Synthesis and Conclusion.
In this section I describe what I learned through teaching in relation to the theories examined in class. These were taught through many different formats including, scholarly articles, lecture, videos, textbook readings, journaling, and group discussions. Throughout the semester I was able to absorb what I was being taught about art education and apply it to my teaching practice. By doing this, it helped me to learn the concepts more clearly, and improve my teaching at the same time. Addressed below, is the specific linkage between theory and practice, and several themes are identified that correspond to the research, and informed my teaching:
Synthesis
In reflecting on all that we have learned over the course of the semester, I have identified five essential components that interplay with one another and dramatically improve Art Education when implemented appropriately. They are advocacy of art, mindfulness of student needs, transfer of skills, empowering marginalized groups, and engagement with the community. Each category consists of a series of texts and readings that help to answer questions from the discussion of the five sections.
An important tool for generating advocacy and student involvement in the arts is to create lesson plans that utilize the essential conditions for art making. These are: artistic causality, which is what causes someone to make art. Idiosyncratic meaning which correlates life experiences with the art we make. Intentional Symbolization a non discursive method that relates to the originator and holds personal meaning. With the students from Cooper Home and Fossil Ridge I observed this in my teaching often, as the students would relay the ideas they wanted to express through symbolization. The 3 essential conditions for art making soon became the 3 P's; Passion, Personal, and Pertinent. With the three P's in mind it helped me to create an engaging environment for my Service Learning students and better lesson plans overall.
This was the sentiment of many of my peers as well, and helped us cultivate student trust, promote confidence, develop task orientation, and create cognitive and perceptual understanding of the arts. The reading also addressed student vulnerability and classroom diversity, as well as the importance of personal connection and a sense of relevance to the pressures of society. As our technology progresses, and students are more inclined to avoid close personal interaction in their time outside of school, addressing a sense of belonging and usefulness outside of self, in the classroom, is more important than ever. A method for cultivating a classroom environment that is mindful of students emotional needs again, correlates to the “three P’s” when creating a lesson plan. No matter the age or demographic of the artist/student one should always be thinking about how their artwork is personal (in order to have a connection), pertinent (to keep their attention and interest), and passionate (so they have some form of drive). For many students of this age and demographic, they may be coming into the course "on the fence" of whether or not they want art to be an active part of their lives'. It is so important to utilize the "three P's" because they are universal components that relate art making to the basic human needs.
Through the Service Learning Program, we also placed emphasis on the process of art making and creative thinking over the product. It was important however, for us to establish a connection between the skills the students were learning to professionals as a means to validate their efforts, but creating professional level artwork was not the objective of the course. The purpose was for them to be expressive in their own way through learning various techniques and manipulations of materials. It is vital for art teachers to approach their lessons with the knowledge that this may be one of the last experiences many of these students have making art. It is integral to their development, and the advocacy of the arts, to equip them with a positive perception and creative problem solving skills that can transfer into other aspects of their lives.
As suggested in the reading, “Standardization, testing, and conformity are all aspects of our educational system, although they do not necessarily have to be, I would also suggest that, in one form or another, they are attributes of most institutions and, in fact, of many societies—leading to marginalization and a loss of voice.” This quote expresses the misuse of diversity among human beings. Variety, the differences in our skillets, and the existence of multiple intelligences, holds the opportunity to be our greatest strength (as a society), but is often used as a reason to marginalize those that don’t embody the same characteristics of those in power. In regards to Service Learning, this holds true. Pre-assessment and continuous reflection of how the students are responding to certain tasks allowed for us, as facilitators of the course, to create lesson plans that empowered students, challenged them, and promoted multiple avenues for them to explore their abilities and find success. Being mindful of the Standards while incorporating a choice-based curriculum created a learning environment that was much more organic however. It did not punish students for failures, it encouraged exploration instead, learning from mistakes, reflection, and the development of problem solving skills through art making that allowed students of different abilities to thrive.
As a teacher , it is absolutely vital to balance challenge and support. In Service Learning it was essential to make personal connections with the students, not only to discover the best methods to support them, but also to pre-assess their abilities from which to challenge them appropriately.
