ebook img

ERIC ED404220: Advocacy. PDF

48 Pages·1993·1.3 MB·English
by  ERIC
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview ERIC ED404220: Advocacy.

DOCUMENT RESUME ED 404 220 SO 025 594 AUTHOR Scarr, Margaret, Ed.; Varro, Tim, Ed. TITLE Advocacy. INSTITUTION British Columbia Art Teachers Association, Vancouver. REPORT NO ISSN-0710-0744 PUB DATE 93 NOTE 47p.; For related items, see SO 025 595-596. AVAILABLE FROM BCATA, Provincial Specialist Association of the BCTF, 105-2235 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6J 3H9, Canada. PUB TYPE Collected Works Serials (022) Guides Non- Classroom Use (055) JOURNAL CIT BCATA Journal for Art Teachers; v33 nl Spr 1993 EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Advocacy; *Art Education; Change Strategies; Cultural Differences; Educational Change; Educational Improvement; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Visual Arts; *Visual Literacy IDENTIFIERS British Columbia; *Canada ABSTRACT This theme issue presents art advocacy as a necessary means of bringing art and art education to an elevated status in the elementary secondary curriculum and educational system. Articles (1) "Editor's View" (Margaret Scarr); include: (2) "Art Education: Why Is It Important" (Arts Education Partnership Working Group); (3) "Why Art in Education and Why Art Education?" (Elliot W. Eisner); (4) "Informed Advocacy and Art Education" (Rita L. Irwin); (5) "Seeing through the Eyes of the Arts" (John C. Polanyi); (6) "More Than Pumpkins in October Visual Literacy in the 21st Century" (National School Boards Association); (7) "Creative Showcasing Student Work Bridging Gaps, Forming Networks" (Myra Eadie); (8) "Art Instruction in the Elementary Classroom" (R. Lloyd Ryan); and (9) "Arts Education as a Catalyst to Reform: Cultural Diversity and Arts Education" (F. Graeme Chalmers). (MM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** Volume 33 Number 1 Spring 1993 JOURNAL FOR ART TEACHERS PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY .5 v.. clita iJ PAC CoL4 bilog TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Nstf This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. A boy leaving his rainbow coloured house to go swimming kR BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 British Columbia Art Teachers Association Journal Editors: Margaret Scarr & Tim Varro Spring 1993 Volume 33 Number 1 BCATA, Provincial Specialist Association of the BCTF 1 e3==41> 105 - 2235 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6) 3H9 _ ADVOCACY Contents Editor's View 2 Margaret Scarr Art Education: Why Is It Important 3 reproduced from "The Power of the Arts to Transform Education" by the Arts Education Partnership Working Group Jan. 1993 Why Art In Education and Why Art Education? 5 Elliot W. Eisner Informed Advocacy and Art Education 10 Rita L. Irwin Seeing Through the Eyes of the Arts 16 John C. Polanyi Century More Than Pumpkins In October - Visual Literacy in the 21st 21 National School Boards Association Creative Showcasing Student Work Bridging Gaps, Forming Networks 26 Myra Eadie Art Instruction in the Elementary Classroom 31 R. Lloyd Ryan Education Arts Education as a Catalyst to Reform: Cultural Diversity and Arts 38 F. Graeme Chalmers ISSN 0710-0744 The BCATA Journal for Art Teachers is an official publication of the British Columbia those of the Art Teachers' Association. The opinions expressed in the journal are authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the association. photo credits: Tim Varro, June Oddsson, Margaret Scarr Robin Gore art work: Alpha Secondary, Burnaby Teacher: 3 EDITOR'S VIEW One of the topics of greatest interest to our members in our recent needs assessment was that of art advocacy. This journal is dedicated to that theme. An advocate is one who argues for a cause; a supporter or defender. For as long as I remember, and long before that, teachers of the visual arts have felt themselves placed in the often lonely position of advocating for art; art as a vital mode of expression, art as intregal to culture and as a means for developing appreciation of cultural diversity, art as a vehicle for understanding history and exploring social issues, art as a process requiring critical thinking, art as acquisition of skills and techniques, art as a career opportunity, art as a major force in media and technology, and most critically, art as a vital component of a balanced curriculum. Art education advocacy is particularly crucial at this time of educational reform, when we are perhaps provided with the greatest opportunity in recent history to make our case. Will the educational climate evolve into one which values art and art education? I believe it will and that three key forms of action must be undertaken as we continue in our roles as art education advocates. First and foremost we must be willing to take a hard look at ourselves. Are our programs worthy of advocating as central to the experience of all students? Do we engage our students in critical thinking? Do we engage our students in responding to art, investigating historical and social contexts of art works and researching the lives of artists? Do we encourage our students to engage in discussion of the aesthetic merits of art works? to self evaluate? Do we require students to explore a wide variety of issues, materials and processes? Are our students developing visual awareness of their environment? Do we provide opportunities for connecting skills and knowledge acquired in our art curriculum to other subject areas? to career opportunities? Do we ensure opportunites for the display of student work to peers, parents and community