My TAB Story

My TAB story began during advanced art class one morning in 1999. I had been teaching for 4 years and was still pretty green. I had been instructed using all the wonders and virtues of Discipline-Based Art Education and used it in my classes. But when kids brought things to me from home, there was something different in what they were making at home vs what they were making in my class. This made me start to think. About that same time, I was working on a grant I received from the Indiana Department of Education to investigate and implement alternative assessments (electronic portfolios) in the art room. In reading a portfolio, students were asked to include a written statement about there work; something like an artist statement. When I began reading these statement, I was shocked to find the reasons behind the students' art had nothing to do with the students own ideas but were mostly because the teacher wanted it or the teacher made us do... At this point, the internet was still relatively new. I was using a blazing 28K modem :). I started searching the internet and came across an article that referenced a "Choice-based" elementary art class. I went to the site called the "Knowledge Loom" and began reading about Kathy Douglas, Diane Jaquith and John Crowe. I thought to myself that this is it. This is the way I should be teaching.  I don't really know how I found Kathy's email address but somehow sent her an email hoping to get more information about this thing called Teaching for Artistic Behavior. At that time, I didn't realize there were a handful of teachers doing this. Anyway, like I tend to do, I jumped right in. The kids loved it, I loved it. And the rest is, as they say, history.