A quote I found extremely interesting from the reading is that, “Middle school is a time that students either choose a path toward productivity or one that diminishes their future.” The reading confirmed something that I had discussed with Patrick in class; that adolescence is a time of vulnerability and environmental change, and that teenage students may reflect a different attitude on the surface, but are vulnerable and in need of personal connection, as well as thoughtful guidance. Our Service Learning group was composed of high school aged students, for which this insight holds true. A teacher must be sensitive to the student as a whole, it’s always a good idea to know as much as possible about them in order to connect with them on a deeper level in the realm of learning. A classroom environment that enforces strict behavioural rules might work for some personalities, but can cause other students to shut down, and reject the institution completely. A teacher must be flexible, and establish personal connections in order to reach every student and build off their interests effectively. To promote student development the reading suggested that adolescents need to acquire “durable self-esteem, flexible and inquiring habits of the mind, reliable and relatively close human relationships, a sense of belonging in a valuable group, and a sense of usefulness in some way beyond self.”
Creating a classroom environment that addresses these basic human needs is a major challenge we face as art teachers, and how we choose to react to this issue will shape our students’ self-worth, and ultimately, impact how they interact with their community.
From the readings, I found the success of the YA/YA initiative to exemplify, how someone can create an opportunity for those who, would otherwise be disenfranchised, and create a positive outcome for them as individuals, and the community as a whole. “…she gave them an assignment, she gave them a permission to search their souls for an experience and set of feelings that could be made into art. It is the depth of feeling that makes the YA/YA work seem so vivid and alive.” “The workshop moves students into mainstream culture. In their interactions with artists and corporate clients and through travel, YA/YAs build their confidence and learn to maneuver through different cultures without compromising their own beliefs and histories.” “The workshop provides the means for these adolescents to bring voice to the mainstream and demonstrate that their voices have value.” (Friere, 1996) Studies of human behavior and psychology show the importance of feeling like one belongs to a valuable group. The notion that a person’s efforts hold meaning, opportunity for personal growth, and developed capability to impact the community in a positive way, are vital to our being. Also, the way YA/YA incorporated aspects of business, marketing, sales, and competition highlights the importance of real world application, transfer of knowledge and techniques, and how students will rise to the occasion if they feel their efforts are not in vain.
Practical application of skills, that interact with other facets of one's society, marry the intrinsic and extrinsic values of art making. This harmony reflects the "three P's" and demonstrates how they are applicable in the role of art education outside the classroom. In these "real world" scenarios students are able to tap into their individual experiences outside of the boundaries of the classroom, and involve their time in projects that excite and challenge them. In turn, these projects will have stronger meaning, relevance, craftsmanship, and hold the potential to impact the community. In regards to Service Learning this semester, we saw how import personal relevance was to the student involvement in the projects, as well as the importance of providing students with professional connections to the information they were learning and how it could be used to impact the world. This served to create a sense of validity, and provide the students visions of themselves as successful artists.
Also, there are other ways that art and community have worked together in the past, and can continue to be expressed, in different ways, moving forward. There is great value in art as a method to record history, with intimate perspectives, and diverse reactions to the situations that have afflicted societies. These narratives can create a fuller experience and understanding of these events, and better represent the people that were involved and affected by them. By relaying to students, the importance of their individuality and unique perspective, we not only empower them, but improve how we assess and record information. Often times students feel like their opinions aren't valuable, often due to a difference in race, religion, personality, age, disability, or simply that their general preferences don't align with those in power. Advocating art is a powerful tool that can inform students of the importance of their stance, and that sharing their ideas can improve the world.
Continuing to explore ways to represent ourselves, through art and feeling, will create of fuller understanding of the events that shape our lifetimes.
Addressing feeling in our lessons, is not only relevant to creating stronger works of art, it also expresses a more useful combination of our cognitive functions that allow for the transfer of information to be more effective, and present concepts in a way that will be retained at a higher rate. “To give voice to students, to engage in dialogue is—especially at this point in educational reform—necessary for our students’ well-being. Standardization and over-emphasis on testing with focus on test scores rather than the test takers leads to the kind of “silencing” referred to by Freire. And Eisner (1998) makes the plea that schools must move beyond “conceptually dense and emotionally eviscerated abstractions to forms of representation that utilize all the senses to help students learn...” This is information I will look to evaluate in my lessons as a continue to teach, and hope that I can create a classroom environment that enables my students to find self-worth through creativity, and explore ways in which they can impact their community for the better.
Overall, I learned an immense amount of new and very helpful information over the course of this semester. I am so grateful to my professors, volunteers, and the students that provided me with the opportunity to share my passion for art and grow as a teacher. The concepts that I was informed of will forever stay with me as I make my way to becoming an art teacher. Working in the field, in actual classroom situations helped ingrain the lessons from the coursework, and provided me a stronger understanding of how to apply the information effectively. The readings, research, and experience of Service Learning worked very well together, and I can not express how thankful I am to have been involved with such a wonderful group of people and thoughtful community. I look forward to advocating the arts, and sharing my passion with future generations of students!