members? A quality program speaks volumes to parents and students. Second, it is important in our role as arts advocates that we look around us for support. We are not alone. We need to ensure we are networking with each other and collaborating with the teachers of the other arts disciplines; music, dance and drama. Together we are stronger. Forming partnerships, with others in our educational community is also important. Find the parents and colleagues who are supporters of the arts and would be happy to work with you. Utilize their talent and support in creating a gallery, putting on a show or collaborating on curriculum development. Count on the students you have inspired to speak of the importance of art education to their peers and to their parents. Identify community groups such as arts councils who are your allies. Work with them. We must approach advocacy as an organized team effort. Third, it is important that we are not speaking only -to the converted. Advocacy implies education. We must educate those not yet aware of the value of art education. At every opportunity, speak to counsellors, administrators, colleagues, parents, trustees and students. Explain to them carefully and patiently why art education is important for every child. Invite them into your classroom to see your students engaged in the learning process. Invite them to your shows and on your field trips. Speak to students and parents on course selection night. Make sure art is represented on curriculum committees, awards committees and on every decision making committee in your school. Share the articles in this journal. Most importantly, don't give up! In closing I would like to thank the contributors to this journal, those that submitted articles and those that gave us permission to reprint articles. I would also like to thank Tim Varro who worked with me on this volume. And a special thanks to all of you who continue to work in the of art advocacy. Margaret Scarr, Guest Editor 4 2 ARTS EDUCATION: WHY IT IS IMPORTANT by The Arts Education Partnership Working Group As ways of knowing, the arts The of Multiple Intelligences (Basic arts must be viewed as im- involve us in complex uses of our Books, 1983), Howard Gardner portantfor both their intrinsic and intelligence. Other developed has identified seven different their associated educational value. countries with which we com- forms of intelligence: linguistic, Both dimensions can contribute pete do not miss the opportunity musical, logical/mathematical, significantly to education reform. to ensure that their children have spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and the opportunities to cultivate their ut- personal intelligences that permit Forms of Knowledge, most mental and emotional ca- us to understand ourselves and Ways of Knowing pacities. They seem to understand others. North American school- something we have lost sight of: The arts are valuable in and of ing generally emphasizes only two To know neither the rich store- linguistic and logical/ themselves. They are a source of of these house of human experience con- mathematical ignoring the other human insight and understanding tained in the arts nor the use of the potentials of the mind. Gardner about the world and ourselves. expressive and communicative They connect us to the past and says (p. 356): is to be functions of the arts help us imagine new possibilities educationally deprived. The "Among those observers partial for the future. As Charles Fowler rewarding and challenging activi- has written in The Washington to spatial, bodily, or musical forms ties of arts education are part of of knowing, as well as those who Post: every child's education. favor a focus on the interpersonal "The arts are forms of thought aspects of living, an inclination to Multiple Benefits indict contemporary schooling every bit as potent in what they is understandable. The modern convey as mathematical and sci- Experienced observers tell us, and entific symbols. They are ways secular school has simply- though data increasingly supports claims, we human beings "talk" to each it need not have - neglected these that schools with strong arts pro- aspects of intellectual compe- other. They are the languages of grams regularly incur such ben- civilization through which we tence." efits as: express our fears, our anxieties, Arts education provides a new our curiosities, our hungers, our Intensified student motivation approach. While creative writing discoveries, our hopes. The arts to learn; are modes of communication that explores and develops linguistic Better attendance among potential, music education nur- give us access to the stored wis- students and teachers; tures musical intelligence, visual Science and dom of the ages . . . Increased graduation rates; technology do not tell us what it arts and design develop spatial Improved multicultural under- intelligence, dance draws upon means to be human. The arts do." standing; kinesthetic or movement intelli- Renewed and invigorated gence, and theater exercises the The arts represent multiple forms faculty; personal intelligences. The arts of intelligence and multiple ways More highly engaged students of knowing the world that are not therefore help schools address the (which traditional approaches total mind and cultivate the full duplicated by other means. In his fail to inspire); range of human potential. book, Frames of Mind: The Theory 3 Development of a higher While the arts alone do not Art educators, artists, and arts order of thinking skills, crea- deliver all these benefits, they can organizations must be strongly tivity, and problem-solving be, and often are, a critical