SCHOLARSHIP
My recent research projects focus on the experiences, resources, and processes art teachers utilize in their professional practice. Exploring and analyzing influences, expectations, decision-making, and curriculum implementation in art education, the inquires enable discussions about best practices, policies and their implications, teacher preparation programs, professional development opportunities, and educator resources among additional related topics as they emerge. My goal is to create a line of scholarship that gives teachers deeper understandings of their practice, sharing the approaches of other artist educators, while promoting conversations that advocate for our field. As my record of publications and presentations develop, I hope to contribute research projects that engage a wide range of audiences and help create resources for stakeholders in arts education.
PUBLICATIONS
Garth, T. B. (2018). TEKSubversion: A disruption manifesto. TRENDS: The Journal of the Texas Art Education Association. Dallas, TX: TAEA. Available from TAEA.
ABSTRACT: This creative written submission asks readers to participate in a thought experiment about policy subversion as a means to provoke readers to consider diverse curriculum approaches. Shifting the direction of familiar policy language from student focused to teacher focused, an apathetic, semiautobiographical author encourages readers to engage in a disruption manifesto to challenge complacency. By promoting critical self-reflection as a strategy to jump-start stagnant professional development efforts, the author hopes readers will utilize the action of subversion to promote agency in their practice.
Garth, T.B. (2016). Art education policy: Interpretation and the negotiation of praxis (Doctoral dissertation). Available from UNT Digital Library Dissertations and Theses database and NAEA Member-Authored Resources.
ABSTRACT: This collective case study explores the confluence of educational policy and professional praxis by examining the ways art teachers in one public school district make decisions about creating and implementing curricula. Through various interpretations of one district’s formal and informal expectations of art teachers, some of the complexities of standards, instruction, and assessment policies in public schools are described. The research shares how art teachers are influenced by local policy expectations by examining how five K-12 art teacher participants negotiate their ideological beliefs and practical knowledge within the professional context of their local setting, and presents an art teacher decision-making framework to conceptualize the influences for praxis and to organize analysis. Case study data include in-depth interview sessions, teaching observations, and district policy artifacts. Themes emerge in the findings through coding processes and constructivist grounded theory analysis methods. The research describes how participants interpret and negotiate expectations, finding curricular freedom and participation in public exhibition as central policy factors. Contributing the perspectives of art teachers to the literature of policy implementation and fine arts education, the study finds that balancing autonomy and mandates are primary sites for negotiating praxis and that informal expectations for student exhibition contribute to a culture of competition and teacher performance evaluations. The study presents implications for policy makers, administrators, and art educators while sharing possibilities for future research about policy expectations.
Garth, T. B. (2011). Art education in Nebraska: Profiles and practices (Master’s thesis). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 1506103).
ABSTRACT: Nebraska is a state with no formal standards in the visual arts [NE DOE adopted art standards in 2014]. In a day and age where there is increasing accountability for student learning, this research examines what choices teachers make about curriculum when mandates from the state do not exist. The research will survey practicing art teachers to gain quantitative data about biographical information, attitudes, and methodologies. There is also qualitative data collected through interviews to give the study depth and better insight into opinions and beliefs. Through this research, the reader will gain a better understanding of what Nebraska art teachers believe is important and how they are educating students.
NON-REVIEWED VENUES
Garth, T. B. (2018, April). Exhibition Juror’s statement. Cabot High School, Cabot, AR.
Garth, T. (2010). Profiles and pedagogy. The Perspective: Nebraska Art Teachers Association, Winter 2011, p. 7.
UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Department of Art + Design | University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR.
Art Education Degree Track Programming
2016-2019
Responsible for undergraduate and graduate program assessment, curriculum restructuring, and NASAD/CAEP/HLC/ADE accreditation compliance.
Department of Art + Design Curriculum Team
2016-2019
Member of team responsible for undergraduate and graduate program assessment, curriculum restructuring, and NASAD/HLC accreditation compliance.
Department of Art Education and Art History | University of North Texas, Denton, TX.
2012-2016
Member of faculty mentor and graduate student teams responsible for the review, implementation, and revision of curriculum for department courses. Courses include:
Art History Survey I Online
Art Appreciation for Non-Majors Online
Children and Art
Computer Art Applications
Inquiry and Dialogue in Art
Visual Arts Integration
Visual Studies Student Teacher Supervision | EC–6 and Secondary Art
PUBLIC SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
After-School Arts Program | Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX
Garth, T. B. (2013). Connecting with the arts: A curriculum guide. Available from Greater Denton Arts Council.
CURRICULUM DESCRIPTION: Designed to provide area students a variety of opportunities to connect with art, the after-school arts program utilizes multiple arts disciplines to contextualize students’ experiences in meaning making activities. Students will engage themes about the lived human experience through the lens of artistic processes, building on substantial, meaningful, and self-generative ideas. Employing exemplars with contemporary/historical and global/local significance, the program will provide a broad scope of artistic disciples allowing students to create individual and cultural meaning in the process.