structure versus a let’s open this up further debate like what what are those signals in your classroom? how do you know when kids are ready for more choice?

Brooke:

That is a wonderful question. So I’m actually going through this right now. started, so my studio class,

I am now thinking that my studio class needs a little bit more practice before I give them the choice that they have. And I know that because I hear a lot of, Ms. Morse, Ms. Morse, wait, I hear my name like a thousand times in a classroom. And I find myself sitting with a student more often than I should be. I think TAB

TAB is something that is very student centered. And when the student doesn’t feel like they’re making the right choices anymore or that they’re questioning all of the choices that they’re making, I think that’s when you need to go back and reteach a lot of those principles that are initially the flat line of a TAB program.

Tim:

Yeah.

Brooke:

So I introduce a concept right now, we are doing portraits. So we start out the year with self-portraits. and for, have my programs a little bit, different, I think than a lot of other schools. I’m the only high school art teacher in my, my, my school. so.

I have ninth through 12th graders all in the same classroom, but I’m also, I’m also teaching four different classes within the same. Yeah. So I have studio one, two, three, and four all within the same class. ⁓ and in a normal tab classroom, that would be okay because everyone’s at different levels and everyone is doing something different at the same time. so I start, I start pretty much with an open-ended theme.

Tim:

at same time. Yeah.

Brooke:

So this was a self-portrait project. My Studio One students, we talked about value and weighted value, ⁓ lightest light, starkest darks. And I take their picture, their portrait for them, and I turn it black and white, and they do a grid. And then they implement that grid onto a piece of paper. ⁓ I don’t make them enlarge it just yet. So it’s pretty much whatever. It’s a one inch by one inch grid that they have to transfer.

so within that project, the students have choice between their mediums. So we did value scales between, charcoal, graphite, micron, Sharpie, and, colored pencil. Okay. in their sketchbooks. and then the students were able to choose what medium the art one kids were able to choose, which medium that they’d like to, express their self portrait in.

And then my art two, three, and four students were able to choose from a variety of things. So they were able to choose embroidery, acrylic painting, watercolor, markers, digital, and mixed media. So just giving them a wide variety of opportunities to kind of solve the same problem.

Tim:

Yeah, that’s very cool. Now I like that approach a lot and I like you said, I think that works as kids are learning and developing, so I think that’s good. I wanted to ask you to and you know, I don’t know if this is a teacher question or an assessment question or where it falls exactly, but you know. It convinces you that you are finding the right level for student voice and student choice in your classroom. How do you know that’s working? Is it journals? Is it an artist statement? Discussion with the kids? Process work? Self-assessment? It can be a million different things. What approach do you take in your classroom? And how do you know that kids are getting where you want them to be?

Brooke:

So for me, I think artist statements are the most important thing. My belief, my educational philosophy in art is that you could be the worst artist in the world, but if you can write about your art and explain it in a way that makes sense and that’s emotional and that is important to you as a person, I think that says way more than the art itself.

⁓ So for me, we talk about artist statements at the seventh grade level and up. think because I have a time constraint with my sixth graders, it’s a little hard to get it in there, but I think artist statements are the most important thing. I also feel like my job is not to create artists. As an art education, like as an art educator, my job is not to create artists. My job is to create people who are critical thinkers, who can collaborate, who can…

fail and persist, can think about something and then try to exhibit that. And even if they fail, we can try to do it again. So I definitely think artist statements are pretty much like 50 % of the bulk of all of the projects that I do. But I also think that self-reflection and critiques are really important as well.

So going along with the artist statement, not only talking about your own work, but being able to talk about other people’s work. I always tell my students, you know, as people and as humans, we know when we see something, what looks good. You know, we know when we see something, what is aesthetically pleasing, right? We know what feels right. We know what makes us feel good and looks right. So.

Being able to talk about that and explain that in a way that another person would be able to understand that I think is incredibly important. So I think a lot of my assessment practices are based on student reflection. ⁓ And being able to analyze the fact that if you in your mind thought that you were going to be able to create something, and maybe you were thinking,

way outside the box or like bigger than you’ve ever thought. And you’ve created this thing that didn’t own up to what you pictured in your head. Being able to talk about like what I could have done to maybe make that process easier or a choice that you made through that process that maybe you would have changed. I think that’s the most important thing about art, you know, like and my job as an art educator.