factor encouraged to actively join in ability; and in their occurrence. As the arts local, state, and national Greater community participa- transform teaching and learning, reform efforts. tion and support. they engage students in ways that make these benefits much more The arts contribute to an overall likely to be realized. culture of excellence in a school. They are an effective means of Based on these findings, the EDITORS NOTE connecting children to each other position of the Working Group is Reprinted with permission from a and helping them gain an under- that: summary report entitled 'The Power of standing of the creators who pre- the Arts to Transform Education" ceded them. They provide schools The arts are forms of under- published by The Arts Education with a ready way to formulate Partnership Working Group, Jan. 1993 standing and ways of know- relationships across and among ing that are fundamentally traditional disciplines and to important to education; The arts are important to connect ideas and notice patterns. Works of art provide effective excellent education and to means for linking information in "Reflecting on effective school reform; history and social studies, math- The most significant contribu- the rigours and ematics, science, and geography. tion of the arts to education disciplines involved A work of art can lead to many reform is the transformation of related areas of learning, opening teaching and learning; in the effective lines of inquiry, revealing that art, This transformation is best practise of the arts like life, is lived in a complex realized in the context of com- world not easily defined in Robert Louis prehensive, systemic educa- discrete subjects. tion reform; and Stevenson advised that, "As soon as you say lit will do' you are finished as an artist." I think too that as soon as we say that education will do without the arts then in a very particular sense we are finished." Prof. Ken Robinson University of Warwick 6 4 AND WHY ART IN EDUCATION WHY ART EDUCATION? by Elliot W Eisner the school and the quality and It is tempting to reduce the possi- When when a nation is at risk, amount of time devoted to is vari- bilities of education to simple from all sides we hear of the vast ous parts that define the opportu- aspirations, to simplify complex number of functional illiterates nities students will have to be- problems so that they seem ame- leaving our schools, when reme- come "literate" in various fields nable to quick solutions, to dial courses are over-subscribed that animate and give substance embrace images of schooling that col- at even our most selective to our culture. In this sense it can harken back to simpler, more rose- leges, the thought of making the be reasonably argued that the coloured times. But such visions marginal case for so seemingly a school's curriculum is a mind- of the past are inadequate subject as art in our schools is altering device. educational fare for the present. especially daunting. How can one the Three The so-called basics recommend that the schools' most Our educational policies are the were never adequate in time be precious resource Rs designed to shape the minds of education offree men and women. directed from what is truly basic the young. Of course, we do not They are even less adequate in education to the "luxury" of define these policies with such today. studying art? How can one pro- aims in mind; our conceptions of their at-. pose that teachers divert what we do are seldom so ambi- The ability to experience the arts tention from the skills that are tious. Yet the effect of our choices, of our culture is not an automatic fundamental to economic well- the nature of our priorities, the What consequence of maturation. being to an area of study that messages we give to teachers, children are able to think about, "properly" comes after basic edu- school administrators, and not what they are able to experience, cation needs have been met? How least of all, students, do precisely the distance their imaginative life can one propose a broad course this. Through the curricular allows them to travel are shaped of study when the schools have choices we make we tell the young by the kind of educational lives apparently been failing at their what we believe is important for they have had an opportunity to more narrowly defined tasks? them to learn. We tell teachers lead. For children and adoles- what they should devote their cents, schooling defines a major attention to. And we convey to It is this case for art and art educa- portion of their lives. Being com- tion I wish to present. This case principals in countless ways how pelled by law to devote forty or their schools, hence how they, rests upon three major arguments. school more weeks per year to First, work in the arts develops will be evaluated. creates for them a culture of op- unique and important mental or of opportunities portunities skills. Second, the arts represent In this scheme of things the arts forgone. It is we, the adults who of the highest of human achieve- are seldom in the mainstream created the policies that define ments to which students should them as out- our values. We treat the educational environment in have access. Third, the school is side the core of schooling. Yet we which so much of their time is the primary public institution that do this at the same time that our of spent, who influence the kinds possible can make such access culture regards the arts as among minds children and adolescents the highest of human achieve- for the vast majority of students in will have an opportunity to ments: We build places we call our nation. develop. It is the