Office of Curriculum, Technology, & Assessment

SD Content Standards: Introduction

The arts are an integral part of humanity and provide a way for South Dakota students to better understand the concept of culture. Culture has been defined as the way groups of people approach the world and organize their lives. The heart of culture is the guiding principles and beliefs that people deem to be most important. Since nomadic peoples first sang and danced for their ancestors, since hunters first painted their quarry on the walls of caves, since parents first acted out the stories of heroes for their children, the arts have described, defined, and deepened human experiences. All peoples, everywhere, have an abiding need for meaning; to connect time and space, experience and event, body and spirit, intellect and emotion. People use the arts to make these connections and to express their individual experiences and creativity. The fine arts serve a variety of important functions in education including:

• The fine arts assist in the teaching of how to use both verbal and nonverbal symbols to communicate ideas, feelings, and events. The fine arts move beyond the factual accounting of experience to provide deeper and more personal interpretation. They enable us to gain insight into the meaning of our experiences at new levels and depths of understanding.

• The fine arts promote critical thinking and problem solving, which can be applied to other aspects of learning and can facilitate success in the work place. They nurture intellectual and imaginative growth and enrich the spirit and heart while deepening one's sensibilities and understanding of human values.

• The arts provide a means for young people to gain knowledge about the world in which they live and an understanding and appreciation of past civilizations. When the arts are an integrated part of learning, they enhance the quality of life in the school and in the community at large.

• The fine arts are a methodology for teaching and learning. Individuals learn in many different ways and the arts facilitate success by providing a variety of options for students to demonstrate what they know and what they can do.

South Dakota schools must be committed to providing comprehensive Fine Arts Education to all students grades K-12. Through participation and classroom experiences, students can explore all aspects of the arts to develop an appreciation and recognition for arts and how they influence their daily lives.

VISION

The continued success of civilization to be both dynamic and nurturing ultimately depends on how well we develop the capacities of our children to live rich, rewarding, meaningful lives in a vastly complex world. The vision for the South Dakota Fine Arts Standards is to affirm that a future worth having depends on being able to construct a vital understanding of the arts, and that by doing so, students will be provided opportunities for personal study and fulfillment of self- potential.

Standards identify what students must know and be able to do. Thus, integration throughout the curriculum is the vision embedded in the fine arts standards. The standards support the self-actualization of each student by gradually building many kinds of literacy while developing intuition, reasoning, imagination, and dexterity into unique forms of expression and communication. The standards provide guidance to school district planning committees as they develop their local curriculum frameworks. The standards are intended to be dynamic statements, accessible to all students, and describe what students should know and be able to do as a result of their educational experiences.

The material in this document is a compilation of numerous sources and many years of experience in the teaching of the fine arts. Original input for deriving the fine arts standards was provided by students, parents, teachers, and communities of South Dakota. The final document evolved from the review of published standards from other states, numerous professional publications, and many discussions by experienced educators. The success of the Arts As Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project served as a foundation for direction and development of the standards.

Typical professional resources used in the development of the standards included current and time-proven textbooks and documents from noted authors, materials developed by the Consortium of National Arts Education Associations, and the South Dakota Arts Council. See the glossary at the end of each unit and the bibliography at the end of the Fine Arts section for definitions used and a listing of references.

Content standards in each of the fine arts (dance, music, theater, and visual arts) were written and approved in 1996. In 2000, the music standards were revised. The new music standards were approved by the State Board of Education in June, 2000.

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