Julie Purney, Art Teacher and Maker Mentor, Pewaukee Lake Elementary School
This is the third in a series of Wisconsin Arts Educator interviews in honor of Arts Month 2024. The featured educators not only demonstrate excellent teaching but also innovative ideas.
Julie Purney is one of the art teachers at Pewaukee Lake Elementary School. She has been teaching art since 2000, most of which was in the Whitefish Bay School District. Her philosophy in teaching art is, "Everyone CAN create AND find success!" She is a fabulous educator who is using a methodolgy called TAB. After visiting her classroom and amazing students, I asked her if she would be willing to share more about TAB and her teaching.
Chris: What is the TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) methodology?
Julie: TAB is about teaching our students to work like artists work. How do we (artists): use different media, tools and processes; how do we incorporate story into our work; how do we problem-solve during the process of artmaking? I think about my traditional teaching methods where I came up with the problem and my students solved it. In TAB, my students design their own problems, solutions, and evaluate their own success.
Chris: What led you to this pedagogical concept?
Julie: I taught traditional teaching methods for many years. I kept looking to give more voice and choice for my students, but I didn’t know how to do it. One of my administrators had toured a school where a TAB teacher was guiding young artists and encouraged me to visit. I did not understand the philosophy of what was happening around me, but it encouraged me to learn more, eventually attending the TAB seminar held in Boston by its originators (Diane Jaquith and Kathrine Douglas). I have been running with it and encouraging others to learn how to incorporate this pedagogy into the art studio ever since.
Chris: How does TAB come alive in your classroom (both in physical set up as well as procedurally)?
Julie: My TAB classroom is set up in stations/centers. I looked at all the materials I taught in my teacher-directed classroom and made that many stations/centers in my TAB studio. I open one center at a time beginning the first day of school. I teach what is in the station, share some resources within that center, and let the artists do what we do: explore and play!
Stations are rounded out in successive weeks with:
- Artists that work in similar materials
- Skill-builders (required by all) that teach a specific skill or idea with media in that center. These are FAST…5 minutes or less, but give artists exposure and new skills.
Students are given the opportunity to choose what materials they want to work with.
One of my roles is a facilitator, making sure artists have the supplies they need.
I confer with almost every student within their time in the studio. I question choices, encourage reflection, and guide students to problem-solve in their own artistic journey.
Chris: What impact has TAB made on your students?
Julie: TAB has given my students the voice and choice I had always wanted them to have. Even my K5 students are working in the studio “As Artists DO!”. They make personal choices, collaborate, explore and play with art media.
Students don’t wait for others to complete “a project” to move on. These artists drive their own timeline. Sometimes that’s a day, sometimes it’s many!
My students with special needs find success on their own timeline and ability!
Students are able to work within media they are comfortable with until they feel ready to move to something that is more “risky” for them!
Students are able to design their own problems, solutions and learn how to evaluate their success.
TAB allows our students to explore so many more processes that I couldn’t teach within a structured year for lack of time!
Chris: Why should other educators consider this approach?
Julie:
This is what is best for kids. Our kids are challenged to problem-solve independently and with others, develop their own style, and explore their own interests authentically.
While what we see is vastly different from the projects we were able to elicit from our kids, what we see in a TAB classroom is exactly where our students are at, without shaming!
Are you evaluated on the Danielson Framework? TAB is inherently 4’s…it is EXACTLY what your administrators want for our student learning opportunities.
Chris: How do folks learn more or get started?
Julie: Visit TAB-teaching for Artistic Behavior
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN for Summer Institute: Transforming Systems for Innovation
When: July 15–18, 2024
Where: Land O'Lakes (tentative)
Who: School teams of between 4–6 people, including (but not limited to) administrators, educators, and instructional leaders.
What: Through hands-on experiences, concurrent sessions, small-group discussion, networking, and reflection, school teams can joyfully explore ways to create their own pathways to hope. Participants will also receive implementation support throughout the 2024-25 school year through online sessions.
Topics include:
- Alternatives to Traditional Grading
- Culturally Relevant Instruction
- Flexibility within the Law
- Growing Hope
- Personalized, Competency-based learning
- and more…
Registration includes food and lodging. Limited to 60 participants. Registration priority will be given to school teams of between 4–6 people.
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Chris Gleason
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
This publication and previous issues are available from: Division of Academic Excellence> Teaching and Learning Team> Arts and Creativity. https://dpi.wi.gov/fine-arts/newsletter
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