| This qualitative research study explores the characteristics and pedagogical practices of three exceptional elementary art teachers. From this collective inquiry of case studies, three factors specific to these art teachers began to surface time and time again. These are the Context Driven A.R.T. Factors. A.R.T. is an acronym for Advocacy, Repetitive Revisions, and Taking in the Big Picture. These factors stood out beyond the five characteristics of the General Good Teacher Model (GGT Model). The characteristics of the GGT Model are high content knowledge, high self-efficacy, positive personality characteristics, high pedagogical knowledge, and good communication skills. It was found that the contextual factors of teaching art, such as disappearing budgets, repetitious schedule, negative perceptions of art teachers, are the reason A.R.T. Factors arise.;This research study uses a combination of four methods of collecting data: interviews, observations, video journals, and Arts-Based Educational Research (ABER). Besides being interviewed and observed in the classroom, the teachers also participated in a daily video journal that had a total of twenty entries prompted with self-efficacy questions. Additional information was gathered through ABER by creating a work of art depicting an exceptional elementary art teacher, and writing an artist's statement. This study provides an in depth examination of three exceptional elementary art teachers, their observed behaviors, contextual issues, and personal beliefs. |
