|
...Art
should be considered "a literacy as solid as reading,
'riting, and 'rithmatic."
|
| ARTICLES 1 2 3 4 5 |
|
Title
|
URL |
Summary |
Connection
to literacy |
Significance |
|
Art:
The 4th "R"
by Jason Ohler
* This is an important article. I suggest all in education
read it.
|
http://teacher.
scholastic.com/
professional/
teachtech/
art_the4thr.htm
|
Ohler
asserts that Art must be "considered the 4th R: a literacy
as solid as reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic." The multimedia
environment of the web, all of what we experience on our computers,
as well as the visual culture of our environment — from
the cars we drive to the clothes we wear, the TV we watch,
the billboards we see, the homes we live in, the publications
we look at!! or read; someone designed them and all of these
things are all asserting the agenda of the artists who designed
them.
The
world we live in and the common tools we use to navigate our
world requires students to think and communicate critically
as designers and artists. Ohler asserts that the language
of arts has become the next literacy and should be included
in the common experience of school for all students. He procedes
by giving suggestions on how to do this. (See
article for suggestions!)
|
Across
the board, from science, mathematics, to social studies, students'
term parpers and reports yield to Web pages and PowerPoint
presentations.
The
reality of the ubiquitousness of multimedia communication
combined with the fact that a text-centric education only
reaches a very small minority of student learning styles within
a dominant culture has revealed a natural shift toward pictures,
diagrams, sound, movement, and other universal forms of communication.
|
The
study and practice of Art improves self-expression and gives
students a voice. There is a strong — perhaps even causal
— correlation between being active in the arts and improved
cognitive functions as measured in standard curricular areas.
Art increases our understanding of the depth and breadth of
humanity, inducing not only cultural awareness but also personal
growth.
I
begin with this article because, although its focus is art
and design literacy rather than verbal and written literacy,
I think Ohler makes a very important and critical point that
reaches beyond the above reasons for including art as a standard
in curriculum:
"Youth
need to be trained in arts and design in order to be literate
in the world that they are inheriting and shaping."
|
|
'Keeping
your Keys': Teaching Democracy and Performance Art
by
Stephen Olbrys
|
http://www2.
nea.org/he/
heta04/
s04p09.pdf
[PDF document] |
In
this article, Stephen Olbrys asserts that a democratic teaching
style is the way to model for, and teach students to take responsibility
for their education and become effective participants in the
greater world. The key point of the essay is summed up in the
first paragraph where he recalls his grammar school teacher,
Eva Despres, who "treated the classroom and 'real life' as inseparable." |
In
Olbry's four suggestions to a democratic performance approach
to teaching he encourages some of the same suggestions as the
reading apprenticeship approach to literacy in our text Reading
for Understanding:
1. encourage opinions as a compliment to knowledge
2. break expected teaching frames and improvise
3. provide substantial opportunities for the students to contribute
to the direction of the class.
4. humanize and model by the teacher revealing their experience
and possible vulnerabilities. |
Olbrys
asserts that "the world we live in is one we have made through
our rhetoric." If students do not find the inspiration to trust
their own voices, practice the arts of judgment, disagree with
others or the content of course materials, and distrust authority
in the name of democratic sparing, then they will never learn
the art of rhetoric; essential to actively participating in
a democracy.
The
art of rhetoric is a form of literacy.
top
of page
|
|
Putting the Heart Before the Course: Passion
vs. Planning
by Diane Henninggfeld
|
http://www2.
nea.org/
he/heta04/
s04p49.pdf
[PDF document] |
Diane
Henninggfeld teaches a college level interdisciplinary class
about the Viet Nam War. In it's 9th year her class has lost
it's flow. Students were learning the materials, making the
grade, but something was now missing from the way it was in
semesters before. After looking carefully at any changes she
had made, and reading up on holistic teaching styles, she realized
that she had "added so much content to the class, I had eliminated
...those moments when we integrate and assimilate difficult
or ambiguous material, those moments when we consider how this
material relates to each of us." Her conclusion was that "the
class needs to offer students the opportunity to grow not only
in the knowledge of the content...but also in their ability
to make meaning out of complex and complicated issues." |
Henninggfeld's
main point is the need to make the time and create a space for
metacognition in order for students to construct a knowledge
base — firm ground to stand — as they tackel ambiguous
an complex ideas. |
Reading
art criticisms and theory, writing about art, speaking about
art, even looking at art sometimes can be an ambiguous and complex
task.
A
constant issue in education is accessing the students with
the course materials. This article supports the fact that
if a teacher assumes they know all that the students are to
learn from a course and attempt to fill their students with
that material, the result will be still borne knowledge, if
acquired at all.
Students
in my class will learn how to talk, read and write about art
through a constant dialogue about art, student critiques of
each others' works, assigned readings of reviews of contemporary
artists, and written reviews of local art shows throughout
the school year.
|
|
Pre-Lesson
Foreshadowing
by Marvin Bartel
|
http://www.
goshen.edu/
art/ed/artlsn.html
#foreshadow |
This
article by Marvin Bartel suggest the use of reading materials
to foreshadow future course workin order to plant the seed of
thought and inspiration for that future project. |
Having
students read a culturally relevant article about an artist
or group of artists whose works speak to issues also relevant
to an upcoming assignment is not only good preparation but supports
the fact that the visual arts are not separable from written
representation, spoken and written critique, and inquiry. |
Artist
and writer, Faith Ringold has intrinsically tied in story telling
and the written word with her artworks. I will be using her
work for the purpose of revealing the close tie literature and
the visual arts have...they are both a means to express, tell,
critique, and reveal. |
|
Grading
Art
by Marvin Bartel
|
http://www.
bartelart.
com/arted/
gradingart.html |
This
article suggests grading art in a longitudinal fashion, measuring
the students against themselves at the beginning of the course.
He asserts that a longitudinal approach, as opposed to a normative
one, encourages the students to take more responsibility for
their own progress and try harder. He also suggests that grading
and assessment of students work are an opportunity to teach,
to reinforce knowledge, look for further meaning and form attitudes. |
"The art process is a practice in generating and developing
ideas." Bartel suggests having students tutor one another
by composing and phrasing open questions that help each other
learn and think better. Raising thinking questions during
creative time can be added to feedback they get on their completed
assignments. Literacy
of students must be integrated with grading and assessment
by the teacher in order to seize the opportunity of assessment
to be a teaching/ learning experience.
|
"If
a teacher has found positive critique techniques, the product
can be exploited to learn how to see things that we overlooked
during the creation and problem solving phases."
By
grading students against themselves and engaging students
in a constant dialogue and questioning of the artistic process,
as well as describing the works of other artists, students
will become fluent in the terms and language of the arts and
will begin using that language as a practical and creative
tool for their own expression.
|