Because that doesn’t just fall in the realm of studio art. It can be in your professional practice when you are an adult, being able to self-reflect and figure out what the choices that you made and how you can make it right next time that you do it.

Tim:

Yeah, absolutely. We talk all the time on this podcast about how important it is to reflect and just the power that comes with reflection, whether that is from students, from teachers looking to do better, just any sort of.

time that you can take to think to change to learn to grow is always going to be incredibly valuable. So I appreciate her and you say that. And then I guess just one last question for you as we wrap things up. Is there anything else that you want to share? Obviously shared a lot about curriculum and structure and how you put everything together, but do you have any other ideas, advice, words of encouragement? ⁓ Just as.

people are thinking about what they do in their classrooms, how they put their curriculum together, and I guess most importantly, what’s best for their students.

Brooke:

So I, as talking to other art educators, I think that when you are thinking about doing something like a tab studio, I think it’s really important to give yourself some grace. I think it’s really important to when you get in the middle of a project and you think in your mind that it’s gonna be a great idea, but it doesn’t translate well in the classroom.

I think it’s important for you to know that that’s okay. It’s okay for kids to see you make mistakes. I think it’s okay for you to say, all right, guys, I don’t think I taught this well. We’re going to have to revisit this. I think it’s, I think it’s important for you to also show kids that you can fail as well, you know, and it’s okay to make mistakes as long as we, you know, get back up and try it again in a different way.

I think that that’s really important. And it takes a lot of courage to run a tab classroom because I think at first it’s a lot of organized chaos. ⁓ But if you can teach kids how to manage their own studio space, take care of their materials and understand that the studio, your art studio, your art classroom is a community space and all of the materials that are in it are a community space.

That’s important also, you know, and ⁓ it’s a shared space for everyone to be able to express something. And I think that’s a huge takeaway for me ⁓ when I started out on TAB. ⁓ Like I said in the beginning, there’s not a lot of, I think, resources out there for how to run a TAB education program in the high school level. So there’s going to be a lot of risk taking that happens.

Sometimes it’s gonna work and sometimes it’s not gonna work, but that’s important for everyone to learn.

Tim:

Yeah, it is. It’s an important skill to learn to roll with it, whether it’s going well or not. And that’s good advice for both teachers and for students. So, Brooke, thank you so much. I appreciate you sharing all of your experiences ⁓ and all of your expertise as to how you put all of this together and how you balance all of these different approaches and ⁓ so many great words of wisdom. So thank you for joining us and for sharing all of that.

Brooke:

Well, thank you so much.

Tim:

All right, that was a great conversation with Brooke. I think one of the highlights for me is just thinking about how teachers can bring in kind of.

Different philosophies like seemingly disparate things, you know, DBA versus tab, you know, and just bringing all those ideas together, whether it is, you know, a structured curriculum or project-based learning or student choice. But you can bring elements of different styles into your classroom and form that into something that works for you, something that is cohesive, something that is impactful. And I think as we talk through this with her and kind of reminded that good teaching is not about following a single method, but I think it’s about finding the right elements and the right mix that works for you as a teacher and that works for your students and the setting that you’re in.

And the other thing I wanted to highlight was just the idea of the importance of student reflection and artist statements that Brooke highlighted, you know, and just keeping in mind that the value of what we do is not just in the final product, but it’s in the process and the thinking and how we help kids develop the ability to communicate ideas. You know, she said like her role as an art educator is to

Cultivate critical thinkers, collaborators, and resilient learners. And I think those ideas resonate really strongly with what so many of us are trying to accomplish in our own art rooms. So a lot of great stuff there. I really, really appreciate Brooke coming on and talking through all of those ideas with us. And I hope you can take some ideas from this conversation, you know, whether you have a very structured classroom, a full choice classroom or something in between, whether you’re blending some different disciplines and different ideas, I think the goal is always going to be the same. Like we want our students to grow, to connect, to express themselves.

And I hope that this may give you a few more tools to do that. So thank you to Brooke for sharing her insights, and I hope this conversation just helps you or inspires you as you are continuing to create and shape your own teaching practice.

Art Ed Radio is produced by The Art of Education with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Thank you, as always, for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, share it with a friend and don’t forget to follow, leave us a quick five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. It really helps others find the show. We will be back next week with Amanda Hine and our Mailbag episode. We’ll talk to you then.