Theme Based Lesson Planning

The future of art education is pushing theme based lesson planning.  I find this teaching style invigorating, but so different from what I learned through school.  From what I can remember, the only experience I have that comes kind of close to this was in my high school Advanced Placement in Art class, where I had to develop work that relied on a theme (I chose self-portraits).  Other that this, I feel that the project that I did were relatively individual in relation to each other.  We might have done projects that used skills that developed on one another, like in my metals & jewelry class, or several kinds of still-lifes in succession, but that is hardly similar to the themes that we are expected to develop in college.

Theme based lesson planning, as I understand it, is a method of teaching art that directs learning beyond the art skill set.  For example, the theme might be big ideas like memory, community, heritage, or agriculture, and the concept would narrow down from there.  A notion more specific in heritage might be an exploration into your family tree where research is involved.  Then, the student might create a work that speaks to the immigration of their ancestors to America, and how it affects them now.  Or, maybe the project is about a tradition that the family has, or a special meal that they cook, and the student researches the origins of the tradition or recipe, and creates a work that communicates their connection to the tradition.  The point is that under the Big Idea or Theme, there are many routes that lessons can take, and the skills that students learn in art class are simply tools for them to create responses and explore.  

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with themes- in fact, I once read a book where the character was in an art class and the teacher had the class draw papers from a hat that said a theme that the student was expected to explore that year, and I remember thinking, 'what a cool idea! I wish that happened in my art class.'  But does that mean my art education, where we did breadth projects that developed our rendering skills and exposed us to new material, is less elite? I think there is still value in drawing from observation, and studying your face in the mirror as you try to figure out what the heck you messed up, and being told that you are going to use _( insert new material)_ today.   I think I am a better artist today because of my experience in the art room, and I wonder how future artists will work differently then the ones today do.