Jul 18, 2011

Have you “Met the Masters?”

Recently I had the opportunity to try out a kit from “Meet the Masters,” a company I discovered and wanted to learn more about! If you have not visited their site, it’s worth a look! A neat company with a neat product just for art educators. After finding Meet the Masters, I was sad I hadn’t found this sooner. It would have been PERFECT when our district was going under curriculum review to help the teachers with materials for some of our most taught artists. Lets learn more-

Meet the Master’s offers a curriculum for educators featuring master artists! The cool thing about this curriculum is you can buy a comprehensive program or just a particular artist. I chose to get Rembrandt, mainly because I didn’t know much about him and had never used Rembrandt in a lesson with kiddos before. More on this later…

Once you choose your artist, you will get a kit in the mail that has everything you need to teach the lesson.

Here is a sample of what you might receive when you get a an artist kit:

Here are some things I liked about the kit and format of Meet the Masters:

1. The work was done for you- a powerpoint, research on the artist, the visual to share, and lesson details with handouts included! WOW!

2. Saves you Time- How much time would have I spent to get all of the research and to make the power point of an artist? I a lot! This puts it all in front of you and divides up the lessons into levels for younger and older kids. If you get one kit, you have lessons for multiple grade levels regarding that artist.

3. Rich Information – I was amazed at how much history was incorporated into these lessons. When I share facts about artists with my youngest students, I often pare down what I tell them. The information I got on Rembrandt was rich and deep. I learned so much, but it was still very transferable to young students. It made me realize that I need to up the level and information that I share with students regarding art history.

I plan to use my Rembrandt lesson, which focused on value, shading and light, with my 4th or 5th graders this year when we study the value scale. The kit even came with a flashlight and a large poster to help flawlessly teach the lesson with no hiccups or running out to the store to spend your own money!

I also think these handouts, which were included in a large binder will be very helpful in teaching and reviewing value concepts with my students.

And because I really couldn’t wait to try this out, I invited some of the neighbor girls over to try out some of the techniques. They didn’t have time to finish, but the lesson was engaging and fun. We did the art critique portion together using the power point, which prompted some really great art conversation. I can’t wait to use this kit in the upcoming school year! You can adjust the projects to your own needs, so each student can add their own creativity and not all look the same. This is what I plan to do.

What curriculum resources really save your life?

Has anyone ever heard of or used Meet the Masters?

Dale

Hi Jessica,
Thank you for sharing the information about “Meet the Masters”. I went to their web site and while their kits are well intended I came away with a few things that bothered me.

They claim their kits are “easy to implement” and “an art background is not necessary because all lesson plans are scripted, illustrated and timed.” Where is the creativity? First I don’t think there is anything easy about art. It is complex which I think is a good thing. It causes students to have to think, make decisions, solve problems and be creative. I think when the general public reads “art is easy” it is a slippery slope to opening up a way for state politicians to decide that professional art educators are not needed because “anyone” can teach art. Not the reality, but their perception. I do not think there is anything better than a highly qualified art educator in the classroom to teach art. As far as following a script…forget it, something always comes up that interrupts the lesson, or a wonderful learning opportunity occurs that would be outside the script. And timed? As you probably know time management is always tricky when the floor is flooded with water, all the children are still green and orange, and they have to be at lunch in three mins.

Please understand I don’t mean to be critical of this program. However my students come from a very diverse environment. We are a Title 1 school, most children are on free and reduced lunch and many attend a different elementary school every year. We tend to have a lot of transient students because of our draw of students from Fort Bragg Army Base. The fact that we have a diverse population makes for very interesting learning. Our student population is about 60% African American 30% Caucasian and 10% Other. I have had students from Africa, Jamaica, China, Yemen, Egypt, Mexico. Many arrive as non English speaking students. They bring a lot to the table because of their culture so it’s all good.

I bring up diversity because as I watched the video on Meet the Masters website I saw mostly Caucasian and Hispanic students. The artists that are studied are largely Western artists. I found that only one-seventh of the artists studied are either African-American, Hispanic or Asian. Perhaps Meet the Masters works very well in more homogeneous schools or private schools where classes tend to be smaller. It is probably great for home schooling also. Maybe my problem is not so much with the content but some underlying philosophical issues or their marketing style.

I’ll be interested to hear how this works for you and to see the varied results in student work that occurs.
- http://theartofeducation.wordpress.com Jessica Balsley
  
  Thanks, Dale, for your comment- as a PD site for art teachers, I try to try and expose readers to a variety philosophies and methods out there, because as you said, teaching art is not “one size fits all!” Continue to do what works for you and I am sure Meet the Maters will be a perfect fit for some! When I did the lesson, I used the facts and images but let the conversation flow as it naturally progressed, as you mentioned. I also plan to add in a little creativity into the lessons to change up student results at the end. We’ll see how it goes! Good luck and take care.
  - Dale
    
    Thanks for your reply. I understand completely and I agree that all must find what works best for their curriculum and school.
- http://theartofeducation.wordpress.com Jessica Balsley
  
  They do provide a cultural curriculum as well! http://www.meetthemasters.com/multi-cultural-art-curriculum/
Anonymous

Hi Jessica,

I think this would be a very useful resource. I’m wondering how much you paid for the lesson.

I don’t think my school district will pay for this but, I might be able to get PTA to fund one or two lessons this year.

What did they charge you? How did the process work?

~Heidi
- http://theartofeducation.wordpress.com Jessica Balsley
  
  Heidi,
  You can get a price quote on their website:
  The artist units start at $325. You can get a quote here: http://www.meetthemasters.com/pricing
Anonymous

I can see the appeal and place for this program. If I was a non art teacher, a classroom teacher, being asked to integrate the arts into my school day I can see this program being great. You could buy one kit for the school, make your photo copies of consumables and pass the program from teacher to teacher.

However, I am always wary/turned off by programs that won’t just say how much they cost up front and in a public space. If they charge less the more kits you buy I understand and respect that. but I feel like their pricing should be available online.

It’s hard to tell from their website, and maybe the more advanced lessons offer more variety of ways to complete a lesson or explore an artist or theme but all of the student work produced is looking a little bit too much alike for my taste.

Just my 2 cents worth.
http://artprojectgirl.blogspot.com Erica

I’ve never seen this before! Interesting. Way too expensive for me to try. I think if I were a director like you, it would make sense to try. There are some teachers who might need an extra push and this would be perfect. For me, I am interested in creating my own curriculum and then sourcing bits and pieces from here and there to supplement.
Clsrwlk

We have had the joy of using Meet the Masters for many years and have had wonderful benefits from using the program. I cannot recommend this program enough and it is worth the cost, and that said, have found it to be a great value as well. Thanks for the post.