The Thunder Bolt

Our Elementary School art program is undergoing a significant transformation. Led by our ES art teacher, Mrs. Leslie King, who brings years of experience from the High School level, the curriculum is being redesigned to move beyond simple crafts. By collaborating closely with Mr. Green, the Middle and High School art teacher, Mrs. King ensures that students from Preschool to 5th grade develop the habits of mind necessary for long term success in the arts.

The program is now heavily influenced by the TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) approach. This philosophy operates on a core principle: the student is the artist and the classroom is their studio. The goal is to move the program away from a production-based model, where every child makes the same identical object, and toward an inquiry-based model.

In this new structure, the teacher acts as a “Yes Teacher”. This means that as long as students meet the curriculum standards, they are given the freedom to choose their own direction and materials. This empowers them to take ownership of their work and see themselves as creators rather than just followers of instructions.

Drawing on her High School background, Mrs. King is focusing on breaking specific mindsets before they become ingrained. To help students prepare for the rigors of high-level art, she focuses on reshaping their psychological approach to creativity. This starts with fostering a learning mindset by emphasizing that art is a learned skill rather than an innate genetic trait. By teaching technical discipline as a vital tool for self-expression, she helps students move past the fixed mindset of believing they are simply not artists. 

Building on this foundation, she introduces the critical distinction between true inspiration and mere admiration. While she acknowledges that it is valuable to admire work on platforms like Pinterest, she teaches students that real inspiration involves taking a spark from the world and using it to prompt original, conceptual thinking. Ultimately, this approach encourages Elementary students to insert their personal interests and values into their work early on. By doing so, she is gradually preparing them for the vulnerability and deep self-reflection required to be successful in advanced AP courses later in their academic careers.

While the program prioritizes student agency, it does not sacrifice technical rigor. In fact, she is introducing advanced concepts earlier than is typical for Elementary programs to give students a head start.

Third through fifth graders recently explored the work of Sol LeWitt, a pioneer of conceptual art. Students were given a strict list of instructions but had to interpret them individually. This taught them that the conceptualization, or the idea behind the work, is just as important as the final look. It also broke the habit of asking the teacher for every answer. Instead of providing solutions, Mrs. King would prompt them with questions, forcing them to discern the best path forward themselves.

In second grade, students recently engaged in a six-week self-portrait unit that mimicked the rigor of a High School drawing course. This unit began with a focus on observational skills, starting with contour line drawing, where students practiced capturing the edges and outlines of their faces to notice details they usually overlook. This was followed by the challenge of blind contour drawing, a test of focus where students draw their subject without looking at their paper. By removing the ability to look at the page, the exercise forces the brain to rely on actual observation rather than a memorized symbol or simplified mental image of what a face looks like.

Building on these observational habits, the students then moved into the study of proportional anatomy to achieve a more grown up style of realism. They explored the mathematical placements of facial features, learning fundamental rules such as the fact that the eyes actually sit in the center of the head. By combining these technical stages, the students were able to move past early artistic shorthand and produce work that was significantly more detailed and accurate. This long-term process allowed them to stay engaged for several weeks, showing a level of perseverance and commitment to craftsmanship typically seen in much older students.

The collaboration between our ES and MS/HS teacher, Mr. Green is creating a seamless creative bridge. They are currently aligning their scope and sequence to ensure there are no gaps in media like ceramics, printmaking, and painting. A major focus of this partnership is the "Middle School lull," a time when student interest in art often dips. By instilling strong habits, a specialized vocabulary, and a sense of agency in Elementary School, they hope to keep students passionate and engaged through their Middle School years and into the rigors of the AP Program.

As the program evolves, our art teacher is eager to invite parents into the creative journey by providing the tools and resources needed to continue this artistic exploration at home. Her goal is to move toward a more visual form of communication that documents the messy, beautiful process of art making rather than just the final product. By equipping families with these insights, the school aims to empower parents to support their children’s natural curiosity, fostering a home environment where experimentation and play are celebrated as essential parts of a child's development.

By treating our youngest students as capable artists, we are setting a standard of excellence that will follow them throughout their entire academic career at Concordia.

Learn more about Concordia Hanoi's Fine Arts Program.