Bibliography
Coles, R. Art That Gives Voice. (2000), Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Art Education Association.
Zurmuehlen, M. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Hetland, L. et al. (2007), Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. New York: Teachers College.
Friere, Paulo. The Power of Art To Give Voice: YA/YA and Tim Rollins. (1970), Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Art Education Association.
Kellogg, R. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
An important tool for generating advocacy and student involvement in the arts is to create lesson plans that utilize the essential conditions for art making. These are: artistic causality, which is what causes someone to make art. Idiosyncratic meaning which correlates life experiences with the art we make. Intentional Symbolization a non discursive method that relates to the originator and holds personal meaning. With the students from Cooper Home and Fossil Ridge I observed this in my teaching often, as the students would relay the ideas they wanted to express through symbolization. The 3 essential conditions for art making soon became the 3 P's; Passion, Personal, and Pertinent. With the three P's in mind it helped me to create an engaging environment for my Service Learning students and better lesson plans overall.
This was the sentiment of many of my peers as well, and helped us cultivate student trust, promote confidence, develop task orientation, and create cognitive and perceptual understanding of the arts. The reading also addressed student vulnerability and classroom diversity, as well as the importance of personal connection and a sense of relevance to the pressures of society. As our technology progresses, and students are more inclined to avoid close personal interaction in their time outside of school, addressing a sense of belonging and usefulness outside of self, in the classroom, is more important than ever. A method for cultivating a classroom environment that is mindful of students emotional needs again, correlates to the “three P’s” when creating a lesson plan. No matter the age or demographic of the artist/student one should always be thinking about how their artwork is personal (in order to have a connection), pertinent (to keep their attention and interest), and passionate (so they have some form of drive). For many students of this age and demographic, they may be coming into the course "on the fence" of whether or not they want art to be an active part of their lives'. It is so important to utilize the "three P's" because they are universal components that relate art making to the basic human needs.
Through the Service Learning Program, we also placed emphasis on the process of art making and creative thinking over the product. It was important however, for us to establish a connection between the skills the students were learning to professionals as a means to validate their efforts, but creating professional level artwork was not the objective of the course. The purpose was for them to be expressive in their own way through learning various techniques and manipulations of materials. It is vital for art teachers to approach their lessons with the knowledge that this may be one of the last experiences many of these students have making art. It is integral to their development, and the advocacy of the arts, to equip them with a positive perception and creative problem solving skills that can transfer into other aspects of their lives.
As suggested in the reading, “Standardization, testing, and conformity are all aspects of our educational system, although they do not necessarily have to be, I would also suggest that, in one form or another, they are attributes of most institutions and, in fact, of many societies—leading to marginalization and a loss of voice.” This quote expresses the misuse of diversity among human beings. Variety, the differences in our skillets, and the existence of multiple intelligences, holds the opportunity to be our greatest strength (as a society), but is often used as a reason to marginalize those that don’t embody the same characteristics of those in power. In regards to Service Learning, this holds true. Pre-assessment and continuous reflection of how the students are responding to certain tasks allowed for us, as facilitators of the course, to create lesson plans that empowered students, challenged them, and promoted multiple avenues for them to explore their abilities and find success. Being mindful of the Standards while incorporating a choice-based curriculum created a learning environment that was much more organic however. It did not punish students for failures, it encouraged exploration instead, learning from mistakes, reflection, and the development of problem solving skills through art making that allowed students of different abilities to thrive.
As a teacher , it is absolutely vital to balance challenge and support. In Service Learning it was essential to make personal connections with the students, not only to discover the best methods to support them, but also to pre-assess their abilities from which to challenge them appropriately.
A quote I found extremely interesting from the reading is that, “Middle school is a time that students either choose a path toward productivity or one that diminishes their future.” The reading confirmed something that I had discussed with Patrick in class; that adolescence is a time of vulnerability and environmental change, and that teenage students may reflect a different attitude on the surface, but are vulnerable and in need of personal connection, as well as thoughtful guidance. Our Service Learning group was composed of high school aged students, for which this insight holds true. A teacher must be sensitive to the student as a whole, it’s always a good idea to know as much as possible about them in order to connect with them on a deeper level in the realm of learning. A classroom environment that enforces strict behavioural rules might work for some personalities, but can cause other students to shut down, and reject the institution completely. A teacher must be flexible, and establish personal connections in order to reach every student and build off their interests effectively. To promote student development the reading suggested that adolescents need to acquire “durable self-esteem, flexible and inquiring habits of the mind, reliable and relatively close human relationships, a sense of belonging in a valuable group, and a sense of usefulness in some way beyond self.”