curriculum of 7 5 museums to display the fruits of artistic inquiry and construct con- cert halls to experience the heights we can reach through music. In effect, we recognize as a culture that the arts represent the apothe- osis of human achievement yet, paradoxically, we provide little place for them in our schools. The results of such neglect are clear. Only a small percentage of our population visits our muse- ums or attends concert halls. For most people, the achievements presented in such places are other people's delights. Yet through taxation all citizens pay for them. All of us underwrite what a small minority can appreciate and enjoy. stunning part of their culture. Such huge artichokes. Artists have pur- students simply are unable to read poses and their purposes differ. If the arts had no unique qualities, our most profound forms of hu- The experience of art is enhanced if the achievements of great artists man achievement. by understanding what artists have were of no more consequence wanted to accomplish. than any program randomly intentionally used the work se- I lected from daytime television, "read" in the previous sentence. We do, of course, recognize that the loss would not be significant. Visual and musical forms in the study of history Thomas are Great art has something unique to patterned forms. They are forms Jefferson's particular vision of provide. The ability to experience that reflect a history. They are democracy is related to our un- such art enlightens in a special forms influenced by purpose, derstanding of the Declaration of way and stretches the mind in the shaped by technology, and pos- Independence. We teach children process. The arts present to the sessing the signature of their about President Wilson's desire competent eye those facets of feel- authors. To recover the meanings to create a worldwide delibera- ing and insight that only artistic these forms possess requires an tive body a League of Nations form can reveal. There is no ver- ability to read the language they and that his efforts are relevant for bal equivalent of Bach's Mass in B use. It requires one to understand, understanding the period after Minor. Words cannot convey for example, that Monet would World War I. Indeed, it would be what the music expresses. But the paint the very same haystack four a shallow historical understand- messages in these works are not times during the same day, not ing or no understanding at all there simply for the taking. They because he was interested in hay- to neglect such features of the must, so to speak, be recovered. stacks but because he was inter- past. The fine arts require no less. They must be read. The works ested in the way light illuminated The argument thus far is straight- themselves must be unwrapped them at different times. One prof- forward. When, through our poli- its from understanding De to be experienced. School pro- cies and priorities, we define the grams that do not provide ad- Chirico's interest in revealing the school curriculum, we define what equate time and attention to the world of the unconscious by jux- students will have an opportunity arts deny students access to a taposing trains, clock towers, and to learn. The opportunities they 8 6 are models that children are asked that I believe to be equally com- have to learn influence the char- to copy so that their letters can be pelling. This argument is that par- acter of their mental life. read. Even in early reading there ticular kinds mental processes are are correct meanings to the sen- elicited and developed by work Even though they represent the tences and paragraphs children in the arts. highest levels of human achieve- are asked to read. In short, the vast ment in our culture, the fine arts majority of academic tasks young If one examines the character of are now afforded little place in children encounter in school are the school curriculum. At the what is taught in schools, particu- driven by a rule-governed system larly elementary schools, it be- elementary school level they com- that provides little space for per- comes apparent that for the most mand less than 3 percent of the sonal interpretation; right and part the tasks that students con- instructional time per week, and wrong are a part of the lexicon frontare characterized by a highly at the secondary level approxi- that elementary school children rule-governed structure. For ex- mately 80 percent of all high are taught to internalize. ample, arithmetic problems re- school students never enrol in a quire that children learn the four fine arts course during the four What do such tasks mean for stu- basic operations and how these years they are in attendance. Less dents? What does it mean to chil- operations apply to the treatment than 3 percent of all school dis- dren to have a curriculum in which of numerals. To be correct in arith- tricts require study in one of the fealty to rule is a pervasive fea- metic is to know the right way to fine arts as condition for gradua- ture? Such conditions can lead to perform a particular operation. If tion. a population of rule followers. a student is in doubt, the student One of the greatest of educational can prove the answer by perform- The result of access denied is a fallacies, John Dewey once said, ing the appropriate operation. program of education that leaves is the belief that children learn most students unable to partici- only what they are taught. Chil- In learning to spell, there is a pate in the arts; the great muse- dren learn the covert lessons as correct and an incorrect way to ums and concert halls that popu- well. The school's curriculum is arrange the letters that constitute