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Standard A: A student should be able to create and perform in the arts.

Rationale: Through experience in dance, drama, music, and the visual and literary arts, students discover their creative abilities. When students participate in the arts, they develop an inventive spirit, expand their critical thinking skills, become self-disciplined, and learn to accept ambiguity or even failure as part of the learning process. They learn to see the whole and its parts simultaneously. The arts validate personal perception and intuition, foster imagination, and promote creativity while fulfilling spiritual needs. They allow students to engage in the discipline of the creative process and teach them to persevere until they achieve the pride of accomplishment. From kindergarten through twelfth grade, young Alaskans need to experience quality, sequential arts instruction.

​A students who meets this standard will participate in dance, drama, music, visual arts, and creative writing;​

 

2. appropriately use new and traditional materials, tools, techniques, and processes in the arts;

3. demonstrate the creativity and imagination necessary for innovative thinking and problem solving

5. integrate two or more art forms to create a work of art; and
6. investigate careers in arts production.



Standard B: A student should be able to understand the historical and contemporary role of the arts in Alaska, the nation, and the world.

Rationale: Through the study of arts history, we learn to understand cultures. In a world that grows increasingly diverse, understanding of one another is essential. Much of what we know of cultures comes to us through artistic forms of communication. In fact, we know of no culture to which creative expression has been unimportant. The historical study of the arts teaches that not only does society influence art, but art influences society. When the lessons of arts history are someday applied to us, will we have left a rich record of our time?

A student who meets this standard will:



4. be able to investigate the relationships between the arts and the individual, the society, and the environment;



Standard C: A student should be able to critique the student's art and the art of others.

Rationale: People make judgments about the arts they see, feel, and experience. Art criticism is a judgment based on thoughtful analysis and interpretation which occurs after a process of organized investigation. Critiques are essential in the arts for both the artist and the audience. Through critiques, students learn to use appropriate vocabulary to evaluate their works and the works of others. Although conclusions may be contradictory, each person's educated critique is valid. Through the process of arts criticism and reflection, new ideas are produced, expanding meaning of works of art and life.

A student who meets this standard will

know the criteria used to evaluate the arts; these may include craftsmanship, function, organization, originality, technique, and theme;
be able to examine historical and contemporary works of art, the works of peers, and the student's own works as follows:

4. recognize and consider an individual's artistic expression;

5. be able to exhibit appropriate audience skills;

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Standard D: A student should be able to recognize beauty and meaning through the arts in the student's life.

Rationale: People have a need for beauty and meaning to connect time and space, experience and event, body and spirit, intellect and emotion. We create art to make these connections, to express the otherwise inexpressible. The arts are a unique source of enjoyment and delight, providing the Aha! of discovery when we see ourselves and others in a new way, grasp a deeper insight, or find our imaginations refreshed. The arts bring us face to face with what we intuitively sense lies beyond ourselves. Because the arts cause us to face situations where there is no standard or approved answer, we become acquainted with many perspectives on the meaning of value and develop a personal sense of what is beautiful. The philosophy called aesthetics is the study of beauty.

Students who meet this standard will: 



1. be able to make statements about the significance of the arts and beauty in the student's own life;
2. be able to discuss what makes an object or performance a work of art;
recognize that people tend to devalue what they do not understand;
4. be able to listen to another individual's beliefs about a work of art and consider the individual's reasons for holding those beliefs;
6. recognize that people connect many aspects of life through the arts,
7. be able to make artistic choices in everyday living;
8. investigate careers related to the search for beauty and meaning, which is aesthetics.