Creating a classroom environment that addresses these basic human needs is a major challenge we face as art teachers, and how we choose to react to this issue will shape our students’ self-worth, and ultimately, impact how they interact with their community.
From the readings, I found the success of the YA/YA initiative to exemplify, how someone can create an opportunity for those who, would otherwise be disenfranchised, and create a positive outcome for them as individuals, and the community as a whole. “…she gave them an assignment, she gave them a permission to search their souls for an experience and set of feelings that could be made into art. It is the depth of feeling that makes the YA/YA work seem so vivid and alive.” “The workshop moves students into mainstream culture. In their interactions with artists and corporate clients and through travel, YA/YAs build their confidence and learn to maneuver through different cultures without compromising their own beliefs and histories.” “The workshop provides the means for these adolescents to bring voice to the mainstream and demonstrate that their voices have value.” (Friere, 1996) Studies of human behavior and psychology show the importance of feeling like one belongs to a valuable group. The notion that a person’s efforts hold meaning, opportunity for personal growth, and developed capability to impact the community in a positive way, are vital to our being. Also, the way YA/YA incorporated aspects of business, marketing, sales, and competition highlights the importance of real world application, transfer of knowledge and techniques, and how students will rise to the occasion if they feel their efforts are not in vain.
Practical application of skills, that interact with other facets of one's society, marry the intrinsic and extrinsic values of art making. This harmony reflects the "three P's" and demonstrates how they are applicable in the role of art education outside the classroom. In these "real world" scenarios students are able to tap into their individual experiences outside of the boundaries of the classroom, and involve their time in projects that excite and challenge them. In turn, these projects will have stronger meaning, relevance, craftsmanship, and hold the potential to impact the community. In regards to Service Learning this semester, we saw how import personal relevance was to the student involvement in the projects, as well as the importance of providing students with professional connections to the information they were learning and how it could be used to impact the world. This served to create a sense of validity, and provide the students visions of themselves as successful artists.
Also, there are other ways that art and community have worked together in the past, and can continue to be expressed, in different ways, moving forward. There is great value in art as a method to record history, with intimate perspectives, and diverse reactions to the situations that have afflicted societies. These narratives can create a fuller experience and understanding of these events, and better represent the people that were involved and affected by them. By relaying to students, the importance of their individuality and unique perspective, we not only empower them, but improve how we assess and record information. Often times students feel like their opinions aren't valuable, often due to a difference in race, religion, personality, age, disability, or simply that their general preferences don't align with those in power. Advocating art is a powerful tool that can inform students of the importance of their stance, and that sharing their ideas can improve the world.
Continuing to explore ways to represent ourselves, through art and feeling, will create of fuller understanding of the events that shape our lifetimes.
Addressing feeling in our lessons, is not only relevant to creating stronger works of art, it also expresses a more useful combination of our cognitive functions that allow for the transfer of information to be more effective, and present concepts in a way that will be retained at a higher rate. “To give voice to students, to engage in dialogue is—especially at this point in educational reform—necessary for our students’ well-being. Standardization and over-emphasis on testing with focus on test scores rather than the test takers leads to the kind of “silencing” referred to by Freire. And Eisner (1998) makes the plea that schools must move beyond “conceptually dense and emotionally eviscerated abstractions to forms of representation that utilize all the senses to help students learn...” This is information I will look to evaluate in my lessons as a continue to teach, and hope that I can create a classroom environment that enables my students to find self-worth through creativity, and explore ways in which they can impact their community for the better.
Overall, I learned an immense amount of new and very helpful information over the course of this semester. I am so grateful to my professors, volunteers, and the students that provided me with the opportunity to share my passion for art and grow as a teacher. The concepts that I was informed of will forever stay with me as I make my way to becoming an art teacher. Working in the field, in actual classroom situations helped ingrain the lessons from the coursework, and provided me a stronger understanding of how to apply the information effectively. The readings, research, and experience of Service Learning worked very well together, and I can not express how thankful I am to have been involved with such a wonderful group of people and thoughtful community. I look forward to advocating the arts, and sharing my passion with future generations of students!
Bibliography
Coles, R. Art That Gives Voice. (2000), Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Art Education Association.
Zurmuehlen, M. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Hetland, L. et al. (2007), Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. New York: Teachers College.
Friere, Paulo. The Power of Art To Give Voice: YA/YA and Tim Rollins. (1970), Fort Collins, CO: Colorado Art Education Association.
Kellogg, R. (1990) Studio Art: Praxis, Symbol, Presence. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.