late the nation are the resources of currently heavily weighted toward words in the English language. a small minority of our citizens. a rule-governed view of learning; The spelling of words, like the Artistic literacy is a rare educa- there is a correct and an incorrect problems children encounter in tional commodity. answer to each question raised, arithmetic, are either correct or the teacher knows the correct incorrect. Similarly, in punctua- Thus far the major argument I answer, and the student's task is tion, there tends to be a correct have advanced focuses upon to get it right. and an incorrect way to evaluate access to what might be called "cultural capital." There is, how- the sentences children are asked to write. In learning to write there ever, another line of argument "Art is part of the cultural heritage of every society. Art can make an impact on a scale that is literally world wide. It is therefore the responsibility of all educational agencies to recognize art education as a fundamental part of human growth and development." Saskatchewan Society for Education Through Art 9 7 In the arts no comparable "com- senses have been regarded as Charles Sheeler or its loneliness forts" exist. There is no single separate from mental life; they are through one by Edward Hopper. correct answer to an artistic prob- considered lower in the hierarchy We begin to discover what fields lem; there are many. There is of human capacities. We typi- no of colour can do through the work procedure to tell the student with cally separate feeling from think- of Josef Albers, or how the power certainty that his or her solution is ing, emotion from thought, the of line can shape our feeling correct. There is no algorithm that head from the hand, and the mind through the images of Franz Kline. one can use to solve an artistic from the body. This view is mis- Our senses yield sensation and problem; one must depend upon taken. The eye is a part of the from sensation we ascend to the that most exquisite of human mind, and the ability to read the aesthetic. The aesthetic gives rise capacities judgment. qualitative world in which we to feel i ng. Unlike the anaesthetic, live is the major avenue through which dulls it, art functions in the which those forms we call The exercise of judgment in the service of feeling by reestablish- making of artistic images or in thoughts are constructed. All ing the connection between mind their appreciation depends upon thinking requires a content, and and the senses. the ability to cope with ambigu- that content emanates from our ity, to experience nuance, and to contact with the world. It is our In schools these connections are weigh the trade-offs among alter- sensory system that first provides seldom recognized. The environ- native courses of action. These the "material" we experience, ment of schooling is often reflect upon, and eventually skills represent not only the mind think of aesthetically barren operating in its finest hour, but are manipulate. It is our capacity to the places where soft surfaces exist precisely the skills that character- create images from the world we in schools. It is difficult task. For- ize our most complex adult life are able to experience that feeds mica desks occupying a right-an- tasks. The problems that perplex our imagination. When our sensi- gled environment are easier to us as adults are not those that can bilities are dulled or ill-developed, recall. To the extent the arts bal- be treated by algorithms and veri- the content for reflection and ance the environmental picture, fied by proof. School programs imagination is itself limited. The to the extent they cultivate those that inadvertently teach children sensibilities, wrote Herbert Read, aspects of mental life that are now there is a correct answer to each are the sources of our conscious- neglected in the schools, they give important problem they encoun- ness. Learning to see and hear are the young an opportunity to real- ter mis-teach children in serious therefore the avenues through ize their human potential. The ways. The cultivation of judgment which an awareness is raised. To absence of the arts in the schools and the ability to be flexibly learn to see and to hear is to is not only a denial of access to purposive are best achieved when achieve a realization of the jewels of our culture, it is some a the tasks and content children aspect of the world; it is to the denial of the opportunity to culti- encounter in school provide the ability to achieve this realization vate the mental potential children space for such skills to operate. that the arts contribute so impor- possess. When the arts are well taught tantly. They call attention to the such skills have an essential place. qualities of the world, they direct Why arts in the school? As con- There is yet another aspect of us to its subtleties, they distill and tent, the arts represent man's best mental development that effec- present those qualities in vivid work. Our children ought to have tive teaching in the arts fosters. and stable form. We can eventu- access to such work, and they Ironically, it is an aspect of hu- ally see the geometries, they distill should know that we care that man development that in our cul- and present those qualities in vivid they do. When we define our and stable form. We can ture we regard as distinct from school curricula, we not only pro- mind. I speak of the cultivation of eventually see the geometries of vide children with access to the the city through a painting by the senses. Since Plato's time the intellectual and artistic capital of 10 8

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.