"The purpose of art criticism in schools is to develop students’ appreciation and understanding of how visual culture reflects the larger culture. Calling for reflection on the students’ part, and bringing together the students knowledge base, disposition, and seeking strategies, art criticism is a tool for the pursuit of meaning and value in art." (Emphasis Art) For younger grades I feel like the critique needs to consist of all-positive reinforcement for the children. I think it is important to simply conduct the critique in a way that the children are simply stating the things they like about the piece. I would ask questions like, “What is your favorite part of this artwork?,” “What colors do you think s/he used best in this artwork? Why?”… I would direct the questions to incorporate the goal and successes of the artwork. If the artwork was a lesson on shapes, I would ask about shapes, etc. Shirley Ende-Saxe is an elementary teacher who wrote some of her views on art criticism throughout the grade levels and had some good ideas! To get the children talking, she asked a question about a piece of art a child drew, had the child come up, and pick who would respond to the questions asked about their piece. That worked for her classroom because the children had more to say when their peer was picking who would respond to the raised hands. For older grades, I would probably allow the individual being critiqued to say what they would have changed if they could about their piece and allow the other children to say what could have helped them do that specific thing differently. It will be important to maintain a positive vibe throughout the room, yet I feel like children at this age would be capable of that. I would direct the questions to include more analysis prompting questions like “where do you think the focal point is?” or “what aspect of this piece was most advantageous in creating the desired outcome?” Older children are probably able to go a little deeper and try to interpret other children’s artwork ; “Through art criticism activities in the classroom, students interpret and judge individual works of art. Interpretation is the most critical task of art criticism, but we recommend no prescribed order to follow.” (North Texas Institute for Educators) Getting a feel for what the children in the classroom are capable of in a critique is important, as is asking questions that promote positive reinforcement and understanding of the techniques used. However, making critique fun and exciting will be the best way to get the children involved and learning.
*http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+elementary+critique%3A+talking+about+children%27s+art-a09048848 *Emphasis Art
*http://www.art.unt.edu/ntieva/pages/teaching/tea_comp_artcriticism.html
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